Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah and Postcolonial Authenticity

Authenticity is raised by Sartre as a fundamental issue in human existence. It becomes greatly complicated for human existence under colonialism, a situation which is not automatically remedied by political independence. Countries that have passed through colonial tutelage typically have a double inheritance: the cultural tradition which predated colonization and persisted alongside colonialism as the latter was setting up a formal sector aligned to its own interests, and the value system of the colonizing power which becomes diffused in a variety of ways within the indigenous group. Hybridity is one of the consequences of this dual heritage, creating uncertainty as to where and how to ascertain authenticity among the subjects. In Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart and Anthills of the savannah, colonialism yields characters who affiliate to the outsider, as they see in the newcomers an access route to power. It also unveils subjects who cling to the cultural tradition and become definable by opposition to the newcomer. There are others who may be said to be in the middle, effectively rendered rootless by colonialism. It is shown in this paper that the possibility of a synthesis and formation of a new and autonomous identity is expressed within this last group, since they are much more willing to take whatever they need from any source for the formation of this new identity. For these authenticity is evolving and may only be predicated upon the identity autonomously constructed.

Keywords: authenticity, cultural tradition, identity, moderation, prereflective unconscious, symposium.