Autobiography, memory and nationhood in Anglophone Africa / David Ekanem Udoinwang and James Tar Tsaaior.

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2023.

©2023

xii, 198 pages ; 25 cm.

"This book provides an important critical analysis of the autobiographies of nine major leaders of national liberation movements in Africa. By examining their self-narratives, we can better understand how decolonisation unfolded and how activist-politicians sought to immortalise their roles for posterity. Focusing on the autobiographies of Peter Abrahams, Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, (South Africa), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), George Mwase (Malawi), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Maurice Nyagumbo (Zimbabwe) and Oginga Odinga (Kenya), and Ruth First (South Africa), the book uncovers the social and cultural forces which galvanized the anti-colonial resistance movement in African societies particularly the disdain for foreign domination, economic exploitation and cultural imperialism. The book delves into themes of African cultural sovereignty before the colonial encounter, the disruptive presence of colonialism, the nationalist ferment against European imperial domination, the achievement of political autonomy by African nation-states and the corpus of contradictions which attended postcolonial becoming. With important insights on how these key historical figures navigated the process of self-determining nationhood in Africa, this book will be of interest to researchers of African literature, history, and politics"-- Provided by publisher.

Online version: Udoinwang, David Ekanem. Autobiography, memory and nationhood in Anglophone Africa London ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2023

English

January 17, 2023

Routledge Studies in African Literature

Includes bibliographical references and index.