Postcolonial literature

2. People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Amar Telidji University, Laghouat
Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages
Department of English
The Use of English in Redefining African Identity
by the Postcolonial Writer
Case Study : Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2008)
A dissertation submitted to the department of English Language in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for a Master Degree in Literature,
Civilisation and Language Teaching.
Presented by : Under the Supervision of :
Sabrina Benchaa Mr. Abdelkader Kourdourli
Imane Megoussi
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3. Outline
Introduction
Research Questions
Hypothesis
Aim
Adichie’s Biography
Chapters’ Outline
Conclusion
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4.  Why did African writers choose English language for
their quest of identity ?
 How has the meaning of identity changed for African
identity ?
 To what extent has the postcolonial writer succeeded to
eliminate the effects of the single story though his use of
English language ?
Research Questions
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5. The use of English language by postcolonial writers have changed their
perspectives about the identity they were born with and the identity
implemented by the coloniser. Therefore, The use of English would express
their inner struggle for their quest of identity.
Hypothesis
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6. The aim of this study is to depict the
authenticity of the context in any African story
written in English and to highlight the main
reasons which led postcolonial writers to
redefine their identity using the colonial
language
Aim 6

7. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, September 15, 1977
The writer heralded by the
Washington post book world as
‘the 21st-century daughter of
Chinua Achebe,’
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a
Nigerian author. Her best known
novels are Purple Hibiscus (2003),
Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and
Americanah (2013)
• Her second novel Half of a Yellow
Sun, released in 2006, recounts the
life of two sisters separated by the
Biafran war She was awarded the
Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007.
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8. Chapter One: Theoretical
Background

9. • Reinterpretation of Colonial
History

10. • Redefining African Identity

11. • Shaping the Postcolonial
Writer
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12. CHAPTER TWO :
IDENTITY AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN HALF
OF A YELLOW SUN

13. • The Resistance of the Educated African Man
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14. • Identity and the Influence of a Foreign Culture
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15. • Identity of the African Woman
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16. CHAPTER THREE :
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND THE
MANIFESTATION OF AFRICAN IDENTITY

17. Fragmentation of the Single Story Narrative
‘The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with
stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are
incomplete. They make one story become the only story.’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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18. • Validation of Igbo and English Languages
in Presenting African Identity
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19. • Adichie’s Recognition of Africanity in Half of aYellow Sun
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20. The use of a foreign language to celebrate the African culture and heritage has
changed the notion of identity for postcolonial writers.
The deliberate use of English by African writers has met their aims to create their
own context where they can celebrate the diversity of their communities.
Postcolonial writers used English but maintained an authentic African context,
therefore they managed to Africanise the English language , like Achebe said ‘It
will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but
altered to suit its new African surroundings’ (433).
20Conclusion