Transculturation in Our Sister Killyjoy and Nervous Conditions Essay

Transculturation in Our Sister Killyjoy and nauseous ConditionsPostcolonial insights include theories of Diaspora, cultural hybridityand transculturation. The latter, transculturation is the term usedto define cultural change induced by introduction of elements of aforeign culture.1 The term transculturation was first coined byCuban anthropologist and sociologist Fernando Ortiz in 1947 todescribe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures.Transculturation covers war, ethnic conflict, racism andmulticulturalism, hence it is a concept very relevant to thepostcolonial period and subsequently to postcolonial literature. Whentransculturation affects ethnicity the term ethnoconvergence comesinto being and is opposed by ethnocentrism the view that onesculture is of greater importance than anothers. Ethnocentrismmanifests itself in various aspects of culture, though the mainethnocentric divider is always religion or belief, these ethnicdivides are most frequently binary.Our Sister s poilsport and Nervous Conditions both show aspects oftransculturation, perhaps the most obvious sign are the narratorsadoption of the dominant English language to write their novels. Atvarying points in each novel it is also clear that both Aidoo andDangarembga have difficulty in choosing between the two cultures intheir own personal struggles with transculturation. I shall go on toexplore these instances of transculturation within both novels.Tsitsi Dangarembgas 1988 novel Nervous Conditions is a landmark inpostcolonial literature as it was the first published English novelwritten by an African woman. Set in 1960s Rhodesia and emerging fromthe shadows of apartheid, it chronicle... ...14710 Dangarembga, Tsi Tsi. Nervous Conditions. Scattle The Seal Press, 1988 rogue11 Okonkwo p612 Odamtten, Vincent O. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo Polylectics and Reading Against Neocolonialism (Florida University Press of Florida, 1994) page 12213 Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New Yor k Longman, 1977) page 1314 Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York Longman, 1977) page 5715 Odamtten, Vincent O. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo Polylectics and Reading Against Neocolonialism (Florida University Press of Florida, 1994) page 12516 Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York Longman, 1977) page17 Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York Longman, 1977) page 11218 Pratt, Mary Louise Imperial Eyes Travel Writing and Transculturation (London, Routledge 1992)