Multiculturalism and Colonialism in Africa

This assignment analyzes the effects of colonialism on Nigerian society as depicted in Chinua Achebe's novel *Things Fall Apart*. It examines the influence of British imperialism, including the spread of Christianity and English language, on traditional Igbo culture. The analysis also compares the post-colonial development trajectories of Nigeria with Asian countries like Singapore and Thailand, highlighting the diverse experiences of former colonies.

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to design a portfolio on the basis of the novel by African
legendary author Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. In this paper, certain things have to be
covered because the novel displays various issues and it is built on various themes. These themes
have to be addressed in a unified whole and further research will be done on a particular theme.
The novel has dealt with many societal and personal things from the colonization in Africa to the
demise of the protagonist Okonkwo. These themes have been dealt with the author very subtly
and he has portrayed the characters in a well-defined manner. The literary criticism of this novel
shows that the contemporary African society has not been that much knowledgeable about the
culture of the British and there had been many clashes regarding the culture.
Research Question
 Has multiculturalism left an effect in the society of Africa in that contemporary period
because British colonialism?
 Does it have any international influence because of the multicultural effects?
Development of the topic
The topic has to be developed in this segment by bringing the international aspects and
comparing with the other international cultures. The contemporary period when this novel was
brought out, there was an utterly chaotic situation in the African continent. The term
‘multiculturalism’ has come into effect from the mid-twentieth century and it has been a defining
criterion in the various countries and continents (Modood, 2013). The clashes among cultures
have become a common phenomenon in this scenario. The political activities of the minority
groups, the multiculturalism and feminism have been operating within the society very actively

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since it requires the attention and recognition of the people in the society. The focus that has
been there in this novel is the Igbo culture and the complexities have grown from this culture as
compared with the Christian culture (Bynum, 2012).
The cultures have collided at different points within the novel. The effects of this cultural
clash have been felt at both the societal and the individual level. Many misunderstandings have
been created in this novel because of these cultural differences. The problems have been faced by
the contrasting cultures (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014). The reverend smith who is shown
as uncompromising has remarked the Africans to be ‘heathens’. The Christian missionaries had
come to Africa for spreading the Christianity among the people there. The native people or the
Africans had categorized them to be ‘foolish’. They had realized that a culture which has no
similarity with that of theirs cannot be unified at any cost. The two cultures had great
mismatches so there will be no similarity in the behaviors and attitudes or approaches of the
people who belonged to those Igbo and Christian cultures (Joseph, 2014).
The author of the novel, Chinua Achebe had noticed that the behavior and point of view
of both these cultures towards the other one has been not at all satisfactory. Achebe had opined
that the native Africans needed to change their viewpoint about the Christians just as the
Christians needed to do the same. He has been regarded as an African writer who has been
‘Europeanized’. This entire novel has been looked upon as a novel to be reflected as an act of
atonement for the chief protagonist Okonkwo. The novel was written to be the social reflection
of the colonial period of the British in the African Igbo society (Eskay et al., 2012). The British
imperialism had strated its dominance in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century and in the
beginning of the twentieth century. The clash had been on as for deciding the reigning power of
the state of Nigeria (Juffermans, 2015).

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This clash of cultures had continuously been harming the traditional African igbo culture
based in Nigeria. The Western norms and values were imposed on the traditional Igbo people
but they were against this forceful imposing. The fact is that the country of Nigeria had been
suffering from different problems like the internal dilemma within the country. Though, they
tried to reorganize their country in an entirely new way, they had ended up in further
disillusionment in the post independent era. Another novel that was set against the background of
Africa was the one written by Joseph Conrad named Heart of Darkness (Firchow, 2015). The
Nigerian culture has been the focus point in the Things Fall Apart. Achebe has asserted many
times that Nigeria has its own cultural history. He wrote this novel in English because he wanted
to show that the Nigerians and the whole Africa had progressed in the times of British
colonialism. The African civilization had made its progress in many ways in this critical period.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, the people have criticized the colonial powers because
they have felt that had been imposed the obligations set by the British imperialists and the
preachers of Christianity. In the novel, the Igbo values have been depicted by Achebe before the
time the European imperialists had entered the village. They believed that the Igbo people had
their own culture, dignity, values, ethics, and cultural values (Bamgboje-Ayodele & Ellis, 2015).
The problems arose when the European colonialists began to enter the premises of Nigeria. The
novel is designed in the Igbo land that was situated in the western part of Nigeria. The novel has
been set in the cities of Mbanta and Umuofia. He has been displayed as the greatest warrior of
the clan of Umuofia and he has been revered and honored by his native villagers. He was exiled
to Mbanta in the later period of his life. The problem within the Umuofian state arose that they
had some typical forms of laws and customs within the society. These were beyond the

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understanding of the people there. This later caused them to convert into Christianity as this
religion was more understandable. (Bamgboje-Ayodele & Ellis, 2015).
British colonialism in Asia
Asia has been one of the main breeding grounds for multiculturalism and the British have
dominated the various parts of the continent for a long time. Asia has been looked upon as the
‘Third World’ because they are not so much developed as one of the most developed countries in
the world. In Asia too, the problems of multiculturalism has been an important one and many
things have been in question for the people in the Asia (Van Bremen & Shimizu, 2013). The
native people in Asia, specially India, Singapore and Malaysia have faced the jaws of British
colonialism and the oppressions caused from it. China is also one of those countries that has
experienced British colonialism. They too had their oown norms, values, ethics and obligations
like the Africans. The Africans did not put up much resistance in the earlier years because they
had been facing their internal challenges at that time as well. However, the Asians had put up
much resistance against these colonial oppressors (Van Bremen & Shimizu, 2013).
As the novel Things Fall Apart shows, the basic themes of multiculturalism are very
evident in both Asia and Africa (Nagy, 2014). This has to be compared because the readers of
the novel must identify the practical situation rather than just taking it under consideration as a
fictional piece of literature. The observers and the researchers have found that the urban growth
and urbanization in Asia had been stunted at that time because the oppressors had wanted to
design the things in their own ways. The Asian cities have a great deal of cultural diversity
between them. This has been reflected in their multicultural aspects of celebration of festivals,
the different kinds of religion in the countries. Migrants have come from different cities and

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countries converging themselves here. The British have spread the Catholicism in many of these
countries and the spread of English has been rapid as well. This has resulted in the success of
their purpose. There have been many real life characters such as Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart.
The countries like Singapore and the cities like Jakarta in Malaysia, Bangkok in Thailand has
faced the multiculturalism effects in great numbers (Benet-Martínez, 2012). After their
independence from the hands of the British colonialists, it has been found that they have
developed a lot from that of the pre-independent period of the countries. On the contrary, the
African countries such as the background country of the selected novel, Nigeria has not been
able to come up with such development as the Asian countries have done after the colonial
period of the British imperials (Cain & Hopkins, 2014).
Findings and Conclusions
After the brief description of the novel’s background about multiculturalism and the
comparison with Asia, it has been found that the main characters and the background of the
novel has been described here with the effects of colonialism on the lives of the Nigerian people.
As per the requirements, the scenario has been compared with that of the Asian contingent as
well. The Asian people have faced the same context as that of the African people in Nigeria.
Chinua Achebe has showcased this scenario of multiculturalism in the colonial period of Africa.
The Christian missionaries have shed their influence on the lives of the poor native villagers as
well despite the protests of Okonkwo.

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References
Bamgboje-Ayodele, A., & Ellis, L. (2015). Knowledge Management and the Nigerian Culture–A
round peg in a square hole?. The African Journal of Information Systems, 7(1), 1.
Benet-Martínez, V. (2012). Multiculturalism. In The Oxford handbook of personality and social
psychology.
Bynum, C. (2012). Christian materiality: An essay on religion in late medieval Europe.
Cain, P. J., & Hopkins, A. G. (2014). British Imperialism: 1688-2000. Routledge.
Eskay, M., Onu, V. C., Igbo, J. N., Obiyo, N., & Ugwuanyi, L. (2012). Disability within the
African culture. Contemporary voices from the margin: African educators on African and
American education, 197-211.
Firchow, P. E. (2015). Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad's Heart of
Darkness. University Press of Kentucky.
Joseph, R. A. (2014). Democracy and prebendal politics in Nigeria (Vol. 56). Cambridge
University Press.
Juffermans, K. (2015). Local languaging, literacy and multilingualism in a West African
society (Vol. 20). Multilingual Matters.
Modood, T. (2013). Multiculturalism. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences.
Routledge.

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Nagy, S. R. (2014). Politics of multiculturalism in East Asia: Reinterpreting
multiculturalism. Ethnicities, 14(1), 160-176.
Van Bremen, J., & Shimizu, A. (2013). Anthropology and Colonialism in Asia: Comparative and
Historical Colonialism. Routledge.