3 - Contesting the African Public Sphere: A Philosophical Re-imaging of Power and Resistance in Ngugi’s Wizard of the Crow
Corresponding Author(s) : M. S. C. Okolo
Africa Development,
Vol. 34 No. 2 (2009): Africa Development: Special Issue on The Humanities
Abstract
Habermas’s ideal notion of the ‘public sphere’ as the necessary condition for a genuine democracy is applied here in the assessment of the ideas contained in Ngugi’s Wizard of the Crow (2007) in an attempt to map out and understand the African public sphere. Wizard of the Crow employs the values of the public sphere to pass satirical comments on society’s values and practices: old assumptions are re-interrogated, established world-views reviewed and class and gender silenced issues revealed and re-evaluated. This paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach by employing philosophy and literature, here taken as Wizard of the Crow, as investigative tools. My choice of Wizard of the Crow to interrogate the African public sphere is particularly guided by the fact that to really encounter the public sphere is to first of all engage it at an imaginary realm. Besides, encountering the issues highlighted in Wizard of the Crow away from the structural discourse of the public sphere helps to humanize and plant them in the consciousness of people who may not have access to exotic academic presentation on the subject. Prefering a philosophical re-imaging of the concerns contained in Wizard of the Crow is to situate them within broader analytical frameworks. By adopting the basic methods of philosophical inquiry – exposition, critical analysis and reconstruction – the issues are lifted from the domain of fiction to the space of systematized knowledge directed at presenting a comprehensive notion of the African public sphere in as far as this can be achieved.
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- Ake, C., 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, Ibadan: Spectrum.
- Andrain, C. F. and Apter, D. E., 1995, Political Protest and Social Change: Analyzing Politics, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press.
- Ashley, S., 2005, ‘State Authority and the Public Sphere: Ideas on the Changing Role of the Museum as a Canadian Social Institution’, Museum and Society, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 5-17.
- Ayoade, J. A. A., 1998, Nigeria and the Squandering of Hope: An Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ibadan on Thursday, 16 October 1997, Ibadan: Vintage Publishers Limited.
- Benhabib, S., 1992, Models of Public Space, Vol. Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
- Cheru, F., 2008, ‘Africa’s development in the 21ˢᵗ century: Reshaping the research agenda’, Current African Issues 41, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
- Fraser, N., 1992, Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy, Vol. Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. Giddens, A., 2001, Sociology, 4ᵗʰ edition, Cambridge: Polity.
- Habermas, J., 1964, ‘The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article,’ New German Critique,
- No. 3, pp. 49-55.
- Habermas, J., 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Habermas, J., 2004, ‘Public Space and Political public sphere – the Biographical Roots of Two Motifs in My Thought’, Commemorative Lecture, Kyoto November 11.
- Nengwekhulu, R., 1981, ‘The Meaning of Black Consciousness in the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa’, in Dennis L. Cohen, John Daniel, eds., Political Economy of Africa: Selected Readings, Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman Group Limited, pp. 199-204.
- Ngugi, w.T., 1964, Weep Not, Child, London, Ibadan, Nairobi, Lusaka: Heinemann. Ngugi, w.T., 1967, A Grain of Wheat, London, Nairobi, Ibadan, Lusaka: Heinemann.
- Ngugi, w.T., 1982, Devil on the Cross, London: Heinemann.
- Ngugi, w.T., 2007, Wizard of the Crow, Lagos, Nigeria: Farafina.
- Popper, K. R., 1962, The Open Society and its Enemies: Volume 1 The Spell of Plato, London: Routledge.
- Roxborough, I., 1979, Theories of Underdevelopment, London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
- Schifferes, S., 2008, ‘World poverty “more widespread”’. (http://news.bbc.co.uk). 27 August 2008.
- Schneider, S.M., 1997, Expanding the Public Sphere through Computer-Mediated Communication: Political Discussion about Abortion in a Usenet Newsgroup, PhD Thesis in Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Shively, W.P., 1997, Power & Choice: An Introduction to Political Science, fifth edition, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Taylor, C., 2002, ‘Modern Social Imaginaries,’Public Culture, Vol.14, No.1, pp. 91-124. Williams,
- W.A., 1983, ‘Empire as a Way of Life,’ in Herbert M. Levine, World Politics Debated: A Reader in Contemporary Issues, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
References
Ake, C., 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, Ibadan: Spectrum.
Andrain, C. F. and Apter, D. E., 1995, Political Protest and Social Change: Analyzing Politics, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press.
Ashley, S., 2005, ‘State Authority and the Public Sphere: Ideas on the Changing Role of the Museum as a Canadian Social Institution’, Museum and Society, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 5-17.
Ayoade, J. A. A., 1998, Nigeria and the Squandering of Hope: An Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ibadan on Thursday, 16 October 1997, Ibadan: Vintage Publishers Limited.
Benhabib, S., 1992, Models of Public Space, Vol. Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
Cheru, F., 2008, ‘Africa’s development in the 21ˢᵗ century: Reshaping the research agenda’, Current African Issues 41, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Fraser, N., 1992, Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy, Vol. Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. Giddens, A., 2001, Sociology, 4ᵗʰ edition, Cambridge: Polity.
Habermas, J., 1964, ‘The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article,’ New German Critique,
No. 3, pp. 49-55.
Habermas, J., 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Habermas, J., 2004, ‘Public Space and Political public sphere – the Biographical Roots of Two Motifs in My Thought’, Commemorative Lecture, Kyoto November 11.
Nengwekhulu, R., 1981, ‘The Meaning of Black Consciousness in the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa’, in Dennis L. Cohen, John Daniel, eds., Political Economy of Africa: Selected Readings, Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman Group Limited, pp. 199-204.
Ngugi, w.T., 1964, Weep Not, Child, London, Ibadan, Nairobi, Lusaka: Heinemann. Ngugi, w.T., 1967, A Grain of Wheat, London, Nairobi, Ibadan, Lusaka: Heinemann.
Ngugi, w.T., 1982, Devil on the Cross, London: Heinemann.
Ngugi, w.T., 2007, Wizard of the Crow, Lagos, Nigeria: Farafina.
Popper, K. R., 1962, The Open Society and its Enemies: Volume 1 The Spell of Plato, London: Routledge.
Roxborough, I., 1979, Theories of Underdevelopment, London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
Schifferes, S., 2008, ‘World poverty “more widespread”’. (http://news.bbc.co.uk). 27 August 2008.
Schneider, S.M., 1997, Expanding the Public Sphere through Computer-Mediated Communication: Political Discussion about Abortion in a Usenet Newsgroup, PhD Thesis in Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Shively, W.P., 1997, Power & Choice: An Introduction to Political Science, fifth edition, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Taylor, C., 2002, ‘Modern Social Imaginaries,’Public Culture, Vol.14, No.1, pp. 91-124. Williams,
W.A., 1983, ‘Empire as a Way of Life,’ in Herbert M. Levine, World Politics Debated: A Reader in Contemporary Issues, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.