A Counter ‘Image of Africa’ in Two Postcolonial Narratives by Tayeb Salih and Chinua Achebe From a Comparative Perspective

This study presents two twentieth-century African narratives from a postcolonial comparative perspective. The study highlights corresponding observations in “Dead Men’s Path” by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and “The Doum-tree of Wad Hamid” by the Sudanese Tayeb Salih in relation to the colonial strategy of stereotyping Africa as premodern and unprogressive and how this strategy widens the gap between generations and undermines the cultural identity of the young. The study analyzes confrontations between characters representing different generations on whether colonization aims for the betterment of natives’ lives. Finally, the study investigates how the enforced European lifestyles on the rural ‘premodern’ societies of Nigeria and Sudan by the British colonization are met with defiance and resistance. The article draws on postcolonial concepts including autonomy, resistance, and mimicry to demonstrate the conflict between generations under the enduring effects of cultural colonization.