From Tribal Roots to Colonial Influence: A Dual Perspective on Cultural Change in Things Fall Apart

Culture encompasses within itself a broad set of ideas. We are all the result of the kind of culture we are born into and grow up in. It is not always the native culture that predominates; often, the foreign culture occupies a central place. Such has been the case between the Britishers and the Indians. Similar has been the situation in the other former British colonies. Here, our focus will be on the Nigerian culture as depicted in the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’. Africa is one of the developing countries and is still renowned for its unique tribal culture, which particularly includes their folk dances and music. These tribal societies have their way of living, which is interrupted by the intrusion of colonial powers. There is an emergence of a ‘hybrid culture ’ formed as a result of the intermingling of two cultures. This paper will focus on an examination of how the culture of the coloniser and the colonised interact and, in turn, affect each other. The study will be confined to the above-mentioned novel of Chinua Achebe. We can hardly disagree with the fact that the culture of the coloniser dominates because it wields power, and power plays a significant role in the formation and collapse of cultures. This paper aims to conduct a bi-directional assessment of colonial and tribal cultures, concluding their mutual influence beyond a one-sided conventional approach. Keywords: Tribalism; Colonialism; Power; Hierarchy