Stupid bullies and clapping clowns: Resistance to power in Nuruddin Farah’s “Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship” trilogy

Through an examination of Nuruddin Farah’s representation of the intertwined authoritarian power in state, family, and gender relations in his “Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship” trilogy, this article argues that Farah develops a Foucauldian model of “effective history” as a postcolonial counter-narrative to nationalist dictatorial conceptions of history and social relations. Through the voices of a multi-gendered, multi-generational, and multi-ethical discourse, Farah explores the discontinuous cultural affinities and interwoven layers of authoritarianism in the Somali public and private spheres. The trilogy challenges dominant models of social and political power relationships; and in so doing, Farah foregrounds discursive formations such as familial and sibling relations that have been under-valued, to challenge the coercive forces of social power and state control. He brings to bear an “exilic consciousness” in his conception of postcolonialism as an opportunity to rebuild nationhood through fiction’s distinctly pedagogical and ethical role.