Though the Nigerian-Biafran War has been the subject of numerous literary and other artistic representations in the four decades since its conclusion, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2006 novel Half of a Yellow Sun has recently received tremendous international attention for its treatment of the 1967-1970 conflict. Contrary to the assertions of many critics, the novel’s complex representation of the war functions as much more than a setting for a series of family dramas at the foreground. Providing a counterargument to such readings, which emphasize the personal over the political in Half of a Yellow Sun, this paper will propose and trace a political allegory legible within the characters’ personal relationships and historical circumstances. Specifically, I will argue that the relationship between two protagonists, the twins Olanna and Kainene, aligns with the relationship between (Northern) Nigeria and the Eastern Nigeria, known as Biafra between 1967 and 1970, during its attempt to secede. In the way that Kainene grows emotionally distant from Olanna, eventually stops speaking to her, and suddenly disappears, so Eastern Nigeria increasingly clashed with Northern Nigeria during the early 1960s, seceded as the Republic of Biafra in 1967, and eventually “disappeared” at the end of the war in 1970, as it was absorbed back into Nigeria. Rather than indicating a sense of finality, however, Adichie’s text refuses closure in ways that ultimately suggest an alternative both to the notion that the novel has an apolitical, purely tragic ending, and to dominant narratives about the Biafran secession’s “inevitable” failure. This reading thus intervenes in critical conversations about Half of a Yellow Sun, the Biafran state, and secession and self-determination throughout Africa. If Kainene’s disappearance does not only testify to the tragedies of war, and if her character allegorically corresponds to Biafra, then what political possibilities might her disappearance allow? Does Biafra—and in turn, the possibility of secession—remain at large too? Far from the prevalent scholarly and political rhetoric that relegates Biafra to a narrow three-year time frame, Adichie’s novel conceives of a Biafran existence beyond the pages of some finalized history. / text

Submitted by Roberth Novaes (roberth.novaes@live.com) on 2018-07-10T12:20:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Neila Final.pdf: 1526923 bytes, checksum: 29b209fce481457d735edbe37fd50c4d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Setor de Periódicos (per_macedocosta@ufba.br) on 2018-07-10T18:15:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Neila Final.pdf: 1526923 bytes, checksum: 29b209fce481457d735edbe37fd50c4d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-10T18:15:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Neila Final.pdf: 1526923 bytes, checksum: 29b209fce481457d735edbe37fd50c4d (MD5) / Construímos uma leitura da expressão intelectual da escritora nigeriana Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie no intuito de compreender como seus escritos podem contribuir para ampliar e potencializar discussões referentes ao desmantelamento de histórias únicas da África, a subjugação feminina em contexto nigeriano e a impacto dos estigmas raciais na vida cotidiana estadunidense. Dessa maneira, investigamos como essas temáticas aparecem na prática discursiva da autora através de leituras de cenas de suas narrativas literárias, ensaios acadêmicos e ideias proferidas em palestras e entrevistas. Dialogando com outras vozes negras e/ou africanas como Molara Ogundipe (1992); Achille Mbembe (2001;2007) bell hooks (1984; 1992) entre outras, tecemos um caminho possível para uma análise mais plural sobre as muitas histórias contadas por Adichie e pudemos compreender que seus escritos negros surgem e se configuram dentro de um espaço fronteiriço em que ela precisa conciliar a sua vivência entre EUA e Nigéria lindando com todas as implicações que isso possa lhe trazer. Ademais, compreendemos que a autora reconhece as faces de histórias e personagens sem menosprezá-los, incorpora as diferenças e se vale de pertencimentos, conscientizando a urgência da busca de conhecimento do outro e de lugares, enfatizando a fuga do senso comum e da história única. / We build a reading of the intellectual expression of the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in order to understand how her writings can contribute to broaden and strengthen discussions about the dismantling of Africa's unique histories, female subjugation in a Nigerian context and the impact of the racial stigmata in everyday American life. In this way, we investigate how these themes appear in the discursive practice of our author through readings of scenes from her literary narratives, academic essays and ideas delivered in lectures and interviews. Discussing with other black and African voices like Molara Ogundipe (1992); among others, we have woven a possible path for a more plural analysis of the many stories told by Adichie, and we have been able to understand that her black writings arise and form within a frontier space in where she needs to reconcile her experience between the US and Nigeria, bordering on all the implications that this may bring. In addition, we understand that the author recognizes the faces of stories and characters without belittling them, incorporates differences and uses belongings, making aware of the urgency of the search for knowledge of the other and of places, emphasizing the escape of common sense and single stories.

Submitted by Alice Araujo (alice.caraujo@ufpe.br) on 2018-05-17T23:13:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO Edilma Bezerra Cavalcante.pdf: 676873 bytes, checksum: 81a7756d878aa7ffe760cfe9df2b005a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-17T23:13:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO Edilma Bezerra Cavalcante.pdf: 676873 bytes, checksum: 81a7756d878aa7ffe760cfe9df2b005a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-17 / Este trabalho tem como premissa realizar uma leitura-crítica feminista do romance Americanah (2014) de Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie a fim de observar os caminhos percorridos pela personagem Ifemelu, as experiências e os momentos de empoderamento ao longo da narrativa. Para isso nossa sustentação teórica terá como base a Crítica Feminista, com nomes importantes do feminismo negro e pós-colonial como Collins (2002), Gonzáles (1984), Mama (2013), Spivak (2014) e Hooks (2015) e de teóricas dos estudos da mulher e literatura como Schmidt (1999), Oliveira (1991) e Rago (2013). Nossa interpretação prioriza o modo de leitura comprometido com a importância do gênero e suas intersecções com cor e classe como categorias analíticas válidas. Neste sentido, nosso trabalho é o resultado dos sentidos produzidos por uma experiência particular de leitura de um sujeito feminino que lê uma mulher contando a história de outra mulher, em um movimento que se pretende assim mesmo, cíclico, estimulando e valorizando a pesquisa e produção acadêmica das mulheres e sobre as mulheres. / This work is premised perform a feminist critical-reading of the novel Americanah (2014) of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to observe the paths taken by the character Ifemelu, experiences and moments of empowerment throughout the narrative. For this our theoretical support will be based on the Feminist Critique, with important names of black feminism and postcolonial as Collins (2002), Gonzalez (1984), Mama (2013), Spivak (2014) and Hooks (2015) and theoretical of women and literature studies as Schmidt (1999), Oliveira (1991) and Rago (2013). Our interpretation prioritizes reading so committed to the importance of gender and its intersections with color and class as valid analytical categories. In this sense, our work is the result of the senses produced by a particular reading experience of a female subject who reads a woman telling the story of another woman, in a move that is intended anyway, cyclical, stimulating and enhancing the research and production academic women and about women.

M.A. / The Nigeria-Biafra War has elicited a corpus of literature which thematises the hydra-headed problematic of nationhood that embodies ethnicity, politics and history. A recent contribution is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s award-winning Half of a Yellow Sun (henceforth, Yellow Sun) which reveals interesting affinities between Adichie and Chinua Achebe, and suggests the influence of Achebe on her. The centrality of Biafra to these writers (both are of Igbo or ‘Biafran’ extraction) foregrounds concerns about the links between literary production, identity politics and the narrative of the nation. At a time marked by the resurgence of sub-nationalist notions in Nigeria, it becomes fitting to review the growing ‘Biafra discourse’ as enunciated in recent Nigerian fiction. It is argued that in Yellow Sun and Achebe's most recent novel Anthills of the Savannah (henceforth, Anthills) both writers espouse notions of nationhood which privilege the ethnic group mainly through a valorisation of the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria who constituted the defunct Biafra republic. This dissertation examines how both novels depict difference and deploy historical revision to fetishise ethnic identity in their enunciation of ethno-nationalism. It also explores the degree to which Yellow Sun may reflect the influence of Anthills, both ideologically and stylistically. In this regard, the study interrogates the peculiar narratological features of both novels. The predominant research method applied is close reading, and the theoretical framework incorporates theories of narratology, influence and intertextuality as well as postcolonial notions of nationalism, historicisation, difference and representation. The study draws significantly on the scholarship of Frederic Jameson, Mieke Bal, Harold Bloom and Imre Szeman among others. Keywords: narratology, nationalism, historicisation, representation, ethnicity, difference, other/otherness/othering, representation, intertextuality, Nigeria, Biafra, civil war.

Le thème de la guerre civile au Nigéria de 1967 à 1970, aussi appelée guerre du Biafra reste un thème majeur de la littérature nigériane. Les évènements qui ont amené au conflit au lendemain de l’indépendance du pays montrent une période post-coloniale encore marquée par les maux de la construction nationale des anciennes colonies que sont le régionalisme, la religion et le problème ethnique. La fin du conflit en 1970 inaugure une ère de mutation des problèmes d’avant la guerre qui perdurent avec la succession des différents régimes au pouvoir. De plus, le conflit devient un sujet tabou à effacer des mémoires autant que de la mémoire collective nigeriane.Après la première vague des écrivains à majorité Igbo qui ont écrit sur le conflit, tels que Chukwuemeka Ike avec Sunset at Dawn (1979), Buchi Emecheta (1983), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reprend le thème de cette guerre sans apologie. Cette nouvelle façon d’écrire le sujet de la guerre du Biafra se veut thérapeutique et réconciliatrice.Ce travail analyse le traitement de la guerre du Biafra à travers le prisme de la Déesse Mammy Water, divinité de la cosmologie Igbo. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie appartient à la communauté Igbo. / The theme of the Nigerian civil war which lasted from 1967 to 1970, also called the Biafra war remains one of the major theme of the nigerian literature. The events that led to the war after the country’s independance point to a post-colonial period where national building is still worked up on along ethnic and religious lines. In 1970, the end of the conflict starts a new era still affected by all the issues that led to the war still visible in the different regimes leading the federation. Moreover, the conflict became a taboo topic that needed to be erased from individual as well as the nigerian collective memory.After the first wave of writers mainly from Igbo descent who wrote about the war such as Chukwuemeka Ike with Sunset at Dawn (1979), Buchi Emecheta (1983), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie takes up the theme of the war unapologetically. Her way of writing the war ultimately wants to be the therapeutical and inclusive for all nigerians.This study analyzes the Biafran war through the prism of Mammy Water, the water goddess in the Igbo cosmology. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie belongs to the Igbo community.

É possível afirmar que a produção literária de qualquer sistema social dialoga com o contexto histórico, cultural, econômico e político dentro do qual está inscrita, e tal contexto, por sua vez, também dialoga e reage a essa produção definindo um constante movimento sistêmico. Tais imbricações entre literatura e contexto social incidem na construção das personagens, muitas vezes, mobilizadas, nos textos literários, pela construção de suas próprias identidades e em tensão não só com o contexto social dentro do qual vão sendo inscritas, mas também e, inevitavelmente, com as demais personagens que integram a narrativa ficcional. É a partir desses movimentos entre a constituição das personagens, suas identidades e seus respectivos contextos sociais que os romances, O Sétimo Juramento, da escritora moçambicana Paulina Chiziane e, Hibisco Roxo, da escritora nigeriana Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie serão analisados. Tendo por base conjunturas históricas cujas especificidades estão demarcadas, Moçambique e Nigéria, é que as personagens femininas dos romances de Adichie e de Chiziane serão aproximadas e se distanciarão entre si, mas, continuamente em tensão, confrontam o universo masculino. Essas personagens acabam por ascender nessas narrativas ficcionais como mulheres que vislumbram rupturas de sistemas sócio-político-econômico-culturais e acabam por desencadear, sobretudo, novas relações plurais de identidade. Em ambos os romances, de maneira confluente, a dinâmica das tramas reside na movimentação, transformação e ação das personagens femininas que se redescobrem na pluralidade de sua constituição como seres humanos e plenas de possibilidades concretas e objetivas de transformação social para conferirem diferentes saídas para as sociedades de classes, historicamente, opressoras, machistas, patriarcais e opressivas. / It is possible to affirm that the literary production of any social system dialogues with the historical, cultural, economic and political context within which it is inscribed, and that context, in turn, also dialogues and reacts to this production defining a constant systemic movement. Such imbrications between literature and social context focus on the construction of the characters, often mobilized in literary texts, for the construction of their own identities and in tension not only with the social context within which they are being inscribed but also and, inevitably, with the other characters that integrate the fictional narrative. It is from these movements between the constitution of the characters, their identities and their respective social contexts that the novels, O Sétimo Juramento, by the Mozambican writer Paulina Chiziane and, Purple Hibiscus, by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be analyzed. Based on historical conjunctures whose specificities are demarcated, Mozambique and Nigeria, is that the female characters of Adichie and Chiziane novels will approximate and distance themselves from each other, but continually in tension, they confront the masculine universe. These characters end up ascending in these fictional narratives as women who envisage ruptures of socio-political-economic-cultural systems and end up triggering, above all, new plural relations of identity. In both novels, in a confluent way, the dynamics of the plot lies in the movement, transformation and action of the female characters who rediscover themselves in the plurality of their constitution as human beings and full of concrete and objective possibilities of social transformation to give different exits to the class societies, historically, oppressive, macho, patriarchal and oppressive.

É possível afirmar que a produção literária de qualquer sistema social dialoga com o contexto histórico, cultural, econômico e político dentro do qual está inscrita, e tal contexto, por sua vez, também dialoga e reage a essa produção definindo um constante movimento sistêmico. Tais imbricações entre literatura e contexto social incidem na construção das personagens, muitas vezes, mobilizadas, nos textos literários, pela construção de suas próprias identidades e em tensão não só com o contexto social dentro do qual vão sendo inscritas, mas também e, inevitavelmente, com as demais personagens que integram a narrativa ficcional. É a partir desses movimentos entre a constituição das personagens, suas identidades e seus respectivos contextos sociais que os romances, O Sétimo Juramento, da escritora moçambicana Paulina Chiziane e, Hibisco Roxo, da escritora nigeriana Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie serão analisados. Tendo por base conjunturas históricas cujas especificidades estão demarcadas, Moçambique e Nigéria, é que as personagens femininas dos romances de Adichie e de Chiziane serão aproximadas e se distanciarão entre si, mas, continuamente em tensão, confrontam o universo masculino. Essas personagens acabam por ascender nessas narrativas ficcionais como mulheres que vislumbram rupturas de sistemas sócio-político-econômico-culturais e acabam por desencadear, sobretudo, novas relações plurais de identidade. Em ambos os romances, de maneira confluente, a dinâmica das tramas reside na movimentação, transformação e ação das personagens femininas que se redescobrem na pluralidade de sua constituição como seres humanos e plenas de possibilidades concretas e objetivas de transformação social para conferirem diferentes saídas para as sociedades de classes, historicamente, opressoras, machistas, patriarcais e opressivas. / It is possible to affirm that the literary production of any social system dialogues with the historical, cultural, economic and political context within which it is inscribed, and that context, in turn, also dialogues and reacts to this production defining a constant systemic movement. Such imbrications between literature and social context focus on the construction of the characters, often mobilized in literary texts, for the construction of their own identities and in tension not only with the social context within which they are being inscribed but also and, inevitably, with the other characters that integrate the fictional narrative. It is from these movements between the constitution of the characters, their identities and their respective social contexts that the novels, O Sétimo Juramento, by the Mozambican writer Paulina Chiziane and, Purple Hibiscus, by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be analyzed. Based on historical conjunctures whose specificities are demarcated, Mozambique and Nigeria, is that the female characters of Adichie and Chiziane novels will approximate and distance themselves from each other, but continually in tension, they confront the masculine universe. These characters end up ascending in these fictional narratives as women who envisage ruptures of socio-political-economic-cultural systems and end up triggering, above all, new plural relations of identity. In both novels, in a confluent way, the dynamics of the plot lies in the movement, transformation and action of the female characters who rediscover themselves in the plurality of their constitution as human beings and full of concrete and objective possibilities of social transformation to give different exits to the class societies, historically, oppressive, macho, patriarchal and oppressive.

Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-10-11T11:42:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 priscilladecarvalhomaiaventura.pdf: 1183551 bytes, checksum: 4ead0853680bdd66398d3eb51033bed9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-10-16T13:52:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 priscilladecarvalhomaiaventura.pdf: 1183551 bytes, checksum: 4ead0853680bdd66398d3eb51033bed9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-16T13:52:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 priscilladecarvalhomaiaventura.pdf: 1183551 bytes, checksum: 4ead0853680bdd66398d3eb51033bed9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-13 / A presente dissertação propõe o estudo das consequências da dominação colonial britânica sobre a República Federal da Nigéria no que concerne à religião, educação, língua, raça e gênero, tendo como objetos de análise Things Fall Apart (1958) de Chinua Achebe e Purple Hibiscus (2003) de Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A maneira de ler e produzir literatura vem se metamorfoseando ao longo dos séculos XX e XXI, abrindo espaço para que despontem as literaturas pós-coloniais, isto é, obras que possuem como atributo comum o fato de emergirem da experiência da colonização. Impulsionada por este contexto, a produção literária africana vem conquistando espaço e notoriedade no cenário mundial. Este trabalho busca relacionar literatura e situação sócio-política, trazendo para o debate vozes historicamente silenciadas e abrindo possibilidades de resistência às perspectivas impostas pelo olhar do colonizador, através da investigação da literatura nigeriana. Embora o período de dominação britânica sobre a Nigéria tenha chegado ao fim, as consequências de tal política ainda se fazem presentes no cotidiano daquele povo, seja na religião tradicional brutalmente substituída pelo cristianismo, nos idiomas autóctones que perdem lugar para a língua inglesa, no sistema de aprendizado estrangeiro que toma o lugar do ensino familiar ou na valorização da pele branca e do sistema patriarcal de poder. Tendo destacado papel no estabelecimento da estrutura colonial, busca-se aqui converter a literatura em instrumento de libertação. / The present thesis proposes the study of the consequences of British colonialism over the Federal Republic of Nigeria concerning religion, education, language, race and gender, having as objects of analyses Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe and Purple Hibiscus (2003) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The way in which literature is written and read has been changing throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, opening space to the postcolonial literatures, that is, literatures that have as a common background the fact that they come from the experience of colonialism. Propelled by this context, African literary production has been achieving space and renown in the global scenery. This work aims to relate literature and social-political situation, bringing to the debate historically silenced voices, opening possibilities to resist the colonial gaze while investigating the Nigerian literature. Even though the british colonial rule has come to an end, the consequences of this politics are still present in the daily lives of that people, in the fact that traditional religion was brutally substituted by Christianism, in the ancient languages replaced by English, in the educational system that took over home schooling, in the valorization of white skin and the patriarchal power system. Literature has a central role in establishing colonial structures and this work tries to convert literature into a liberation tool.

Alla borde vara feminister av Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delades ut till Sveriges gymnasietvåor läsåret 2015/2016 med en medföljande lärarhandledning. I den här uppsatsen berättar elever och lärare om sina erfarenheter av boken och undervisning utifrån den. Halvstrukturerande intervjuer, en enkät och en fokusgrupp har använts för att samla in materialet som sedan analyserats tematiskt utifrån Freires kritiska pedagogik, Spivaks postkoloniala perspektiv och Kumashiros teorier om lärande genom kris. Både elever och lärare vittnar om ämnets och undervisningens angelägenhet och förändrande potential, men också om riskerna med att undervisningen reproducerar svenskhet som det jämställda och vice versa. Ett par slutsatser är att ett historiskt perspektiv kan bidra till att få normer och strukturer att framstå som föränderliga, och ett postkolonialt perspektiv kan behövas för att sexism inte oproblematiserat ska tillskrivas den etniske Andre, något som flera andraspråkselever vittnar om. Vidare diskuteras det didaktiska värdet med en intersektionell analys och att låta eleverna själva formulera problemen som undervisningen tar sin utgångspunkt i.

Människor som lever i krig påverkas av våld, hot, svält och flykt vilket i förlängningen kan påverka deras människosyn. Uppsatsen undersöker hur tre karaktärer i Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies roman En halv gul sol påverkas, vad gäller människosyn, av att leva i Biafrakriget. Fokus för studien är självrespekt och respekt för andra, baserat i teorier om respekt för alla människors lika värde. De tre karaktärerna har olika utgångspunkter vad gäller självrespekt och respekt för andra och påverkas även på olika vis av kriget.