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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
J. Sunita Peacock
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2015.06.003
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, PA, USA
The essay analyzes the play written by the late Efua Sutherland (from Ghana) and shows the effects of colonization among the Ghanaians. First, it explores the historical inroads made by the colonizer in West African countries, such as Ghana, causing the debilitation of the culture of such countries by erasing its history. One way in which such erasure occurred was in the destruction of sacred sites of the people. Further connections will also be made to West African cultural contexts with the history of colonization in Africa and its effects on popular culture, specifically drama in countries like Ghana. Next, the essay draws upon the role of the trickster figure of Ananse, the spider who features in many West African and Caribbean folkloric traditions. Sutherland’s play revolves around the main character of the play, Ananse, and he is likened to the trickster figure, but the essay shows how this figure is also debilitated by the colonizer. Finally, in the play, one notes that despite the main character’s “victory” in getting his daughter married to the “Chief-Who-Is-Chief”, he does it for his survival and the survival of his daughter in a world in which the latent effects of colonization has hampered the memory and culture of its people.
Africa, postcolonial, drama, folklore, history, literature
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