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National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature
This project highlights the role of locally produced children's written literature for ages six to fourteen in postcolonial Nigeria as a catalyst for national transformation in the wake of colonial rule. My objective is to reveal the perceived possibilities and pitfalls contained in Nigerian childre...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of English Language and Literature
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613344206159872 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Smart, Kirsten |
| author2 | Ouma, Christopher |
| author_browse | Ouma, Christopher Smart, Kirsten |
| author_facet | Ouma, Christopher Smart, Kirsten |
| author_sort | Smart, Kirsten |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This project highlights the role of locally produced children's written literature for ages six to fourteen in postcolonial Nigeria as a catalyst for national transformation in the wake of colonial rule. My objective is to reveal the perceived possibilities and pitfalls contained in Nigerian children's literature (specifically books published between 1960 and 1990), for the promotion of a new national consciousness through the reintegration of traditional values into a contemporary context. To do this, I draw together children's literature written by Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and Mabel Segun in order to illustrate the emphasis Nigerian children's book authors writing within the postcolonial moment placed on the concepts of nation and national identity in the aim to 'refashion' the nation. Following from this, I examine the role of the child reader in relation to the adult authors' intentions and pose the question of what the role of the female is in the authors' imagining of a 'new nation'. The study concludes by reflecting on the persistent under-scrutiny of children's literature in Africa by academics and critics, a preconception that still exists today. I move to suggest further research on the genre not only to stimulate an increased production of children's literature more conscious in content and aware of the needs of its young, (male and female) African readership, but also to incite a change in attitude toward the genre as one that is as deserving of interest as its adult counterpart. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22880 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:39.078Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22880 National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature Smart, Kirsten Ouma, Christopher Literary Studies This project highlights the role of locally produced children's written literature for ages six to fourteen in postcolonial Nigeria as a catalyst for national transformation in the wake of colonial rule. My objective is to reveal the perceived possibilities and pitfalls contained in Nigerian children's literature (specifically books published between 1960 and 1990), for the promotion of a new national consciousness through the reintegration of traditional values into a contemporary context. To do this, I draw together children's literature written by Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and Mabel Segun in order to illustrate the emphasis Nigerian children's book authors writing within the postcolonial moment placed on the concepts of nation and national identity in the aim to 'refashion' the nation. Following from this, I examine the role of the child reader in relation to the adult authors' intentions and pose the question of what the role of the female is in the authors' imagining of a 'new nation'. The study concludes by reflecting on the persistent under-scrutiny of children's literature in Africa by academics and critics, a preconception that still exists today. I move to suggest further research on the genre not only to stimulate an increased production of children's literature more conscious in content and aware of the needs of its young, (male and female) African readership, but also to incite a change in attitude toward the genre as one that is as deserving of interest as its adult counterpart. 2017-01-23T07:43:12Z 2017-01-23T07:43:12Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22880 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Literary Studies Smart, Kirsten National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| title_full | National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| title_fullStr | National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| title_short | National consciousness in Postcolonial Nigerian children's literature |
| title_sort | national consciousness in postcolonial nigerian children s literature |
| topic | Literary Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22880 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT smartkirsten nationalconsciousnessinpostcolonialnigerianchildrensliterature |