Postcolonial Reconstruction of History in African Drama - Soyinka, Ngugi with Mugo, Hussein, and Johnson

This Element investigates how selected postcolonial African writers have adapted or rather reshaped historical sources for dramatic compositions. The writers and works the author focuses on are: Wole Soyinka (Death and the King's Horseman, 1975), Ngugi wa Thiong'o with Micere Githae Mugo (The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, 1976), Ebrahim Hussein (Kinjeketile, 1970), and Effiong Johnson (Not Without Bones, 2000.) Their reading of the plays emphasizes their status as postcolonial texts and not just works of African literature. In doing so, the Element is mindful of the fact that postcolonialism has inevitably involved the conceptualization of non-Western modes of thought as a means of challenging the West. The author's central argument is that the selected postcolonial African authors use artistic licence to rewrite colonial history from below, transforming historical trauma into counter-narratives that restore agency, dignity, and futurity to the oppressed.