The Nation as Imagined Community: Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease

Authors

Kwadwo Osei-Nyame, Jnr

Abstract

The discussion by Chinua Achebe of significant aspects of the postcolonial moment in Nigerian history in A Man of the People (1996) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987) does not only signal disillusionment with and alienation from important traditional bonds of kinship and community; it also articulates a search for new forms of affiliation within the context of what Benedict Anderson would describe as a nationally 'imagined community' .1 This essay is concerned particularly with Achebe's 1960 novel, No Longer at Ease. It explores the ways in which Achebc represents competing versions of nationalist ideology within the nascent Nigerian nation. Much of the novel's reconstruction of Nigerian society in the years immediately preceding independence is dedicated to examining the socializing course which nationalism takes. Ache be's narrative suggests that the alliances sought by individuals and groups are integral to their visions of the development of the socio-cultural and political processes of Nigeria's post-colonial history.

Recommended Citation

Osei-Nyame, Jnr, Kwadwo, The Nation as Imagined Community: Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease, Kunapipi, 21(1), 1999.
Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol21/iss1/10