REPRESENTATIONS AND TROPOLOGIES OF TERRORISM IN SELECTED AFRICAN, ASIAN AND NORTH AMERICAN PROSE WORKS

Abstract

Terrorism is a controversial subject because of its variations and the perpetrators. Extant literary studies have approached terrorism from the trauma perspective and the relationship between the West and its Others, with little attention paid to the textual representations and tropologies of terrorism in current colonial and postcolonial spaces. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the representations and tropologies of terrorism in selected African, Asian and North American prose works. This was with a view to establishing the forms and patterns of terrorism in the selected texts, the tropes employed and the alternatives proposed by the authors. Frantz Fanon’s, Edward Said’s and Achille Mbembe’s aspects of Postcolonial Theory were employed as the framework. The interpretive design was deployed. Africa, Asia and North America were purposively selected for high incidents of terrorism. Twelve texts (four from each region) were purposively sampled for their in-depth representations of terrorism. The works from Africa were Adaobi Nwaubani’s Buried beneath the Baobab Tree (BBTBT), Yasmin Khadra’s Wolf Dreams (WD), Nuruddin Farah’s Crossbones and Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday (BOAT). The texts from Asia were Abdul Zaeef’s My Life with the Taliban (MLWTT), Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (TKR), Collin Mallard’s Stillpoint and Elias Chacour’s Blood Brothers (BB). The texts from North America were John Updike’s Terrorist, Amy Waldman’s The Submission, Don DeLillo’s Falling Man and James Yee’s For God and Country (FGAC). The texts were subjected to literary analysis. Two forms of terrorism, non-state and state, are identified, with Islam playing prominent roles. Non-state terrorism spans Africa, Asia and North America; while state terrorism is more pronounced in Africa and Asia. The tropes deployed are betrayal, animalisation, master-slave, madness and olive trees. The postcolonial condition of Islam’s connection with politics, socioeconomic deprivations, radical Islamic ideologies (BOAT, BBTBT, Crossbones and WD) and resistance against neocolonialism (Crossbones) promote Islamic (sectarian) terrorism in Africa. Necropower and state of exception (BOAT, Crossbones and WD) engender state terrorism. The tropes of betrayal, master-slave, animalisation and madness aid the representations (BBTBT, BOAT and WD). In Asia, the Taliban Government (1996-2001) and Israel’s neocolonial occupation of Palestine signify state terrorism (TKR, Stillpoint and BB), while non-state terrorism underpins some Palestinians’ resistance (Stillpoint and BB). The Taliban’s image as saviours and terrorists represents the politicisation of terrorism (MLWTT and TKR). Non-violent protests, embracing peace, philosophical reflections and spirituality that respect justice and human dignity are proposed as non-violent humanist alternatives to terrorism (Stillpoint and BB). The trope of olive trees signifies peace (Stillpoint and BB). In North America, the stereotyping of nonWesterners as terrorists persists (Terrorist, FGAC and FM), while its deconstruction (TS and FGAC) focalises extremism among Westerners. The construction of extremist-Muslims as terrorists persists (Terrorist, BOAT and Crossbones), while there is emerging deconstruction of Muslims as terrorists (FGAC, BBTBT and TS). In the selected African, Asian and North American prose works, the representations and tropologies of terrorism are marked by stereotyping and deconstruction of common prejudices.