REINCARNATION AND NATIONALIST STRUGGLES IN SELECTED POSTCOLONIAL FRANCOPHONE AFRICAN NOVELS

Abstract

Reincarnation is the belief that the spirit of man after death transmigrates into another form or body to express itself. Existing studies on reincarnation in Francophone African literature emphasise the nature of reincarnated beings, whether they manifest fully or partially in body, with less attention paid to their possession of enhanced power. The manifestation of the supernatural powers of reincarnated beings was, therefore, examined in postcolonial Francophone African novels with a view to establishing how the powers were deployed in the nationalist struggle for freedom from colonial oppression.

Postcolonial Theory and Magical Realism were adopted. Postcolonial theory emphasises the effect of culture displacement and resistance to domination while magical realism highlights the mix of a dream-like elements with the real world. Ahmadou Kourouma’s Les Soleils des indépendances (LSDI), Sony Labou Tansi’s La Vie et demie (LVD) and Malick Fall’s La Plaie (LP) were purposively selected because they have reincarnation and nationalist struggle narratives. Texts were analysed using explication de texte.

The colonialists cause divisions among Africans, bring an alien religion, make inferior the language of their hosts, undermine common heritage and established a new dawn. The principal protagonists in LSDI, LVD and LP are reincarnated beings, who confront and resist the colonialists, namely Fama influenced by Kone, Martial and Magamou respectively. Four principles of magical realism identified in the texts are transmigration, full reincarnation, partial reincarnation and enhanced power thematise reincarnated beings in the context of the colonialists’ cultural displacement. Transmigration manifests in LSDI. Koné, at his funeral, transmigrates into Fama who unusually denounces the deception of his people and mobilises them against the colonisers. Fama dies afterwards due to the injury he sustained from a possessed crocodile and a gunshot wound while defiantly about crossing the border. Koné’s spirit enters into a pregnant woman, and reincarnates as a Malinké baby. In LVD, full reincarnation establishes that Martial, a freedom fighter, dies and becomes a full reincarnated being that takes active part in the struggle to liberate his people from dictatorial regimes. His spirit possesses his daughter who confronts and engages the Providential Guides’ domination. He impregnates the daughter at whose death his spirit transmigrates into her triplets, who courageously put an end to the dictatorial oppressive regime in Katalanianasie. In LP, partial reincarnation expresses itself in Magamou who awakes the sensibilities of his people against the domination of the Whites. He dies but later reincarnates. The protagonists showcase one of the principles of magical realism and they manifest and deploy enhanced powers in the struggle for freedom, while death, rebirth and spirits feature prominently as reincarnated-based indices. Partial reincarnation and the possession of enhanced powers marked the dominant belief about reincarnated beings in the course of the nationalist struggles in postcolonial Francophone African novels.

Francophone African novels substantiate the universal belief in reincarnation as a veritable tool in the struggle for freedom. The demonstration of the three protagonists forms the basis for nationalist struggles in a postcolonial Francophone Africa.