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Criminals and the african cultural imagination: normative and deviant heroism in pre-colonial and modern narratives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Ralph A. Austen
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Extract

In a previous essay (Austen, 1986a) I attempted to trace a particular type of deviant hero in African history and culture: a ‘social bandit’ or criminal figure identified in the popular imagination with resistance against alien or indigenous oppressive elites. The search proved frustrating within its original terms of reference but it did suggest an alternative paradigm for identifying the entire relationship between cultural norms and criminal behaviour in Africa. The present article attempts to develop this paradigm through the analysis of six African narratives dealing with heroic and/or anti-heroic figures in a variety of contexts.

Résumé

Le criminel et l'imagination culturels africains: héroisme normatif et déviant dans des récits précoloniaux et modernes

Cet article analyse six récits africains: trois de l'époque précoloniale (l'épopée de Soundiata; la chronique des dynasties royales nyoro; la vie du roi Zoulou, Chaka) et trois romans modernes (A. Hampaté Ba, L'étrange destin du Wangrin; C. Ekwensi, Jaqua Nana; Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Devil on the Cross).

La question centrale de tous ces récits est le conflit entre la conservation des capacités reproductives de la sphère domestique et l'élan vers la transcendence de l'individu héroique et son entourage. Les deux groupes de récits possèdent une conception ‘zero sum’, de l'économie: leurs héros ne peuvent rien ajouter aux capacités reproductives collectives; ils ne peuvent que les menacer ou leur foumir une protection contre les menaces extérieures.

Les récits précoloniaux présentent un rapport très complexe entre les impératifs de la rèproduction et les carrières publiques de leurs héros. Ces héros sont des créateurs de nouvelles institutions et identités collectives, mais leurs actions et leurs personnalités entrent en conflit avec les besoins de la réproduction agricole et sexuelle); finalement, les héros sont légitimes parce qu'ils défendent la société contre des menaces extérieures encore plus dangereuses qu'eux-mêmes.

Les héros dans les trois romans modernes se conforment plus à une autre figure de la littérature précoloniale absente de cette analyse: le décepteur ou sorcier, qui essaie de se promouvoir par des moyens entièrement personnels et dèstructifs. Ces héros ne sont jamais les créateurs de valeurs publiques, mais ils menacent néanmoins la rèproduction par des moyens divers, surtout leur collaboration très compromettarite avec des forces extérieures dangereuses, en particulier les Européens dominants. Ekwensi et Ngugi présentent aussi un socialisme africain comme alternative aux conditions qu'ils observent, mais la force de ces images positives n'arrive jamais à contester la place du portrait de la déviance.

Type
Crime and colonialism in Africa
Information
Africa , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , October 1986 , pp. 385 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1986

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