The Postmodernist Spirit In Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Petals Of Blood

Résumé: Abstract Deconstructing the hierarchical binary opposition of self and other, centre and the margin is one of the major particularities and the corner stone of both postmodernism and postcolonialism, and since Ngugi wa Thiong‘o and Homi Bhabha are postcolonial and postmodern writers and their works share commonality with both postmodernism and postcolonialism, the present study aims at exploring the elements of postmodernism in Ngugi Petals of Blood from a socio-historical perspective. The appropriate approach for the research is the postcolonial theory. The study is an attempt to examine Homi Bhabha‘s concepts of hybridity, ambivalence and mimicry to highlight the cultural degradation in Kenya after independence, and reveal the ideological misconception of discourse to explicate the literary concern of postmodernism in Ngugi‘s novel. Thus, this research will focus on Homi Bhabha‘s theoretical framework of resistance premised in terms of cultural encounters and preferences and using a debate of complicating the cultural contact and interaction. Seen in this light, this dissertation will reach the point that Ngugi‘s Petals of Blood is a postmodern novel and epitomizes the postmodern transformation of Third World nations which resulted on the European colonialism in such countries, and how the colonial hegemonic power robs African cultures and history. The study will also offer a voluminous analysis of the intersection between two major theoretical frameworks; postmodernism and postcolonialism as necessary literary structures of this study. Key Words:

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