POSTCOLONIAL TRAUMA

SOCIOPOLITICAL REPRESSION AND MENTAL DISINTEGRATION IN STEPHEN KEKEGHE’S BROKEN EDGES

Abstract

Postcolonial African creative writers have always explored realistically the undesirable conditions that attended independence in the various African states in their works. They have, therefore, revealed through their works various economic and sociopolitical challenges facing Africa. They have also gone a step further to expose the mental and physical implications of these challenges on the generality of the people. The sole aim is to create awareness and install a morally upright society. This work examines the impacts of postcolonial repression on the mental health condition of the masses by interrogating the theme of mental insanity in Stephen  Kekeghe’s Broken Edges. Through a qualitative and critical analysis of the text, it is observed that leadership failure is a significant stressor of human health. This, in turn, elicits different psychotic conditions. This work is anchored on the psychoanalytic and postcolonial trauma theories, which help to highlight the relationship between literature and the human experiences of suffering as well as their effects on human mental health. The choice of the primary text is informed by its vivid and realistic portrayal of the challenges of contemporary Nigerian society and its effects on the psyche of the Nigerian masses.