The dynamics of memory and identity in abdulrazak gurnah’s paradise

Abstract

This work, entitled “The Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Abdulrazak Gurnah‟s Paradise”, investigates and analyses the intricacies involved in the concept of memory and identity. By so doing, it shows the effect of racism, slavery and colonialism on the collective psyche of the postcolonial subject as well as how the manner in which the mode of remembrance of these past events affect their sense of self. The work proceeds to explore the various means and strategies by which characters in the novel try to make sense of the past in order to redefine and achieve a meaningful sense of self. To achieve this, the work shows how political, economic and cultural forces can manipulate memory and how an unfaithful remembrance of the past can affect characters‟ sense of self. The work also projects how characters in the novel manage to deconstruct faulty modes and outcomes of memory as a means of asserting the self. Finally, it discusses the means by which aspects of memory can be tackled among Cameroonian students in a bid to protect them from the pitfalls of unwholesome memory practices that lead to identity crises. In view of the above, the work is predicated on the contention that Abdulrazak Gurnah‟s Paradise portrays how erroneous modes of remembrance enhance falsehood and identity crises. It also proved that the whole question of colonized/colonizer is a product of warped and refracted reconsideration of the issue of dispossession and that there are possibilities of re-engaging with the past productively in order to reconstruct a viable selfhood. Analysed against the backdrop of the Postcolonial Theory and the New Historicism, the work sums up that despite the corruption or adulteration of the postcolonial memory, there exist unexplored modes of remembering that could be explored in order to reconstruct a once-damaged sense of identity.