Postcolonial Trauma:

Abstract

This study examines the representation of postcolonial trauma in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Trauma has long been viewed from a Eurocentric perspective, purposely ignoring the struggles of formerly colonized people. Myriad studies tackle the trauma theory as a Western concern, where formerly colonized people are not viewed as psychologically wounded or traumatized. Thus, many postcolonial writers choose to address trauma in their works to get recognition of their people’s traumatic experiences. The dissertation demonstrates that Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun is a testimony of the postcolonial trauma which is provoked by the cruel events of the Biafran civil war. Drawing on trauma theories such as those of Cathy Caruth and Sigmund Freud, the study probes deep into trauma to understand the difference between individual and collective trauma and the effects of trauma on postcolonial people’s psyche. Furthermore, the study employs ideas of leading postcolonial theorists such as Frantz Fanon to demonstrate that postcolonial trauma is one of the legacies of colonialism. By discussing the novel’s thematic concerns as silence and racism and its narrative techniques such as self-reflexivity and polyvocality, the dissertation shows that postcolonial writers’ thematic and narrative choices create a unique voice that portrays trauma from a postcolonial perspective.