THE AFRICAN MODERN MAN IN CONFLICT: WESTERNIZATION AND CULTURAL ALIENATION IN SONG OF LAWINO, SONG OF OCOL AND THE LION & THE JEWEL

ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 52 THE AFRICAN MODERN MAN IN CONFLICT: WESTERNIZATION AND CULTURAL ALIENATION IN SONG OF LAWINO, SONG OF OCOL AND THE LION & THE JEWEL MS. Anitcham PG Student, Department of English Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai [email protected] https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17283313 Abstract Africa as a continent was subjected to aggressive colonization in the late 1800s when European education systems, Christianity, and governance structures disrupted African societies, creating conflicts between Western and indigenous beliefs of Africa. This struggle led to the ambivalence of African identity among the educated Africans in the early 20th century, allowing them to stand between the crossroads of modernity and indigenous traditions. In the poetry collections, Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol, Okot p’Bitek tries to portray the tension through the character of Ocol. The Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka tries to invoke a similarly delusional modern man through the character of Lakunle in his play The Lion and the Jewel. These two characters can be considered as an embodiment of the African intellectual shaped by colonial education and caught in the contradictions of the post-independence era. This paper tries to explore the tension between Eurocentric ideals and indigenous beliefs in Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol by Okot p’Bitek and The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka through the characters of Ocol and Lakunle. It further tries to examine how African writers critique the incomplete process of decolonization and reveals the enduring psychological and cultural struggles faced by postcolonial societies in redefining themselves beyond colonial frameworks. Keywords: Hybridity, Post-colonialism, Cultural Alienation, Westernization, Mimicry, Ambivalence Introduction Colonialism was a part of Africa history since the age of Greeks and Romans who established a few colonies in North Africa. But the colonisation of Africa intensified in the late 19th century when European powers divided and occupied the continent following the Berlin’s Conference (1884–85). This event is considered as the ‘Scramble’ for Africa (Mazrui). Nations such as Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, and the newly unified Germany exploited Africa’s resources and labour to fulfil their material requirements while enforcing Western political, economic, and cultural systems and ideologies onto the indigenous population. Africa, the cradle of civilization, started to gradually loose its culture and identity due to the aftermath of imperialism and colonialism (Pakenham). As Michelle Le Baron notes, “culture is always a factor in conflict, whether it plays a central role or influences it subtly and gently. For any conflict that touches us where it matters, where we make meaning and hold our identities, there is always a cultural component” (LeBaron and Grundison). After Independence, African youth sought to reclaim their inherent identity, yet the lasting influence of colonial rule on African culture, education, and heritage led many of the future generation to mimic the traits of their former oppressors (Parker and Rathbone 91-100). The post-colonial theorist, Frantz Fanon describes this nature as a symptom of the ‘internalization’ or ‘epidermalization’ of his inferiority towards the white man (Fanon). The African man attempts to become ‘white’ to gain social acceptance, only to remain an outsider in both worlds. The ‘white mask’ that he wears, to conform in reaction to his assimilation and selfdenial, is never completely accepted. ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 53 Expanding on this, Homi Bhabha, in The Location of Culture, establishes the concept of ‘mimicry’ where the colonial subject creates an identity which is in constant ‘ambivalence’ and mimics the behaviour and characteristics of the hegemonic authority in an effort to acquire the same power and standing as the colonizer (Huddart). Such a conflict of identity is exemplified by the characters Ocol and Lakunle, whose adoption of Western ideas confines them between tradition and progress. The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka and Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol by Okot p’Bitek explores the conflict between tradition and modernity in postcolonial Africa where traces of the past rule remain predominant. The Lion and the Jewel follows the fight for hand of Sidi, the "jewel" of the village, in marriage. Lakunle, a young Western-educated school teacher who scorns African customs, and Baroka, the cunning aged village chief who seduces Sidi and eventually wins Sidi’s hand. Similarly, Song of Lawino is a dramatic epic poem in which Lawino, a traditional Acholi woman, laments how her husband, Ocol, has abandoned their culture in favour of European ways. In Song of Ocol, Ocol responds with disdain for traditional African life, fully embracing Western modernity. Psychological Alienation of the Colonized Subject Colonial powers imposed a hegemonic influence upon African culture, education and heritage leading the post-independent generation to mimic their former oppressors. The causation of this mimicry is the visceral effect of the ‘epidermalization’ or internalization of their inferiority complex. However, the imitation never grants true belonging, leaving them disconnected from both their indigenous roots and the colonial system. This reflects the lasting psychological and cultural tussle of postcolonial identity. In the foreword of Black Skin White Masks, Ziauddin Sardar explains this elaborately, “The entire purpose of his [the black man] behaviour is to emulate the white man… and thus hope to be accepted as a man.”, illustrating how the colonized internalize Western superiority and reject their own identity (Fanon). This phenomenon is reflected in the characters of Ocol (Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol) and Lakunle (The Lion and the Jewel), both of whom embody the concept of mimicry and alienation. Ocol, having received a colonial education, scorned his Acholi heritage and adopted European ideals, perceiving tradition as backward. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Homecoming (1983) notes that Ocol’s rejection of indigenous values is not simply a personal matter but a class-based conflict, where Ocol represents the Westernized African elite, alienated from the peasantry he once belonged to (93). Thiong’o further adds that Lawino’s critique of Ocol mirrors Fanon’s warning in The Wretched of the Earth where he opines that the “African intelligentsia” shaped by colonial education, deliberately betrays its people by denying its role and expectations, instead of leading true decolonization (94). Ocol is shrouded in smoke and mirrors by his Western ideals, which position him within a liminal space between two cultural identities. Lakunle in Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel is a caricature of colonial mimicry. He awkwardly adopts European customs without an overall understanding of it. His ill-fitting suit and exaggerated Western mannerisms reflect his disconnection in a similar fashion to Ocol. Through his character, Soyinka shows the dangers of blind imitation of western ideals without any well-rounded understanding. His misinterpretation of Western education, such as his belief that women’s brains are smaller than men’s, exemplifies it. Like Ocol, Lakunle’s attempts at modernization only serve to alienate him, illustrating Fanon’s argument that the western culture fails to grant true belonging and creates a colonized group of people “in whose soul an inferiority complex has been created by the death and burial of its cultural originality” (18). ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 54 The Failure of Mimicry in Education and Religion Both Ocol and Lakunle exemplify the dangers of blind Western mimicry, as their education alienates them from their people rather than empowering them. In Song of Lawino, Lawino laments that Ocol has “lost his head in the forest of books” (p’Bitek 116), suggesting that his colonial education has stripped him of his cultural identity. She further states that his and his fellow ‘young men’s’ “...manhood was finished / In the class-rooms,” where Lawino argues that Western schooling has emasculated African men like Ocol (p’Bitek 191). He borrows not only material goods but also his very thoughts and behaviours, seeking validation from the Western world while neglecting his own roots. His act of having an extramarital affair with a woman named Clementine, who bear a resemblance to the standards of a white woman adds to this validation. Likewise, in The Lion and the Jewel, Lakunle displays a distorted understanding of Western knowledge, citing books to justify his belief that “women have a smaller brain than men” (Soyinka 6), a claim that exposes his shallow grasp of the very ideals he tries to uphold. His misguided superiority is further challenged by Sidi, the beauty of the village, who mocks his Western pretensions, saying: “You and your ragged books, Dragging your feet to every threshold, And rushing them out again as curses Greet you instead of welcome.” (Soyinka 5) Here, Sidi ridicules Lakunle’s futile attempts to impose Western values on a society that rejects them. His preoccupation with books alienates him from the village, paralleling Ocol’s fate. Both characters, become products of colonial indoctrination, blindly imitating Western values without any critical understanding. Their education weakens and distorts their identity, reducing them to caricatures who have lost their sense of self in the pursuit of Western validation. The influence of Christianity in postcolonial Africa is deeply tied to the colonial agenda, as it was often used to undermine indigenous beliefs and enforce Western dominance and ethos (Irele and Gikandi). Christianity became an apparatus for colonization to the British. The colonizers denounced native traditions and cultures, using European languages to indoctrinate the African masses with Christian teachings (Amadiume). Ocol and Lakunle are an outlook of this enforcement as they embrace Christianity not as a personal faith but as a symbol of modernity and western affiliation. Ocol, despite being deeply religious, rejects traditional African spirituality as “foolish superstitions” (p’Bitek 95), demonstrating the internalized belief that African traditions are inferior. He actively destroys symbols of his heritage, smashing his father’s sacred drum and chasing away the diviner priest (p’Bitek 95), yet he unquestioningly wears a crucifix and upholds Christian rituals (p’Bitek 96), failing to see the commonalities between the two faiths. In the same way, Lakunle, a self-proclaimed ‘modern’ man, condemns all traditional religious beliefs, aligning himself with Christian ideals to distance himself from the so called ‘backwardness’. His dramatic declaration to Sidi, “Swear you will be my wife and I will stand against earth, heaven, and the nine hells” (Soyinka 8) establishes how he embraces a westernized worldview while disregarding indigenous cosmology. In both cases, Christianity becomes a tool of cultural alienation, reinforcing Bhabha’s notion of mimicry, where the colonized subject rejects their own heritage to gain acceptance in the Western order (Innes). However, as postcolonial reasoning evolved, many African Christians have begun to reassess missionary teachings, recognizing and integrating indigeneous spirituality which Ocol and Lakunle fail to consider (Adamo). ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 55 Mimicry as a Source of Conflict Lakunle in The Lion and the Jewel is portrayed as someone whose Western sensibilities are clumsy and exaggerated thereby exposing the absurdity of colonial influence. He ridicules traditional customs, particularly the bride price, calling it a "savage custom" and "the very thing that keeps the nation backward", yet he remains an outsider in his own society (Soyinka 8). When he condemns Baroka’s polygamous lifestyle and refusal to modernize, claiming that he is a man of “decay”, it is clear that his Western ideals do not grant him authority, nor do they earn him respect. In the end, he turns into a figure of ridicule for Sidi, who sees through his shallow understanding of progress. His mimicry destabilizes his identity, leaving him unable to assert any viable influence. In Song of Ocol, Ocol takes mimicry even further, he does not merely imitate western culture, but actively seeks to erase his own past. He rejects African traditions as primitive and aligns himself with Western notions of modernity, believing that true progress lies in abandoning his people’s customs. His proclamation, “Smash all these mirrors / That I may not see / The blackness of the past” (p’Bitek 132), reveals his internal conflict. However, rather than elevating him, his mimicry alienates him from his own people. Lawino mocks his obsession with European ideals, accusing him of becoming “a dog of the white man” (p’Bitek 118), exposing how his imitation does not bring true transformation, but instead highlights his disconnection from both African and Western identities. Together, Lakunle and Ocol embody Bhabha’s notion that mimicry is never complete. Their failed attempts at Westernization create instability rather than acceptance. Lakunle remains an object of mockery, while Ocol’s rejection of his heritage isolates him politically and socially. Their experiences illustrate how mimicry does not reinforce colonial authority but exposes its contradictions. This instability of identity is further illustrated in Bhabha’s argument that national identity is never fixed, as it is caught between a mythologized past and an evolving present (Bhabha). Ocol and Lakunle, in their attempts to embrace modernity, embody this contradiction, struggling between rejection of their heritage and the inability to fully assimilate into Western ideals. Lakunle’s condescending remark to Sidi, "what is a jewel to pigs?" (Soyinka 5), reveals his deep-seated belief in the inferiority of his own people. His use of colonial rhetoric, referring to his community as "savages," demonstrates his internalized superiority complex, yet he remains an object of ridicule himself. His adoption of Western speech and manners isolates him from the society, showing how mimicry creates an unstable and contested identity rather than true transformation. Ocol too takes mimicry to an extreme, not only rejecting tradition but actively wishing to erase his past. His desperate plea “Why was I born Black?” (p’Bitek 129), exemplifies the selfloathing that comes from colonial indoctrination. He sees Africanness as a burden rather than a source of identity, attempting to sever all ties to his heritage by smashing “all these mirrors” that reflect his past (p’Bitek 132). Ocol’s rejection of tradition leaves him fragmented, alienated, and politically destructive. This characteristic illustrates how he and his allies divide the nation in the name of modernity rather than leading it forward. In both their cases, culture becomes an important criterion of mimicry. As Bhabha suggests, “culture is always a factor in conflict, whether it plays a central role or influences it subtly and gently” (Bhabha). Unlike the colonizers, culture becomes rather a weak source of power to both Lakunle and Ocol. The imitation of the Western culture does not give any substantial power to either of the colonized subjects as mimicry has a subversive nature to it which unsettles colonial authority. ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 56 While both Ocol and Lakunle embody the ambivalence of cultural mimicry, their approach to asserting their Westernized identities differ. Ocol is aggressive and dismissive, rejecting Lawino outright and hurling insults instead of engaging in dialogue. His description of her words as “pork gone rancid” and “honeyed bloodied sour milk” (p’Bitek 95) reflects his complete contempt for indigenous traditions, seeing them as both seductive and repulsive. He does not attempt to reason with Lawino, but rather silences her, embodying the colonial elite's disdain for the “uneducated masses.” In contrast, Lakunle, despite his flaws, still engages in debate, as seen in his conversations with Sidi throughout the play. He may mock tradition, but he does not outright reject discussion in the way Ocol does. Both characters exemplify Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, existing in an ambivalent space where they imitate Western values but never fully belong (Ashcroft et al.136). Ocol’s aggressive rejection of his heritage and Lakunle’s naive adoption of Western ideals both create cultural tension rather than resolution, showing how colonial influence disrupts identity rather than reconstructing it. Instead of achieving modernity, they are trapped in a liminal state, neither fully African nor fully Western, reinforcing Bhabha’s idea that mimicry is always “almost the same, but not quite.” (89). Conclusion In the works Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol and The Lion and the Jewel, Lakunle and Ocol embody the literate African youth who were caught between Westernization and cultural alienation freshly after the conquest of colonial powers. Both characters mimic their oppressors, adopting Western culture and ideals owing to their belief that modernization equates to superiority. However, Lakunle’s misguided imitation makes him a subject of ridicule, while Ocol’s outright rejection of his heritage leaves him disconnected from his roots. They never question the reason for their psychological affinity towards the colonizer’s material and cultural characteristics and conform to the ideals of the West. Their experiences reflect Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, where mimicry creates tension rather than true assimilation. Frantz Fanon’s idea of internalized ‘epidermalization’ is also evident via Ocol’s selfloathing and desire to erase his past, as well as in Lakunle’s blind denial of indigenous customs. Ultimately, their failure to reconcile tradition with modernity underscores the deep and hegemonic impact of colonial influence on African identity, especially among the educated. References Adamo, David T. “Christianity and the African Traditional Religion(S): The Postcolonial Round of Engagement.” Verbum et Ecclesia, vol. 32, no. 1, AOSIS, Mar. 2011, https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v32i1.285. Ashcroft, Bill, et al. Key Concepts in Postcolonial Studies. Routledge, 1998 Bhabha, H. K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 2004. Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. Translated by C.L Markmann, Pluto Press, 2017. p’Bitek, O. Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol. Pearson Education, 1984. LeBaron, Michelle, and Bruce Grundison. Conflict and Culture: Research in Five Communities in British Columbia, Canada. Institute for Dispute Resolution, University of Victoria, 1993. Parker, John, and Richard Rathbone. African History : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2007 Soyinka, W. The Lion and the Jewel. Oxford University Press, 1963. Thiongʼo, N. Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics. L. Hill, 1983. ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 57 Irele, F. Abiola, and Simon Gikandi, editors. The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Mazrui, Ali A. “European Exploration and Africa’ Self-Discovery.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 7, no. 4, Dec. 1969, pp. 661–76, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00018887. Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa, 1876-1912. New York : Random House, 1991. Amadiume, Ifi. Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society. Zed Books, 1987. Huddart, David. Homi K. Bhabha. Routledge, 2006. Innes, C. L. The Cambridge Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures in English. Cambridge University Press, 2007.