Colonial Impact on the African Child: The Case of Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions

Abstract

The African child has always been an under-explored entity in the discussion of colonialism as regards its effects on the African society. The nature and quantum of destruction colonialism exerted on African natives aside the brutal effects of slavery. This work focuses on the experiences of the African child in the colonised society in a bid to discover how colonial legacies influence the present growth and future life of Africans. Due to colonial impact, the African child is in a constant struggle to discover his or her true identity. The child is found to be a divided self and always spends his/her days in psychological stress. He or She is constantly in search of self-identity. The society makes this discovery harder because, it finds it difficult to accept the hybridised child as one of its own children. The societal ignorance of the plight of the African child in this search for identity worsens his/her psychological injuries and further alienates the child from her people, thereby leaving the child stranded in a place of confusion. Employing Postcolonial theory in its interpretation and interrogation, this study investigates Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, focusing on the impact of colonialism on the African child. It is discovered that colonialism left Africans culturally and psychologically dislocated; and that parents will always transmit this “infection” unto their children, who suffer the disease. This research recommends further exploration of the state of the African child in the present society and calls on the African government to help her children recover from the perplexities imposed on them by colonial extremities.