African Traditional Practices as a Counterbalance to Western Democracy: A Post-Colonial Appraisal of Terhemba Shija’s The Siege, The Saga

Abstract

This paper examines African Traditional Practices as a Counterbalance to Western Democracy using Terhemba Shija’s The Siege, The Saga. The colonial era had a significant cultural influence on the colonized. Though it seems a thing of the past, its remnants still linger till date. As such certain critics are of the opinion that it is “progressive” and yet to be completely erased. One of the objectives of the paper is to examine the traditional African beliefs using Tiv culture. The theoretical framework used for this paper is postcolonialism. The method used for the paper is analytical method. The paper finds out that African culture is a treasure to behold. The paper also finds out that, the treasure of African which is worth beholding has been tempered by the Western culture. Post colonialism therefore, is an attempt to create a balance between past cultures and “progressive” cultures. Thus, this research work intends to appraise Terhemba Shija’s novel, The Siege, The Saga using the post-colonial theory of criticism. The paper shall bring to bear the aspects of traditional African practices in the novel and the effect of Western civilization on the African worldview, using the Tiv example.