Africa’s Postcolonial Dystopia
and the Role of Intellectuals in Paul B. Vitta’s Fathers of
Nations 2013
Julia Njeri Karumba1, Nicholas
Kamau Goro2
ABSTRACT
This paper examines dystopia in
postcolonial African countries. Dystopia in this context refers to
the dysfunctional state of affairs arising as a result of poor
governance and external interference especially from the West. The
paper also examines the role of the intellectual elite in awakening
national consciousness among the oppressed citizens in African
postcolonial countries as seen through Paul B. Vitta’s satirical eye
in Fathers of Nations (2013). In postcolonial Africa, ‘Father
of Nation’ is a gendered term that refers to a head of state, mostly
those men who rose to power after the struggle for independence.
These so-called fathers assume the patriarch’s role in the
leadership of the nation. These patriarchs have given Africa’s
postcolonial leadership a reputation as autocrats who whimsically
dictate the fate of their nations. In this paper, we examine the
satirical presentation of the ‘Fathers of Nations’ in Vitta’s
Fathers of Nations (2013). Anchored on Antonio Gramsci’s concept
on hegemony, the paper highlights the critical role played by the
intellectuals in countering the hegemony of Africa’s political
leadership and their capitalist allies in the West. The paper comes
to the conclusion that external influence from the west and
inefficiencies of the autocratic African leaders are the root cause
of dystopia in Africa. The paper also concludes that even though the
intellectual and professional elites are swayed by external forces
from the west and ruling class, they play a crucial role in
agitating for change.
