Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Prominent literary works from 16th to 20th century, such as Charles Chesnutt’s Marrow of Tradition and Dave’s Neckliss, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, vividly expose the psychological and cultural demise of colonized people of African descent. These works give voice to spiritual leaders, ancestors, and subjugated individuals who strive to prevail over, yet often succumb to, adverse circumstances that Eurocentric society attempts to impose on oppressed communities. Through the application of philosopher Frantz Fanon’s ideologies on colonization, oppression, and liberation, the theory that psychological domination colonizers impose on the colonized cultivates the desire of these oppressed individuals to become Black Eurocentric Saviors. The Black Eurocentric Savior strives to appease the colonizer by any means necessary, such as worshipping eurocentricity, demeaning other persons of African descent, or willing to kill himself or other people of African descent for prosperity within European societies. Chesnutt, Shakespeare, and Behn convey that subjugated people consciously and unconsciously exhibit defeat as they attempt to live by cultural traditions that continue to resound in colonized environments; oppressed individuals struggle to nurture mythical origins and pride that their ancestors instilled in them. When they are able conjure the ancestors, as done in African traditions, often they do so for the betterment of Eurocentric society. Through synthesization of Fanon’s theories on colonization with Chesnutt, Shakespeare, and Behn’s literary works, an inferential comprehension that Eurocentric praise and inferiority complexes of the past continue to resound in actions of subjugated individuals in present day literary and visual works.