Chinua Achebe and the Igbo-African World: Between Fiction, Fact, and Historical Representation explores Chinua Achebe’s literary works and how they communicated the Igbo-African world to readers. Engaging in the politics of representation, Achebe sought to demystify deterministic views of race and cultural ethnocentrism. While his books and commentaries have been very influential in shaping a unique and multifaceted view of the African world, some scholars have challenged Achebe’s representations of historical reality. Through in-depth analyses of his writing, contributors examine the interpretations Achebe imposed on African culture and history in his texts. The chapters cover Achebe’s engagement with critical issues like historical representation, gender relations, and indigenous political institutions in a changing society. Throughout, contributors present new ways for understanding Achebe's literary works and show how his work draws from African historical reality and identity while challenging Western epistemological hegemony.

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Introduction: Chinua Achebe, Writing Culture, and the Politics of Representations Chima J. Korieh and Ijeoma C. NwajiakuPart I. Chinua Achebe and Igbo-African RealitiesChapter 1: Causality in Selected Cultural Novels by Chinua Achebe: Perspectives in Igbo MetaphysicsB. E. NwigweChapter 2: (Re)Discovering the Igbo Oral Tradition in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the SavannahAlassane Abdoulaye DiaChapter 3: Symbols and Images in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall ApartNureni Oyewole FadareChapter 4: Igbo Communal Ethos: A Reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart &Arrow of GodIjeoma NwajiakuChapter 5: Things Fall Apart and Igbo Leadership: Learning and Unlearning the Lessons of Okonkwo’s Life N. Tony NwaezeigweChapter 6: Achebe and the Pedagogy of Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Gleanings from Arrow of GodIjeoma C. Nwajiaku Part II: Chinua Achebe and Politics of RepresentationChapter 7: Chinua Achebe’s “‘Chi’ in Igbo Cosmology”: Revisiting a ClassicChijioke AzuawusiefeChapter 8: Discourse, Imagination, and Models of Resistance: Re-reading Arrow of GodIfi AmaduimeChapter 9: The Collision of Asymmetric Civilizations—A Reading of Things Fall ApartIhechukwu C. Madubuike Chapter 10: (Re)Memorising Igbo Traditions in Achebe’s Arrow of God: A Psychoanalytical StudyLinda Jummai Mustafa Part III: Achebe, History, and the National QuestionChapter 11: Telling Africa’s Story: Chinua Achebe and the Power of NarrativesChijioke AzuawusiefeChapter 12: Narrativizing History: Chinua Achebe and the Politics of InterpretationAnwesha DasChapter 13: Achebeism and the Nigerian Leadership ProblemAda Uzoamaka AzodoChapter 14: Chinua Achebe as a Voice of Reason on the Nigerian Crisis: A Historical Look at the Larger PictureOdigwe A. NwaokochaChapter 15: Chinua Achebe and the National QuestionBernard Steiner Ifekwe

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