Things Fall Apart

1. Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

2. Chinua Achebe • B. 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria (Africa) • Perhaps the most widely-read African novelist • Achebe's work is primarily interested in Africanpolitics, the depiction of Africa and Africans in the West, and the effects of colonization on African societies.

3. Chinua Achebe • Famous for attacking Western views of Africa. For example, criticizing books about Africa written by Europeans. • One goal was to teach his readers that Africa’s history was “not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them (the peoples of Africa).”

4. CHINUA ACHEBE

5. Nigeria Most populous country in Africa, twice the size of California Large oil supplier to the U.S. Under British rule from 1890 until 1960, when independence was finally achieved From 1966-1999, Nigeria was ruled by a series of military dictators

7. Nigeria Democracy was finally established in 1999. This history of violence & oppression affected Achebe and telling this story became one of his purposes in writing Things Fall Apart.

8. Things Fall Apart Set in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s or sometime during the British conquest of Nigeria, which lasted from 1890-1906 Written in 1958 while Nigeria was still under colonial rule About the clash b/n the traditional Ibo (native) culture, & the missionaries & colonizers of Britain

9. Things Fall Apart • Achebe’s purposes in writing this novel: • Inform the outside world about Ibo cultural traditions • Remind his own people of their past & declare that it had value • Address the Western perception of Africa as “the Dark Continent”

10. THE IBO PEOPLE AKA: Igbo Almost all Nigerians are black Africans. The country has more than 250 different ethnic groups which differ from one another in language and in some of their customs and traditions. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa, the Yoruba, and the Igbo/Ibo. We will research the Ibo people and their unique culture in an upcoming activity in Unit Three: Stay tuned.

11. IBO VILLAGE SCENE

12. A MUD HOUSE

13. A NIGERIAN FARM LIKE OKONKWO’S

14. IBO WARRIORS

15. IBO WRESTLERS

16. IBO DANCERS

17. EGWUGWU

18. IBO MEN AND BOYS

19. NIGERIAN DANCE MASK

20. A CHRISTIAN CHURCH

21. SOURCES FOR PICTURES http://lindseyfidler.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html http://www.everyculture.com http://www.unc.edu/~hhalpin/ThingsFallApart/links.html http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/en/student/achebe/chinua/igbo.htm

22. A FAMOUS DESCENDENT OF AN IBO SLAVE…Blair Underwood, Actor