Identity as Life & Death in My Name Is Okoro

Onyekachi Peter Onuoha; Lilian Onyinye Ohanyere

doi:10.33096/tamaddun.v20i2.167

Onyekachi Peter Onuoha Department of Modern Languages and Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria
Lilian Onyinye Ohanyere Department of Modern Languages and Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v20i2.167

Keywords: Identity, denial, new criticism, minority, majority, ethnicity

Abstract

History provides the framework for literary production and the corroboration of historical controversies. Identity is implicated in the controversy of My Name is Okoro. This paper, through the application of new criticism as an analytic framework, examines identity as a thin line between life and death in My Name is Okoro. It further examines how identity is self-definition and survival. Many scholars have focused their literary analysis on the effects of the Nigerian Civil War without paying attention to the role of naming and identification during the war. This study also highlights that in times of crisis, identity protect the individuals who are associated with the side that wills more physical and military power. Identity is factor that affects the survival of individual in the society. This paper concludes that those of minority extraction as well as the Igbo of the Eastern region suffered greatly as a result of their identity in My Name is Okoro.

References

Ebegbulem C, J. (2011). Ethnic politics and conflicts in Nigeria: Theoretical perspective..” Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(1).

Emenyonu, E. N. (1973). Post-War Writing in Nigeria. African Issues, 3(2), 49-54.

Greenblatt, S. (1989). Toward a Poetics of Culture" dalam The New Historicism (H. aram Veeser, Ed) New York and London.

Mbarachi, C. S., & Igwenyi, E. (2018). Language, identity and the cultural context of names in selected Nigerian novels. International journal of language and literature, 6(1), 29-37.

Nwanyanwa, U. A., & Anasiudu, O. 2019). “Trauma of a Nation and the Narrative of Suffering in Chimananda Ngozi Adichie’s half of Yellow Sun.” Journal of Innovative Literature, Language & Art Studies, 2(1).

Ohanyere, L. O., & Bassey, O. (2016). ‘’La crise d’identité des immigrés africains en Europe dans Labyrinthe des sentiments de Tahar Ben Jalloun.’’ Le Bronze: University of Benin Journal of French Studies, 2(6).

Omaka, A. O. (2014). The forgotten victims: Ethnic minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra war, 1967-1970. Journal of retracing Africa, 1(1), 25-40.

Omatsye, S. (2016). My name is Okoro. Sunshot Associate.

Onuoha, O. P. (2018a). Diaspora digital literature: role reversal and the construction of self in selected Ikheloa’s autobiographies. International Journal of Pedagogy, Innovation and New Technologies, 5, 33-42.

Onuoha, O. P. (2018b). “The Interface between Self, History and Literature in Chris Anyokwu’s Naked Truth.” Journal of Languages Linguistics, and Literary Studies, 5.

Osonwa, O. K., & Duke, E. U. (2018). Socio-Demographic Determinants of Hypertension Among The Elderly In Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State. Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Research and Development Perspectives, 7(2), 198-207.

Rosenblum, K. E., & Travis, T. M. C. (1996). The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex. McGraw-Hill.

Uchendu, E. (2010). Women and in the Nigerian Civil War Conflict. Africa World Press, Inc, 2007. United Nations. Minority Rights: International Standards and Guidance for Implementation.