The (dis)integration of post-colonial Africa in A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul - DOI: 10.4025/actascilangcult.v32i1.4737

Abstract

This work aims at reflecting upon the consequences of European imperialism in a fictitious African city, supposedly situated in Zaire, represented by V. S. Naipaul in A Bend in the River (1979). The article investigates the lack of integration between different social spheres, which were formed in East Africa, after the immigration of Indians and Asians as indentured workers. Different excerpts of the novel that focus on the consequences of the inter-racial relationships between different characters in the narrative will be analyzed. The conclusion is that A Bend in the River reveals that the divide and rule policy, put into practice by the European colonizer, influenced the construction of a society that is fragmented, unequal, hierarchical and deterministic. Naipaul’s pessimism supports the racist ideology of colonialism, which preaches the assumption by the black Africans of the superiority of the white Europeans, reaffirming the latter’s right to oppress and dominate the colonized people. The theoretical field is based on the works of Avtar Brah, Edward Said, Michael Gorra.