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Writing Africa, Righting America: An Experience of Otherness in J. P. Clark's America, their America
Version 1
: Received: 9 November 2020 / Approved: 10 November 2020 / Online: 10 November 2020 (13:54:41 CET)
How to cite: Ayodeji, A. Writing Africa, Righting America: An Experience of Otherness in J. P. Clark's America, their America. Preprints 2020, 2020110317. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0317.v1 Ayodeji, A. Writing Africa, Righting America: An Experience of Otherness in J. P. Clark's America, their America. Preprints 2020, 2020110317. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202011.0317.v1
Abstract
Considered one of the finest first-generation Nigerian writers, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, who passed away on 13th October, 2020, had been categorised as a Eurocentric writer. This work assesses the authenticity or otherwise of this critics’ perception of Clark by critiquing his America, their America. By analysing this autobiography vis-à-vis the notion of self and other which is a theoretical concern in contemporary travel writing, it was established, among other things, that every culture has its dark sides which it must not feel too proud to change as time and situation demand; that Clark vehemently rejects the Americans’ claim of sophistication and superiority of their culture over African culture. The paper concludes that contemporary travel writing should be a rightful site for negotiating cultural, political and diplomatic compromises between the Self and the Other since the gulf may be difficult to close altogether.
Keywords
Eurocentric, autobiography, travel writing, travel writing, culture, diplomatic
Subject
Social Sciences, Tourism, Leisure, Sport and Hospitality
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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