{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32430"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32430","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Mourning and melancholy: a comparative study on Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera","abstract":"This study explores the modernist subjectivity in Africa by revisiting two major poets, Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera. It argues that the modernist self is created in the form of melancholy and mourning. The main question is to see how the African modernist subjectivity is constructed through poetry. As subjects of colonialism, both Okigbo and Marechera sought to establish new links combining them with the mainstream Euromodernist movement along with their own spiritual roots. In the sense of the construction of a modernist self, the main predicament they have to challenge is the Western knowledge system which infiltrated into mindsets through colonial dominion. Thus, Okigbo and Marechera enact a certain type of positionality strategy to claim their own poetic utterance. By invoking natural and spiritual images the poets demonstrate their affiliation to their roots. The process of mourning, here, becomes a passage through which the poets claim their strong allegiances to their roots. The sense of absence leads the poets to mourn their remote past or culture. The poets' relation with the past determines the dynamics of subjectivity. The idea of the past is so tempting and tantalising in many ways.","abstract_html":"This study explores the modernist subjectivity in Africa by revisiting two major poets, Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera. It argues that the modernist self is created in the form of melancholy and mourning. The main question is to see how the African modernist subjectivity is constructed through poetry. As subjects of colonialism, both Okigbo and Marechera sought to establish new links combining them with the mainstream Euromodernist movement along with their own spiritual roots. In the sense of the construction of a modernist self, the main predicament they have to challenge is the Western knowledge system which infiltrated into mindsets through colonial dominion. Thus, Okigbo and Marechera enact a certain type of positionality strategy to claim their own poetic utterance. By invoking natural and spiritual images the poets demonstrate their affiliation to their roots. The process of mourning, here, becomes a passage through which the poets claim their strong allegiances to their roots. The sense of absence leads the poets to mourn their remote past or culture. The poets' relation with the past determines the dynamics of subjectivity. The idea of the past is so tempting and tantalising in many ways.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Akcay, Ahmet Sait"],"institution":"School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Garuba, Harry"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020","date_published":"2020","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:19Z","subjects":["African Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32430","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Garuba, Harry"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Akcay, Ahmet Sait"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2020-12-22T10:34:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-12-22T10:34:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters","MPhil"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["African Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32430"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study explores the modernist subjectivity in Africa by revisiting two major poets, Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera. It argues that the modernist self is created in the form of melancholy and mourning. The main question is to see how the African modernist subjectivity is constructed through poetry. As subjects of colonialism, both Okigbo and Marechera sought to establish new links combining them with the mainstream Euromodernist movement along with their own spiritual roots. In the sense of the construction of a modernist self, the main predicament they have to challenge is the Western knowledge system which infiltrated into mindsets through colonial dominion. Thus, Okigbo and Marechera enact a certain type of positionality strategy to claim their own poetic utterance. By invoking natural and spiritual images the poets demonstrate their affiliation to their roots. The process of mourning, here, becomes a passage through which the poets claim their strong allegiances to their roots. The sense of absence leads the poets to mourn their remote past or culture. The poets' relation with the past determines the dynamics of subjectivity. The idea of the past is so tempting and tantalising in many ways."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mourning and melancholy: a comparative study on Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Garuba, Harry"],"dc:creator":["Akcay, Ahmet Sait"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2020-12-22T10:34:41Z"],"dc:date.available":["2020-12-22T10:34:41Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2020"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study explores the modernist subjectivity in Africa by revisiting two major poets, Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera. It argues that the modernist self is created in the form of melancholy and mourning. The main question is to see how the African modernist subjectivity is constructed through poetry. As subjects of colonialism, both Okigbo and Marechera sought to establish new links combining them with the mainstream Euromodernist movement along with their own spiritual roots. In the sense of the construction of a modernist self, the main predicament they have to challenge is the Western knowledge system which infiltrated into mindsets through colonial dominion. Thus, Okigbo and Marechera enact a certain type of positionality strategy to claim their own poetic utterance. By invoking natural and spiritual images the poets demonstrate their affiliation to their roots. The process of mourning, here, becomes a passage through which the poets claim their strong allegiances to their roots. The sense of absence leads the poets to mourn their remote past or culture. The poets' relation with the past determines the dynamics of subjectivity. The idea of the past is so tempting and tantalising in many ways."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32430"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling"],"dc:subject":["African Studies"],"dc:title":["Mourning and melancholy: a comparative study on Christopher Okigbo and Dambudzo Marechera"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters","MPhil"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:19Z"}