Humanizing Fiction: How Chinua Achebe and Chris Abani Build the Foundations of Peace for Nigeria in their Novels

Abstract

In Nigeria, novelists Chinua Achebe and Chris Abani address longstanding dehumanization between tribal factions and British colonizers in their novels to build the foundations of peace on a personal and national level. These two authors achieve rehumanization and peacebuilding in three fundamental ways: rehumanizing the ?other,? building an identity, and reestablishing agency. Throughout this paper, I will highlight the ways in which Abani and Achebe use their novels with maximum efficiency to appeal to readers on a human level, heal the wounds that perpetuate the divisions between groups, and promote a sense of empowerment that allows individuals and communities to work toward peace on their own terms. Through rewriting their own history, rehumanizing their characters, and encouraging readers to see the other side of their conflict, Achebe and Abani address two separate conflicts on the Nigerian scene. Their fiction sets demonstrates a variety of ways in which peacebuilding can be applied on a national level in countries everywhere as one branch of a well-rounded approach to reconciliation.