A Fanonian Reading of Jamal Mahjoub’s In the Hour of Signs (1996)
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Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University
Abstract
This present research paper has studied Jamal Mahjoub’s In the Hour of Signs (1996) from a Fanonian perspective elaborated in his book The Wretched of the Earth (1963). It begins with a chapter on the background of the Mahdist revolution in Sudan and its reflection in the novel in order to provide context to the analyses that follow. Within the framework of Fanon’s theory of violence, our research has examined the Turco-Egyptian and British colonial regimes’ use of violence to establish and maintain their rule over Sudan. This kind of rule led to the emergence of the Mahdist revolutionary movement which aimed to liberate Sudan by confronting the colonizers’ violence with the counter-violence of the colonized. Despite the fact that the movement was decisively exterminated by the British at the Battle of Omdurman, the Mahdists’ use of force enabled them to win many previous battles, subjugate many parts of Sudan and capture Khartoum. Then, our research has examined the rejection of the colonialists’ ideologies by the Mahdists, who always favoured their own beliefs and traditional systems, and the subversion of colonialism through irony and satirization. The latter is seen, for example, in the Mahdists mockery on the ideology of colonialism itself, their ironic defeat of Hicks’ army and the satirical description of the Bash-Buzuq. Throughout our analyses, we have concluded that Mahjoub’s novel is historical; colonialism is a violent rule which must be withdrawn by greater violence; and that the colonialists and their ideologies are always rejected and mocked on by the colonized.
Description
60p. ; 30cm(+CD-Rom)
Keywords
British intervention, colonialism, counter-violence, decolonization, Fanon, irony, Mahdists, rejection, satirization, Turco-Egyptian rule, violence
Citation
Literature and Civilization