Postcolonial Cityscapes: Spatial Politics and Moral Geography in Achebe and Kan

Most postcolonial African novels depict the city space in relation to smaller, less gentrified fields such as towns and villages. Such schemata unveil a wide range of complexities that lend themselves to spatial analysis. This paper interrogates the ideas of space, mobility, and spatial movements in two African novels set in cities. Using Bertrand Westphal’s geocritical theory, the study explores how significant spaces affect—and are affected by—politics, gender, economics, and sexuality in Nigerian postcolonial novels, namely Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Toni Kan’s The Carnivorous City. As a literary theory, geocriticism examines the relationship between literature and geography. Following Westphal’s ideas, both novels are analysed textually to map the extent to which space and spatiality are meaning-giving. Achebe, widely regarded as the progenitor of the modern African novel, centralises the African city as an icon of the postcolonial margin heading inexorably toward the centre. Kan’s City interrogates what it means to be in Lagos (a centre) as opposed to Asaba, which functions as a relative margin. In both novels, space is construed as a living construct that shapes and is shaped by the social, moral, and political workings of the cities. A decision to circumvent these spatial hierarchies—moving toward a different space—may result in debilitating consequences for the traveller. Ultimately, this study reveals that African postcolonial spatial analysis yields critical insights into the lived experiences, conditioned behaviours, and cultural meanings of both marginal and central urban spaces.