Christianity and the African Counter-Discourse in Achebe and Beti

Christianity and the African Counter-Discourse in Achebe and Beti: Cultures in Dialogue, Contest and Conflict intervenes, in light of African literary products, the history of Christianity in Africa in late 19th and early 20th centuries, goes beyond the existing clichés about the operations of the European Christian missionaries whether Protestant or Catholic in Africa, and opens alternative ways to read the chain of missionary-native African, and missionary-European colonists relationships. Christian missionaries did not come to Africa for: their own interests, the Christianization of Africa, European colonial projects, the interests of Africans, the establishment of European civilization in Africa, but came for all. Once, there was a dialogue between the Christian missionaries and pagan Africans which was in time replaced by contest for superiority, and finally by conflict. Accordingly, the countenance of the continent has changed forever.

Ali Yigit is an Assistant Professor of English at the Department of Western Languages and Literatures, Kirklareli University, Turkey. He was born in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Fatih University, Turkey. His research interests include but not limited to: Literatures in English, postcolonial studies, eco-criticism, literary and cultural theories, and popular culture. He has recently published "Nowhere at Ease: Listening to Syrian Refugee Trauma in Christy Lefteri's The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019)" in Journal of European Studies, and "Reflections on Kenya's Economic Impasses: Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Matigari and Wizard of the Crow" in Research in African Literatures (2022).

Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: COVERING ACHEBE AND BETI IN AFRICAN LITERATURE CHAPTER 2: CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES TAKE ROOT IN WEST AFRICA CHAPTER 3: THE INFLUENCES OF CHRISTIANITY AND MISSIONARIES ON ACHEBE AND BETI Achebe and Beti Appropriate European Values CHAPTER 4: READING ACHEBE AND BETI IN LIGHT OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY CHAPTER 5: MISSIONARY PORTRAYALS IN THE NOVELS BY ACHEBE AND BETI CHAPTER 6: THINGS FALL APART AND ARROW OF GOD Local Informants Affirmative Missionary Images Arrow of God Local Informants Advantages Coming with Missionaries CHAPTER 7: THE POOR CHRIST OF BOMBA AND KING LAZARUS In the Mission: Native Africans Positive Missionary Images, and Father Drumont's Self-Confrontation King Lazarus Imitating the White Man Positive Missionary Portrayals and Paradoxes CONCLUSION Comparative Evaluation ofthe Christian Missionaries in the Selected Authors The Counter-Discourse Against Missionary and Colonial Discourses BIBLIOGRAPHY