Writing Cultural Memory in the Novel: The Sceptre of Authenticity by Makliwè Adaki
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55595/bjcm2z67Keywords:
African identity, identity crisis, cultural identity, modernityAbstract
African culture in step with the suggestions of democracy.
The African culture, in which men and women were forged to become the repository of the timeless values of courage, tact; truth; justice; and prodigality that nothing can tamper with, is dying in the face of modernity, which agitates money, power, material goods, and sex as values, and which are incompatible with African culture. African identity, now insipid, needs to rise from its ashes, and the novel The Scepter of Authenticity, which distills the flavor of African authenticity, serves as a benchmark for Africans whose modernity drowns out any authentic form of identity capable of a qualitative leap for an authentic African world. Adaki's The Scepter of Authenticity is an initiatory tale in which Solim, who reclaims his culture thanks to his monk uncle, symbolizes the urgent need for the modern African world to connect with the wealth of endogenous knowledge that is compatible in every respect and offers possibilities of adaptability for total and integrated development. To carry out our analysis, we will focus on Claude Duchet's sociocriticism to highlight the text's sociolect in the dynamics of identity authenticity.
Downloads
References
Adaki Makliwè, (2025), Le sceptre de l’authenticité, Lomé, Éditions Awoudy.
Ba Amadou Hampâté, (1996), Amkoullel l’enfant peul Mémoire, Ed j’ai lu.
Ba Amadou Hampâté, (2000), Contes initiatiques peuls, Paris, Ed Presses.
Bhabha Homi, (1994), Les lieux de la culture, Paris, Payot.
Blachère Claude, (1993), Négritudes. Les écrivains d’Afrique noire et la langue française, Paris, L’Harmattan.
Cheymol Marc, (2009), Littérature au Sud, Paris, Agence universitaire de la francophonie.
Cheymol Marc, (2009), Littératures au Sud, Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, Editions des Archives
Diop Samba, (2011), Oralité africaine, Paris, L’Harmattan
Durand Gilbert, (1969), Les structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire, Paris, Dunod.
Gautier Théophile, (1834), Préface de son roman Mademoiselle de Maupin, Classiques Garnier.
Goldmann Lucien, (1959), Le Dieu caché, Paris, Gallimard.
Makouta M’boukou Jean-Pierre, (1980), Introduction à l’étude du roman négro-africain de langue française, Nouvelles Editions africaines.
Moura Jean-Marc, (2025), Littératures francophones et théorie postcoloniale, Paris, Puf.
N’da Pierre, (2016), Manuel de méthodologie et de la rédaction de la thèse de doctorat et du mémoire de master, Paris, L’Harmattan
Said Edward, (1978), L’orientalisme, USA, Vintage Books.
Sartre Jean-Paul, (1948), Qu’est-ce que la littérature ? Paris, Gallimard.
Senghor Sédar, (1964), Léopold, Liberté 1 : Négritude et humanisme, Paris, Seuil.
Torreo Nazaré, (2004), Littératures, savoirs et enseignement, Bordeaux, Presses universitaire
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Article licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Articles carrying this licence may be copied and shared for noncommercial purposes, provided that the authors and journal are credited, copyright notices are retained and a link to the licence is supplied.
No distribution of adaptations: a translation, rewriting or other adapted version may not be distributed under this licence without separate permission from the rights holder. Statutory exceptions remain applicable.
Earlier versions: permissions already validly granted, including under CC BY-NC 4.0, remain in force. PDFs accompanied by the bilingual notice dated 3 October 2026 specify the licence of the distributed version and preserve the original pages as historical material.
