Ideology In Four Ethiopian Novels In English

The objective of this study is to explore and analyse general, authorial and aesthetic ideologies asrnreflected in four Ethiopian novels in English - Dagnachew’s The Thirteenth Sun, SahlesrnSilassie’s Firebrands, Nega Mezlekia’s The God Who Begat a Jackal, and Maaza Mengiste’srnBeneath the Lion’s Gaze. Qualitative literary analysis based on mainly Marxist literaryrnperspective has been used to analyze the ideologies in the novels. Althusser’s Ideology andrnIdeological State apparatus, Gramsci’s hegemony, and Foucault’s idea of power, discourse andrnknowledge and van Dijk’s concept of ideology and discourse have been used to approach therngeneral ideologies and their reproduction as reflected in the novels selected. All the novelsrnanalyzed satirize the contradicting ideologies and their reproductions in different epochs. It wasrnfound out that religious, familial, academic social/power relations and media and culturalrnpractices played a great role in the reproduction/discourses of the contradicting ideologies in thernnovels selected. All the novels under study are Marxist-oriented literary texts; and they reflectrneconomic conditions, class formation and resistance done for social transformation. They satirizernthe base and superstructure; they reflect how the ruling feudal class used the land, exploited thernsociety, and used both the ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) and repressive state apparatusesrn(RSAs) to reproduce its feudal class ideology. Maaza’s novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, reflectsrnalso the reproduction of contradicting ideologies that existed during the reign of the MilitaryrnRule, Dergue, in addition to its reflection of the social realities in the reign of the monarchy. Thernnovels analyzed also satirize organic intellectuals’ discourses of resistance. It has been found outrnthat all the novels analyzed are realist literary works though Daniachew’s The Thirteenth Sun andrnNega’s The God who Begat a Jackal share some features of modernist and postmodernist modesrnof literary writings respectively in their form. All the novels have also been found committed tornthe cause of the organic intellectuals; and this is confirmed in the authorial ideology of eachrnnovel analyzed.

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