BETWEEN THE HOSTS AND THE GUESTS: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL TRAUMA IN KEHINDE AKANO’S EMIRATE BLUES AND HOME RESIDENCE

Recent literary theorisation of trauma entails an emphasis on sociological approaches aimed at creating a cultural framework that is devoid of the perceived Eurocentric mode of the ‘classical’ psychoanalytic trauma theory. This movement away from the mono-cultural, individualistic bias of the Caruthian psychoanalytic trauma theory causes the birth of Alexander’s cultural trauma theory with its empirical approach to literary trauma representation. This study primarily aims to investigate the best way to represent trauma in the non-Western literature. To achieve this objective, cultural trauma theory was used to analyse Kehinde Akano’s poetry collection, Emirate Blues and Home Resistance. In the end, the findings of the research show that: (a) Moro Concerned Group is identified as a carrier group in Emirate Blues and Home Resistance; (b) the ‘stoical’ fiefdom labourers and citizens, descendants of Laderin and Awongaga form the audience; (c) there are ‘claims’ that Emirate system is a threat to the soco-cultural make-up of the poet’s collectivity; (d) descendants of Awongaga react to the ‘claims’ by erecting a signpost in their land; and (e) Afonja and the Fulani are the victim and the perpetrator respectively. These results indicate that, by Alexander’s set standard in cultural trauma theory, Emirate Blues and Home Resistance can be classified as a trauma (poetic) narrative.