Scars of Conquest/Masks of Resistance The Invention of Cultural Identities in African, African-American and Caribbean Drama

Examining in detail the dramas of Baraka, Soyinka, Walcott and Shange, this study describes how these black writers are preoccupied with the invention of a postimperial cultural identity. It charts the foundations of an important aesthetic form, the drama of the African diaspora.



Looking in detail at the works of Baraka, Soyinka, Walcott and Shange and their historical trajectories in black anti-Eurocentric discourses, Olaniyan offers a sophisticated reading of how these writers are preoccupied with the invention of a post-imperial cultural identity. Drawing on contemporary theory and cultural studies, Olaniyan provides a meticulous account of the social foundations of an important aesthetic form, the drama of the African diaspora.