Things Fall Apart
Historical Context
Igbo/Ibo Tribal Society
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Set in tribal village of Umuofia in
precolonial Africa (late 1800s)
Worshipped gods who protect, advise, and
chastise them, and who are represented by
priests and priestesses within the clan
Believed each person has a personal god, or
chi, that directed his/her actions
o Chis could be strong or weak
Were a hunting/gathering society
Yams were primary crop
o Each new year celebrated with Feast
of the New Yam
o More yams a man has, the higher his
status in village
Trade with other villages conducted using
cowries, small seashells used as form of
currency
People grouped according to families
o Eldest man had most power
o Men could have multiple wives
Governed by assembly of adult men
“Titles” could be purchased from tribal
elders
o More titles=more prestige and power
Egwugwu=assembly of tribesman masked as
spirits who settled disputes and handed out
punishment
Christianity and Colonization
MUNDUS GALLERY: Edinburgh University Library Collections
§ Missionaries arrived in Central Africa in late
1800s
§ Missionaries often first white people Africans
saw
§ Africans mistrustful of European Christians
at first
o Took advantage of education
opportunities without converting
o Began convincing weaker tribesmen
that tribe worshipped false gods
o Mission began accepting outcasts of
clan
o Eventually, more important tribesmen
would convert
§ As mission expanded, the clan divided and
conflicts arose
English Bureaucrats and Colonization
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White governments began to intervene in conflicts between tribes
Messengers and interpreters working for English often were African Christian converts
o Looked down upon tribesmen who followed traditional customs
If any British missionaries or bureaucrats were killed or injured, British soldiers often
destroyed whole villages instead of punishing the truly guilty
Due to colonization, Africa eventually divided into more than 50 nation-states
o Prevented Africans from living according to tradition
Map from
Worldofcultures.org
from University of Iowa Arts & Life in Africa Website
About Chinua Achebe
o born Albert
Chinualumogu Achebe
on 16 November 1930
in Ogidi, in eastern
Nigeria
o named after Prince
Albert, Queen
Victoria’s husband and
Igbo name
Chinualumogu, “may
God fight on my
behalf”
o attended University
College, Ibadan and
received bachelor’s
degree in English in
1953
o worked for Nigerian
Broadcasting
Corporation
o published first novel,
Things Fall Apart, in
1958
o purpose is to write for
and about his own
people
o first five novels form a
continuous history of
over 100 years of Igbo
civilization
o wants to set the record
straight about the true
Africa, not the Africa
portrayed by white
writers
o currently Professor of
Africana Studies at
Brown University
Information for this document came primarily from
EXPLORING Novels from Gale, Inc.
Image from Brown University
Nigeria