أطراس
Volume 7, Numéro 2, Pages 108-122
2026-07-15
Recalling Traumatic Memory In Hyginus Ekwuazi's That Other Country
Authors : Adebiyi-adelabu Kazeem .
Abstract
The Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970 has continued to spawn further enrichment of the tradition of African war literature. Decades after the tragic event, those who witnessed the war and those who benefit postmemorially from accounts by witnesses, continue to artistically mediate their direct and vicarious experiences. While Hyginus Ekwuazi’s That Other Country belongs to one of the recent later engagements with the war, it offers the most sustained versification on the experience. Although his verse in this regard, which borders on memorialisation, has been subject of critical attention, this paper extends discursive engagement with the same by exploring the traumatic nature of the memory depicted in the collection. Following theoretical insights proposed by Joshua Pederson in his revised literary trauma theory, the paper argues that trauma is indeed both memorable and speakable. It shows that the poet persona’s memory of the war experience as a teenager remains accessible not just in form of a belated traumatic return, but as a witness who could relate his experience, firstly to his lover, and secondly to his literary audience through That Other Country.
Keywords
Nigerian Civil War ; That Other Country ; Memorability of Trauma ; Speakability of Trauma ; Hyginus Ekwuazi
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