Abstract
Postcolonial scholars have been slow to address issues relating to urban space and society. This essay argues for new forms of critical engagement with questions of urbanism and citizenship on a global scale. Postcolonial narratives of urbanization, I argue, represent important sites for exploring tensions between elite and popular visions of the city and of development. Moreover, narratives of formation or bildung in the city such as the one that structures Chris Abani's novel Graceland offer allegories of postcolonial hopes for economic development and political reform. In Abani's novel, set in Lagos during the era of structural adjustment in the 1980s, social and economic transformation on both an individual and collective level cannot be found within the fictional mega-city. Instead, spatial egress is substituted for temporal progress in a damning indictment of the combined forces of local corruption and global exploitation.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
