Understanding Colonialism and Identity Categories by Building on Cognitive and Affective Science

Abstract

Abstract Complex, historical events such as the Nigerian Civil War emerge from countless, partially converging causes. In order to make cognitive and emotional sense of such events, novelists, filmmakers, and other storytellers stress a limited number of such causes. One central source of the antagonisms driving the Nigerian Civil War was the operation of sub-national identity categorization. Adichie (in the original novel) and Bandele (in his film adaptation) both treat such categorization, but it is more systematically and consistently developed by the latter. This is closely connected with some of the key changes that Bandele undertakes in his adaptation. After a discussion of identity categorization, ethnocentrism, racism, and “tribalism,” this article examines three key sections of the film in relation to identity categorization and their associated, political implications.