“Only the fool points at his origins with his left hand”:Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s celebration of his authentic origin

Abstract

Black Africans in the diaspora faced the problem of being transplanted from Africa to the New World during the Transatlantic Slave Trade developed a lot of psychological problems. One such problem is that they feel a sense of disconnection between their existence in the New World and their primary home in Africa. Caribbean writers expose the people's sense of rootlessness and the need for the search for the authentic self. Through Historical Criticism and Post Structuralism, this study exposes the assertion of the tragic or fragmented self of the people ending in restlessness and sorrow; Edward Kamau Brathwaite's quest for his root in Africa is encapsulated in his attainment and participation in African traditional worship; his communion with his ancestors and celebration of the new dawn of his authentic origin; his return to the Caribbean and the message he sent across by incorporating African language into poetry. It aims at highlighting the need to rediscover the truth of one's being and rehabilitation of one's culture to re establish one's dignity.