i UNIVERSITY OF GHANA INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES VIOLENCE IN AFRICAN YOUNG ADULT FICTION EDWIN ASA ADJEI (10194123) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN AFRICAN STUDIES JULY 2019 ii DECLARATION I, Edwin Asa Adjei do hereby declare that this thesis is the result of research undertaken by me towards the award of Doctor of Philosophy in African Studies. Except for the references of the work of other people which have been duly acknowledged, this work has never been submitted in whole or in part for any degree. 12th October, 2020 Edwin Asa Adjei Date (Student) … 12th October 2020 Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy Date (Principal Supervisor) 12th October, 2020 Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo Date (Co-Supervisor) 12th October, 2020 Dr. David Ako Odoi Date (Co-Supervisor) iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the Almighty God who has been my help in ages past and my hope for years to come and to His vessel of blessing, Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, who has been a tree on whose shoulders I have stood to climb the ladder of academics this far. Enam dua so na ahama huu soro. (It is by the help of the tree that the vine saw the sky) iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All glory and thanks be to the Almighty God in whom I live and move and have my being. It is by His grace that I have travelled this far on the journey of life and hope to climb higher to heights I never imagined possible. Attempting to pay for the unending support and encouragement from my thesis supervisors, who despite their busy schedules and competing demands on their time, were unrelenting in their support for my research, would be like a child attempting to pay for its mothers’ milk. I pray therefore that God will bless them according to their desires and dreams. The Critical Investigations into Humanitarian Aid (CIHA) blog provided the needed funds for the duration of this programme to enable me focus on my academics. A thank you will not be enough to express my gratitude to the blog, especially Professor Cecelia Lynch who spearheaded the project. My appreciation also goes to the Director of my Institute, Professor Dzodzi Tsikata, who would take time to ask about the progress of my thesis and offer advice and encouragement each time we met, no matter how busy she was at that moment and for the many introductory letters she had to write to various schools, often at short notice. Research fellows at the Institute of African Studies have been pillars on this journey. Right from my first day at the institute, they have taught and moulded me and made the Institute of African Studies an intellectually stimulating environment, which has shaped me into the academic I am now. The literature review for this research would not have been as rich as it is without the support of The Queen Elizabeth II scholarship program which opened the door for me to undertake my literature review at the Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. Many thanks are also due to v Professors Mariam Pirbhai and Tanis MacDonald at Wilfrid Laurier University for providing intellectual support in shaping my thesis during its foundational stage. To Dr Robert Ame who spearheaded the Queen Elizabeth II exchange programme with the University of Ghana, I say a big thank you for an enriching academic experience at the Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada. I also acknowledge the valuable contribution of the head mistresses of Achimota Senior High School, Mrs Joyce Addo and Mrs Regina Tetteh and the head mistress of Suhum Presbyterian Senior High School, Miss Joyce Bossman for allowing me to conduct research in their schools and providing all the support I needed for my field work in their schools. Furthermore, I would like to thank my parents (Dr Godwin Adjei and Mrs Irene Adjei) and my siblings, Patience, Ebenezer and Doreen, who have been a huge source of inspiration to me on this journey of education especially during the turbulent seasons. To be blessed with in-laws who care about my academic progress and consistently support my academic pursuits is a blessing I can never take for granted. I therefore say a big thank you to Rev C. E. Gyaban-Mensah and Mrs Paulina Gyaban-Mensah, Timothy, Aaron, Lydia, Veronica, Gudrun and Abraham. To my friends, Juliet, Evelyn, Nora, Bernard and Irene, your encouragement and support on this journey has been invaluable. A big thank you also goes to my research participants who sacrificed their time to participate in this research. I am also grateful to my course mates for the intellectually stimulating discussions we had and their critiques which shaped my research, especially Abena Kyere whose interest, critiques, editing, suggestions and contribution to this research cannot be expressed with these few words. Abena Kyere, thank you for companionship and your contribution to this research. God bless you. vi My final appreciation goes to my virtuous wife, Anna Asa Adjei, who braved the turbulence of my academic pursuits with me along with the challenges the turbulence brought into our lives. God bless you so much for being the blessing you are to me. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... xiv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Violence in Young Adult Literature ..................................................................................... 3 1.3 A Summary of the Conceptual Framework .......................................................................... 6 1.4 A Brief Overview of the Study’s Methodology .................................................................... 7 1.5 Significance of Study .......................................................................................................... 11 1.6 Organization of Chapters .................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 16 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Young Adults ...................................................................................................................... 16 viii 2.3 Influencers of Violence in Children and Young Adults ..................................................... 19 2.4 Literature as a Tool for Socialization.................................................................................. 21 2.5 Violence and Interpersonal Violence in Africa .................................................................. 23 2.6 Types of Interpersonal Violence ......................................................................................... 27 2.7 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 30 2.7.1 Theory of Reflection .................................................................................................... 31 2.7.2 Theory of Refraction .................................................................................................... 32 2.7.3 Reader Response Theory ............................................................................................. 34 2.8 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 43 African Young Adult Fiction ........................................................................................................ 43 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 43 3.2 Young Adult Fiction (YAF)................................................................................................ 43 3.3 Contestations in the Field of Young Adult Fiction ............................................................. 50 3.4 Young Adult Fiction in Africa ............................................................................................ 55 3.5 What is African Young Adult Fiction? ............................................................................... 60 3.5.1 Who is Writing African Young Adult Fiction? ............................................................... 65 3.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................................... 77 Research Methodology ................................................................................................................. 77 ix 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 77 4.2 Participation in Workshop .................................................................................................. 77 4.3 Sample Selection for Young Adult Fiction ......................................................................... 78 4.4 Content Analysis ................................................................................................................. 81 4.5 Coding ................................................................................................................................. 83 4.6 Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 85 4.7 Procedure ............................................................................................................................ 86 4.7.1 Selection of Participants .............................................................................................. 88 4.7.2 Conduct of Interviews .................................................................................................. 92 4.7.3 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................. 92 4.8 Validity ............................................................................................................................... 94 4.9 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................................... 95 The Construction of Violence in African Young Adult Fiction ................................................... 95 5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 95 5.2 Construction of Physical Violence...................................................................................... 99 5.3 Construction of Sexual Violence ...................................................................................... 106 5.4 Construction of Deprivation or Neglect ............................................................................ 111 5.5 Construction of Psychological Violence ........................................................................... 114 5.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 118 x CHAPTER SIX ........................................................................................................................... 119 Young Adults’ Understanding of Violence in African Young Adult Fiction ............................. 119 6.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 119 6.2 Young Adults and Young Adult Fiction ........................................................................... 120 6.3 Young Adults’ Perceptions of Violence ........................................................................... 124 6.4 Young Adults’ Perceptions of Violence in Young Adult Fiction ..................................... 128 6.5 Educational Level and Gender as Factors in Perceptions of Violence ............................. 132 6.6 Influences on Young Adults’ Perceptions of Violence..................................................... 132 6.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 134 CHAPTER SEVEN .................................................................................................................... 135 Discussion of the Main Findings and Suggestions for Further Research ................................... 135 7.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 135 7.2 Discussion of Findings ...................................................................................................... 138 7.3 Implications for Future Research ...................................................................................... 147 7.4 Possible Areas of Further Research .................................................................................. 148 7.5 Limitations of the Study.................................................................................................... 151 7.6 Summary and Conclusion ................................................................................................. 151 References ................................................................................................................................... 153 Appendix A: Interview Guide for In-Depth Interviews .............................................................. 179 Appendix B: Ethical Approval.................................................................................................... 183 xi Appendix C: Parent/Guardian Consent Form ............................................................................. 184 Appendix D: Young Adult Assent Form .................................................................................... 188 Appendix E: African Novels Ghanaian Young Adults Self-Select to Read ............................... 193 Appendix F: Non-African Authored Novel’s Ghanaian Young Adults Self-Select To Read .... 194 Appendix G: Synopsis of Selected Novels for Analysis ............................................................ 196 xii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: African Classics Selected for Textual Analysis.............................................................. 82 Table 2: Burt Award Winning Books Selected for Textual Analysis ........................................... 83 Table 3: Coding of Types of Interpersonal Violence.................................................................... 84 Table 4: Selected Novels and the Types of Violence in Them ..................................................... 97 Table 5: Age Demographics of Study Participants ..................................................................... 120 xiii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: WHO Framework of Interpersonal Violence ................................................................ 28 Figure 2: Diagram Conceptualizing the Relationship Between Young Adults, Young Adult Fiction and the Social Environment .......................................................................................................... 39 xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A-level Advanced level CODE Canadian Organisation for Development through Education GES Ghana Education Service GLA Ghana Library Authority IGCSE International General Certificate of Secondary Education IPV Interpersonal violence JACL Journal of African Children’s Literature JACYL Journal of African Children’s and Youth Literature KDHS The Kenyan Domestic Household Violence Survey O-level Ordinary level PABBIS Parents Against Bad Books in Schools PTA Parent Teacher Association UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization WAEC West African Examinations Council WASSCE West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination xv WHO World Health Organization YA Young Adult YAF Young Adult Fiction YAL Young Adult Literature xvi ABSTRACT Scholars in the field of young adult fiction agree about the influence of reading on young adults, with research on young adult fiction showing its influence on vocabulary and young adults’ views on bullying and teen violence (Alsup, 2010; Campbell, 2020). What is disputed is the place of violence in young adult fiction. While some scholars argue for the inclusion of violence in fiction (Franzak &Noll, 2006; Piotrowski &Harper, 2013), others argue for the exclusion of violence in young adult fiction (Campbell, 2010). This thesis provides insights into the portrayal of violence in African young adult fiction, and how young adults make meaning of the violence they are exposed to in the story books they read. The research follows two main trajectories. First, I undertake a close reading of a range of texts to track the ways in which novelists employ dominant discourses of violence to depict perpetrators and victims of violence. Secondly, I conduct a survey to examine Ghanaian young adults’ perceptions of violence and how they make meaning of violence in the story books they read. The findings show that as a reflection of the occurrence of violence in society on the one hand and for literary purposes on the other, violence manifests in many forms in African young adult fiction. The findings also show that Ghanaian young adults are able to grapple with the violence in the storybooks they read using their personal experiences. 1 CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Introduction Conflict is an essential component of fiction. Its place in fiction is so important that it is described as “the engine of fiction” (Morley, 2007:173). Aristotle listed the components of play as plot, character, diction, thought, rhythm and spectacle. For him, the characters of a play bring the plot to life by facing and overcoming obstacles which are the means of expressing the conflict in the play (Bywater, 1962). Freitag built on Aristotle’s notion of fiction in a play. For Freitag, conflict is what brings together the exposition, rising action, the climax and the falling action. He saw the exposition of a story as the background and an introduction to the characters. This was followed by an introduction to the conflict, which led to the rising action and climax. The climax was the turning point which led to the falling action where the conflict began to resolve itself (Barth, 1982). According to Perrine (1987:42), “conflict is a situation in which a contradiction occurs in a person. This tells the person to decide (not) to do a particular activity”. The conflict can be physical, mental or emotional. Kennedy and Gioia (2007) describe conflict as a clash. For Perrine (1987:42), “This clash is called conflict and it may happen between one or more characters and society. The conflict may happen when the character is pitted against some other person (man against man), in conflict with some external force such as physical nature, society or fate (man against environment), or in conflict with some elements in his or her own nature (man against himself)”. For example, a Yoruba proverb says, “the masquerade says he wants to dance; the rain says it wants to fall; and the child says he wants to perform wonders”. This proverb is explained by Owomoyela (2005:476) as “conflicting desires pose a difficult problem”. If this was a story, the conflict could be between the masquerade, the rain and the child, with each of them wanting to have their way in the story. 2 The child could also end up having an internal conflict within him or herself due to the reasons for wanting to perform wonders. The conflict could also be between the society and the masquerade due to the significance of the masquerade’s performance or the conflict could be between the society and the child who would be attempting what the society deems impossible for a child. In another story, the conflict would be between the masquerade and the child on one side and the rain on another side due to the rain’s ability to interfere with the masquerade’s performance and the child’s ability to perform wonders at that moment. Kennedy and Gioia (2007:8) note that “The clash creates a drama in the story. Drama in fiction occurs in any clash of wills, desires, or power”. Meyer (1990:46) sums up the argument on conflict in literature by noting that “there is a division of the conflict: internal and external conflict. Internal conflict is a conflict which occurs in a person as a result of the conflict of his own desire, meanwhile external conflict is a conflict of person that happens between himself and other individual or environment”. Conflict is therefore a key component of literary texts as without it, an author would find it difficult to develop a story. As Bahri and Dewi (2015) say, the significance of conflict in a story is that it is out of it that basic materials for the plot are constructed and it is the development of the conflict that makes a story impress people and attracts people to it. One of the ways authors convey the conflict in a story or resolve it is through the use of interpersonal violence by characters against their own bodies or against others. An Akan proverb says “Bere a mmoa rekohye mmara no na osebo nsa si apese so”. This is translated as “At the time all the animals came to an agreement, the leopard had its paws on the brush-tailed porcupine”. Appiah, Appiah and Agyeman-Duah (2007:27) interpret this proverb as “violence was from the beginning of time”. It is therefore no surprise that violence has been recorded in almost all ancient texts, including religious texts like the Bible and Quran. Several novels address violence through an 3 expression of clashes between nations, traditions, generations and classes. In African novels, violence has been expressed through slavery, colonialism, racism, tyrannical rule and exploitation. Novels such as Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoir of A boy Soldier, Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine, Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood and Thomas Mofolo’s Chaka express various forms of violence on the continent through conflicts. A Yoruba proverb says “whoever knows how to enjoy life does not enter into a fight”. This proverb is explained by Owomoyela as “the best way to enjoy life is to avoid conflict” (Owomoyela, 2005:164). While a person may enjoy life by avoiding conflict and fights, an author cannot opt to exclude conflict from a novel. As already said, the entirety of novels revolves around the conflict or conflicts in them. Therefore, while people might enjoy life by avoiding conflict, these same people will not enjoy a story without conflict. Conflict is therefore not found in adult novels only; it is also found in novels children and young adults read and is often expressed or resolved through violence or interpersonal violence. 1.2 Violence in Young Adult Literature Reading is one way through which young adults grow their vocabulary, enhance their imagination and learn more about the world and the various groups of people in it. Through reading fiction, they see their lives being reflected by other people’s experiences and they also learn how other people like them, who go through similar challenges as they do, resolve these challenges. Scholars in the field of young adult literature agree on the influence of reading fiction on young adults with research on young adult fiction showing its influence on reading habits, vocabulary and people’s views on bullying and teen violence (Hathaway, 2009; Alsup, 2010; Campbell, 2010). What has been disputed is the place of violence in young adult fiction with some arguing for the inclusion of violence in young adult fiction while others argue for the exclusion of violence in fiction for 4 young adults. Those who argue for the inclusion of violence in young adult fiction have often relied on Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory from which he developed the theory of psychosexual stages of development. The cornerstone of Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages of development is built on two basic ideas – “people are born savages and must be socialised to behave morally, and sexual identity is not innate but develops out of early family experiences” (Schwartz, 2000:58). For these scholars who support the inclusion of violence in fiction for young adults, the inclusion of violent acts such as genocide, bullying, suicide, rape and murder in young adult fiction is a way of teaching young adults about social justice and provides inspiration to young adults to be problem solvers in society (Franzak & Noll, 2006; Rybakova, Piotrowski, & Harper, 2013). For these scholars, young adult fiction could be the panacea to society’s ever- growing challenges with violent crimes of all sorts. Campbell (2010) looks at the various arguments for the inclusion or exclusion of violence in young adult fiction. He notes that those who argue for the inclusion of violence in young adult fiction claim that all humans are born with violent impulses and so having violence in the fiction young adults read is a way for young adults to experience catharsis. Thus, including violence in young adult fiction is a way of preparing young adults to cope. Furthermore, these scholars contend that violence in fiction is harmless because it is just make-believe. This is also in line with Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. According to Ryckman (2004:38), Freud recognized that society would not survive for long if its members were allowed to express all their impulses… This was because he thought that stronger individuals would take advantage of weaker ones by using their superior force to gain their ends. For example, he thought that social instability could easily result if people were allowed to mate indiscriminately…In Freud’s view, individuals must eventually learn to resolve this conflict by seeking realistic ways of gratifying their impulses through behaviour that is in line with the prescriptions of society. 5 For these scholars who argue for the inclusion of violence in young adult fiction, therefore, the inclusion of violence does not only help the young adults experience catharsis but it also creates an avenue for the authors to satisfy their violent impulses in socially acceptable ways. Sigmund Freud believed that creative sublimations were necessary if society was to survive. Freud referred to writers’ tendency to say things for which other members of the society would be sanctioned if they talked about them as sublimation. Sublimation is “a form of displacement in which unacceptable id impulses are transformed into socially acceptable acts and directed at acceptable sources rather than the object at which they are originally aimed. The unacceptable impulses are displaced by ones that are socially acceptable. In like manner, poets and painters may satisfy some of their sexual urges through their art” (Freud, 1946:56). According to Campbell (2010), scholars who argue for the exclusion of violence in young adult fiction contend that young adults are not old enough and should be shielded from the violence around them. This thesis looks at the issue of violence in young adult fiction through a different lens by examining how violence is depicted in African young adult fiction and how young adults make meaning of violence in the fiction they read. Thus, through young adult fiction, this research explores interpersonal violence as a social problem, its portrayal and how young adults conceptualise violence as suggested by Franzak and Noll (2006). They posit that the mass distribution and consumption of young adult novels make them significant for research on the portrayal of violence in societies and for engaging young adults in critical enquiry. In addition to this, Isaacs (2003:50) notes that Sex and violence have been topics of YA books since the genre was invented. Realistically, they can’t be avoided. They are, to a greater or lesser extent, part of teenage experience or their expectations of the adult world. The same graphic explicitness that has been decried in films and games increasingly turns up in 6 young adult fiction and is endemic in the fantasy that so many young adults prefer. Thus, my main research questions are: 1. How is interpersonal violence portrayed in African young adult fiction? 2. What are Ghanaian young adults’ perceptions of violence? The specific objectives that will guide me in answering the above questions are to: 1. Examine the depiction of interpersonal violence in African young adult fiction 2. Investigate Ghanaian young adults’ perceptions of violence 3. Assess how Ghanaian young adults make meaning of violence in the fiction they read 1.3 A Summary of the Conceptual Framework This thesis will be analysed based on a conceptual framework built on the reflection, refraction and reader-response theories. The reflection theory looks at literary texts as reflections of their societies (Watt, 1964; Finnegan, 1977). The refraction theory sees literary texts as ways through which society is impacted (Nanbigne, 2004; Anjana & Bhambhra, 2016). The reader-response theory validifies the various responses readers give after reading a particular text based on their backgrounds, experiences and many other factors that could influence their understanding of a particular text. This theory explains why a person from a war-torn country could understand or explain the same literary text differently from someone who has never experienced war (Rosenblatt, 1978). These theories, used in the framework, enable an exploration of the depiction of violence in African young adult fiction and how Ghanaian young adults make meaning of the novels they read. The framework is fully developed in chapter two of this thesis. 7 1.4 A Brief Overview of the Study’s Methodology This section provides an overview of my methods and sample for this research. This study was in two parts. The first part was an analysis of how dominant discourses of interpersonal violence are depicted through the portrayal of victims and perpetrators of violence in African young adult fiction. Therefore, the context of violence and how men, boys, girls and women are portrayed in the context of violence was analysed. Scholars are yet to agree on what young adult fiction is or is not. What most scholars agree on is that the target readers for young adult fiction are between the ages of 12 and 19. The debate on what young adult fiction is or is not is discussed in chapter two of this thesis. In the absence of a pre-existing list of young adult novels or a canon on young adult fiction in Africa, I conducted this analysis by purposively selecting twenty young adult novels written in English by African authors based in Africa. English is a compulsory subject of study in almost all senior high schools located in former British colonies on the continent. English is therefore one of the many subjects on which students are assessed in their final senior high school examinations, with each country having its own set of required readings for the examination. Senior high school students in English-speaking West Africa write the same examination, i.e., West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). They therefore have to read the same required texts selected by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). Other countries in Africa write the Ordinary Level (O-level), Advanced Level(A-level) and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). Despite the different names given to the senior high school examinations over the continent, there are similar novels selected by the various countries from what is generally considered a canon of novels by African writers. Therefore, it is not surprising to find a novel written by renowned African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta and Peter Abrahams 8 being read as required texts by senior high schools all over the continent. As a result, out of the twenty books selected for this study, ten were selected by reason of being considered classics written by African authors and thus required readings for senior high schools in different parts of the continent. Even though these classics did not meet the criteria for young adult fiction in the global North, students in senior high schools in Africa are required to read at least one of these books over a three or four-year period and are tested on their understanding of these books in their final examinations. This model of education where students learn in order to be able to reproduce what they have learnt later is what Freire (1970:45) has referred to as “banking education”. While students in other parts of the world would have required readings for their examinations, what makes the required readings in Africa stand out is that the novels have been used for decades as required readings and are currently published for use mostly as required readings. Students in senior high schools are mostly between the ages of 14 and 19. It would therefore be safe to say that these books are deemed appropriate for young adults by educational authorities on the continent. Also, with students spending almost three years reading the same book over and over and being examined on it each term, one could justifiably say that these books could have some influence on their views of interpersonal violence, especially when many students can recite various portions of these books many years after completing senior high school. Young adult fiction from the Northern parts of Africa was excluded from this research because of the language barrier. Literature from Northern Africa is not in English but mostly in Arabic, with a few of the works written in French and Berber. As stated by Talahite, “it seems more appropriate to speak of North African literatures rather than of one literature: a literature in Arabic which extends beyond the confines of North Africa; an age-old Berber oral literature which has survived in certain areas; 9 and a literature in French in the countries that were part of the former French empire” (Talahite, 2007: 39). For the second set of ten books for analysis, I chose all ten finalists for the Canadian Organization for Development through Education’s (CODE) Burt all-star awards for young adult fiction in Africa which sought to select the best young adult fiction written by an African over the past ten years. These novels were selected as they are among the most easily identifiable young adult novels which are widely distributed on the continent. They are also among the most easily accessible novels for a lot of senior high school students on the continent because each year, thousands of them are distributed for free to several public libraries and senior high school libraries in both rural and urban areas in some African countries. CODE’s Burt Award for African Young Adult Literature is an English-language, multi-country prize, supported by smaller national prizes that determine the works eligible for the grand prize. The national prizes are CODE’s Burt Award for Ethiopian Young Adult Literature; CODE’s Burt Award for Ghanaian Young Adult Literature; CODE’s Burt Award for Kenyan Young Adult Literature; and CODE’s Burt Award for Tanzanian Young Adult Literature. The objective of the award is to provide African youth with access to engaging, high quality, and culturally relevant reading materials. (https://www.burtaward.org/sites/default/files/2018_2019_burt_award_for_afri can_yalit_instructions_and_guidelines.pdf) More on the award and the books selected can be found in chapter four of this thesis where the methodology is explained in detail. The second part of this thesis was a case study to unearth Ghanaian young adults’ perceptions of violence and how they make meaning of violence in the novels they read. The case study involved interviewing a sample of first and second year senior high school students and second year University of Ghana students. As already mentioned, students in senior high school are mostly 10 between the ages of 14 and 19. Those who are admitted by various tertiary institutions to further their education soon after their senior high school final examinations, begin their tertiary education a few months after graduating from senior high school. Most students in the first and second years of tertiary education are therefore between the ages of seventeen and twenty. After these students had been selected, each was given a young adult novel to read. After this, they were interviewed on the book read. The interview included their views on the novel, their ability to identify various forms of interpersonal violence in the novel and what led them to conclude on that particular actions in the novel as being violent or not violent. I excluded third year senior high school students from this research as they were preparing for their final examinations at the time data was being collected. The selected book to be read by students before they were interviewed was Peggy Oppong’s The Lemon Suitcase (2010). It was selected as the most read book authored by an African, after randomly sampling the books read by five hundred senior high school students. The students were asked to list the novels they self-selected to read, enjoyed reading and shared with their friends. Out of this list, the most mentioned novel authored by an African was selected. The list of books and the number of students who mentioned them can be found in Appendix E of this thesis. Peggy Oppong’s books are among the most read young adult novels in Ghana due to their use as recommended supplementary reading materials in several junior and senior high schools and parents proclivity for them due to their didactic nature. Hence, her novel being self-selected for reading by the majority of students was to be expected. I was therefore not surprised that her book was the most read African authored book. The Lemon Suitcase tells the story of Mabena, a hard-working young woman who is targeted for murder and character assassination due to her integrity and her refusal to bow to the demands of a corrupt syndicate led by her superior at work. An attempt to implicate her for cocaine smuggling 11 at the airport backfires as the man hired to plant the cocaine in her travelling luggage rather places cassava flour in the luggage. Through police and private investigations, the corrupt syndicate at her place of work is exposed. For her incorruptible nature, for which she had been framed, the president of Ghana rewarded her by making her the managing director of the company in which she worked. A few months after that, she is elected the flagbearer of a political party, when the party’s flagbearer is murdered through poisoning. She wins the election and becomes the president of Ghana while still in her thirties. The story ends with Mabena enjoying her retirement from politics and enjoying life with her family while also participating in seminars, conferences and meetings to encourage women. The book contains contexts of psychological violence, economic violence and physical violence and was therefore well suited to my research objectives. In addition, it presented me with the opportunity to give my research participants the chance to share their views, not only on the forms of violence, but also on the perpetrators and victims of violence in various contexts, as presented in the book. I describe my methodology in detail in chapter four of this thesis. 1.5 Significance of Study Young adult literature is a relatively young field which has been subsumed under children’s literature for many years. Campbell (2010) notes this by stating that by 1983, there was almost no serious scholarship about young adult literature, except Literature for Today’s Young Adults (1980) by Ken Donelson and Alleen Pace Nilsen. Hunt (1996:5) makes a similar argument when she asserts, after examining a sample of influential texts from 1980 to 1995 that “not a single major theorist in the field deals with young adult literature as something separate from literature for younger children”. As Daniels (2006:78) notes, young adult literature “tends to be ignored by many serious literary critics,” because it is seen as “a secondary category of child-like storytelling- 12 didactic in nature-and unworthy of serious literary evaluation”. It is therefore not surprising when Osayimwense Osa, one of the most celebrated African scholars in the field of children and young adult literature and founding editor of Journal of African Children’s Literature (JACL), now Journal of African Children’s and Youth Literature (JACYL), states in the introduction of his book African Children’s and Youth Literature that, “this book's main focus is on the African youth novel, which is a very popular genre in contemporary African children's literature” (Osa, 1995:x). As a result of scholars placing young adult literature under children’s literature, not much research has been carried out in the area. Unfortunately, decades after Hunt made his assertion, Wakarindi (2018:16) makes a similar declaration by noting that “The African YA debate did not emerge as early as is the case with its Western counterparts. Many African countries still hold children’s literature to encompass both YA and children’s interest”. This is despite Osa (1995) noting that Ghana and Nigeria were the first to recognize writing for children and young adults in the early 1980s with South Africa following suit in 1987 with a symposium on children’s literature. In addition to this, as documented by Njeru (2013:9), research on African young adult literature is important because “critics of African literature have shunned studying young adults’ literature despite the many books that have flooded the markets”. Njeru’s argument is supported by Stadler (2017) who notes that to date, there has not been widespread analysis on South African youth literature. This could be due to young adult literature being researched under children’s literature or the lack of university courses on young adult literature in Africa which has resulted in little knowledge about the area of study and few scholars researching on young adult literature in Africa. For Stadler (2017) the scarcity of research on young adult fiction in South Africa could be because of the publication of most children’s and young adult fiction in Afrikaans, with profits of R 33.8 million (approximately 2.3 million US dollars) being made in 2010. 13 As part of recognizing and promoting scholarship on young adult literature in Africa, Osa (1987) argues that universities should offer courses and organize workshops and conferences on this area of study. Unfortunately, his plea has not yet been heeded by African universities. The challenges with finding and accessing scholarly works by Africans on young adult literature support Njeru’s argument and justifies Osa’s plea. Nodelman (2008:133) notes the advice given by PABBIS (Parents Against Bad Books in Schools) on their website thus: “Parents are encouraged to monitor what your child reads like a paranoid hawk on the basis that this will also significantly reduce the chance of your child being exposed to objectionable material”. Such a warning, while acknowledging the role of stories as tools for education and socialization, also exposes the dangers associated with reading. Investigating the depiction of violence in young adult fiction and how young adults make meaning of it will therefore help to provide a better understanding of the construction of violence in African young adult fiction and the ideas of violence being marketed to young adults. It is generally accepted that the average Ghanaian child has a poor reading culture, which led the Ghana Library Authority (GLA) to declare 2019 as “year of reading” as GLA aspire “to encourage the youth and students to develop the habit of reading” (https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/181279/Ghana-Library-Authority-declares- 2019-Year-of-Reading). Despite the poor reading culture, there are increasing numbers of students gaining admission to senior high schools where they are mandated to read required novels and supplementary texts. How violence is portrayed in the books they read, what they read, and how they understand what they read will go a long way to help unearth dominant attitudes and beliefs about violence in the Ghanaian society. It will also contribute to a better understanding of the use of violence among young adults, which is often not addressed from a place of knowledge due to 14 some forms of socialization, such as young adult fiction, not being considered as possible contributors to it. This study would therefore contribute to the corpus of literature that isolate and define young adult literature in Africa and also add to the debate on violence in young adult literature. It will also enrich already existing studies on violence in young adult literature, especially the gendered dimensions of violence in African young adult literature. Finally, as Franzak and Noll (2006) note, despite the importance of research on the textual portrayal of violence in young adult fiction, it is underdeveloped. Research into violence in African young adult literature makes this study valuable to authors of young adult fiction, educators and parents as it enhances consciousness of young adults’ notions of violence. 1.6 Organization of Chapters In this chapter, I have introduced the study, the objectives of the research, the research questions the study seeks to answer, overviews of the research methodology and conceptual framework, and the significance of this research. Chapter two provides a review of research on young adult literature globally and in Africa. It also looks at violence and its place in the field of young adult literature. It further examines the framework underpinning the analysis of data collected for this research and how using it helps in understanding the portrayal of violence in young adult fiction and how young adults make meaning of violence in the texts they read. Chapter three analyses findings from a workshop on young adult fiction I participated in and the complexities involved in the delineation of books as young adult novels in Africa. Chapter four expounds on the methodology of this study. In chapter five, the findings from the analysis of selected novels are presented. These novels are examined based on their depiction of various forms of interpersonal 15 violence. The focus of chapter six is an analysis of field work interviews from selected senior high school students and a presentation of findings from these interviews. Chapter seven contains a discussion of the research findings, implications of the findings, recommendations for future research and limitations of the study. 16 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review 2.1 Introduction This chapter looks at who young adults are and the place of interpersonal violence in young adult fiction. I then focus on the conceptual framework that is applied in analysing data for this research. The reflection and refraction theories of literature are combined with the reader-response theory for this framework. Through this framework, an analysis of the ways in which interpersonal violence is depicted in African young adult fiction is assessed, while also giving room to interrogate young adults’ perceptions and understanding of interpersonal violence in young adult novels. These explorations provide a background for this study’s discussions on interpersonal violence in African young adult fiction. 2.2 Young Adults The origin of the term “young adult” is contested. This is because nationally and globally, people are often divided into children and adults. The constitutions of most countries in Africa and the world recognize children as people below the age of 18 and adults as people above the age of 18. The concept of a young adult does not point to a person being an adult or a child and has therefore caused controversy globally on what age group qualifies to be called young adults. While Cart (2016) believes that the term young adult first appeared in a 1944 publication by Margaret Scoggin, Mitra (2018) postulates that the term young adult was coined by The Young Adult Library Services Association in the 1960s. The term young adult expresses the disputes that come with the age group. This is because in one breath, they are not deemed to be children and, in another breath, they are not seen as adults. This is why young adults are perceived to be in a liminal space. As Coats (2011:325) notes, 17 “adolescence is a threshold condition, a liminal state that is fraught with angst, drama, and change anxiety”. Crowe (1998:121) attempts to define what young adult is without getting involved in the dispute on the age group of young adults and defines ‘young adult’ to be “a person old enough to be in junior high or senior high school”. The period of young adulthood is a time when people’s bodies are changing, they are full of energy and are searching for answers about themselves and their societies but has often been fraught with challenges for both adolescents and the societies in which they live. This is because young adults are counted neither among children nor adults which creates ambiguities concerning their place and role in society (Enriquez, 2006; Coon & Mitterer, 2012; Alobeytha, Mohammed & Rahman, 2018). Young adults are also called adolescents or teenagers. This is an age bracket where young people are constructing their gender, ethnic and sexual identities. As a result, they are often described as vulnerable, prone to peer pressure, rebellion and impulsive behaviour. They are also likely to be exploited by sexual predators and easily ensnared by the lure of drugs and alcohol. All these are due to the uncontrollable hormonal, psychological and physical changes that their bodies undergo at that stage of life (Fatusi & Hindin, 2010; Kokkola, 2013; Lesko, 2012). The World Health Organization (WHO) makes a similar assertion by stating that, “across all societies and settings, adolescents share key developmental experiences as they transition from childhood to adulthood. These include rapid physical growth, hormonal changes, sexual development, new and complex emotions, an increase in cognitive and intellectual capacities, moral development and evolving relationships with peers and families” (https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/aa-ha-guidance-full-). 18 Gillis and Simson (2015:10) aptly capture the debate on the term “young adult” and why these debates ultimately do not affect the people being referred to. They note: Is teen, adolescent, or juvenile a more appropriate choice? The term juvenile typically carries a negative connotation, conjuring up images of immaturity or even criminal behaviour. Adolescent is a psychology term and feels rather clinical. The term teen is used in many places; for example, Barnes and Noble has a teen literature section, and Teenreads is a popular review website for young adult literature. Ultimately, it may be no more than a semantics argument. For publishers’ marketing purposes, teen and young adult readers fall between the ages of approximately twelve and eighteen. Agyei (2019:8) makes a similar argument as Gillis and Simson by noting that “the concept of adolescence and youth defies a single universally accepted definition. Terms such as adolescence, youth, young people, and young adult are often used interchangeably or invoked to capture varied experiences of individuals who fall within these age classifications”. With most definitions of adolescence focusing on age, Ferguson (1993:638) reminds us that “adolescence is a social construct used to understand part of the human experience”. This is because age alone does not determine whether a person is a young adult or not in all cultures and the young adult experience is not the same globally. Wakarindi (2018) describes how in some Kenyan communities, males and females are referred to as young adults after circumcision or ‘rites of passage’ performed by churches. The rites of passage are performed for females at the same time that males are circumcised. These males and females are referred to as young adults till they get married, before they are considered adults. This would mean that a person would be considered a young adult at the age of thirty or fifty if they were not married. She however notes the challenges with using this cultural definition; as in Kenya, no matter how old a person is, the person is referred to as a child once they are in the presence of anyone who is at the same age or a similar age as the person’s parents, whether the parents are dead or alive. With the ongoing debate on who qualifies as a young adult, publishers have come up with a category of books whose target is young adults. These books 19 have been named young adult novels. For the purpose of this research, the WHO definition of adolescents will be used to define who young adults are, as they refer to the same group of people. The WHO defines adolescents as “people between 10 and 19 years of age” (https://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-decade/section2/page1/recognizing-adolescence.html). 2.3 Influencers of Violence in Children and Young Adults An Akan proverb says, “kenten annwononyie a, na efiri n’ahyease”. This is translated by Appiah et al as “if the basket was not well woven, it is because of its beginning” and explained by them as “failure starts from the beginning” (Appiah, Appiah, & Agyeman-Duah, 2007:141). Children, like a basket being woven, are shaped right from infancy to be able to fit into society. Like the basket, failure to do so, would result in people growing into improperly groomed adults. Approximating humans to a basket, one could also relate deviancy in adulthood to improper socialization during childhood. The focus of scholars on socialization of children in various aspects of their lives is therefore to be expected. Socialization takes place through many mediums: modelling, reading, positive and negative reinforcements and storytelling among others. It is through socialization that children learn what is acceptable or unacceptable in their societies. A lot of research has been carried out on the influence the media, television and other forms of socialization have on children and young adults with findings indicating that children replicate what they witness in all media. Therefore, it has been established that the more children watch television, the more they are exposed to violence, which promotes the learning of aggression through observation (Yokota &Thompson, 2000; Bushman & Anderson, 2001; Huesman, Moise-Titus, Podolski & Eron, 2003). Research also shows that violence in media such as music, video games, the internet and all forms of media 20 influence children to be aggressive (Anderson, Carnagey & Eubanks, 2003; Bartholow & Anderson, 2002; Bernthal, 2003; Carnagey & Anderson, 2004; DeGaetano, 2005). Exposure to violence in the media has also been found to suppress sensitivity to violence in real life (Huesmann, Moise-Titus, Podolski & Eron, 2003). Exposure to violence in the media does not only promote the learning of violence or suppress sensitivity to violence, but it also reinforces people’s knowledge on violence. Bandura (1971) posits, through the social learning theory, that aggression is learned behaviour and reinforced positively or negatively. He concludes that imitation plays a role in the expression of violence in children; therefore, children learn to be violent through their observation of violent behaviour and imitating what they see. Reinforcement of aggression could be in the way a child is punished or encouraged. While some parents or guardians would encourage a perceived timid child to be aggressive and positively reinforce the child for showing aggression, other parents frown on their supposedly aggressive children showing any form of aggression. For example, in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo threatened to kill his son, Nwoye, several times for not showing enough aggression and praised him whenever he displayed aggressive tendencies. As Kirsh (2010) notes, learning takes place whenever people consume any media, even when they do not have any intentions of learning anything. Therefore, even though people do not go out of their way to learn how to be aggressive or violent from television, they learn these things unknowingly. For Aran-Ramspott and Rodrigo-Alsina (2013) people’s cultural background, their reading habits and media consumption practices determine how much they consume from exposure to any media. What is not disputed therefore is that while a person’s culture and habits might influence the extent to which exposure to any media might influence them, people still learn from the media they get exposed to whether they mean to or not. 21 2.4 Literature as a Tool for Socialization Literature has been used as a tool for socialization for centuries, if not millennia. Plato, in The Republic, acknowledges the power of literature and says he would banish poets from his ideal republic because of their ability to use affect and imagination to influence people’s emotions and actions (Jowett, 2004). My personal experiences with novels have left me with little doubt about the ability of literature to influence people. I have always been an avid reader. I spent most of my young adult years reading storybooks and I still read them. My favourite storybooks during my early teenage years were The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew Case files, The Harry Potter series, Famous five series and Sweet Valley High, even though Sweet Valley High was mostly targeted at female readers. My favourite among them was The Hardy Boys. So much did I love The Hardy Boys that I started taking martial arts lessons in taekwondo. After a while, I felt like an expert in the martial arts based on my knowledge of martial arts from reading The Hardy Boys and my little knowledge from taking martial arts lessons. Unfortunately, my confidence in my knowledge of martial arts was shattered, when out of overconfidence, I got into a fight at school, got beaten and had to be punished by the school as well. This scarred me mentally and I never got into a fight again and also gave up my dreams of becoming a martial arts expert in future. I developed a love for Chinese movies instead, which enabled me to purge myself of all the pent-up emotions and desire to practice martial arts through the action-packed, martial arts-filled movies. My love for martial arts-filled Chinese movies remains insatiate. As a result, my favourite actors to date are Donny Yeng and Jet Li. My love for movies filled with martial arts therefore has its roots in the kind of books I read as a young adult. This is not a unique experience as Karen Coats, writing on her first experience with young adult literature, notes how as a sixth grader, she had spent a lot of time reading young adult books in a 22 library which gave her a lot of insight then. As an adult, a return to those books gave her a huge surprise as she realized how much of her daily speech, thought patterns and values had been influenced by the words, values and ideas in those young adult novels she had read many years ago. She notes that these books taught her how to be an American in the 1970s. She therefore posits that due to the influence young adult fiction has over its target readers, who are at a malleable stage in their identity formation, more attention should be paid to the books they are attracted to than Greek classics and other literary texts that they are forced to read by their parents and teachers (Coats, 2011). As Osa (1995:136) notes, “African children's and youth literature is not just art for art's sake. It has a function. Modern African literature is the repository of the cultural life of the people and is a major source of education for the young everywhere and urban people who have lost touch with their roots”. African children’s literature and youth literature are therefore one of the ways parents, teachers and the society try to socialize children and young adults. In addition to this, Pearson, (1994) notes that one of the ways that Akan children are socialized is through play songs and games as they teach children how to perceive and interact with their environment along with cultural values that will enable them function effectively in their societies. Just like the weaving of the basket, socialization is not left to chance in order to prevent a result of “badly woven” members of society. While agreeing to an extent with Osa (1995) and other scholars who hold the opinion that African young adult fiction is didactic, I disagree with them on the grounds that African young adult fiction is not always didactic as several African authored young adult novels are mostly a reflection of the experiences of young adults in society. Holding on to the argument that African young adult fiction is didactic would therefore be promoting a narrow scope with which to look at African young adult fiction. This argument is further developed in chapter three 23 of this thesis which focuses on African young adult literature. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) fact sheet number 45 notes that “youth literacy remains low in several countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa”. UNESCO (2016) further adds that “the lowest national literacy rates are observed in sub- Saharan Africa and Southern Asia”. It is therefore not surprising that most people are more interested in seeing young adults reading than in the content of what they are reading. Even though young adult literature is an avenue for exploration, it can also be an avenue for positive or negative socialization of young adults. This research therefore sets out to find out how violence is portrayed in African young adult fiction and young adults’ understanding of these depictions. 2.5 Violence and Interpersonal Violence in Africa The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation” (https://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/definition/en/). For Leys (1965:170), The word ‘violence’ carries overtones of violating; and we often do distinguish our sense that a particular
case of the use of physical aggression against human beings
is somehow illegitimate by calling this violence, rather than simply 'force'. Police use force to uphold law and order, violence to persecute blameless victims. Thomas Hobbes sees “competition for scarce resources, the mistrust that follows from it, and our desire to be respected as the principal causes of quarrel”. He notes that “competition leads us to use violence to get what we want; mistrust leads us to use violence to protect what we fear others want; and the desire for “glory” leads us to use violence against those who do not respect us” 24 (Appiah, 2003:225). These “causes of quarrel” have resulted in many wars world-wide. These include the First and Second World Wars, civil wars in various parts of the world, battles for independence in various parts of the world and ongoing struggles over natural resources, national and global resources. Africa has not been exempted from the manifestations of violence worldwide along with the effects of violence and has often been unfairly portrayed in the Western media as a continent filled with war, starvation, diseases and poverty due to scarce resources, corruption, colonialism, and the influences of the global north in their battle for Africa’s rich human and natural resources. All African countries are signatories to multiple international agreements on the elimination of violence, especially the elimination of violence against women and children. These include Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Palermo Protocol, African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (PACHPRRWA) and Southern African Declaration on Gender and Development (SADCDGD). Despite being signatories to multiple international agreements and having laws against the use of violence against others, most African countries have been unable to quell the violence being perpetuated within their borders. Multiple conflicts that have sprang up on the continent over the years and have resulted in a lot of violence, destruction of properties, physical and mental handicaps, displacement of millions of Africans and the death of many. Some of these conflicts are the Nigeria-Biafra war, the Darfur crisis, the Algerian War of Independence, wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the “Arab spring” in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Sudan and wars in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Elbadawi and Sambanis (2000:244) sum up discussions on conflict in Africa by noting that “over the last 40 years nearly 20 African countries 25 [or about 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa] have experienced at least one period of civil war”. They further postulate that “civil wars in Africa are not due to ethnic and religious diversity and say that “the relatively higher incidence of war in Africa is not due to the ethno-linguistic fragmentation of its countries, but rather to high levels of poverty, failed political institutions and economic dependence on natural resources” (Elbadawi and Sambanis, 2000: 244). While scholars like Elbadawi and Sambanis have postulated on and debated the causes of various conflicts on the African continent, what is not debatable is the aftermath of these conflicts which have often been more violence and more cases of interpersonal violence. South Africa’s experiences under apartheid, along with the violence involved in their fight for independence from colonial rule, has often been touted as a contributory factor to the prevalence of violence in the country. Today, violence in South Africa has become endemic and remains a cause for concern. Research on violence in South Africa has indicated that the death rate in the country is twice that of the global average (Matzopoulos, Norman, & Bradshaw, 2004; Matzopoulos, Prinsloo, Butchart, Peden, & Lombard, 2006). In South Africa, about 75 percent of the population experience at least one violence related traumatic event in their life time, with violence and violence related injuries being the second leading cause of death, and an annual estimate of 1.75 million people seeking health care for violence-related injuries (Abrahams, 2004; Langa-Mlambo & Soma-Pillay, 2014). The effect of violence on the South African economy is estimated to be R 4.7 billion (approximately $330,518,100) which has negative effects on the nation’s political, social and economic development ( Seedat, van Niekerk, Suffla & Ratele, 2014). Savings (2014) adds that since 1994, South Africa has been tagged ‘the rape capital of the world’. 26 The WHO has defined interpersonal violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against another person, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation” (https://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/definition/en/). Accurate statistics on domestic violence in Africa are scarce (Ofei-Aboagye,1994). Despite this, there is general acceptance that domestic violence remains one of the most pervasive forms of violence in Africa despite its criminalization in all African countries. The WHO estimates that 520, 000 deaths occur globally as a result of interpersonal violence with many more victims requiring hospital treatment, being untreated nor part of heath and criminal justice statistics. Even though domestic violence affects men, women and children, women and children are more often the major victims of domestic violence (Adomako Ampofo, 1993). This has been attributed to the prevalence of patriarchy throughout Africa, some cultural and religious norms which permit violence against women and children, challenges women and children have in accessing the criminal justice system and stigmatization of victims of violence. One of such norms is the acceptance that it is right for a man to beat his wife under certain circumstances. These dissuade female victims from reporting violence committed against them (UNECA & ACGSD, 2010). In addition to these, the tendency of law enforcement agencies to view domestic violence as mere glitches in family relations and therefore something the concerned families can resolve contributes to the silence of victims of domestic violence (Adomako Ampofo, 1993; Idoko, Ogbe, Jallow, & Ocheke, 2015). In 2016, the then Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection in Ghana, Mrs Nana Oye Lithur, speaking at the launch of the Ghana Domestic Violence Report, noted that “domestic violence continued to be one of the most pervasive of human rights abuses in the world, yet one of the least reported, least prosecuted and one of the greatest threats to lasting peace and 27 development in Ghana”. She further noted that statistics on domestic violence in Ghana, based on research reports, had not changed much since 1999 (Information Services Department- Government of Ghana, 2016). According to McCloskey, Boonzaier, Steinbrenner and Hunter (2016), several African countries are among the countries with the highest records of intimate partner violence globally, with this type of violence affecting an estimated 36 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Just like domestic violence, accurate statistics on gender-based violence is difficult to acquire as a result of the silence of victims of gender-based violence due to similar concerns as mentioned in relation to domestic violence. Findings on violence in North Africa by Sadiqi (2010) show that violence against women and children was prevalent due to socio-cultural and religious acceptance of it and sometimes, the belief that the victim was at fault for their predicament. Similar research in Ghana, Gambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Tanzania, established the prevalence of gender-based violence in these countries, with socio-cultural and religious acceptance, as well as gender inequalities, being identified as the roots of this canker (Adomako Ampofo, 1993; African Centre for Gender and Social Development, (2010); Idoko, Ogbe, Jallow, & Ocheke, 2015; Institute of Development Studies, Ghana Statistical Service and Associates, 2016; UNESCO, 2013). All these conflicts and forms of violence have not escaped the attention of writers on the African continent. These conflicts and forms of violence have therefore been inculcated in various artistic expressions such as poems, novels, proverbs, epics and songs. 2.6 Types of Interpersonal Violence The world Health Organization categorizes interpersonal violence into five types: youth violence, child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, elder abuse and sexual violence. They define youth 28 violence as “violence committed by young people”, child maltreatment as “violence and neglect towards children by parents and caregivers”, intimate partner violence as “violence occurring within an intimate relationship”, elder abuse as “violence and neglect towards older people by family, carers, or others where there is an expectation of trust”, and sexual violence as “sexual assault, unwanted sexual attention, sexual coercion, and sexual trafficking” (https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/factsheets/ft_violenceal cohol.pdf). The WHO depicts this in the framework below. Figure 1: WHO Framework of Interpersonal Violence As the types of violence are the same for child, partner, elder, acquaintance and stranger, the types of violence would rather be explored as they are depicted with children, partners, elders, acquaintances and strangers in order to avoid repetition. Physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence and deprivation or neglect (economic and social violence) will be analysed in this research based on the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Ghana Statistical Service 29 (GSS) and Associates definitions of the forms of violence in their research Domestic Violence in Ghana: Incidence, Attitudes, Determinants and Consequences (2016). Even though this study is not restricted to violence that occurs in the domestic space, the types of violence described by the Institute of Development Studies, and Ghana Statistical Service and Associates serve as an umbrella for forms of violence that occur in all spaces. Physical violence is defined as “slapping, pushing, shoving, hitting, kicking, dragging or throwing objects at someone; choking, strangling or burning someone; using a weapon, hazardous chemicals or substances against someone; or kicking or pulling someone’s external genitalia (for male respondents only)”. Sexual violence is “defined as acts of unwanted sexual comments or physical contact; rape by physical force, or otherwise forced sex (for instance, by blackmail or threats); denial of using protection during sex; a sexual partner hiding their HIV status; sexual acts and intercourse that were performed on the basis of feeling there was no option; or penetration with an object against someone’s will”. Psychological violence is defined as “the use of insults, belittling or humiliation in private or in front of others; threats of abandonment; being ignored or treated indifferently; intimidations and acts aimed at scaring someone; threats of using weapons against someone; or threats of hurting someone or someone one cares about”. Economic violence is “defined as the denial of household money for expenses (chop money) even if enough financial means are available; unsolicited taking of money; control of belongings and spending decisions; damage to or destruction of someone’s property; denial of the right to work; forcing someone to work against their will; or denial of food and other basic needs” (IDS, GSS and associates, 2016:15-16). 30 These types of violence, have often been studied from the point of view of people being violent towards each other or to people younger than them. Scholars have taken note of the rising cases of children being violent towards their parents or guardians. This has been named child-to-parent violence. Cottrell (2001:3) defines child-to-parent violence as “a harmful act by a teenage child intended to gain power and control over a parent”. For Calvete, Orue and Gamez-Guadix (2013:755) child -to-parent violence “includes acts committed by a child to intentionally cause physical, psychological, or financial pain to a parent”. Scholars therefore recognize that the types of violence defined above can be from a child to a parent. The definitions of the various types of violence will therefore be used in analysing cases of child-to-parent violent. Some of the factors which have been given as influencing child to parent violence include aggression from parents to their children, witnessing aggression and psychological violence between parents (Gamez-Guadix & Calvete, 2012:277). As Itzin, Taket and Barter-Godfrey (2010:59) note, “young people experience multiple forms of abuse and violence: from their peers now old enough and strong enough to be a physical or sexual threat, from their dating partners who may or may not also be adolescents, within their families, witnessing domestic violence and experiencing the effects of living in a violent or disrupted home, and directly from abusive parents”. It is therefore important to look at the forms of violence in young adult fiction and how young adults make meaning of the types of violence in the fiction they read. 2.7 Theoretical Framework A framework or “theory of action” “defines how the researcher expects an intervention, event or process to take a case from one situation to the next. In effect, this theory of action will define the 31 issues to be examined during the analysis, and thereby provide linkages between the research question, propositions and analytic criteria” (Berg, 2004:231). The framework of analysis for this study is built on the reader response theory, reflection and refraction theories of literature. The framework looks at how the forms of violence in society are reflected in young adult fiction and how they are expected to refract society through young adults’ reading of young adult fiction. The reader-response theory underpins my analysis of young adults’ perceptions and understanding of violence. The refraction and reflection theories highlight the portrayal of violence in young adult fiction. The reflection theory of literature has played a huge role in literary scholars’ notions of a society’s literature as an imitation of the society. The refraction theory has been the basis of literary scholars’ arguments on the power of literature in society. The reader-response theory is one of many theories that place emphasis on the validity of various meanings individuals make of literature. Together, these theories link the writer with the reader by exposing the writers’ ideas of violence in society, while alternately giving room to explore the efficacy of the text in educating young adults through their ability to identify and make meaning of violent scenarios in the text. The types of violence to be explored are the psychological, physical, economic, social and sexual violence as defined by the domestic violence law of Ghana. The scope of each of these forms of violence is broken down in the section on coding. 2.7.1 Theory of Reflection The reflection theory of literature looks at the relationship between literature and society (Watt, 1964; Finnegan, 1977). For Watt, all writing is a reflection of society as writing contains elements such as language, which is a social product. This makes literary works social products as they always have a relationship with some social traditions or modes of expression. Finnegan makes a 32 similar argument by noting that “all literature in an indirect and subtle way must reflect the society in which it exists” (Finnegan, 1977: 263). Watt criticized aspects of the reflection theory as he felt the interest of the creator of a literary work might influence the content but was critiqued by Finnegan (1977) who noted that literary artistes attempt to influence their audience is done within a social context in which people use agency to shape their world. Vatsa (2016:116) also says, “a literary man is as much a product of his society as his art is a product of his own reaction to life”. One thing scholars in the field of young adult literature agree on is that young adult literature, like a mirror, is a reflection of society. For example, Donelson & Nilsen (1997) note in their book Literature for today’s young adults, that young adult fiction often mirrors adolescent problems. Trupe (2006:1) also states that “the portrayal of rape in young adult fiction is a reflection of teenagers’ concerns about rape since some might have been raped in the past or could be raped in future”. Similar arguments about how young adult fiction reflects society are made by Enriquez (2006), Younger (2009), Halverson (2011), Garcia (2013) and Fatima (2018). It is the way in which adolescent problems are reflected, which includes “problems” with interpersonal violence, that the first part of this research seeks to uncover. 2.7.2 Theory of Refraction The power literature has over those exposed to it has been known for centuries. In The Republic, Plato acknowledged the power of literature and dreaded this power to the point where he said he would banish poets from his ideal republic because of their power over people’s imagination which distorted reality. For him, because poetry did not promote logic or analytical thinking, but rather touched the emotions, it had a corrupting influence on its audience. The refraction theory of literature looks at literature as a tool for influencing society. This theory is built on Bertolt Brecht’s 33 assertion that “art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it” (Greinke, 2007:15). Scholars of the refraction school of thought, while agreeing with literature as a reflection of society, also argue that literature does not only reflect society but also influences society. Building on Brecht’s assertion, Nanbigne (2004:123) contends that “literature in any society serves both as an indicator of change and an arena where the change can occur”. Nanbigne (2008) further claims that literature refracts society through its positive or negative influence. Anjana and Bhambhra (2016:8) make similar claims by noting that “literature is not only a reflection of the society but also serves as a beacon of light which guides people to find the right path. It is a fact beyond doubt that the writer is not only influenced by society but he also influences it. Literature not merely influences life but also shapes it”. Vatsa makes a similar argument by stating that, “the function of a legislator is to lay down the law, a settled course of action that men may follow. Poetry and literature generally do this in a quiet and unobtrusive way. Novels are known to have changed the direction of the human mind and set in motion movements that have altered our ways of life. The influence of literature on society is felt directly or indirectly” (Vatsa, 2016:117). Adomako Ampofo and Asiedu (2012) note how music has an intimate relationship with everyday life and therefore is a significant site for the reflection of the disempowerment of women through images such as women being manipulative, fragile or in need of rescuing; it could also be an avenue for the promotion of the empowerment of women. Whichever way one looks at art, one cannot fail to see the connection between literature and society and how it either reflects or shapes the society. As a reflection of society, literature reflects societal notions of violence, but it can also be “a hammer” with which these notions of violence can be shaped. Literature is able to refract society through the reading process. As Alsup (2010:5) posits, “something everyone seems to 34 recognize is that literature is indeed powerful. It does do something to the reader, especially when the reader is engrossed in the reading process”. 2.7.3 Reader Response Theory According to (Rosenblatt, 2005: x), “Dewey and Bentley (1949) introduced the concept of transaction to counter positivism’s view of reality where the observer and observed are separated and the observer has no effect on the observed. Dewey’s transaction described a reciprocal relationship between the observer and the observed. Rosenblatt credits Dewey’s work with providing her with the term”. There are three similar paradigms under the umbrella of the reader- response theory. These schools of thought have come up based on what they view as the most active aspect of the relationship between the text, author and the reader. The first school of thought, led by Louise Rosenblatt, Wolfgand Iser and Hans Robert Jauss, view the experiences of the reader as key in how the reader interprets a text. The second school of thought, led by psychologists, Norman Holland and David Bleich, are of the view that what happens in the brain during the reading process is key to the interpretation of a text. Stanley Fish is the leader of the third model of the reader-response theory. For him a person’s social or cultural background is the key determinant in how a person interprets a text. (Hughes, 2011; Anderson, 2012). I employed the experiential model of the reader-response theory in this research as the study sought to understand violence in African young adult fiction based on the young adults’ exposure to young adult fiction and violence. According to Al-Haba (2013), the reader-response or ‘reception’ was a response to the formalist school of thought which assigned a fixed meaning to a text based on the intentions of the author, revealed through the language and verbal structures in the text. What is accepted by most scholars 35 is that the reader-response theory was formulated by Louise Rosenblatt in 1938 and initially named as transaction theory (Anderson, 2012). According to Anderson (2012) a version of the reader- response theory, known as the reception theory, came up in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The reception theory, similar to the reader-response theory, was postulated by Wolfgang Iser. The theory argues that meaning is not found solely in a text nor in subjective interpretations by the reader but is generated during the process of reading through an interaction between the reader’s experiences (Iser, 1972). For Rosenblatt, creating meaning for a text is a process in which there is a transaction between the reader and the text within a social context (Fish, 1970). As Rosenblatt notes, “the quality of our literary experience depends not only on the text, on what the author offers, but also on the relevance of past experiences and present interests that the reader brings to it” (Rosenblatt, 1960:305). For Al Fuadi, “reader-response criticism explores three principal questions: 1) Do our various responses to literary works produce the same (or similar) readings? 2) Can literary texts genuinely enjoy as many meanings as readers are able to create? 3) Are some readings essentially more valid and justifiable than others?” (Al Fuadi, 2014: 121). For Beach (2000), the reader response theory explains the variety of responses readers give to literary works. The reader response theory therefore postulates that there is not one meaning of a text based on the author’s intended meaning of the text or one person’s reading of the text. It gives room for a wide range of interpretations of a text to have valid meaning based on the reader’s experiences, the social context under which the text was read and any other factors such as educational level and gender that could have influenced a person’s interpretation of the text. Despite giving room for a multiplicity of interpretations of a single text, in an interview with Nicholas Karolides, Loise 36 Rosenblatt sounds a warning. She notes that “although there isn’t a single ‘correct’ interpretation of any text for all circumstances, that doesn’t necessarily rule out responsible reading. We can consider some interpretations better or poorer than others. Or we can find that readers bring different knowledge and assumptions in different social or historical contexts which may have equally defensible interpretations” (Karolides & Rosenblatt, 1999:163). For those of the reader-response school of thought, the meaning of a text changes over time and from reader to reader. The theory, therefore, gives room for a person’s understanding of a text to change if the person rereads the same text at another time and in a different context. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is one of the most recommended books for senior high schools’ final examinations in Africa. Students reading this book in school know that they have to write end of term examinations on that book. These students’ approach to reading the book would therefore be different from that of other students who read the same book for pleasure because they have heard it is a classic and want to read it. Rosenblatt (1938) labels reading for pleasure as aesthetic reading and reading with the goal of mechanical comprehension as efferent reading. For her, students should be encouraged to partake in aesthetic reading as students benefit more from it than efferent reading. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, students in Ghana often participate in efferent reading as they read novels for the purpose of examinations. In order to promote aesthetic reading for this research, students were given the books to read at home during a two-month vacation. This was to give them time to enjoy the book and read it at their convenience. They were also informed in advance that their participation or refusal to participate in the research was not going to affect their academics in any way and so should read the book knowing that there was no right or wrong answer in the research. 37 Scholars such as Imtiaz (2004) have critiqued the reader response theory for being subjective due to its insistence on the analysis of processes involved in readers making meaning of texts (Imtiaz, 2004). The theory has also been critiqued by scholars like Bressler (1999) for its one-sided approach to what readers bring to the table when reading, but not what the text adds to the readers’ understanding. In my opinion, these critiques do not take into consideration Rosenblatt’s continued emphasis on reading as a transaction between the reader and the text with the reader arriving at conclusions based on not only what they bring to the text but also what the text offers them. African young adult novels, when read by young adults are transactions between the author and the reader. As already mentioned, scholars have often emphasized that the goal of African young adult fiction is to transmit cultural information to African young adults. The African young adults who read them interpret the texts based on their cultural background, educational background and experiences in life. There is therefore an interaction between the author’s ideas and the reader’s experiences during the reading process. This therefore makes the reader response theory an excellent choice for analysing depictions of violence in African young adult fiction. Even though the reader response theory has been used by several scholars in the field of young adult literature globally and in Africa, the spirit of the theory can be found in several African proverbs. While these proverbs have been used in relation to people’s experiences in life, they can also be used in relation to people’s understanding of the texts they read. Owomoyela (2005:67) gives one such example of a Yoruba proverb. The proverb says, “it is a person with limited experience of life who thinks there is none as wise as he”. He explains this proverb thus: “No wise person claims he or she is the best there is”. de Ley (1998:85) gives another proverb from Senegal. He does not specify what language he collects this proverb from or explain it as the book is a collection of proverbs from the continent of Africa, translated into English. The proverb says “The 38 child looks everywhere and often sees nought; but the old man sitting on the ground sees everything”. The proverb can be explained as follows: because of experience, the old person is able to see what the child does not see. The old person is able to see what the child does not see because of experiences he or she might have, which the child has not yet had. The reader response theory postulates one person’s understanding of a text is not more valid than that of another. This is exactly what the Yoruba proverb above seeks to express. As people gain more experience in life, they realise that other people’s experiences and wisdom is as valid as theirs and therefore they are more open to better appreciate the wisdom of others when making meaning of “similar text” and appreciate what each person’s cultural, social, economic and educational background contributes to their understanding of a particular text. In a similar manner, while the old person and the child might be introduced to the same text, their understanding of the text would differ, not because one’s understanding is wrong, but because the older person would interpret the text from a wide range of experiences that the young person might not have had. The older person might also have a different educational background, cultural background, economic back ground and social background with which analyse the text and might be reading the text for reasons different from that of the young person. This would mean that the old person and the young person might have different interpretations of the same situation or text and the young person might not see what the older person might see, but it does not make what the young person sees invalid. One would therefore not be surprised to have different views of the same text from an 8-year old and a 20-year-old. The same way, one would not be surprised to have different interpretations of the same text from males and females of the same age as they might be of the same age but their social, educational and cultural differences would not be the same, resulting in varied interpretations of the same text. In relation to violence, males and females might also experience violence differently 39 and therefore their understanding of violence in a text would also be different. With this in mind, young adults at different levels of education in Ghana were selected for this research. This was to enable me unearth their varied views of violence based on various factors that influence people’s perceptions of violence. Figure 2: Diagram Conceptualizing the Relationship Between Young Adults, Young Adult Fiction and the Social Environment SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT Young Adult Fiction (YAF) Adults Teachers Politicians READERS Perception of Interpersonal violence in YAF Physical Violence Economic Violence Sexual Violence Psychological Violence Authors 40 In this diagram, I postulate that since all human beings live in a social environment, the social environment influences people’s interpretations of literature. The social environment also influences authors of young adult fiction, whose goal is to reflect and refract society. Within the social environment, there are several influences on young adult fiction. One of these is parents and guardians, who purchase most of the books young adults read. Because of this, authors, in writing young adult novels, try to make the plot not only interesting to the target readers, but also appealing to parents and guardians. Teachers and the ministry of education also have some influence on young adult fiction. Not all authors seek to have their books approved as supplementary readers for junior and senior high schools. A lot of authors are however motivated by the assured market and