Analytical Study of Postcolonial Masculinity in Nigerian and Ghanaian Literary Fiction

Postcolonial masculinity in West African fiction is a field that has developed rapidly but unevenly, with Nigerian literary scholarship focused predominantly on individual authors while comparative engagement with Ghanaian literary representations of masculinity has been largely absent. This study analytically examined postcolonial masculinity in selected Nigerian and Ghanaian novels, focusing on texts published between 2015 and 2024. A comparative feminist masculinity studies methodology drawing on Connell's gender theory and African postcolonial scholarship was applied to six Nigerian and six Ghanaian novels. The comparative analysis examined how male protagonists in both national literatures negotiate the tensions between inherited patriarchal authority, colonial dislocation of traditional masculine roles, and contemporary pressures from globalisation, migration, and feminist critique. Results showed significant convergences between the two national literatures, including a shared preoccupation with the financially failed patriarch, the emotionally stunted self-made man, and the diasporic male who returns with transformed gender expectations. Divergences included a greater prominence of military and political violence as a masculinity formation context in Nigerian fiction compared to Ghanaian fiction, which more often situates masculinity in domestic and commercial contexts. The study provides the first systematic comparative analysis of Nigerian and Ghanaian literary masculinities and recommends the findings as a framework for extending comparative West African literary studies beyond the currently dominant Nigeria-focused paradigm, with particular implications for courses at universities in Abuja and Port Harcourt.

Keywords: postcolonial masculinity, Nigerian fiction, Ghanaian fiction, comparative gender analysis, West African literature