ABSTRACT
Conscious of the socio-political degeneration of the African continent, most African writers have embraced political theories in their artistic speculation on the future of Africa. Authors like Osmane Sembene and Ngugi wa Thiong’o have offered Marxist views in their writing whereas others like Wole Soyinka and Kofi Awoonor have favoured African traditional worldview as useful framework for a more coherent African cultural and political regeneration. Nevertheless, one author who stands out in the artistic search for the ideal vision for a better future Africa is Ayi Kwei Armah. Armah’s discontent with Africa’s present socio-political condition and his obsession for a radical change in Africa results in, what I will argue as, his adoption of utopian literary form to formulate an alternative “vision of a [better] future” (KMT 140) Africa. In Osiris Rising and KMT: In the House of Life, Armah rejects the practices of social class and religion in Africa and proposes secular and egalitarian values for adoption in a future pan African commonwealth. In this article, I examine Armah’s vision for future Africa through the critical perspectives of literary utopia and argue that his vision, though plausible and desirable, retains brazen idealism in the present established world order.
