COLONIALISM AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN CHINUA ACHEBE'S THINGS FALL APART AND PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER'S THIS EARTH OF MANKIND

Abstract

Colonialism does not only reshape the political and economic structures of colonized societies but also disrupts their cultural identity. This study examines the representation of cultural identity under colonial pressure in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer's This Earth of Mankind (1980), two postcolonial novels set in different colonial contexts, namely British Nigeria and the Dutch East Indies. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with a comparative literary analysis approach, applying Stuart Hall's theory of cultural identity and representation, complemented by Frantz Fanon's theory of colonialism and resistance, to analyze the main characters Okonkwo, Minke, and Nyai Ontosoroh. Data were collected through close reading of both novels and analyzed by categorizing textual evidence according to Hall's concepts of being and becoming and Fanon's concepts of alienation and resistance. The results show that both novels represent a structurally similar pattern of cultural identity crisis triggered by colonial intervention, although expressed through different narrative strategies, namely a tragic trajectory in Things Fall Apart and a more transformative, intellectual trajectory in This Earth of Mankind. Okonkwo's psychological alienation culminates in destructive resistance, while Minke and Nyai Ontosoroh negotiate hybrid identities through education and economic agency. This study concludes that colonialism, despite differing geographical and historical contexts, produces comparable patterns of cultural identity crisis, affirming the relevance of Hall's and Fanon's theories across non-Western postcolonial literature.