Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture
This essay explores the relationship between geography, epistemology, and genre in Nii Ayikwei Parkes’s Tail of the Blue Bird (2009). More specifically, I will be discussing the perspectival modulation that both the novel and its protagonist undergo as a consequence of a simple journey into the Ghan...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175745 |
| _version_ | 1811688633569116160 |
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| author | Scott, Bede |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Scott, Bede |
| author_sort | Scott, Bede |
| collection | NTU |
| description | This essay explores the relationship between geography, epistemology, and genre in Nii Ayikwei Parkes’s Tail of the Blue Bird (2009). More specifically, I will be discussing the perspectival modulation that both the novel and its protagonist undergo as a consequence of a simple journey into the Ghanaian provinces. Kayo Odamtten, a forensic pathologist, has been sent to investigate a suspected murder in the remote village of Sonokrom. Although he relies on standard forensic procedures when he first arrives in the village, Kayo is eventually forced to utilize other perspectives, other epistemologies, in order to solve the mystery. And as we shall see, this reorientation of the story also influences the novel at the level of discourse and genre, transforming a conventional work of detective fiction into something else altogether—something far more equivocal and difficult to categorize. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:35:19Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/175745 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:35:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1757452024-05-06T01:26:34Z Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture Scott, Bede School of Humanities Arts and Humanities Forensic Science Oral Culture This essay explores the relationship between geography, epistemology, and genre in Nii Ayikwei Parkes’s Tail of the Blue Bird (2009). More specifically, I will be discussing the perspectival modulation that both the novel and its protagonist undergo as a consequence of a simple journey into the Ghanaian provinces. Kayo Odamtten, a forensic pathologist, has been sent to investigate a suspected murder in the remote village of Sonokrom. Although he relies on standard forensic procedures when he first arrives in the village, Kayo is eventually forced to utilize other perspectives, other epistemologies, in order to solve the mystery. And as we shall see, this reorientation of the story also influences the novel at the level of discourse and genre, transforming a conventional work of detective fiction into something else altogether—something far more equivocal and difficult to categorize. 2024-05-06T01:26:34Z 2024-05-06T01:26:34Z 2024 Journal Article Scott, B. (2024). Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture. Research in African Literatures, 54(2), 21-39. https://dx.doi.org/10.2979/ral.00002 0034-5210 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175745 10.2979/ral.00002 2-s2.0-85186196746 2 54 21 39 en Research in African Literatures © 2024 The Trustees of Indiana University. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Arts and Humanities Forensic Science Oral Culture Scott, Bede Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title | Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title_full | Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title_fullStr | Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title_short | Indices of the esoteric: crime, rorensic science, and oral culture |
| title_sort | indices of the esoteric crime rorensic science and oral culture |
| topic | Arts and Humanities Forensic Science Oral Culture |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/175745 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT scottbede indicesoftheesotericcrimerorensicscienceandoralculture |