Certain in-house weakness gives vent to Africa’s perception as failed homeland, says Ademola Adesola

By Editor

A renowned arts, culture and conversation event Artmosphere hosted Assistant Professor of African Literature at Mount Royal University, Canada, Dr. Ademola Adesola, at RovingHeights Bookstore, Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, July 5, 2025. It was a deeply engaging book event which saw the literary scholar and academic Adesola engage the audience on his latest work Representations of Child Soldiers in Contemporary African Narratives, a scholarly book which interrogates the narratives of African childhood in conflict zones in film and books and the broader implications for society.

He also explained the active role Big International Non-Governmental Organisations (BINGOs) play in shaping the portrayal of African child soldiers as victims without agency, instead of victim-perpetrators, thereby creating stereotypes that depict Africa as ‘uncivilised’ and barbaric.

“These BINGOs do not have the adequate information to proffer the right agentic solution to children trapped in war conditions,” he said, while offering penetrating insights into the layered meanings of his essays, adding, “I saw that writers have their personal reservations for how they represent children in war conditions. For example, how male and female writers portray their characters in novels based on the Nigerian civil war reflect certain biases. I therefore took it upon myself to investigate these nuances and the factors that necessitate them.”

At the heart of Representations lies a critical examination of African societies through the lens of childhood and war. Drawing heavily from concerted research works of respected scholars, Adesola identifies the transformation of innocence into urgency — a literary evolution mirroring Africa’s socio-political trajectory. “What this means for the reader,” he explained, “is that childhood innocence and/or wistfulness, as represented, project a roundabout alteration of the future with the abrupt urgency of war.”

He connected this to the modern framing of intra-African conflict under the term “New Wars,” asserting that this nomenclature captures not just battlefronts but the ideological divides between peoples. Representations does not merely depict African children in conflict; it interrogates the global and local algorithms that sustain these narratives.

According to Adesola, “The mentality of many Africans about their continent is so Conradian (Joseph Conrad – author of Heart of Darkness) and this reflects in the projection of war in Africa. It seems to me that African writers have mastered the art of telling the kind of story that sells in the western market space,” adding that Africans still nurse that negative opinion of their continent as defined by the colonisers.

Dr. Ademola Adesola (left) and ‘Book Conversation’ moderator Mr. Femi Morgan

“Africa herself, through failed governance, makes it possible for political criticisms of child soldier narratives to subsist,” Dr. Adesola said, emphasizing the work’s engagement with social expectations and the urgent need to rethink the continent’s internal structures. “Whether the novels portray the child as a willful soldier or one compelled into the militia, none of it speaks of a glorious future for the continent. It is this in-house weakness that gives vent to Africa’s fashionable perception as a failed homeland. This is a wakeup call.”

The essays, meticulously structured, present a methodical yet impassioned call to confront the psychosis of war from a child’s perspective. Adesola’s narrative strategy allows readers to question any sentimental absolution of the African state in its complicity. Each chapter builds upon the last, crafting a cumulative critique of the continent’s role in perpetuating conflict.

In conclusion, Representations is more than a scholarly work—it is a clarion call. A blend of literary critique and sociopolitical analysis, as it challenges readers to consider that: “No war has a creditable logic… and the representations sculpted should be taken as dimensional views on an unresolvable debate.”

As the event came to a close, attendees left with more than just signed copies – they departed with new questions, sobering realizations, and a deeper understanding of the complex intersection between literature, governance, and Africa’s futures.