奈及利亞/比亞法拉內戰(the Nigeria/Biafra Civil war)結束至今已近四十 年，自事件發生以來，大眾對奈及利亞歷史上這晦暗一章的興趣始終有增無減，其中又以文學作品對此一悲劇的表(再)現最為明顯。儘管已有許多以此內戰為創作靈感的小說、劇本及詩歌出版，但具有伊博族(Igbo)血統、在內戰結束七年後出生的奈及利亞小說家齊瑪曼達﹒妮蓮絲﹒阿蒂雀
(ChimamandaNgozi Adichie)仍然，藉用齊努阿﹒阿契貝(ChinuaAchebe)的話來說; 「以揭露奈及利亞內戰令人膽顫的恐懼為己任」。
令人費解的是，一名年紀輕輕的女孩為何自覺有義務為奈及利亞這段晦暗的過去發聲?難道不是因為這段過去就像一個積怨難消又處心報復的鬼魂，無時無刻阻礙奈及利亞邁向進步與實現之路?目前看來，奈及利亞建國的本質與情勢，伴隨其他許多會引起國家分裂的因素，使長久以來追求一個名實相符國家的努力持續受挫。《半個黃太陽»(Half of a Yellow Sun)深刻地重現並重演六0年代這 段恐怖的事件，突顯這場悲劇裡人類最墮落與獸性的一面。不過，奈及利亞的現狀卻說明安葬這段悲劇過去的迫切性與必要性。既然國家的民主化唯有透過與後內戰時期發生的大小情事再次真誠的銜接才能達成，本文將以《半個黃太陽》這本小說為範本，探討此內戰在奈及利亞歷史上造成的斷裂帶，並藉此深思奈及利亞達到真正憲政與參與民主的可能性。

It’s been nearly four decades since the Nigeria/Biafra Civil war ended and since then, there has been a growing interest in that dark chapter of the chequered history of Nigeria, manifested mainly in the burgeoning literary (re)presentations of that tragic event. But in spite of the numerous novels, plays and poems inspired by and devoted to the civil war, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Igbo-born Nigerian novelist, born seven years after the war, has, in the words of Chinua Achebe, “taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria’s civil war.” The question is, what could have made a young girl feel sufficiently obligated to add her voice to the deafening cacophony about Nigeria’s dark past? Is it not that the past like an implacable, vengeful and invidious ghost is always standing in Nigeria’s way to progress and fulfillment? So far, the nature and the circumstances of the country’s genesis as well as a number of factors, largely divisive, have continued to thwart the search for true and genuine nationhood. Half of a Yellow Sun poignantly reconstructs and re-enacts the horrendous events of the 60s, focusing mainly on the human tragedy which shows man at his most depraved and bestial. Yet, contemporary experience in Nigeria shows how desperate and urgent the need to lay the ghost of the tragic past is. Since the democratization of the country can only be achieved through an honest re-engagement with ‘matters arising’ from the post-civil war era, we shall in this paper use Half of a Yellow Sun as template to examine the fault-lines of history and also consider Nigeria’s chances of attaining genuine constitutional and participatory democracy.