Many people are accustomed to speaking of african literature as if the phrase defined a clearly demarcated and coherent body of work. From the earliest texts of the colonial period to works contemporary with emancipation, african american literature has been a dialogue across color lines, and a medium through which black writers have been able to exert considerable authority on both sides of that racial demarcation. According to irish records, they descend from a scythian king named phoeniusa farsa. This is a short history of africa excluding egypt, ethiopia and dutch and british south africa, which are the subjects of separate histories.
Mariama ba mariama ba the first african feminist writer image source few west african feminist texts have been studied so widely as mariama bas so long a letter. This chapter offers a series of approaches to, and questions about, the different types of historical engagement to be found in african literatures. A brief history of american literature richard gray. New approaches is the result of several years of reassessing african literature from multiple perspectives, including the interdisciplinary, ethical, and scholarpoet traditions. Irele, abiola, and simon gikandi eds,the cambridge history of african and caribbean.
African literature has a long history stretching back over thousands of years. African american literature refers to literature written by americans of african descent. In fact, the common denominator of the cultures of the african continent is undoubtedly the oral tradition. Traditional written literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic. Postcolonialism in africa refers in general to the era between 1960 and 1970. Amutas key argument is that african literature can be discussed only within the wider framework of the dismantling of colonial rule and western hegemony in africa. African literary histories and history in african literatures.
She taught, successively for many years, the history of african literature and german literature at the ecole normale suprieure and the faculty. Slave narratives in the 18th and 19th centuries as the 1700s drew to a close, many readers on both sides of the atlanticfrom boston to londonhad read one of the first slave narratives, better known as the interesting life of olaudah equiano, or gustavus vassa, the african 1789. Novelist chimamanda ngozi adichie after a reading of her book americanah in. What is african literature history of african literature. History, in african literatures, is not a term that applies simply to narratives that engage with the past. African literature oral traditions and the written word. Writers struggled to correct false images, to rewrite fictionally and poetically the history of precolonial and colonial africa, and to affirm african. Download pdf african literature free usakochan pdf.
Morals and lessons are typically woven into wellcrafted and engaging stories. Orature deals with the folk culture of african people. Pdf characteristics of african literature rony o p. Many postcolonial writers write in english and focus on common themes such as. Brings together key texts that are otherwise hard to locate covers all genres and critical schools provides the intellectual context for understanding african literature facilitates the future development of african. Oct 23, 2016 the obvious answer is africa a more detailed answer would be a thing called oral tradition, which is basically the african version of a campfire story. Kwaku asantedarko, language and culture in african postcolonial literature page 3 of 7 critical approach to foreign values indicates that the acceptance of those western values some of which have become the center of protest was partly as a result of a conscious selection and free. Although there were certainly slaves writing in the early days of slavery and colonization, the african american literary tradition began to take root in the 17th and 18th centuries, when former slaves such as frederick douglass and phillis wheatley came to the attention of the larger white audience. There speculations that the phoenicians were the ancestors of the celts who displaced the picts. Jul 23, 2014 despite the ignorance of most so called literati to the domain of african literature, african literature in fact is one of the main currents of world literature, stretching continuously and directly back to ancient history. A policy of racial segregation introduced by the national party after its electoral victory in 1948.
An introduction to postcolonialism, postcolonial theory and. In reality, however, the phrase african literature calls to mind a whole series of debates about the archival and critical boundaries of the field. The book is also designed to appeal to students of comparative literature, history, sociology, and cultures. African religion is traditional for the following reasons. Culture, language and evolution of african literature. The origins of african american literature, 16801865 on jstor. Some of the history of these countries, however, is naturally mentioned in this history of the rest of africa but is kept to the minimum needed to make the rest comprehensible. There is also great pride in sharing stories about history and culture, even if the stories arent always pleasant and uplifting. Postcolonial literature comes from britains former colonies in the caribbean, africa and india.
Oral literature or orature may be in prose or verse. African literature, literary works of the african continent. African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages french, portuguese, and english. In the 1960s, much diatribe was exchanged by african literary artists within their caucus, and outside with different scholars interested in african literature. Characteristics of african american literature pen and. The emergence of the postcolonial city represented a moment of intense cultural outreach and the internationalization of african literary production. Most of the writing comes from angola, cape verde, and mozambique, but sao tome and guinea are equally well represented. The origin of black femaleheaded families by erol ricketts blacks was the root cause of the social and economic prob lems suffered by blacks. Gathering a wide range of traditional african myths, this compelling new collection offers tales of heroes battling mighty serpents and monstrous birds, brutal family conflict and vengeance, and desperate migrations across vast and alien lands. The book analyzes and explains the basic pre history of the universe and how it came into being, the basic dynamics which created life, the basic. Despite this sonorous and rather solemn title, it turned out to be a very lively affair and a very exciting and useful experience for many of us. African literature department of english language and. The legacy of western colonialism in african history can be seen in much of the south african literature, and specifically through stories that deal with apartheid.
This is the first anthology to bring together the key texts of african literary theory and criticism. Unlike written literary genres, oral literature is conveyed or passed down to future generations by word of mouth, typically through memorization and recitation. That african literature in portuguese has received so little attention seems surprising, for it is a formidable body of work of a varied and a most appealing originality. Collected poems by gabriel okara nebraska university press along with publishing a first book by an emerging new african poet each year, the africa book fund has also committed to publishing a collected edition of a major living african poet each year, and this year it is gabriel okara, the only person who could ever be called both the elder statesman of nigerian literature. Nigerian literature, in particular, began with the oral tradition, pioneered by the unsung heroes of her literary past, like royal bards, warriors, story tellers, priests and many others. Early as well as contemporary african writers borrowed and are borrowing extensively from the oral traditions of the various communities. The debate on how aid can be effective and contribute to africas development is, however, still ongoing without any clear way forward. Oral and written storytelling traditions have had a parallel development, and in many ways they have influenced each other. Dennis walder a history of south african literature. As george joseph notes on the first page of his chapter on african literature in understanding contemporary africa, while the european perception of literature generally refers to written letters, the african concept includes oral literature. The colonial period 14921700 native americans, the first inhabitants of the continent, did not develop anything we can call literature their stories and poems were spread orally, which means the american literally history begins with the age of colonialism. African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in afroasiatic and african languages together with works written by africans in european languages. The history of africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans andat least 200,000 years agoanatomically modern humans homo sapiens, in east africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states.
English literature dates back exceeding five centuries. While literature generally has always been informed by other disciplines, more than ever before it now carries so many is. African literature download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Born in senegal in 1929, mariama ba was an icon of african literature as a writer who promoted her work and herself as a modern muslim woman. The prose is often mythological or historical and can include tales of the trickster character. The basic characteristics of african english literature are 1 written in both african and european languages. Ancient egyptian scribes, early hausa and swahili copyists and memorizers, and contemporary writers of popular novellas have been the obvious and crucial transitional figures in the movement. African literature article about african literature by the. The origins of african american literature, 16801865. History of english literature pdf included periods of. This led to africans writing in both european and indigenous languages. The origins of african american literature is an invaluable revelation of the emergence and sources of the specifically african american literary tradition and the forces that helped shape it. Elders would sit around a fire and tell stories to the children. What roles can and should african literature play in africas development.
Traditional written literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic of those subsaharan cultures that have participated in the cultures of the mediterranean. Mar 30, 2010 gene andrew jarrett is professor and chair of the department of english at boston university. This is an extraordinary book for a distinguished scholarly press to have. Its students studied oral african literature and history alongside western literature. African literature also, it is observed, is a mixed grill. And since few scholars whose specialty is african literatures can be equally versed in all areas of the subject, even they will find in this volume a handy companion. Within the context of the wider culture, these writers offered powerful, widely read, and widely appreciated commentaries on american ideals and ambitions. The predominant african languages used are amharic, zulu, hausa, and swahili. In addition to swahili writing in the arabic script, which has been going on for. History of nigerian literature everythinliterature. African literature originates from what has been termed orature in recent times. Export a ris file for endnote, procite, reference manager, zotero, mendeley export a text file for bibtex note. The ibadan origins of modern african literature wiley online library.
The beginning of nigerian literature in the beginning was oral literature, the root of african literature. African literature is highly diversified, even though it shows some similarities. African literature is meant in large part to be educational as well as entertaining. African literary histories and history in african literatures oxford. This groundbreaking work, first published in 1989, was one of the first to challenge the conventional critical assessment of african literature, and remains highly influential today. Bruce argues that contrary to prevailing perceptions of african american voices as. History and literature of africa linkedin slideshare. Pdf african literature from the oral tradition to current trends. The literature not only represents authors or writers from almost every part of the world but also it had untapped almost every major genre of writings that one could possibly imagine. Evidence of ineffective foreign assistance is widespread in africa. A study in misplaced hostility 1975 remind us of the function of reaction in the. Gerrit olivier notes, while it is not unusual to hear academics and politicians talk about a south african literature, the situation at round level is characterised by diversity and even fragmentation. African literature is literature of or from africa and includes oral literature as george joseph. The path of splitness is a major nonfiction work that will rock the scientific world it is 2,766 pages.
The first problem any student of south african literature is confronted with, is the diversity of the literary systems. African literature african literature oral traditions and the written word. African literature is literature of or from africa and includes oral literature. African literature has origins dating back thousands of years to ancient egypt and hieroglyphs, or writing which uses pictures to represent words.
African literature refers to literature of and from africa. From a variety of critical stances and perspectives, the concepts of literature. A south african writer of eastern european origin, gordimer didnt personally experience the racial discrimination and violence that arose from decolonization and the institution of apartheid, but she nonetheless spent her career advocating for equal rights in her country. Race and realism in african american literature 2007, and the editor or coeditor of several volumes and collections of african american literature and literary criticism. What are the characteristics of african literature. Studies of african literatures implicitly or explicitly argue a continuity with traditional. A companion to african american literature wiley online books. African literatures offer historians examples of the imagination in history and the imagination as history. African religion, we are not stressing its primitive nature as some opine nor are we stressing that it is a fossil religion a religion that is incapable of adapting to changes. Ethnic origin, language and literature of the phoenicians. Legends and myths are prime examples of oral literature, crossing the line between fact and fiction, yet strengthened by constant retelling. The african writer and the english language chinua achebe in june 1962, there was a writers gathering at makerere, impressively styled. A conference of african writers of english expression.
Whether youre interested in learning more about slave narratives and their role in abolition or about the impact of the harlem renaissance on 20thcentury literary forms, you should be sure to explore the works of these writers across the decades. African literature article about african literature by. African literature news, research and analysis the. Family patterns of blacks were attributed to slavery and racial oppression, which focused on erol ricketts is an assistant director of the equal opportu humbling the black male. The norton anthology of african american literature. The history of african american literature is vast and varied. Bruce argues that contrary to prevailing perceptions of african american voices as silenced and excluded from american history, those voices were loud and clear. Brings together key texts that are otherwise hard to locate covers all genres and critical schools provides the intellectual context for understanding african literature facilitates the future development of african literary criticism. Until recently the history, only the western literatures were recognized and studied for academic, moral, and intellectual upliftment. A history of south african literature this book is the. A new political history of african american literature 2011 and deans and truants. Postcolonial african literature african literature written in the postcolonial era by authors of african descent.