AFRICAN LITERATURE

AFRICA

• THE SECOND LARGEST CONTINENT AFTER ASIA. IT SEPARATED FRO0M ASIA BY THE SUEZ
CANAL, THE GULF OF SUEZ AND THE RED SEA
• THERE ARE 54 NATIONS WHICH MAKE UP AFRICA. EACH OF THESE SEPARATE COUNTRIES HAVE
THEIR OWN HISTORY, CULTURE, TRIBES AND TRADITIONS
 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AFRICAN?

• COMPLEX MOSAIC OF PEOPLE, LANGUAGES AND CULTURE

• FEW ARE ETHNICAL HOMOGENEOUS
• FEW DEVELOPED A STRONG SENSE OF NATIONAL UNITY
• IDENTIFIED BY THEIR OWN TRIBE
 LANGUAGES

• DEFINING AFRICAN LITERATURE THROUGH LANGUAGE CAN BE COMPLICATED. SOME AUTHORS

BELIEVE AFRICAN LITERATURE CAN ONLY BE COMPOSED IN AFRICAN LANGUAGE. SOME
BELIEVE THAT IT CAN BE IN ANY OTHER LANGUAGE PROVIDED IT IS COMPOSED BY AFRICAN
AUTHORS
• LANGUAGE SPOKEN ESTIMATED AT BETWEEN 800 AND 1,700
 FIVE MAJOR LANGUAGES SPOKEN

• BERBER
• KUSHITIC
• SEMITIC
• CHAD
• COPTIC
 LANGUAGES

• KHOISAN – KHOILKOI OF SOUTHERN NIGER CONGO LANGUAGES:

AFRICA • HAUSA
• PEUL
• WOLOF
 LANGUAGES

SUDANIC LANGUAGES AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES

• KANURI • INTRODUCED IN MADAGASCAR, 2000
YEARS AGO
• SONGHIA
• TURKANA
• MASAI
 EDUCATION

• STANDARDS, FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS VARY CONSIDERABLY AND REFLECT DIFFERENCES IN

CLASS, ETHNICITY, SEX AND LOCATION
 LITERATURE

• AFRICAN LITERATURE MUCH POPULARITY IN THE 1950S

• HOWEVER, ITS HISTORY IS MUCH MORE ANCIENT GOING BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS
• DESPITE THE IGNORANCE OF MOST SO-CALLED LITERATI TO THE DOMAIN OF AFRICAN
LITERATURE, AFRICAN LITERATURE IS IN FACT ONE OF THE MAIN CURRENTS OF WORLD
LITERATURE, STRETCHING CONTINUOUSLY AND DIRECTLY BACK TO ANCIENT HISTORY
 LITERATURE

• DESPITE HAVING SEVERAL NATIONS (54), THERE ARE SOME COMMONALITIES SHARED BY
LITERATURE WHICH COMES FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT AS A WHOLE
 LITERATURE

• ORAL LITERATURE OR ORATURE MAY BE IN PROSE OR VERSE. THE PROSE IS OFTEN

MYTHOLOGICAL OR HISTORICAL AND CAN INCLUDE TALES OF THE TRICKSTER CHARACTER.
STORYTELLERS IN AFRICA SOMETIMES USE CALL AND RESPONSE TECHNIQUES TO TELL THEIR
STORIES
• POETRY OFTEN SUNG INCLUDES: NARRATIVE, EPIC, OCCUPATIONAL VERSE, RITUAL VERSE,
PRAISE POEMS TO RULERS, AND OTHER PROMINENT PEOPLE
• PRAISE SINGERS, BARDS SOMETIMES KNOWN AS GRIOTS TELL THEIR STORIES WITH MUSIC
 LITERATURE

ALSO RECITED OR SUNG ARE:

• LOVE SONGS
• WORK SONGS
• CHILDREN’S SONGS
• EPIGRAMS
• PROVERBS
• RIDDLES
LITERATURE
BY Precolonial Colonial literature
– from the period
Post-colonial
literature –
literature –
HISTORICAL Ancient times
of colonization
and slave trade
1950s/1960s -
present

PERIOD
 AFRICAN LITERATURE

• IS ORAL TRADITION INCLUDES PRAISE POEMS, LOVE

POEMS, TALES, RITUAL DRAMAS AND MORAL
INSTRUCTIONS IN THE FORM OF PROVERBS AND
FABLES. KNOWN AS ORATURE.
 AFRICAN ORAL LITERATURE HAS THE FOLLOWING
FEATURES:

• REPETITION AND PARALLEL STRUCTURE WHICH SERVED

FOREMOSTAS MEMPRY AIDS AND CREATE RHYTM,BUILD
SUSPENSE,AND ADDS EMPHASIS TO PARTS OF THE NARRATIVE
WHERE AN AUDIENCE CAN JOIN IN ORAL PERFORMANCE.
• REPEAT-AND-VARY TECHNIQUE WHERE LINES ARE REPEATED WITH
SLIGHT VARIATIONS,SOMETIMES BY CHANGING A SINGLE WORD.
• TONAL ASSONANCE IN WHICH SYLLABLES DETERMINE THE
MEANING OF WORDS.
• CALL-AND-RESPONSE FORMAT WHICH INCLUDES SPIRITED
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION WHERE THE LEADER CALLS OUT A LINE
AND THE AUDIENCE RESPONDS WITH AN ANSWERING LINE
BECOMING PERFORMANCE THEMSELVES.
 1.LYRIC POEMS

• DO NOT TELL A STORY BUT INSTEAD LIKE A SONGS,CREATE A

VIVID,EXPRESSIVE TESTAMENT TO A SPEAKER THOUGHTS OR
EMOTIONAL STATE.
 FROM THE SORROW OF KODIO
BY BAULE TRIBE

WE WERE THREE WOMAN SUCH MISERY HAS HAPPENED

THREE MAN IN VEIN I CALL FOR MY WIFE
AND MYSELF, KODIO ANGO. SHE DIED ON THE WAY LIKE CHICKEN RUNNING
WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO WORK IN A CITY. HOW SHALL I TELL HER MOM?
AND I LOST MY WIFE NANAMA ON THE WAY. HOW SHALL I TELL IT TO HER? I KODIO,
I ALONE HAVE LOST MY WIFE WHEN IT IS SO HARD TO HOLD ON BACK
TO ME ALONE,SUCH MISERY HAS HAPPENED, MY OWN PAIN.
TO ME ALONE,KODIO THE MOST HANDSOME OF THE THREE MEN,
 2.HYMNS PRAISE SONG

• WERE OFFERED TO THE SON GOD ATEN. THE GREAT HYMN TO

ATEN IS THE LONGEST OF SEVERAL NEW KINGDOM HYMNS. THIS
HYMN WAS FOUND ON THE WALL OF A TOMB BUILT FOR A ROYAL
SCRIBE NAMED AY AND HIS WIFE. IT WAS INTENDED TO ASSURE
THEIR SAFETY IN THE AFTERLIFE.
 3.AFRICAN PROVERBS

• THEY REPRESENT A POETIC FORM THAT USES FEW WORDS BUT ACHIEVES
GREAT DEPTH OF MEANING AND THEY FUNCTION AS THE ESSENCE OD
PEOPLE’S VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE.

• Kenya. Gutire muthenya ukiaga te ungi. ( no day dawns like another.)

• South Africa. Akundlovu yasindwa umboko wayo.(no elephant ever found it’s trunk too heavy.)
• Kikuyu. Mbaara tu ucuru ( war is not porridge )
 4.DILEMMA OR ENIGMA TALE

• IS AN IMPORTANT KIND OF AFRICAN MORAL TALE INTENDED FOR LISTENERS TO DISCUSS AND
DEBATE ON. IT IS AN OPEN-ENDED STORY THAT CONCLUDES WITH A QUESTION THEN ASK THE
AUDIENCE TO CHOOSE FROM AMONG SEVERAL ALTERNATIVES.
• A DILEMMA TALE INVITES ITS AUDIENCE TO THINK ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG BEHAVIOR AND
HOW TO BEST LIVE WITHIN THE SOCIETY.
 5. ASHANTI TALE

• COMES FROM ASHANTI ,WHOSE TRADITIONAL HOMELAND IS THE DENSE AND HILLY
FOREST BEYOND THE CITY OF KUMASI IN SOUTH-CENTRAL GHANA WHICH WAS
COLONIZED BY THE BRITISH IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY.BUT ASHANTI,PROTECTED IN
THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL STRONGHOLD,WERE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR ANCIENT
CULTURE .THE TALE EXEMPLIFIES COMMON OCCUPATIONS OF THE ASHANTI SUCH AS
FARMING,FISHING, AND WEAVING.IT COMBINES SUCH REALISTIC ELEMENTS WITH
FANTASY ELEMENTS LIKE TALKING OBJECTS AND ANIMALS.
 5.FOLK TALES

• HAVE BEEN HANDED DOWN IN THE ORAL TRADITION FROM ANCIENT

TIMES.THE STORIES REPRESENT A WIDE AND COLORFUL VARIETY THAT
EMBODIES THE AFRICAN PEOPLE’S MOST CHERISHED RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL
BELIEF AND ARE USED TO ENTERTAIN,TO TEACH AND TO EXPLAIN.NATURE AND
THE CLOSE BOND THAT AFRICANS SHARE WITH THE NATURAL WORLD ARE
EMPHASIZED.
• ORIGIN STORIES INCLUDE CREATION STORIES AND STORIES
EXPLAINING THE ORIGIN OF DEATH.
• TRICKSTER TALE IS AN ENORMOUSLY POPULAR TYPE WITH
THE BEST KNOWN AFRICAN TRICKSTER FIGURE, ANANSI
THE SPIDER, BOTH THE HERO AND THE VILLAIN.
• MORAL STORIES ATTEMPT TO TEACH A LESSON.
• HUMOROUS STORIES ARE PRIMARILY INTENDED TO AMUSE.
 6. EPICS

• PARTLY HUMAN, PARTLY SUPERHUMAN, WHO EMBODY THE

HIGHEST VALUE OF THE SOCIETY – CARRY THEM A
CULTURE’S HISTORY,VALUES AND TRADITIONS.
 7. NEGRITUDE
• WHICH MEANS LITERALLY “BLACKNESS” IS THE LITERARY MOVEMENT OF THE
1930’S – 1950’S
THAT BEGAN AMONG FRENCH-SPEAKING AFRICAN AND CARRIBEAN WRITERS
LIVING IN PARIS AS A PROTEST AGAINST FRENCH COLONIAL RULE AND THE
POLICY OF ASSIMILATION.
• WOLE SOYINKA IS POETS MOST ANTHOLOGIZED POEM THAT REFLECTS
NEGRITUDE. IT IS A SATIRICAL POEM BETWEEN A BLACK MAN SEEKING THE
LANDLADY’S PERMISSION TO ACCOMMODATE HIM IN HER LODGING
HOUSE.THE POETIC DIALOGUE REVEALS THE LANDLADY’S DEEP-ROOTED
PREJUDICE AGAINST THE COLORED PEOPLE AS THE CALLER PLAYS UP ON IT.
 TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
BY WOLE SOYINKA
THE PRICE SEEMED REASONABLE , LOCATION OR VERY DARK? BUTTON B. BUTTON A.
INDIFFERENT. THE LAND LADY SWORE SHE LIVED STENCH OF RANCID BREATH OF PUBLIC
OFF PREMISES. NOTHING REMAINED HIDE-AND-SPEAK.
BUT SELF-CONFESSION “MADAM,” I WARNED
“I HATE A WASTED JOURNEY – I AM AFRICAN”
SILENCE, SILENCED TRANSMISSION OF
PRESSURIZED GOOD-BREEDING.VOICE ,WHEN IT CAME
LIPSTICK COATED:LONG GOLD-ROLLED
CIGARETTE-HOLDER PIPPED. CAUGHT I WAS FOULLY.
HOW DARK ?... I HAD NOT MISHEARD…”ARE YOU LIGHT
 AFRICA
BY DAVID DIOP
IS A POEM THAT ACHIEVES ITS IMPACT BY A SERIES OF CLIMATIC SENTENCES AND RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

AFRICA OF FROUD WARRIORS ON ANCESTRAL SAVANNAHS

AFRICA THAT MY GRANDMOTHER SINGS
ON THE BANK OF HER DISTANT RIVER
I HAVE NEVER KNOWN YOU
BUT MY FACE IS FULL OF YOUR BLOOD
YOUR BEAUTIFUL BLACK BLOOD WHICH WATERS
THE WIDE FIELDS.
THE BLOOD OF YOUR SWEAT THEN GRAVELY A VOICE REPLIES TO ME
THE SWEAT OF YOUR WORK IMPETUOUS SON THAT THREE ROBUST AND YOUNG
THE WORK OF YOUR SLAVERY THAT THREE OVER THERE
THE SLAVERY OF YOUR CHILDREN SPLENDIDLY ALONE AMIDST WHITE AND FADED
AFRICA TELL ME AFRICA FLOWERS

IS THIS REALLY YOU THIS BACK WHICH IS BENT THIS IS AFRICA YOUR AFRICA WHICH GROWS
AND BREAKS UNDER THE LOAD OF INSULT GROWS PATIENTLY OBSTINATELY
THIS BACK TREMBLING WITH RED WEALS AND WHOSE FRUIT LITTLE BY LITTLE LEARN
WHICH SAYS YES TO THE WHIP ON THE HOT ROADS THE BITTER TASTE OF LIBERTY.
OF NOON