Prelim-Midterm (AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE)

What is the importance of studying Afro-Asian Literature? (Answer it in 10-15 sentences)

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INTRODUCTION TO AFRO- ASIAN LITERATURE

~Brief background about Africa and Asia

AFRICA

- The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra-

"Land of the Afri" - for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its

Capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.

- The second largest continent, covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth.

- The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on
the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and
Indian oceans.

Activity #
1. Give at least 2 important facts about Africa?
2. Who named Africa? Expound your answer.

ASIA

- The word Asia is originated from the Ancient Greek word Aoia, first attributed to Herodotus in Reference
to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt.

- It originally was a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa.
- Asia is bounded by the Artic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean to the
south, the Red Sea to the southwest, and Europe to the west.

Activity #
3. Do you think Asia is unique? Expound your answer in 6-10 sentences.
4. Why do you think Asia region is essential to the world? 6-10 sentences only.

What is Afro Asian Literature?

AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE

- It is a term for writing written by people from mixed African-Arab ethnicity, or African-Asian ethnicity.

- In modern times, part of world literature, afro-asian literature is a separate segment of writing of
experiences in African and Asia for further cultural understanding and world

- Afro-asian literature mirrors not only the customs and traditions of African and Asian countries but also
their philosophy of life which on the whole are deeply and predominantly contemplative and hauntingly
sweet.

- It is the reflection of the storm and the stress of developing nations seeking a place under the sun which
every student must understand so he or she may know how this literature affects the history and culture of
a nation.

- The background of Afro-Asian literature dates to the very beginning of when the first mixed race individual
began writing.

- Earlier written documents were based on stories passed by word of mouth

Activity #

5. Who are Afro-Asians and how do they live? Expound your answer.

The Beginnings of Asian and African Literature

- Literary works were handed by mouth from generation to generation to entertain, and remind the people
about their past, heroic deeds of their people, ancestry and culture.
Importance of Afro-Asian Literature

- The importance comes from the fact that afro-asian is a sign of new and modern times. These times
include literature from all kinds of people, from all places on earth. These days, we are able to enjoy
literature from all over the world thanks to the Internet and translation services.

History of Afro-Asian Literature

- Traditional ballads or poems outlining Afro-Asian history are part of the culture's oral history

- these poems or songs were passed down from generation to generation

- told of the unique struggles and successes of Afro-Asian people.

- In most cultures, oral histories marked the beginnings of teaching history. Later, when more people were
able to read and write, history became recorded in prose, plays, and poems.

Genres: playwriting, poems, prose

Activity #

6. What is an Afro-Asian Literature?

7. What do you think is the purpose of Afro-Asian Literature? Answer it in 6-10 sentences only.

Characteristics of Afro-Asian Literature

- African literature is as diverse as the continent itself, but several characteristics an themes prevail
throughout much of the written works emerging from Africa. There is often great emphasis on the history,
culture and customs of a group of people when telling their stories.

- Afro-Asian's literary works were handed by mouth from generation to generation to entertain, and remind
the people about their past, heroic deeds of their people, ancestry and culture.

- Afro-Asian literature s a sign of new and modern times. These times include literature from all kinds of
people, from all places on earth
 Countries under Afro-Asian with rich literature

- South Korea- North Korea- Japan- Saudi Arabia- China- India

- Egypt- Israel- Philippines- Thailand- Africa- Malaysia- Indonesia- Vietnam

AFRICAN LITERATURE

History of African Literature

- African literature has origins dating back thousands of years to Ancient Egypt and hieroglyphs, or writing
which uses pictures to represent words. These Ancient Egyptian beginnings led to Arabic poetry, which
spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the seventh century C.E. and through Western Africa in the
ninth century C.E. These African and Arabic cultures continued to blend with the European culture and
literature to form a unique literary form.

- Africa experienced several hardships in its long history which left an impact on the themes of its literature.
One hardship which led to many others is that of colonization. Colonization is when people leave their
country and settle in another land, often one which is already inhabited. The problem with colonization is
when the incoming people exploit the indigenous people and the resources of the inhabited land.

- Colonization led to slavery. Millions of African people were enslaved and brought to Western countries
around the world from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. This spreading of African people, largely
against their will, is called the African Diaspora.

- Sub-Saharan Africa developed a written literature during the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. This
development came as a result of missionaries coming to the area. The missionaries came to Africa to build
churches and language schools in order to translate religious texts. This led to Africans writing in both
European and indigenous languages.

- Though African literature's history is as long as it is rich, most of the popular works have come out since
1950, especially the noteworthy Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Looking beyond the most recent
works is necessary to understand the complete development of this collection of literature.

Literary forms of African Literature

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).

ORAL LITERATURE

Stories - a connected series of events told through words (written or spoken), imagery (still and moving),
body language, performance, music, or any other form of communication.

 Dramas - a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue

 riddles - statements that contain superficial words but they function figurativelt, and as metaphors and
are in the form of questions

 Histories - a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country,
period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account; chronicle

 Songs - a lyrical poem which is sung with the playing of some musical instrument

 Myths - tackle the nature strange occurrences of the earth and how things were created with an aim to
give an explanation to things

 Proverbs - wise words usually given by parents or elders of the community

Activity #

8. What is the importance of oral literature? 6-10 sentences only.

9. Give at least 5 characteristics of oral literature?

MAJOR AUTHOR’S LIFE’S AND WORKS

1. Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe is one of the best African authors who have contributed a lot in the field of African literature.
He was born in 1930, and schooled at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His first groundbreaking novel titled
Things Fall Apart was published in 1958. This novel which has since been translated into over 50
languages to its high demand, made Achebe very [Link] Achebe later served as a professor of
African Studies at the David and Marianna Fisher University and at the Brown University in Providence,
Rhode Island. He died early 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, aged of 82 years old.

10. What is Chinua Achebe known for?

11. Why did Chinua Achebe write THINGS FALL APART? Make an additional research.

2. Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka is also one of the great heroes in the list of top and best African authors who have won great
awards and honours in the world of literature. He was born in 1934 in Nigeria and he became the first
African author to be awarded the Nobel Prize award in literature. In the late 1950’s, he wrote his very first
important play titled ‘A Dance of the Forests’ that satirizes a fledgling nation by highlighting that the present
days were no longer as golden as past. Common in his recent works, is the focus on satirizing the the evils
fundamental in the practice of power in modern West Africa.

12. What is Soyinka known for?

13. What made Wole Soyinka earn the 1986 Nobel Prize Award for Literature? Make an additional
research.

3. Amos Tutuola

Amos Tutuola was born in 1920, Abeokuta in Western Nigeria and died in 1997. He was a self- taught
African author who usually focused his literature on the Yoruba folk tales. He became popular after gaining
the world fame with his best story ‘The Palm-Wine Drunkard’ that completed in 1946.

4. Camara Laye

Camara Laye was born in 1928 in Kouroussa, Upper Guinea and later died in 1980. He was the first African
author from a French-speaking African country. His first novel written in French, L’Enfant Noir (The African
Child) made him one of the best and important novelists from the French-speaking countries in Africa.

14. What was awarded to Camara Laye?

15. What was the African Child all about? Make an additional research.
5. Dinaw Mengestu

Dinaw Mengestu was also one of the best African authors who have contributed greatly in the field of
African literature. He was born in 1978 in Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia. He moved to the USA
together with his sister and mother two years after his birth, to reunite with his father who had previously
fled the country during the Red Terror. He graduated from Georgetown University. So far, he has written
two novels titled “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears” which was established in 2007 and “How to
Read the Air” established in 2010. He also recently received a MacArthur Foundation, usually known as
“genius grant”.

16-17. Give the two novels of DINAW MENGESTU and explain each what is all about? Own idea.

6. Mariama Bâ

Maria BA is also an African author born in 1929, Dakar, Senegal. She has been regarded as one of the
best and most original African authors to come from West Africa. Her works and life were usually
preoccupied with several issues such as power, gender relations, and inequality. She also focused on the
ways in which these issues were affected and framed by Islamic and African cultural beliefs. She wrote her
first novel titled So Long a Letter in 1981. She died in 1986, just before publishing her second novel, Scarlet
Song.

18. What inspired Mariama Ba to write so long a letter? Make an additional research.

19. How does So Long a Letter end?

7. Buchi Emecheta

Buchi Emecheta was born in Lagos, the capital city of Nigeria in 1944. Her work and life as an African
author set the stage for the new generation of the west African female authors. Her fiction was drawn from
her experiences in Diaspora as well as influences from her educational background. In the Ditch and
Second-Class Citizen published in 1972 and 1974 respectively, are Emecheta’s heavily autobiographical
novels.
8. Bessie Head

Bessie Head was born in the year 1937, in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and she died in
1986. She was one of the African female authors whose life and litarary works have been brought into
focus in recent days. She became famous because of her three novels; When Rain Clouds Gather,
published in 1968, Maru also published in 1971 and the third one A Question of Power launched in 1974.

20. What is the plot of WHEN RAIN CLOUDS GATHER? Make an additional research.

9. Ousmane Sembane

In 1923, Uosmane Sembane was born in Ziguinchor, a region found in southern Senegal. He is widely
acknowledged as the seminal figure in both African film and literature. His work was focused centrally on
the cultural practices as well as political discourses that surround the female body in the continent of Africa.
He died in 2007 after winning a critical acclaim for his film, “Moolaadé” in 2004.

10. Ngugi wa Thiong’o

In 1938, Ngugi wa Thiong’o was born in Kamiriithu, Kenya. He is one of the best and most celebrated
African authors and intellectuals. He is also one of the African authors who have enjoyed both national and
international acclaim as an essayist, novelist, playwright, activist and social commentator. His experience of
the Mau Mau struggle for independence, British colonialism and the position of Kenya in the neo-colonial
era are some of the issues that preoccupy much of his thoughts and writings. Some of his novels include
Weep Not Child published in 1964, The River Between (1965), and A Grain of Wheat published in 1967.

Famous Literary Masterpieces

1. Things Fall Apart

Novel, By Chinua Achebe – Nigeria

This is a literary piece of work written by one of the best African writers of all time – Chinua

Achebe. Chinua Achebe hails from Nigeria.

Things Fall Apart is a piece of work that focuses on a clash of traditions during Africa’s transition period
from the colonial rule. It is at this period that Africa’s traditional values were in a violent clash with those
values of their colonial subjugators.

Even though the Western culture brought profound positive effects on Africa – including modern
industrialization and infrastructure, it nonetheless caused tremendous destruction in terms of Africa’s
authentic traditional values that held families together and defined the gender roles.

Things Fall Apart is a theme about characterization and demonstration of Africa’s torn socio- cultural fabric
as different forces fight for their own domain.

2. An African Thunderstorm

Poem, By David Rubadiri – Malawi

David Rubadiri is a great poet, writer, novelist, diplomat, and playwright from Malawi.

Like most early African writers, he ran afoul with his country’s government under dictator Hastings Kamuzu
Banda and ran into exile in Uganda. While in Uganda, Obote’s government was overthrown, forcing him
again to run into exile in Kenya.

He served twice as his country’s diplomat, first has Malawi’s first ambassador to the US. After Kamuzu
Banda ceased to be president, he returned to the country and later became his country’s Ambassador to
the UN.

The following poetry extract is one of his great pieces of work, An African Thunderstorm:

Pregnant clouds

Ride stately on its back,

Gathering to perch on hills

Like sinister dark wings;

The wind whistles by

And trees bend to let it pass.

And like most writers of his time, he was critical of poor governance and leadership in Africa.

Some of his work was critical of Africa’s despotic regimes.

21. What does an African Thunderstorm represent?

22. What is the mood of the poem?
3. Burger’s Daughter

Novel, By Nadine Gordimer – South Africa

This is a historical and political novel by Nadine Gordimer, one of Africa’s earliest literary Nobel Laureates.

This piece of work focuses on the criticism of the era of the draconian Apartheid regime of South Africa.
Burger’s Daughter was billed by the New York Times as Gordimer ’s most political and most moving novel.

…..make an additional research……..

23. What happened to Burger’s Daughter?

24. Who was the main character in the story? What was his role?

4. Aye Africa

Song, by Franklin Boukaka – DRC

This is a great song that many people brand it as “Africa’s Anthem”.

It is a deep moving song with that moves any listener who understands the plight of Africa, especially after
the mirage of the so-called ‘Independence’. In the song, Franklin Boukaka questions whether this war,
poverty and misery that Africa faces is the independence and freedom that was promised by the
Independence heroes. From his background as a Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), the song is painfully relevant when you realize that DRC is in deep turmoil that has so far claimed
over 10 million lives, not forgetting that over 6 million of them that were massacred by King Leopold of
Belgium prior to independence. This is a painful song. Its lyrics can move any patriot to tears.A song from
the deep heart of a martyr who was killed trying to fight for a better country through words and deeds.

The song was sung in French. The following are some parts of the translated lyrics:

Ahe Africa he
Eh he Africa

Where is your freedom?

Where is your liberty?

Oh, it is hard labor to cut wood fire!

With such sufferings with our kids!

I don’t know how to fix that.

I gave my confidence

To people only focused on luxury stuffs and cars

But when elections comes, they remind me as an important person for them

The colonizer left already

But what do we do with this freedom now?

You can listen to this great piece of work and its lyrics from this video:

Rest In Peace, Franklin Boukaka.

Look for the video presentation about Aye Africa.

25. What do you think is the message of the song?

26. What did you like the best about the song presentation?
27. What were you thinking as you finished watching the song presentation?
28-30. What feelings can you share?

5. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika

Song, by Enoch Sontonga – South Africa

Translated as ‘God Bless Africa’, this is another emotionally moving son by a great son of Africa
– Enoch Sontonga. It’s greatness is evidenced by the fact that it has been adapted by several countries in
Southern Africa as their national anthem.

These includes South Africa itself, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania (in Swahili version), and Zimbwabwe
(Shona version).

Enoch Sontonga was a teacher and Choirmaster at the Methodist Mission School in South

Africa. He composed and sung the song as part of religious service and as a special dedication to

his continent – Africa.

Enoch Sontonga died in obscurity during his youth at a prime age of only 33 years. But, his giant legacy
lives on in this great masterpiece that has been adopted as a National Anthem for 5 African countries. His
spirit guided and blessed most of Southern Africa’s liberation heroes as it were the song of choice during
their liberation struggle. A simple man whose hearty song invigorated the liberation spirit of people a five
counts.

Reminders……………………………………………………………………..

1. Answer all the questions inside the box.

2. Pass it ahead of time or on time for additional points.
3. There will be a deduction for not following instructions.
4. Make it sure that your answers aren’t found from the internet.
5. Write your answers in a short bond paper. (Handwritten or printed)
6. Don’t forget to put the date below your name.

GRADING SYSTEM

The Grading System for this course is as follows:

1. Summative Tests ( Midterm and Final Exams)...50%

2. Written Requirements……………………………....50%
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TOTAL 100%
 Traits 2 points 3 points 4 points 5 points SCORE
Unsatisfactory Needs Improvement Satisfactory Outstanding
Content Content is incomplete. Major Content is not Content is accurate and Content is
Development points are not clear. Specific comprehensive and /or persuasive. Major points comprehensive, accurate,
examples are not used. persuasive. Major points are are stated. Responses are and persuasive. All points
addressed, but not well adequate and address are stated clearly and are
supported. Responses are topic. Content is clear. well supported.
inadequate or do not Specific examples are Responses are objectively
address topic. Specific used. informative, timely and
examples do not support address topic. Content is
topic. clear and provides specific
examples are used.
Grammar, Answer contains numerous Answer contains few Rules of grammar, usage, Rules of grammar, usage,
Punctuation & grammatical, punctuation, grammatical, punctuation and punctuation are and punctuation are
and spelling errors. and spelling errors. followed with minor errors. followed; spelling is
Spelling Spelling is correct. correct.