Introduction to African Literature
What does it mean to be human? What are the common experiences of all
people? These may be large questions, so let's be more specific: what does it
mean to be European? Any answer to this question would have to ignore
specifics for each country. A similar problem arises when trying to define
African literature.
There are 54 nations which make up Africa. Each of these separate countries
have their own history, culture, tribes, and traditions. That being said, there
are some commonalities shared by literature which comes from the continent
as a whole.
Defining African literature can be complicated. There are some authors who
believe African literature can only be composed in African languages. Others
believe African literature can be composed in any language so long as it is
composed by authors from Africa.
In this lesson, we'll narrow our focus to the broader history and
characteristics of African literature in general.
History
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 centuries. 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.
Now let's take a look at some characteristics of African literature.
Characteristics
Literature from Africa has many characteristics. We will highlight some of the
most prevalent characteristics here.
To begin, let's look at African literature's broad scope of production. This
literature has been composed in English for Western and African audiences. It
is also composed in African languages for African readers. This literature
comes from all parts of Africa: both Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan.
From this general perspective, let's shift to the several forms of expression
which African literature has. This literature, like many others has its roots in
the oral tradition; or sharing stories, advice, and history through talking and
presenting. Early African writing tends to tell folktales, or stories and legends
passed down through a culture. These folktales are meant to provide guidance
and pass on cultural history. These stories are for all members of the
community, but especially for the children. African writers began to express
themselves in newspapers to spread their views. African literature then
expanded to include hymns, romance, epic, poetry, fictional narrative,
epistles, diaries, philosophy, biography, and autobiography.
One particular form of African narrative which may have been the first to draw
Western attention for the first time was composed by slaves. An example of
the slave narrative is The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of
Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, published in 1789. This
narrative gave a vivid and horrifying image of the slave trade.
Though it took many forms of expression, themes of protest began to guide
twentieth-century African literature. The focus has been dominated by writing
which decries colonization and calls for independence. Such writers as
Ousmane Sembene, Jacques Rabémananjara, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua
Achebe famously wrote during this time. They captured and communicated
the general feeling of African pride in their past and the hope for the future.
Lesson Summary
African literature has a long history stretching back over thousands of years.
Despite popularity for this collection of literature growing in the 1950s, its
history goes back to Ancient Egypt. Much of its difficult history has focused on
protest themes which still resonate today.
From roots of the oral tradition of passing down cultural stories and history
through presentation and storytelling, African literature came to also be
written down. Characteristics of African literature include slave narratives,
protests against colonization, calls for independence, African pride, hope for
the future, and dissent.
