African literature
I. African literature, are 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).
II. Oral literature, including stories, dramas, riddles, histories, myths,
songs, proverbs, and other expressions, is frequently employed to
educate and entertain children.
A. Oral histories, myths, and proverbs additionally serve to remind
whole communities of their ancestors' heroic deeds, their past,
and the precedents for their customs and traditions. Essential to
oral literature is a concern for presentation and oratory.
B. Folktale tellers use call-response techniques. A griot (praise
singer) will accompany a narrative with music.
C. 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.
D. 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 of
rulers and other prominent people.
E. Praise singers, bards sometimes known as "griots", tell their
stories with music.[3] Also recited, often sung, are love songs,
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work songs, children's songs, along with epigrams, proverbs and
riddles.
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F. Examples of pre-colonial African literature are numerous. Oral
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literature of west Africa includes the :
G. "Epic of Sundiata" composed in medieval Mali, and the older
"Epic of Dinga" from the old Ghana Empire.
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H. In Ethiopia, there is a substantial literature written in Ge'ez
going back at least to the fourth century AD;
I. the best-known work in this tradition is the Kebra Negast, or
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"Book of Kings."
J. One popular form of traditional African folktale is the "trickster"
story, in which a small animal uses its wits to survive encounters
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with larger creatures. Examples of animal tricksters include
Anansi, a spider in the folklore of the Ashanti people of Ghana;
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Ijàpá, a tortoise in Yoruba folklore of Nigeria; and Sungura, a
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hare found in central and East African folklore.[4] Other works in
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written form are abundant, namely in north Africa, the Sahel
regions of west Africa and on the Swahili coast.
K. From Timbuktu alone, there are an estimated 300,000 or more
manuscripts tucked away in various libraries and private
collections,mostly written in Arabic but some in the native
languages (namely Fula and Songhai). Many were written at the
famous University of Timbuktu. The material covers a wide array
of topics, including astronomy, poetry, law, history, faith, politics,
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and philosophy.[7] Swahili literature similarly, draws inspiration
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from Islamic teachings but developed under indigenous
circumstances. One of the most renowned and earliest pieces of
Swahili literature being Utendi wa Tambuka or "The Story of
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Tambuka".
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L. In Islamic times, North Africans such as Ibn Khaldun attained
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great distinction within Arabic literature. Medieval north Africa
boasted universities such as those of Fes and Cairo, with copious
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amounts of literature to supplement them.
III. Colonial African Literature
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The African works best known in the West from the periods of
colonization and the slave trade are primarily slave narratives, such as
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Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
(1789).
In the colonial period, Africans exposed to Western languages began
to write in those tongues.
M. In 1911, Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-
Agiman) of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) published what is
probably the first African novel written in English, Ethiopia
Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation. Although the work
moves between fiction and political advocacy, its publication
and positive reviews in the Western press mark a watershed
moment in African literature.
N. During this period, African plays written in English began to
emerge.
O. Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo of South Africa published the first
English-language African play, The Girl Who Killed to Save:
Nongqawuse the Liberator in 1935.
P. In 1962, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African
drama, The Black Hermit, a cautionary tale about "tribalism"
(discrimination between African tribes).
 Q. Among the first pieces of African literature to receive significant C. African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages
worldwide critical acclaim was Things Fall Apart, by Chinua (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in traditional
Achebe. Published in 1958, late in the colonial era, Things Fall African languages such as Hausa.
Apart analyzed the effect of colonialism on traditional African D. Ali A. Mazrui and others mention seven conflicts as themes:
society.[9] 1) the clash between Africa's past and present,
R. African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of 2) between tradition and modernity,
World War I and independence) increasingly showed themes of 3) between indigenous and foreign,
liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French- 4) between individualism and community,

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controlled territories) négritude. 5) between socialism and capitalism,

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S. One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and 6) between development and self-reliance and
eventual President of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, 7) between Africanity and humanity.
published in 1948 the first anthology of French-language poetry 8) Other themes in this period include social problems such as

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written by Africans, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et corruption, the economic disparities in newly independent

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malgache de langue française (Anthology of the New Black and countries, and the rights and roles of women.

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Malagasy Poetry in the French Language), featuring a preface by 9) Female writers are today far better represented in
the French existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre published African literature than they were prior to

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T. For many writers this emphasis was not restricted to their independence.
publishing. Many, indeed, suffered deeply and directly: censured 10) In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first post-independence
for casting aside his artistic responsibilities in order to African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

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participate actively in warfare, Christopher Okigbo was killed in Previously, Algerian-born Albert Camus had been awarded
battle for Biafra against the Nigerian movement of the 1960s' the 1957 prize.

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civil war; Post-Colonial African literature
U. Mongane Wally Serote was detained under South Africa's A. With liberation and increased literacy since most African

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Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 between 1969 and 1970, and nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s,

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subsequently released without ever having stood trial;
V. in London in 1970, his countryman Arthur Norje committed
African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in
recognition, with numerous African works appearing in
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suicide; Western academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled
W. Malawi's Jack Mapanje was incarcerated with neither charge nor at the end of the 20th century.
trial because of an off-hand remark at a university pub; and, B. African writers in this period wrote both in Western
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X. in 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged by the Nigerian junta. languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in
traditional African languages such as Hausa.
IV. Postcolonial African literature C. Ali A. Mazrui and others mention seven conflicts as themes:
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A. With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations the clash between Africa's past and present, between
gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, tradition and modernity, between indigenous and foreign,
B. African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in between individualism and community, between socialism
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recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western and capitalism, between development and self-reliance and
academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled at the end of between Africanity and humanity.
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the 20th century. D. Other themes in this period include social problems such as
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corruption, the economic disparities in newly independent

countries, and the rights and roles of women. Female
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 E. writers are today far better represented in published African
literature than they were prior to independence.
F. In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first post-independence
African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Previously,
Algerian-born Albert Camus had been awarded the 1957 prize.
G. After World War II, as Africans began demanding their
independence, more African writers were published. Such
writers as, in western Africa, Wole Soyinka , Chinua Achebe ,
other arts into their work and often weave oral conventions into
their writing.
O. p'Bitek structured Song of Iowino (1966) as an Acholi poem
Achebe's characters pepper their speech with proverbs in Things
Fall Apart (1958). Others, such as Senegalese novelist Ousmane
Sembene, have moved into films to take their message to
people who cannot read.

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Ousmane Sembene , Kofi Awooner, Agostinho Neto , Tchicaya u

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tam'si, Camera Laye, Mongo Beti, Ben Okri, and Ferdinand
Oyono and, in eastern Africa, Ngugi wa Thiong'o , Okot p'Bitek ,
and Jacques Rabémananjara produced poetry, short stories,

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novels, essays, and plays.

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H. All were writing in European languages, and often they shared

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the same themes: the clash between indigenous and colonial
cultures, condemnation of European subjugation, pride in the

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African past, and hope for the continent's independent future.
I. In South Africa, the horrors of apartheid have, until the present,
dominated the literature.

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J. Es'kia Mphahlele , Nadine Gordimer , Bessie Head , Dennis
Brutus , J. M. Coetzee, and Miriam Tlali all reflect in varying

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degrees in their writings the experience of living in a racially
segregated society.

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K. Much of contemporary African literature reveals disillusionment

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and dissent with current events. For example, V. Y. Mudimbe in
Before the Birth of the Moon (1989) explores a doomed love
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affair played out within a society riddled by deceit and
corruption.
L. The Zimbabwean novelist and poet Chenjerai Hove (1956–
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2015), wrote vividly in English and his native Shona of the

hardships experienced during the struggle against British
colonial rule, and later of the hopes and disappointments of life
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under the rule of Robert Mugabe .

M. In Kenya Ngugi wa Thiong'o was jailed shortly after he produced
a play, in Kikuyu, which was perceived as highly critical of the
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country's government. Apparently, what seemed most offensive

about the drama was the use of songs to emphasize its
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messages.
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N. The weaving of music into the Kenyan's play points out another
characteristic of African literature. Many writers incorporate
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