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SURVEY OF AFRO-ASIAN
LITERATURE
Home-based Learning Kit 1 in College

NAME: __________________________________

YR/SECTION: _____________________________

TEACHER: _______________________________

Prepared by:

Caren Rose L. Tojedo, LPT

Instructor
 INTRODUCTION

Afro-Asian literature is a term for novels or writings such as short stories and poems
written by people from mixed African-Arab ethnicity, or African-Asian ethnicity. In modern
times, as a part of world literature, Afro-Asian literature is a separate segment of writing [in
English] of experiences in Africa and Asia to further cultural understanding and world peace.
Afro Asian literature mirrors not only the customs and traditions of African and Asian
countries but also their philosophy of life which as a whole are deeply and predominantly
contemplative and hauntingly sweet. This course is designed to acquaint students with
canonical and marginal literary texts from specific regions of Africa, Asia and particular parts
of the Third World. More than the geographical contexts, this course also emphasizes the
historical, cultural, and eco-political conditions in which the texts are embedded to heighten
students' appreciation of literary productions.

OBJECTIVES

 Give the importance of Afro-Asian literature.

 Explain the basic information of every country that they choose.
 Reporting of a certain topic given by the teacher
 Knowing the importance of studying literature.
 Reflect the given quotation.

E ngage

What is the importance of knowing Afro-Asian literature?

E xplore

Cite at least 3 countries under Afro-Asian literature and give some basic information
about those countries that you choose.

E xplain

African literature

The body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African
languages together with works written by Africans in European languages. Traditional written
literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most
characteristic of those sub-Saharan cultures that have participated in the cultures of the
Mediterranean. In particular, there are written literatures in both Hausa and Arabic, created
by the scholars of what is now northern Nigeria, and the Somali people have produced a
traditional written literature. There are also works written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) and Amharic,
two of the languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part of Africa where Christianity has been
practiced long enough to be considered traditional. Works written in European languages
date primarily from the 20th century onward. The literature of South Africa in English and
Afrikaans is also covered in a separate article, South African literature. See also African
theatre.

The relationship between oral and written traditions and in particular between oral and
modern written literatures is one of great complexity and not a matter of simple evolution.
Modern African literatures were born in the educational systems imposed by colonialism, with
models drawn from Europe rather than existing African traditions. But the African oral
traditions exerted their own influence on these literatures.
Types of African literature

The different types of African literature can be divided into four groups:

 Oral African literature

 Pre-colonial African literature
 Colonial African literature
 Post-colonial literature

Oral African literature

African oral literature was performative. Its themes were usually mythological and
historical.

Performance, tone, riddles, and proverbs were key components of oral African literature.
These elements were manipulated by the orator to produce certain effects on their audience.

The performer also often had visual aids during their performance. As the performer was
usually face-to-face with the public, they were able to perform in specific ways by using
mimicry, gestures, and expressions to produce an impact on their audience. They could also
portray a certain image by dressing up as a specific character.

Oral African literature was versatile and communal. Performers could at times even introduce
pieces of their older stories into their new stories or create completely new content and
structures in their stories.

Pre-colonial African literature

Pre-colonial African literature is the literature written between the fifteenth and
nineteenth centuries and includes the Atlantic slave trade.

These stories were based on the folklore of different regions in African countries.

Colonial African literature

Colonial African Literature was produced between the end of World War I and African
independence (the date of which depends on the different countries, such as Ghana's 1957
independence from British control and Algeria's independence in 1962 from France). It
contained themes of independence, liberation and négritude.

Post-colonial African Literature

Writers in this period wrote in both western languages and African languages. The
main themes that African authors explore in post-colonial African Literature are the
relationship between modernity and tradition, the relationship between Africa’s past and
Africa’s present, individuality and collectivism, the notion of foreignness and indigenous,
capitalism and socialism, and what it means to be African.

African Writers

Chinua Achebe

It’s impossible to talk about African literature without mentioning Chinua Achebe. His
two best-known books, Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease, have left a lasting mark on
literature from the continent.

Achebe’s work is a long reflection on colonialism and its consequences for

individuality and the identity of Africans who are torn between two worlds — traditional and
Western society — that they can’t fully belong to. He is one of the most famous African
writers, and many expected him to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature. Unfortunately, he
didn’t receive the award before his death in 2013.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is only 42 years old, but she’s already recognized as one
of the most significant African writers of her generation. Born and raised in Nigeria before
studying in the United States, Adichie started her career to some acclaim with Purple
Hibiscus. But it was her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, that cemented her reputation as
a writer. She followed that with Americanah, which tackled issues of racism, feminism, and
cultural uprooting with humor and self-derision. While best-known as a fiction writer, her short
essay We Should All Be Feminists is also popular, and is distributed yearly to every high
schooler in Sweden. In 2017, Fortune magazine ranked Adichie as one of the 50 most
influential people in the world.
Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou is a French-Congolese writer and a professor of French literature at

the University of California. He became known in 1998 with his first novel, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge,
for which he received the Grand prix littéraire d’Afrique noire — one of the major literary
prizes for French-language literature in Africa.

Mabanckou’s novel Verre cassé (Broken Glass), which recounts the lives of the regulars in a
bar in Brazzaville, made him a well-known name among the general public. But it’s mostly
Mémoires de porc-épic (Memoirs of a Porcupine), longlisted for the Man Booker International
Prize and the winner of the 2006 Prix Renaudot, which gave him public exposure as a
prominent contemporary African writer. He also published the exceptional essay Dictionnaire
enjoué des cultures africaines (“Joyful Dictionary of African Cultures”) in collaboration with
Djibouti novelist Abdourahman Waberi.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Ngugi wa Thiongʼo is a Kenyan author whose works are written in English and the
Kikuyu language. He’s currently professor and director of the International Center for Writing
and Translation at the University of California.

Ngugi is a prominent intellectual figure in East Africa. At the center of his work, you will find
denunciations of colonialism, tensions between Black and white people, and communities
torn between European and African cultural influence. From his very first novel, Weep Not,
Child, Ngugi touches on these topics through the eyes of the insurgent Kikuyu rebelling
against English authorities. But it’s A Grain of Wheat, published in 1967, that gained him
international renown.
After decades writing novels in English, Ngugi’s 1986 essay Decolonising the Mind is a
farewell to the language: “How was it possible that we, African writers, exercised such
weakness in defending our own languages and such greed in claiming foreign languages,
starting with those of our colonizers?” Now, Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes only in his native
language, Kikuyu, to reach the audience he wants to address first and foremost.

Wole Soyinka

In a list of the best African writers, it would be easy to mention any of the four who
have won the Nobel Prize in Literature: Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz, J.M. Coetzee, or
Wole Soyinka from Nigeria. We’ve chosen Wole Soyinka to finish this list of the best African
writers of recent history because in 1986, he was the very first African writer to receive this
award.

Wole Soyinka is a prolific author who’s written novels, memoirs, short stories, essays, poetry,
and numerous theatrical plays. The Nobel committee specifically called out the richness of
Soyinka’s universe that “with a cultural and poetical perspective, models the drama of human
existence.”

Egyptian literature
Is one of the main manifestations of the literary world, since it is known as one of the
first in humanity. The main characteristic of Egyptian literature lies in the use of symbols and
figures, known today as hieroglyphs. These figures would allow the inhabitants to identify
elements and visually maintain different elements that were part of their culture and daily
activities.

It is considered that the Egyptian literature would be the result of the popular voice of the first
known civilizations, reason why it comprises, at the same time, the first known manifestations
and from which many others will begin to work with the passage of time.
Literature in the Old Kingdom

The Offering Lists and autobiographies, though not considered "literature", are the first

examples of the Egyptian writing system in action. The Offering List was a simple instruction,

known to the Egyptians as the hetep-di-nesw ("a boon given by the king"), inscribed on a

tomb detailing food, drink, and other offerings appropriate for the person buried there. The

autobiography, written after the person's death, was always inscribed in the first person as

though the deceased were speaking.

Middle Kingdom Literature

The Middle Kingdom is considered the classical age of Egyptian literature. During this
time the script known as Middle Egyptian was created, considered the highest form of
hieroglyphics and the one most often seen on monuments and other artifacts in museums in
the present day. Egyptologist Rosalie David comments on this period:

Literature in the New Kingdom

Between the Middle Kingdom and the era known as the New Kingdom falls the time
scholars refer to as the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1782-c.1570 BCE). During this era
rule in Egypt was divided between the foreign kings of the Hyksos in Lower Egypt at Avaris,
Egyptian rule from Thebes in Upper Egypt, and control of the southern reaches of Upper
Egypt by the Nubians. Egypt was united, and the Hyksos and Nubians driven beyond the
borders, by Ahmose of Thebes (c. 1570-1544 BCE) who inaugurated the New Kingdom. The
memory of the Hyksos "invasion" remained fresh in the minds of the Egyptians and was
reflected in the political policies and the literature of the period.

Arabian literature
Literary works written in the Arabic language. The great body of Arabic literature
includes works by Arabic speaking Turks, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Jews, and
other Africans and Asians, as well as the Arabs themselves.

The first significant Arabic literature was produced during the medieval golden age of lyric
poetry, from the 4th to the 7th cent. The poems are strongly personal qasida, or odes, often
very short, with some longer than 100 lines. They treat the life of the tribe and themes of
love, fighting, courage, and the chase. The poet speaks directly, not romantically, of nature
and the power of God. The qasida survive only through collections, chiefly the Muallaqat,
Hamasa, Mufaddaliyat, and Kitab al-Aghani. The most esteemed of these poets are Amru al-
Kais, Antara, and Zuhair.
E laborate

Why is it important to know the culture of one person when studying

his/her national literature?

Chinese literature
The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest
recorded dynastic court archives to the mature vernacular fiction novels that arose during the
Ming dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese. The introduction of widespread
woodblock printing during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and the invention of movable type
printing by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song dynasty (960–1279) rapidly spread written
knowledge throughout China. In more modern times, the author Lu Xun (1881–1936) is
considered an influential voice of baihua literature in China.
Pre-classical period

Formation of the earliest layer of Chinese literature was influenced by oral traditions of
different social and professional provenance: cult and lay musical practices (Shijing),[1]
divination (Yi jing), astronomy, exorcism. An attempt at tracing the genealogy of Chinese
literature to religious spells and incantations (the six zhu 六祝, as presented in the "Da zhu"
chapter of the Rites of Zhou) was made by Liu Shipei.[2]

Classical texts

There is a wealth of early Chinese literature dating from the Hundred Schools of
Thought that occurred during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–256 BC). The most important
of these include the Classics of Confucianism, of Daoism, of Mohism, of Legalism, as well as
works of military science and Chinese history. Note that, except for the books of poems and
songs, most of this literature is philosophical and didactic; there is little in the way of fiction.
However, these texts maintained their significance through both their ideas and their prose
style.

The Confucian works in particular have been of key importance to Chinese culture and
history, as a set of works known as the Four Books and Five Classics were, in the 12th
century AD, chosen as the basis for the Imperial examination for any government post.
These nine books therefore became the center of the educational system. They have been
grouped into two categories: the Five Classics, allegedly commented and edited by
Confucius, and the Four Books.

The Five Classics are:

1. the I Ching, or Classic of Changes, a divination manual;[note 1]

2. the Classic of Poetry, a collection of poems, folk songs, festival and ceremonial songs,
hymns and eulogies;
3. the Book of Rites or Record of Rites;
4. the Book of documents, an early Chinese prose collection of documents and
speeches allegedly written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and earlier;
5. the Spring and Autumn Annals, a historical record of Confucius' native state, Lu, from
722 to 479 BC.

The Four Books are:

1. the Analects of Confucius, a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius and

recorded by his disciples;
2. the Mencius, a collection of political dialogues;
3. the Doctrine of the Mean, a book that teaches the path to Confucian virtue; and
4. the Great Learning, a book about education, self-cultivation and the Dao.
E valuation

What does the quotation mean write at

least 500 words to explain your answer?

"Study the past if you would define the future."