Ariola | Aguirre | Cambay | Lorin | Lucido | Matibag | Ong

African
Literature
Telephone Conversation
 What is African
Literature?
It refers to the literary output of the
various countries and cultures in Africa
and it includes their oral traditions and
from the first to the contemporary
written and/or published prose and
poetry mirrors the customs, traditions
and philosophy of life.
 Some of the first African writings
were slave narratives. As Africans became literate in
their own languages, they often reacted against colonial
repression in their writings. They often shared the
same themes: the clash between indigenous and
colonial cultures, condemnation of European
suppression,
pride in the African past, and hope for the
continent's independent future.
 Pre Colonial Literature
Timeline Colonial Literature
of Post Colonial Literature
African
Literature
 Buchi

Famous African Writers

Mariama Ba Emecheta Bessie Head

Chinua Nadine Ayi Kwei

Achebe Gordimer Armah
Who is Wole Soyinka?
● a Nigerian playwright, poet, and essayist

● the first African recipient of the Nobel

Prize for Literature in 1986

● author of Telephone Conversation (1963)

that tackles discrimination against the
Africans and the other people of color
 Telephone
Conversation
Synopsis / Summary
 C h a r
Creative a c t e rs
adaptation
Them
Focuse
e & POV
d on:
● Ra
cism
● Pr
ejudice

Narra
“the Landlady” “the West ted in:
● Fir
African man” st Pers
on
Point o

Settings
f
View

in E ngland
during the 1950s
 What is the
Biographical Approach?
It focuses on analyzing the literary work by using the insight
provided by knowledge of the author’s life and biographical
data to elaborate on the meaning of the text.
 It was a heads up or a warning. Since

Stat racism was very rampant during those

eme
nt 1
times, the protagonist knew that his
race or color would be a variable
But
"Mad self- whether he gets the place to be rented
conf
am," essio
hate I w n. or not. The author stated
a wa a rned
s ted j , "I this because of his
am A o urne
frica y --
n." I experiences or
witnesses.
 2
The landlady was very straight to her
e nt
point without thinking about the other
person’s feelings on such a question.
S tatem
. I h ad not
R K ? " . .
Skin color was such a crucial D A T OR
"HOW L I G H
. . " A R E YOU
information that she wants to
mishear
d.
B , B u tton A.
know before allowing R K ? " B utton
VERY D
A
t h o f public
id bre a
someone to rent a O f r a n c
Stench
place. - a n d - s p eak.
hide
When There was no anti-discrimination legislation to

Soyinka prevent landlords from refusing to accept

black tenants, which gave these black
pursued immigrants hard time in finding private

his studies accommodation.

in England In a survey conducted in Birmingham in 1956,

in 1950,
only 15 out of 1,000 white people allowed a
black tenant to rent a room..
 Statement 3
Statement 3 This symbolizes
of how domina
nt the
white people a
re. Social class
es also
lipstick coated, gold rolled became a relev
ant issue. In fac
t, there
cigarette holder piped are signs adve
rtising flats w
ith the
provisions “no b
lacks, no Irish, n
o dogs”
in United Kingdo
m.
 Points of
Discussion
 au t h o r ’s p e rs o nal
h at a sp e ct s o f t he
W t o r y ?
a n t t o t h i s s
life are relev
A fric a n m a n . Since he
is a West
Soyinka, himself, ht have
e 1 9 5 0 s, h e m ig
d during th
studied in Englan
n c e d r ac ist a c ti o ns towards
experie
ht have
him and these mig
provoked him to
write such
poem.
 e au t h o r’s
h
Which of t a re
b e l i e fs Soyinka is
stated
part of
?
a
nt h e w o r k religious
r e fl e c t e d i Yoruba. Valu
group called
es such as
respect,
peaceful
co-existence,
loyalty and
freedom of
speech are
upheld and hig
hly valued in
their culture.
 Equality among all kinds
of people are promoted During 1956
and 1965, th
e Race
in all communities. Relations Act
and the Inter
national
Convention o
n the Elimina
tion of
All Forms of
Does the writer were imple
Racial Discrim
ination
challenge or The impleme
mented res
pectively.

support the
ntation of the
Equality
Act was also
values of his
done in 2010.

contemporaries?
 What seems to b
e
the author’s ma
a p o litic al activist. His jor
concerns? Do th
Soyinka was al so

personal exp e ri e n ce s m ad e h im feel anger, ey

reflect any of th
shame, humili ty an d th e in hu m anity of
e
writer’s persona
humans. He w an ts to d e fe n d p e ople who
l
also have a dar k sk in co lo r th at it should experiences?
d sh o u ld n o t b e a basis in
not matter an
treating others.
Do any of t
he events i
to events e n the story
xperience correspon
d by the au d
thor?
Soyinka stu
died in Eng
land in 195
surely have 0 and he
tried to ren
ta
place wher
e he can
stay and mig
ht
also have
been reject
ed
due to his
skin color.
 In 2001 the
Durban De
claration an
Programme d
of Action
revealed th (DDPA)
at slavery
and the sla
trade were ve
the major
sources an
manifestatio d

y o f t h e ns of ra
cism, rac
Do an
ial
e
discriminat
e rs i n t h ion, xeno

charact
phobia a
related into nd
r e sp o n d lerance and

to ry co r Africans ar
e
s
victims of t
e?
hese acts.
e o p l
to real p
He wanted to contribute to our society
in raising awareness to respect people
regardless of our diversity in culture and
race and to acknowledge each other’s
individual differences.

Wole Soyinka
wants to...
 ren c es
references Refe Retrieve
d
from

studies. ry02.htm from

English li s h ba s ics/Theo R e t r ieved
et/eng biograph
y.
of
ib u r g .d e/intran k a
Basics ni-fre Soyin
w w 2 .a nglistik.u W ole etrieved
from
t t p s :/ / w 1 9 ) . it a in . R
h July ka in Br
( 2 019, r it e r / w ole-soyin h u m a n rights n-rights-britain
hy. m/w ory o f -huma
Biograp w.biography.co ( n.d .).A hist -rights/history from
t p s :/ / w w m is s io n .
h u m a n R e t r ie ved
ht Com t-are- e.
H u m an Rights hts.com/en/wha t o literatur
and nrig
Equality w.equalityhuma a p proache
s from
t p s :/ / w w r it ic a l l R e t r ie v e
ht C it.htm
B . (n.d.). s p r in g97/litcr n v er sation.
J. egjb p / C o
Padgett, e.olemiss.edu/~ e le p hone KA.htm
l from
p :/ / h o m T / S O Y IN R e t r ie v ed
ht t (n.d.). ring_0 0 .
K. h / w e s t mank/sp d Kingdom
a n , e n g lis U n it e
Westm w.k-state.edu/ the m from
p s :/ / w w in _ K in g d o v e d
htt Racism United Retrie
( n .d.). a c is m _ in_the_ p le .
ia. iki/R peo
Wikiped ikipedia.org/w r u b a ulture d from
p s :/ / e n .w Y o _ a n d _ c e t r ie v e
htt ociety R
(n.d.). a _ p eople#S desert. Y.pdf
ik ip e d ia. r g / w ik i/Yo r u b
f A fric a n
na l% 2 0 for% N 2 0
W dia.o o PAD-fi
n.wikipe People sets/pdf/
https://e (n.d .) . c a d e / as
entde
N ations. n t s / a fr icandesc
g/en/ev e
United w.un.or
s :/ / w w
http