Definition of African Literature.

The definition of African literature is so controversial among scholars because of several

reasons. It is taken as, the body of oral and written works in Afro-Asiatic and African languages
along with works written by Africans in alien tongues. The relationship between oral and written
traditions and in particular between oral and modern written literature s is one of great
complexity and not a matter of simple evolution. Contemporary African literature s were
believed to have been born in the educational systems brought and imposed by colonizers, with
models copied from the west rather than existing African traditions. But the African oral
traditions exerted their own influence on these literature s.

Some scholars define African literature in oversimplified fashion by localizing it. They define it
based on identity in that it is a branch of work written by African writers themselves.

According to Simon Gikandi (2003) African literature has long been defined by several
dominant threads and accompanying paradoxes.

In both its oral and written forms it has a long history rooted in the continent’s
famous storytelling and performance traditions, and its classical civilizations
are as old as that of any other region of the world. The linguistic traditions of
Africa are ancient, dating back to the Egypt of the pharaohs, the Carthage of the
Romans, the Sudanese empires, the Eastern Christian traditions of Ethiopia, the
kingdom of the Lakes region and southern Africa, and the Islamic heritage of
West and Eastern Africa. Yet it is only in twentieth century, especially its last half
that African literature became an institutionalized subject of study and
debate in the institution education and interpretation.

The language of African literature was one of the significant concerns to define African
literature. (Adejunmobi, 2006)

In the controversy in defining African literature, there are two man views or approaches:
Afro centric view and Eurocentric view.

1.1. Afrocentric View

In the Afro centric View, the proponents localize African literature and define it as any
creative writing, that includes different genres, by Africans, excludes non-Africans who write
about Africa, about Africa in African languages, medium of writing. In this regard Ngugi
(1987:7) presents Chinua Achebe’s strong stand ‘Is it right that a man should abandon his mother
tongue for someone else's? It looks like a dreadful betrayal and produces -a guilty feeling. But
for me there is no other choice. I have been given the Language and I intend to use’. According
to the above suggestion, African literature should be the one written in indigenous tongues.

The writers and critics who gathered in Uganda in 1963 faced the fundamental question
of determining who qualified as an African writer and what qualified as African writing.
The high point of the ensuing debate was the famous essay by Obi Wali, The Dead End of
African Literature(1963), in which he declared that the literature written in European
languages did not qualify as African literature. This was the beginning of the ongoing
atavistic language debate. Although Achebe countered Wali's position, Ngugi embraced it,
transforming the call for a return to African languages into a critical crusade that has lasted for
more than three decades (Almeida, 1994) (Beier, 1967) (Dathorne, 1975) (Irele, 1981), (Jahn,
1969), (Larson, 2001).

1.2. Eurocentric view

Euro centrism is systematic philosophy that treats every human activity and experience
from European perspective. For instance, they do not celebrate literary outputs if they are not
presented by their languages. English, French and Portuguese are usually the tongues to be used.
According to Eurocentric view, African literature is any creative writing by anyone in
European languages. White men are not the only proponents of this view. There are also African
writers who subscribe to it. Achebe wants an African writer to use his/her indigenous language,
but he (Achebe) prefers to write in the English Language. Ngugi (1987: 8) puts What Achebe
says in this regard as:‘ I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my
African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its
ancestral home but altered to suit new African surroundings.’

1.3. Operational Definition

In defining African literature, the nationality of the author, and the medium of writing focused by
Afro centric view and Eurocentric view are not too much important, as scholars propose, but the
experience of Africa is crucial. Therefore, African literature can simply be defined as “any
creative writing in any language by any author which generally relate on African experiences.”

An organized conference to define African literature was for the first time held in Makerere hill
in Kampala in 1962 with the salient question, ‘what is African Literature?'Ngugi (1987:6)
presents the specific questions on the topic presents as:

…did his work qualify as' African literature? What if an African set his work irk Greenland:
 did that qualify as African literature? Or were African languages the criteria? OK: what
about Arabic, was it not foreign to Africa? What about French and English, which had
become African, languages? What if 'an European wrote about Europe in an African
language? If ... if … if ... this o r that, except the issue: the domination of our languages and
cultures by those of imperialist Europe: in any case there was no Fagunwa or Shabaan
Robert or any writer in African languages to bring the conference down from the realms of
evasive abstractions. The question was never seriously asked: did what we wrote qualify as
African literature? The whole area of literature and audience, and hence of language as a
determinant of both the national and class audience did not really figure: the debate was
more. The debate which followed was animated: Was it literature about Africa or about the
African experience? Was it literature written by Africans? What about a non-African who
wrote about the subject matter and the racial origins and geographical habitation station of
the writer.

The 1962 conference at Makerere University brought together scholars and writers of the
continent to discuss the state of African literature: who should write it, what it should
depict and its definition. The nature of definition itself builds parameters around the entity
being defined, establishing limitations and associations that are transferred to subsequent
generations. It was said in the conference that that ‘any creating writing in which an African
setting is authentically handled or to which experiences originating in Africa are depicted
constitute African literature’.