Dr Abib SENE

Department of Anglophone Studies

African and Postcolonial Literature
Licence 1

A complete and definite satisfactory definition of African literature is quite impossible.

And that because of the nature of African literature which is said to be composed of different
and various features. The debate on what can be regarded as part and parcel of African literature
is still topical. Indeed, it is generally clear cut that African literature is about:

1- Literary productions of African writers in former colonizers’ languages (English, French,

Portuguese, Spanish, etc.)
2- Literature expressed in African Languages (Wolof, Gikuyu, Zulu, Fulani, Housa, , etc).
3- Literary productions that focus on the Sub-Saharan area of Africa.
4- Literary productions dealing with the whole African continent.
5- African and non-African writers who deal with African matters in their literary productions.
The objective of this course is to give ground to all of these definitions on African literature,
highlighting the ideologies that support them from foundation.
African Literature is made up of two major components:
1- ORAL LITERATURE OR AFRICAN ORATURE
2- WRITTEN LITERATURE

Oral Literature
Oral literature is prior to written literature. It is made up with different genres and plays
different functions.
Being the cradle of Mankind, as demonstrated by scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop,
Blyden, to name but a few, the African continent is the place where Men and women, for the
first time, lived, spoke, and evolved. Therefore, it is the birthplace of any literary activity. Its
oral literature is expressed in Swahili, Houssa, Yoruba, Wolof, Igbo, Fulani, Zulu, Gikuyu,
Diola, Sereer, Manjaku, ect.

It is important, as well, to mention that African-Amarican and Caribbean oral literatures

have been strongly influenced by African oral literature through slaves and slavery descendants’
inheritance.

African orature or oral literature is composed of Oral Poetry, Oral Fiction and Oral
Essay.

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 Components of Oral Poetry :
- Oral poetry is about praise poetry, appeal poetry, and freelance poetry.
-
1- Praise Poetry :

Its main performers are Courts poets who are called Gawlo among the Fulani, Géwal
among the Wolof, Djali among the Mandinka in West Africa, Gawoul among the Sereer
(Senegal), Kwadwumfo among the Ashanti (present-day Ghana) and Imbongi among
the Zulu of South Africa).
Praise Poets are generally interested in their communities’ history and the
particular historical deeds achieved by outstanding individuals such as Kings, Queens,
Princes, Princesses, Soldiers, Dignitaries, Good Citizens, etc. Their role is to entertain,
educate, and advise. In highlighting good, courageous and heroic achieved deeds, they
voice, all the same, the set examples, for the younger generation, to follow. Contrary
to modern griots who are believed to be money-oriented mind, the traditional ones are
concerned with how to, in every respect, mould their community into a peaceful, human,
and respectful society.
Example of lofty griots: Elhadj Mansour Mbaye and Jali Mamadou Kouyaté.

2- Appeal Songs or poetry :

Appeal poems or Songs are performed by Appeal Poets or diviners who are
endowed with religious and supernatural powers handed down to them by parents,
relatives, deities or spirits. They performed during times of God’s action (calamities,
droughts, locust invasions, epidemics) or important events ( harvest times, rainy
seasons, war, etc). Their social role is to APPEAL to the spirits and gods of the
community for a collective or individual protection. They act, therefore, in their
capacities as intermediaries, between their societies and the world of the Spirits (the
invisible world).
Examples :
Roog and Pangool (Mama Ngéec, Mindis…) among the Sereer (Senegal)

Chukwu the Supreme god of the Igbo and numerous personal gods (chi) (Nigeria)

Olodumare (the supreme god) and Ogun among the Yoruba (Nigeria)

Ngai (the supreme god of the Kikuyu of Kenya) and Mount Kenya (Kenya).

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Appeal Songs are performed by the Saltigi among the Sereer and the Lebu in Senegal ; the
Babalawo among the Yoruba ; the Legba, the Vodounon and the Bokonon in Benin ; the
Ndepkat among the Lebu of Senegal ; the Sangomas or Sanussi in South Africa. They are, in
their vast majority, attached to cult and can be called Cult Poets.

3- Freelance Poetry/Poets :
They are attached neither to any court, nor to any cult. They are just talented
poets. Example of Freelance oral performances: Taaxuraan (song by troubadours called
Taaxuraankat) ; Self-praise songs (bàkku in wolof, Xakkhat in Sereer) performed by
wrestlers, Xaxar, Laabaan (satirical and sarcrastic songs by women at weddings), etc.
Freelance Poets perform at naming ceremonies, funeral, marriage and wrestling
matches. The main themes they develop are akin to ordinary life (love, hatred,
friendship, the environment, etc. Furthermore, songs can be considered to be part of
free-lance poetry. People sing when pounding the millet, cooking, washing, tilling the
earth, etc. Freelance Poets plays instruments like:
The Drum
The Riti
The Kora
The Balafon
The Tama
The Xalam
Freelance Poets are entertainers and can get paid for their performances.
ORAL FICTION
1- Myth.

What is a Myth ?
Definition: A Myth is an expression of initial chaos. It does refer to cosmogony
(organization of the cosmos) and to theogony. It impacts on, influences, in a way or
another, communal opinions, and organizes relationships between men and supernatural
features, giving straightaway the basis of Religion.

2- Epopee
Definition: Epopee is a component of oral fiction that refers to conflicts and heroes,
challenges and manners. It is generally articulated by a group of individuals who, being
aware of their existence as a community, legitimize their presence in a given territory.

3- Legend

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 Definition: Legend is another component of oral fiction. It is about a story that has been
handed down over generations and that cannot be proved to be true or fictious. It can bear
the hallmarks of history, space (urban legend), etc. and generally puts on surface the heroic
deeds of a character, the outstanding historical happenings concerning a whole society’s
existence.

Oral Essays
Their function is to help in teaching and learning language use, natural sciences. They
highlight moral values and social norms. Through codes of languages, songs can be connected
to the word of gods. Ex : Sereer with their ‘‘pangol’’ ; Lébu with their “tour’’. The differents
elements that compose oral essays are:

1- Proverbes :
A proverb is a short sentence expressing popular advice, or general truths.
Ex : ‘‘A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing’’( Achebe in TFA)
‘‘Work the clay while it is fresh’’.
‘‘Wisdom killed the wise man.’’
2- Maxims:
A Maxim it is about an expression that highlights a general principle ground on moral
value or rule of conduct. It can be aphoristic or sententious. It is a formula that expresses
a moral or dictating manner to adopt.
Ex : “Woman is to be loved, not to be trusted’’ ‘‘La femme est à aimer, mais pas à faire
confiance’’ (Kooc Barma)

3- Riddle :
A Riddle is a misleading or puzzling question of which answer is to be played out.
Ex : ‘‘A pot without an opening’’. (An egg.)
‘‘The silly man who drags his intestines’’. (A needle and thread.)

4- Puzzles : it is about a problem, a situation difficult to be solved.

FUNCTIONS OF ORAL LITERATURE

1- Playful function
It is a function related to entertainment and relaxation. In Sub-Saharan African
evening talks, men and women, old and young people, around a night-fire, share talk-
pleasure, languages and arguments performances.

2- Pedagogical function
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 It initiates the younger generation into cardinal values that shape citizen’s
mentalities. They are then initiated to good manners (abide by customs, be respectful
towards ancestors and gods, social stratification and hierarchy to the relationship
between the living and the dead.

3- Ideological function
Through this function, vital problems such as tension deriving from social
inequalities and injustice are put on surface to be sorted out. Social cohesion is then
sharpened and kinship discourses are articulated to strengthen propinquity. It regulates
social interactions and therefore deaden conflits.

4- Initiatic function
It finds ground on a metaphorical language. The ‘initiated’ have access to a certain
number of social codes, secrets and teachings to get ready for psychological, physical,
moral sufferings, and challenges. Furthermore, symbolic death through circumcision to
learn about ins and outs of adulthood and secret medicine.

5- Fantastic function
The fantastic function is about a staging of familial tensions and conflicts. Hence,
the opposition between in-law parenthood and proquinquity.

AFRICAN WRITTEN LITERATURE

African written literature is old and rich. It is a literature, which can be read through
four main steps that are:
1- African Literature in Arabic ( Origin, and main themes)
African written literature in Arabic was favored by the invasion of East and West Africa
by Arabs between the 10th and 11th century. Arabs intruded in Africa with their language,
religion, and culture, which they introduced into the continent, mainly in Senegambia, Mali
Empire, Ghana Empire, Somalia, Tanzania, Djibouti, and Zanzibar. Many Africans converted
themselves into Islam and had a recourse to the Arabic language to write about themes related
to morality and celebration of Allah, Muhamed (PBUH) and their representatives.

Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, Elhadji Malick Sy, Ibrahima Niass, were far from being the
very first African writers in Arabic. They were just continuators of a long tradition of Sahelian,
but also East African written literature in Arabic.

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 It is important to underline that African literature in Arabic is older than many European
literatures. Therefore, it can be rightfully said that African literature was not born with the
arrival of European colonizers. One can even go as far as the Ancient Egyptian literature written
in Hieroglyphs to find the roots of African written literature.

2- Ajami Literature
It is about African Literature in African Languages with Arabic scripts (Alphabet).
Called Wolofal among the Wolof, that literature was dominantly religious. And the most
outstanding Ajami Poets are the 16th century Swahili Poets and the 19th century Haousa Poets
such as Mohamed Na Birni Gwari, at the time of Othmam dan Fojo. Among the Mouride
Wolofal writers, in Senegal, one can mention Mbay Jaxate, Momar Mayre, Samba Jaara
Mbay, Masamba Njaay and Mousa Ka. Among the Laayeen one can point out Libasse
Niang, Mbaay Malick Mbay, Elhadji Abdoulaye Thiaw, Elhadji sakhir Gay, Mamadou
Laye Ndir, and Alassane Sylla. The most distinghished Senegalese Ajamin poets is Serin
Muussa Ka. He wrote Boroomam, Jasaawu sakkoor, Yoonu geej gi, Jeeri ji, Xarnu bi,
Barsan, Marsiyah Amdil Mustafaa, Madlabul xaajaati. Many of the Senegalese Wolof Poets
praise their religious leaders: Bamba, Maodo, whereas the latter praise Allah and Mohamed
(they called themselves the Prophet’s griots).

3- African Literature in European Languages (Origin and Main themes)

This literature was born with colonization. Like Arabs in the 9th century, Europeans
invaded Africa with their languages (French, English, Portuguese, Italian, etc.), religion
(Christianity) and culture. Missionaries shouldered the mission to convert Africans and spread
their religion to pave the way for a full colonial administration. On the ground to train civil
servants, clerks, interpreters, assistants, etc. To handle the colonial apparatus, missionaries, and
later colonial administrators, opened up Mission Schools, built churches to welcome the natives
and ‘‘shaped’’ them into a western-minded orientation. As the colonial system succeeded in
‘producing’ the collaborators (Achebe called them the Kotma, Ngugi identifes them through the
ironical name of Homeguards, it produced intellectuals who mastered the European languages
so well that they started writing in those languages. They successfully imitated the renowned
writers such as Baudelaire, Ronsard, Kipling, Wordsworth, and praised the colonizers’
civilization. That was the enchantment period of African literature.
However, the encounter of Caribbean writers with the Black writers and intellectuals of the
Harlem Renaissance, who were writing about their own Black people’s plights, using the
vernacular of the Black Ghetto community of the USA, helped them to better develop a genuine

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African literature based on African realities (Colonization and its damaging effects on African
peoples, the celebration of African culture). That was the period of disenchantment. So,
thematically and aesthetically, African literature, in the European languages, shifted from
imitation to authenticity. African writers embraced a new type of writing ushered in by the two
above-mentioned situations, and then later on by consequences of the two World Wars.
Independence produced a new trend in African literature. It opened up a huge gap between
the African writer and the new leaders who took over from the European colonizers. The new
targets of their writers’ attacks were those leaders. Instead of the dreamt of democracy,
development and social harmony, an era of mismanagement and coups started, all of which
masterminded and monitored by the former colonizing powers of Europe who had decided to
hand over the power, not to the genuine leaders of the newly-independent countries, but to the
puppets they believed could help them preserve their interests. Then the emergence of the African
novel of postcolonial disillusionment with such novels as A Man of the People (Achebe), The
Beautyful Ones are not yet Born (Ayi Kwei Armah), Season of Anomy (Wole Soyinka), Weep,
not Child, Petals of Blood, A Grain of Wheat (Ngugi wa Thiong’O).
4- African Literature in African Languages with the Latin Alphabet
It is a modern African literature with writers using the Latin alphabet. It is a
literature, which is gaining more and more ground throughout the continent. Like the first
productions in African languages using the Arabic alphabet, early African literature in African
languages with a Latin alphabet was somewhat a literature of imitation. Chaka by Thomas
Mofolo written in Sesotho was ordered by the missionaries who wanted an African to castigate
his own culture and hero: Chaka. But Mofolo’s book did not meet their anti-Africa agenda!
Other great African writers in African languages using the Latin script: Sha’abaan Roberts
(Swahili), Fagunwa from Nigeria (A Forest of a Thousand Daemons), Cheikh Alioune Ndao
from Senegal, Boubacar Borris Diop (Doomu Golo), Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (Matigari
Manjuuringi) and (Caitani Mathara-ini, Devil on the Cross).

DEFINITION OF POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

Postcolonial literature is not only about Africa, but is rather a universal literature. It covers
the former colonies in Africa, India, and in the Caribbean, etc. It is the literature, especially
gnomonic, produced by the intelligentsia of former colonized nations to castigate and deconstruct
the misrepresentations, clichés, and stereotypes that European-centric writers and intellectuals
developed against the so-called ‘periphery’ throughout the colonial period and even afterwards.

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Frantz Fanon (Black Skins, White Masks), Edward W. Said (Orientalism), Ngugi wa Thiong’O
(Decolonizing the Mind), Bill Ashcroft (The Empire Writes Back), Aimé Césaire (Discourse on
Colonialism), Chinua Achebe (Hope and Impediments), are must-read theoretical authors. Things
Fall Apart, a novel published in 1958, because of the underlying ideology, is considered as a
postcolonial novel because it foreshadows the seeds of colonialism and post-colonialism. The
precursors of that form of literature in Africa are Leopold Sedar Senghor, Leon Gontran Damas,
Aime Cesaire, Frantz Fanon, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, etc.

LITERARY GENRES

What is a literary genre?

A literary genre, let alone the fact of being a category, an element of literary
composition, is a literary expression that can find ground on literary techniques, tones
and contents.

There are two main literary genres:

1- Fiction
2- Non-fiction

1-1 Fiction: Fiction is a narrative literary work of which content is produced by

imagination and is not necessarily based on facts.
Among the different component of fiction as a literary genre, one can mention

a) Drama :
Drama is about stories composed in verse or in prose destined to theatrical
scenes and performances. Scenes through which social matters related to
conflicts, emotional feelings, are articulated through dialogue and action.

b) Fable :
A fable is a narration that demonstrates a useful truth, especially in which
animals speak as humans. It is about legendary, supernatural tales.

c) Fairy Tale:
It is about fairies or other creatures, usually for children.

d) Fantasy :
Fantasy is fiction with strange or other worldly setting or characters:
fiction, which invites suspension of reality.

e) Fiction in verse:
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 Full-length novels with plots, subplots, themes, major and minor
characters, in which the narrative is presented in (usually blank) verse form.

f) Historical fiction:
Story with fictional characters and events in historical settings.

f) Folklore:
Folklore is the communication of aesthetics and cultural values important
to our everyday lives: sometimes it is artistic (pottery, humorous narratives, or
dance); sometimes it is occupational (jargon, work song, or religious oration); It
can be practical (foodways, homesteading, or saying “Gesundheit”). Every
human community have a sense of their own identity wrapped through songs,
stories, myths and proverbs. Such a body of traditions handed down by a word
of mouth is called folklore.
g) Horror:
Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of death in both the characters
and the readers.

h) Humor:
Fiction full of fun, fancy and excitement, and meant to entertain. It
inclues, however, imaginative material.

i) Mystery :
Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unrevealed.

j) Mythology:
It is about legends or traditional narratives, which are partly based on
events or body of myths that reveal human behavior and natural phenomena by
its symbolism.

k) Poetry:
Verse and rhythmic writings with imagery that create emotional
responses.

l) Realistic fiction:
Story based on imagined or potential science usually set in the future or
other planets.

m) Short Story:
Fiction of such brevity that supports no subplots.
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n)Tall tale:
Humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do
the impossible with nonchalance.

2-1 NON-FICTION
a) Biography/ Autobiography
A narrative of a person’s life, a true story about a real person.

b) Essay: A short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or

point on a specific matter.

c) Nonfiction narrative: information presented in a format, which tells a story.

d) Non-fiction: information text dealing with a real life subject.

e) Speech: public address or discourse.

3-1 Narration and Devices

A narrative is a story narrated in a particular type of literature like novel,
drama, fables, folk tales, short story and poetry. Narrative can also be found in
cinema, music, and theatre. They are used to giving deeper meanings to readers
Its elements are :
3-1-1- The plot
A plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up the story
or the main part of a story. It is the foundation of a novel, story, which the
character built around. It focuses attention on the important characters and their
roles in the story. It creates longing desire for the reader to carry on reading. The
leads to a climax and progressively goes down to release the story so as to
maintain the reader’s interest.
The five main elements in a plot are:
a) Exposition: it is the introduction: the beginning of the story where
characters and setting are established, as well as the conflict or the main
problem.

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 b) The rising action: actions build up and main characters emerge and events
starts following complicated running tension and excitement rise. Crises
overlapped one another.
c) Climax: The turning point of the story. It is the moment of highest interest
and emotion. The reader wander what is going on, what will happen next
d) Falling action or winding up of the story : Events and complication begin
to resolve and results of action of the main characters are put on surface
e) Resolution or conclusion
It is the end of the story. It ends up with a happy or a tragic ending.

3-1-2 Setting: the setting includes both time and geographical location in which the story
take place. It includes context, culture, and historical deeds. It is the social milieu that shape
the characters values.
3- Theme : it is the underlying message. The big idea that goes beyond barriers.. It is
what the story means.
4- Style or structure: the way the writer expresses his ideas (grammar, vocabulary,
paragraph, how he keeps the reader glued on the text. It is about skill writings.
5- Characterization: can be defined as the creation of fictional beings, actants
endowed with some roles to play actively or passively. It is about the representation
of a person, an animal, or a figure in a literary work.
6- Main characters (round characters). They are the ones who have the greatest
effect on the plot or are the most affected by it. They are characterized by
protagonists, antagonist, dynamic, statistic elans, etc.
7- Minor characters (Flat characters) : Minor characters are the ones who play
second-hand roles. They help the main characters to achieve their targeted
objectives.
4-1 Narrator vs narratee

4-1-1 The narrator :

The narrator is the character who, in the communication scheme, takes in charge the
narration. He knows the ins and outs of the story.
4-1-2 The narratee :
The narratee is the instance in fabula, the fictional listeners, the fictional
audience that recieve the narrator’s message; the narrator’s narration.

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 Functions of the narrator :
a) The narrative function : it is the most spread one. And it is about telling
stories.

b) The Administering function: it is about the narration organization by the

narrator who establishes different and various relationships. The narrator
organizes and orders relations between characters and events.

c) Testimonial function: it is related to the relationship that the narrator harbors

with the story itself. It consists in underlying comments, reflexions,
emotions, etc. on characters that are formulated by the narrator.

d) Communicative function : the communicative function establishes a

contact between the narrator and the narratee.

e) The explicative function: it is a function that aims at putting on surface

didactic, instructive, educational notions and aspects.

f) Ideological function : this function is about general judgement on mankind

in relation with history.

5-1 The different forms of narration

a) The simultaneous narration: this function gives the impression that the
narrator tells the story at the moment when it takes place. Such a technic is,
from time to time, borrowed by the epistolary novel. Ex: So Long a Letter
by Mariama Ba.
b) The Ulterior narration: it tells events after happening. It relates past events.
The story is therefore told in the past tense. It is the most spread type of
narration.
c) The Anterior narration: it anticipates on coming events. The dominating
tense is the future. However, it is worth mentioning that it is rare form of
narration that is mainly employed in textual fragments in which premonitory
values and happening through dreams, predictive stories, oracles stories are
articulated.

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 d) Interleaf narration: this form of narration is a combination of ulterior and
simultaneous narrations. It is the case of the first person-narration novel. It
generally found in intimate journal or epistolary novel. Ex : L’Etranger by
Albert Camus.

5- Some Stylistic Devices

1- Simile: it is an explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or
feelings, using the word ‘as’ or ‘like’, as in words worth’s line: I wander lonely
as a cloud.
2- Metaphor: metaphor is one of the most important and widespread figure of
speech, in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression
normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common
quality shared by the two. In metaphor, this resemblance is assumed as an
imaginary identity rather than directly stated as a comparison: referring to a man
as that pig, or saying he is a pig is metaphorical.
3- Anacoluthon: is a grammatical term for a change of construction in a sentence
that leave the initial construction unfinished.
Ex : Either you go – but we’ll see
4- Analepsis : a form of anachrony by which some of the events of a story are
related at a point at the point in the narrative after later story events have already
been recounted. Commonly referred to as retrospection or flashback, analepsis
enables a storyteller to fill in background information about characters and
events. Its contrary is prolepsis.
5- Anaphora : a rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is
repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or
sentences.
6- Aposiopesis : a rhetorical device in which the speaker suddenly breaks off in the
middle of a sentence, leaving the sense unfinished. The device usually suggests
strong emotion that makes the speaker unwilling or unable to continue.
Ex :‘get out, or else –’
7- Apostrophe: a rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent
person, or an abstraction or inanimate object. In classical rhetoric, the term could

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 also denote a speaker is turning to address a particular member or section of the
audience.
8- Assonance: the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the stressed
syllables of neighboring words.
9- Chiasmus : : a figure of speech by which by which the order of the term in the
first of the two parallel clause in the second. This may involve a repetition of the
same words.
Ex : Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure.
10- Comic relief: the interruption of a serious work, especially a tragedy, by a short
humorous episode.
11- Consonance: the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring
words whose vowel sounds are different.
Ex : coming home, hot foot
12- Epizeuxis : a rhetorical figure by which a word is repeated for emphasis with no
other words intervening
Ex : sich, sick, sick.

Exercise I

Task 1:
Give the definition of the following:
1- Postcolonial literature
2- African Orature
Task2:
A- What do the following symbols refer to in Things Fall Apart? (3pts)
1- Yam
2- Fire
3- Locusts
4- Ash
5- The Chi
B- Establish the relationship between the following characters and describe the role
they stand for in the novel. (3pts)

Okonkwo, Ekwefi, Obierika, Nwoye, Ezinma, Unoka, The Priestess of Agbala,

Ikemefuna.

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 Task 3:
Answer the followings questions:
1- What is the main difference between ancient and modern griots?
2- What differential is there between Ajami and Arabic literatures?
3- What are the different literary elements that belong to Oral essay and that can be
found in the novel Things Fall Apart?

Task 4:
To which entity do belong the following components?
Songs, proverbs, tales, myth, praise poetry, appeal poems, storytelling, and
freelance poetry

Oral Fiction Oral Essay Oral Poetry

1- 1- 1-

2- 2- 2-

3 3- 3-

4- 4- 4-

etc., etc., etc.,

Exercise II

I- Who are the composers of African oral poetry? (3 marks)

a)_______________________ b)________________________ c)

_______________________

II- Fill in the following table. (4 marks)

The tale and the praise song are two sub-genres of African oral literature. Tell what genres
they belong to and give two functions for each of them.
Sub-genres Genres Social functions
Tale - -
-
Praise song - -
-

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 III- Are the following statements true or false? Justify your answers (3 marks)
1) All Ajami authors are also linguists. T / F
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) The only social function of freelance poetry is entertainment. T / F
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
.
3) In Things Fall Apart, Mbanta is wiped out by the British because its inhabitants killed a
white man. T / F
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

IV- Multiple choice: chose the right answer by circling a, b, or c ( 2 marks)

An egwugu is a- a mask b- a spirit c- a priest

Maduka is a- Okonkwo’s friend b- Okonkwo’s son c- none of
these
Ikemefuna was born in a- Mbaino b- Umofia c- Mbanta
The priestess of Agbala is a- Chukwu b- Enzima c-Chielo

VI- Essay writing: chose one topic. Do NOT exceed 12 lines. (5 marks)
Topic 1: In light of your reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, discuss the following
Igbo saying: “A man cannot rise beyond the destiny of his chi.”

Topic 2: Comment on the following statement: “African literature is one of the oldest and
richest literatures in the world.”

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 Goody, Jack; Watt, Ian (1968). Goody, Jack (ed.). “The Consequences of Literacy”.
Literacy in Traditional Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Jousse, Marcel (1978). « Le Parlant, la parole, et le souffle ». L'Anthropologie du
Geste. Gallimard, Paris: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.
 McLuhan, Marshal (1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
 Ong, Walter J. (2002) [1982]. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word
(2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
 Yates, Frances A. (1966). The Art of Memory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Further reading[edit].
 Goody, Jack (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
 Havelock, Eric A. (1986). The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and
Literacy from Antiquity to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press.
 Innis, Harold A. (1951). The Bias of Communication. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press.
 Martin, Henri-Jean (1994). The History and Power of Writing. Translated by
Cochrane, Lydia G. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-50835-8.
 Misztal, Barbara (2003). Theories of Social Remembering. Maidenhead, UK: Open
University Press.
 Ong, Walter J. (1967). The Presence of the Word. New Haven: Yale University Press..

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