Questions to brainstorm
What is literature?
What is the criterion or are the criteria that qualify literature to be African?
How are we supposed to appreciate a literary work?
What are the functions of literature?
Welcome to LT 111: African Literature. This is a course that introduces you to creative works by Africans. It allows students to appreciate cultural, thematic and aesthetic representations in African literature. However, before you start engaging in this task, I urge you to take a moment and respond to the question, what is literature? To get answers for this question I hereby refer you to two prominent scholars of all times: Plato and Aristotle. This package gives you a summary of their teachings.
Additionally, Vladmir Nabokov considers literature to be the creation of another world, a world that we can only see through reading literature. He says;
Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him.
Looking at Aristotle and Nabokov views it can generally be said that Literature is not so much about being fictional and not being factual, rather, it is about its language which makes Literature a kind of language in itself.
The history of African society can be looked at in three phases: pre colonial; colonial; and post colonial Africa.
CONTEXTS AND CONTENTS OF AFRICAN LITERATURE
Pre colonial literature
Literature existed in Africa even before the coming of colonialists. African literature before colonial rule was in a form of oral literature i.e. it was conveyed and stored through the word of mouth. Genres of literature during this time included proverbs, riddles, songs, folktales, myths, legends, tongue twisters etc.
Indeed, verbal artistic traditions, literary as well as oral materials are ancient in Africa. Centuries before European colonialism and the introduction of European languages, there were bards and storytellers in indigenous languages who were scattered all over Africa. It should be noted that oral traditions still exist in Africa up now.
Major themes during this phase were morality, hard working, cooperation and obedience (Literary activities were mainly religious/superstitious as well as family and communal business)
Most Africans during this time were illiterate i.e. they did not know how to write and read (this does not mean that they were uncultured, uneducated or artistically barren). However in some few societies such as Swahili and Ethiopian/ Amharic societies at the coast of East Africa, there were written literary works. In these societies, education was introduced even before colonial rule.
Colonial literature
Refers to the meeting point between Europeans and Africans, whereby, colonialists introduced schools, religions and their administrative system. European languages such as French, English and Portuguese were introduced and promoted in Africa. During this phase there emerged educated Africans who became literary writers. Those included Chinua Achebe, Ayi Kwei Amah, Christopher Okigbo and others. Some literary books were written in African languages such as Swahili where we have books like “Uhuru wa Watumwa, Adili na Nduguze by Shaaban Robert.
Most of literary works written during colonialism were criticizing colonialism and/or glorifying African traditions (they were critical of colonialism and romantic about Africa)
Postcolonial literature
This is the literature written after colonialism. It is characterized by the reaction of indigenous writers against colonialism. It is the kind of literature which seeks to unveil the wrongs of colonial masters. Other writings of this phase seek to expose their disillusionment towards African political elites. During this phase most literary works expressed people’s anger against their fellow Africans who gained political and economic power after independence. People were angry because they didn’t get what they fought for. Some of the novels written shortly after independence are A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Gathering Storm by Hamza Sokko and Beautyful Ones are not yet Born by Ayi Kwei Amah. Such novels are characterized by ‘loss of hope’ theme and betrayal of African leaders after independence.
CONTENT OF AFRICAN LITERATURE
African literature is used as a tool to mirror a society. It depicts day to day life experiences of Africans, educating and/criticizing issues in societies.
African Literature is a historical phenomenon, considered to be a product of dual/twin heritage i.e. African oral traditions and Western literary conventions. This view is meant to counter-argue a popular myth that Africa is a continent either devoid of literature until contact with civilized nations which led to written works in European languages, or possessing only crude and uninteresting forms not worthy of systematic study by the serious literary or sociological student. Ruth Finnegan in “The Perception of African Oral Literature” is of the opinion that, “there is a strong indigenous tradition of both unwritten and, in some areas, written literature in Africa.1 The oral literature in particular possesses vastly more aesthetic, social, and personal significance than would be gathered from most general publications on Africa” (30)
African literature, therefore, is shaped by both, African literary traditions which were there before the coming of Europeans as well as the history of African societies during and after colonialism and other socio-political and economic happenings. Almost all historical happenings in the continent have shaped Literature in terms of what and how African writers write. Those historical happenings could be:
Colonialism
Colonialism led to the rise of African (written) literature as most of literary works in Africa were/ are written to criticize institutions created by colonialists in Africa such as colonial education, religion, colonial economy and colonial government.
Religion especially Christianity as a colonial institution is depicted in African literature in association with separation of African families and societies such as in the River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Christianity is also associated with the introduction of colonialism in Africa since it was used to pacify Africans to accept colonial rule and colonial exploitation. For example, I will Marry When I Want by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Religion is also criticized for destruction of African traditions.
Colonial education is criticized in African literary works for many reasons including creation of antagonistic classes and destruction of African traditions such as in Songs of Lawino and Songs of Ocol by Okot p’Bitek.
Moreover, colonial economic policies are criticized in African literature as sources of poverty, dependence and disparities in levels of economy between regions in Africa.
Other elements that led to the rise of African literature are:
Negritude movement
This movement was formed by Leopard Sedar Senghor, Aime Cesaire and Leon Damas in 1930’s and 1940’s in Paris, France. They were influenced by Harlem renaissance. They were dissatisfied with the state black French experienced in France. Negritude was the movement that aimed to persuade Africans wherever they were outside Africa to return to their roots (Africa). Senghor (Senegalese), Cesaire (Martinique) and Damas (France Guiana) (Politicians) wrote poems in French and send message to Africans that they should stop imitating European culture.
Senghor’s poems focused on the rebirth of African traditions while Cesaire and Damas poems centered on frustration and the loss of their motherland. For Cesaire, acceptance of the fact that being an African was a means by which decolonization of minds can be achieved was vital for true and complete independence of Africans.
Generally, Negritude movement responded to the alienated position of blacks in history and as a political movement, it was an important aspect to the rejection of colonialism.
Apartheid Policy
It was a system which authorized racial segregation in South Africa. It was introduced by white minority government in South Africa to separate Blacks from whites by laws and regulations. The intention was to maintain whites’ political and economic supremacy.
Apartheid policy led many Africans to start writing literary works criticizing the policy. These included Peter Abrahams, Ezekiel Mphalele, Lewis Nkosi etc.
Post colonial conditions of Africa
Postcolonial Africa has passed through several epochs both politically and socially initiated. To respond to these happenings, many Africans writers rose and are still emerging to address issues like betrayal, classes, corruption, cultural imperialism, poverty, and disappointment, environmental issues etc.
Moreover, there have been other issues, most of them being contemporary including feminist/gender and identity struggle to liberate and elevate the status of the marginalized social groups including women, children. Furthermore, there has also emerged a concern for lesbians and gays and that has also attracted the attention of some African literary writers.
Generally, in order to understand African literature, we need to understand the past, present and future of Africa.
THE MEANING OF AFRICAN LITERATURE
There has been a debate on what is African literature and this debate has so far left the following questions partly unanswered.
Which criteria can one use to consider Literature to be African?
Is there African Literature?
If there is, how can we define it?
Which style do African writers use in African Literature?
Who is an African writer?
From 1960’s to 1970’s, African scholars tried so much to defend and argue that there is African Literature. These scholars attacked all those who said that Africa had no Literature of its own.
On the first day of June 1962 a conference of African literature in the English language, the first African Writers Conference, was held at the University of Makerere in Kampala, Uganda. Officially, the conference was called a "Conference of African Writers of English Expression" and it was attended by many prominent African writers, including Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane, Lewis Nkosi, Ngลฉgฤฉ wa Thiong'o, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Gerald Moore, Bernard Foulan, Alex La Guma, Christopher Okgbo, Robert Serumaga, Rajat Neogy
Unfortunately, Amos Tutuola from Nigeria who is undoubtedly one of the most significant African writers was not invited and his literary works were never part of the discussion for the conference (Obiajunwa Wali in “The Dead End of African Literature”, 330)
The conference dealt with how the legacy of colonialism had left the African writer in a dilemma with regard to the language choice in writing. The questions raised and debated at the conference were:
What constitutes African literature/what is African literature?
Is African literature written by Africans or is it literature that depicts African experiences or is it literature about Africa?
Does the work written by non-African writer qualify as African literature?
What about an African writer who sets his/her work outside the continent, does that work qualify as African literature?
Does African literature have to be written in African languages? Which language should identify African literature: is it European or African?
Definitions of African Literature by Scholars who attended Makerere Conference
During the conference participants engaged in a discussion over African Literature, the discussion that Wali claims its achievement to have been that African Literature today as defined and understood leads nowhere (330)
Christopher Okgbo (Nigeria)
He defined African Literature as a literature written by Black Africans living in the continent of Africa. He suggested that, for any work to be called African Literature it has to be rooted in African Soil.
Arthur Maimane (South Africa)
He said that African literary works should have an African point of view. Regardless of where the work is written, it has to talk about Africa with African perspectives.
Lewis Nkosi (South Africa)
African literature is a literature which focuses on Africa and which conscioutizes people. African Literature should make people aware that they are colonized or mistreated. For Nkosi, African literature should be the literature that seeks to awaken the African minds, showing them that they are undermined by colonizers politically, socially, economically and culturally.
Alex La-Guma (South Africa)
According to him African Literature is a literature which concerns itself with the realities of Africa. Any work of African Literature should talk about facts of Africa such as feelings, colonialism, poverty etc.
Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Before defining African Literature, Achebe posed the following questions:
Are we talking about literature produced in Africa or about Africa?
Could African literature be any subject or must it have an African theme?
Should African literature embrace the whole continent or south of the Sahara or just black Africans?
What about the question of language?
Achebe concluded his contribution by pointing out that the definition of African literature is very complex. He, therefore, provided his own definition that:
African literature is a creative writing in which an African setting is authentically handled or to which experience originating in Africa is vital.
Achebe argued that one cannot confine African literature in to a small nest. This means that African literature cannot be one unit but a group of associated units.
Note: even with the above view, Achebe was of the view that one cannot come with a single definition of African literature because there is nothing homogenous in African Literature. Thus, he insists that we cannot rely on a singular form as Africans differ in language (diversity in language), culture (multiplicity of Culture), style (each writer writes in their own style), the process of modernity (who colonized who?) and religion (Islam, Christianity). On the other hand the singular form cannot be completely ignored as Africans have a lot in common to share e.g. cultural practice, political practice and historical practice. (Chapman, Michael “African Literature, African Literatures: Cultural Practice or Art Practice”)
The Criteria for defining African Literature
In order to get the meaning of African literature there are criteria to follow. Those criteria include:
Themes
Themes in a particular work of art should talk about Africa. Themes should base on Africa and should talk of cultural values of Africa. They should talk about the morality of Africa.
They should also talk about religious issues of African people, how people believed or what are the beliefs of African people.
They should also show the way Africans were affected by colonialism.
Geographical/race/nationality
This is to say an African writer should be an African either by birth of through naturalization. Naturalization refers to a voluntary taking up the nationality of an African country.
Consciousness
An African writer should be shaped by Africanism. Achebe said “I have to write from within” that is an African writer being shaped by Africanism. Nadine Gordmer argues that writing by an African writer should be inspired by what is in the continent.
Language
African Literature should be written in a language known to people that is the language accessible to the wide audience.
Locale of the fictionalized action
Actions of African literature need to be set in Africa
The primary target of the work should be Africans
Style
African Literature should include oral literary materials. In other words, the writing of African literature should acknowledge the fact that oral literature is alive and a significant part of the body of literature and writers can complement their writing with oral materials as well as the entire environment of the performance of these materials.
In general it can be said that, apart from the above prominent figures about African literature, scholars have continuously been questioning and debating on this issue. For instance; In defining what African literature is, Onwuchekwa Jemie Chinweizu and Ihechukwu Madubwike in Toward the Decolonization of African Literature, are of the opinion that, “the concept of African literature or the term African literature [...] cannot be defined with a simple clear-cut dictionary-like definition” (307) rather it is the kind of literature whose definition is given through two dimensions which are “intentional definition” and “extensional definition” whereby, the two definitions constitute what African literature is in general and in specific sense.
In this regard, the intentional definition, according to Chinweizu and Madubwike, defines African literature by observing issues that bring together the African societies as one while the extensional one specifies African literature in its immediate societal values.
Therefore, African Literature is a literature which is attached to Africa only. It is literature which is autonomous (free) not an appendage (addition) or borrowed entity. African Literature is vast and valid. It is a combination of different African literatures of north, south, west and east Africa.
African Literature is based on creativity of African writers. It is a vehicle used to transmit ideas and values to people. Elements of African Literature include plot, characters, setting, style, and themes. According to Michael Chapman (African literature or African literatures), African Literature combines art practice and cultural practice because in Africa the two are inseparable. African Literature use art to reinforce culture.
African literature then becomes any literature that is written by an African about Africans in Africa and using African oral literary concepts such as proverbs, sayings, myths etc. In short, the author, the plot, the characters, the setting and the style should all be related to Africa and therefore carry the African weight both in form and content.
Eurocentric charges against the African Novel
Why do Europeans criticize the African novel?
This means that a work of art is judged from western eyes or using western literary conventions.
Eurocentric critics view African literature as:
An overseas department of European literature. This means that literary works written in Africa were considered not African.
A literature without tradition of its own to build upon.
A literature without models of its own to imitate.
Literature without the audience
Literature without values, norms and beliefs
Furthermore, Eurocentric critics charged the African novel with various technical, theatrical and ideological inadequacies.
Technical inadequacies
They claim that African Novels suffer from inadequate description and characterization
African characters are not well motivated/ developed. That characters in the African literature are very poor (referring to Okonkwo in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart)
In African novels there is an awkward descriptions (not real).
Issues are not presented in depth. The issues of time and space are not well handled e.g. authors do not specify time in their works.
The African novels are too short or they have thin plots or they do not have plots and if they have, plots are not convincing. For them a novel is supposed to be huge i.e. it should at least have five hundred pages.
The African novel is characterized by unrealistic dialogue i.e. th edialogue spoken by characters is unbelievable.
Theme inadequacies
They argued that African novels are situational.
What is situational?
African novels are filled with lamentation or are autobiographical by depicting so much the life of the writer. Usually African novels are talking about cultural conflicts thus; themes found in African novels are too weak. Issues depicted in the novel are too narrow that they do not talk about the world but to a single character e.g. describing a character’s life from childhood to adulthood.
African novels are preoccupied with cultural conflicts or filled with the African past.
Ideological inadequacy
Eurocentric critics claim African novels are too theoretical thus, there is no enough teaching.
Afrocentric views (views from African critics)
Many African critics criticized Eurocentric ideas about African literature. To refute Eurocentric scholars, Afrocentric scholars argue that;
African literature is an autonomous entity separate and apart from all other literatures i.e. African literature has its own roots.
African literature has its own traditions, models, norms, beliefs and values.
African novel is a hybrid creation of oral and written forms.
Colonialism imposed different sectors of concerns upon African literature including the novel.
Generally, African critics were of the view that an African literary work does not necessarily have to comply with standards of European novels. African literature is autonomous because Africans have literature of their own.
THE QUESTION OF LANGUAGE IN AFRICAN LITERATURE
Meaning of language
Language is a system of conventional vocal symbols used for human communication. Language involves symbols which are put together in certain rules to render meaning which can be understood by to all speakers.
Some characteristics of language are:
Language is typically human as no any other animal can use language in communication.
Language is among the element of society culture, thus language carries cultural values of a certain society
Language is basically for communication within and between societies.
Relationship between Language and Literature
Literature is an art which has characteristics similar to other arts except the use of language. Literature as an art is evident through the use of language. Therefore, language is the soul of literature as literature is nothing but a creative use of language. According to Terry Eagleton, approaching Literature on the basis of whether it is fictional or factual may not get as far, therefore;
Perhaps one needs a different kind of approach altogether. Perhaps literature is definable not according to whether it is fictional or 'imaginative', but because it uses language in peculiar ways. On this theory, literature is a kind of writing which, in the words of the Russian critic Roman ]akobson, represents an 'organized violence committed on ordinary speech'. Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech.
Literature is realized through language style whereby, words are chosen and patterned so that meaning is realized. When we talk about literary style we mean the use of language in literature. A work of literature exists through the use of language, without language, literature as a work of art cannot exist.
The question of language of African Literature has a long history. It first arose in 1962 Makerere conference. The second meeting which discussed the issue of language in African literature was held in 1981 in Harare Zimbabwe and that meeting was entitled, “writing for our children”. The third conference was held at the university of Calabar in Nigeria in 1982 under the title, “Language and African Literature”. The fourth meeting was held at the University of Zimbabwe in 1984 and the title of the meeting was “The language of African theatres” while the last meeting was held in Harare in 1984 with a title “The language of African fiction”.
All these meeting were concerned with the question of language of African Literature.
During these meetings, two groups emerged, whereby; the first group was against the use of foreign languages in African literature and the second group advocated/ supported the use of foreign languages in African Literature.
Arguments opposing the use of foreign languages
Those who opposed the use of foreign languages argued that:
using foreign languages in African literature is almost a capitulation/surrender to westerners.
using foreign language confuses readers as it sends mixed message and demeans the story i.e. giving readers double tasks of understanding and interpreting the language.
if someone use language which is not an African in his/her work, the work should not be regarded as African literature.
African writers should use African languages/native languages since they can easily provide their literary works with proper cultural environment.
Ngugi criticized the Makerere conference especially its title “A Conference of African Writers of English Expression” saying that it is designed to define African literature excluding a large portion of the population that does not write in English. He further argued that any language has dual characteristics i.e. It is a means of communication and a carrier of culture. He argued that language and culture are products of each other. Communication creates culture and culture is the means of communication. He also said that language carries culture and culture carries the body of values. Language is therefore inseparable from human culture
Ngugi’s ideas in the first group can be summarized in a contention that foreign languages in African literature must be rejected on the ground that they are a means through which foreign cultural values are transmitted to Africa. For Ngugi, colonialists used a bullet as a means of physical subjugation and language as a means for spiritual subjugation/defeat. Therefore, using foreign languages in African Literature is perpetuation of spiritual subjugation in postcolonial Africa.
Scholars who were in this group include Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Obi Wali.
Argument by those who defended the use of foreign languages
The second group which was led by Chinua Achebe supported the use of foreign language in African Literature. They claimed that foreign language is the main means of communication.
For this group, the use of foreign language in African Literature is a single one and has nothing to do with culture. For Achebe in particular, foreign language is a tool which can unite divided Africans from different societies. Achebe admitted to the downfalls of African literature written in national languages, calling English “the world language whose history has been shoved/pushed down our throats”
Achebe argued that the most obvious benefit of writing in English is the increased audience African writers can reach when employing a national language. With this come more opportunities to inform audiences while also preserving personal and ethnic histories and customs. A writer’s word is only as great as its impact, and impact is directly linked to outreach and accessibility.
Achebe added that the reality of present-day Africa “that nations created by the British continue to hold English as a national language that the peoples comprising these nations were invented by the British”. Writers like Achebe are reinventing/using the language of their oppressors to tell their own stories and retell their collective histories. Achebe argues that “Let us give the devil his due,” Achebe remarks, examining both sides of the post-colonial condition. “There are areas of Africa where colonialism divided…but on the whole it did bring together many people…and it gave them a language with which to talk to one another…The only reason why we can even talk about African unity is that when we get together we can have a manageable number of languages to talk in”.
Generally, for the second group the use of foreign languages in African Literature is beneficial to African themselves as it makes African voices to be heard by their former colonizers/exploiters. Also foreign languages in African Literature expand the audience of African literature within and outside Africa.
THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF AFRICAN LITERATURE
The history of modern African Literature can be traced from Negritude movement. Negritude movement resumes Black’s total consciousness as they belong to Africa. Negritude was just a negation of the distorted Africans’ history and advocating the truth of being blacks.
Significance of negritude movement:
To quest new values which are African Based
To search for spiritual orientation – Religious issues
To search for history as it affected the blackness
As a result of negritude movement, African Literature writers began to write liberal works focusing on the negritude ideas. Works of African Literature were a result of the negritude movement.
Apart from Negritude writers, foreign writers also contributed to African literature. Foreign writers living in Africa wrote many literary works. In their writings they described about African cultural materials, African legal system, initiation rites, and traditional religion. Some of foreign writers in African Literature are Joyce Cary who wrote Mister Johnson (however there are reservations regarding his contribution to African literature)
Some of these writers wrote positive things about Africa while some wrote negatively about Africa. Some of these writers were fairly objective, sympathetic of Africans experience, still other non African writers ruthlessly portrayed Africa, undermining social cultural values of Africa. Foreign writers, especially those who misrepresented Africa influenced much the development of African literature because their writings were scholarly works read in European and African schools thus African writers began to react against the writings of those non Africans. Notable writers were Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong’o who stated to write to react against foreign writings in order to stop the misrepresentation of African image. The intention was to correct the image of Africa.
Transition from African oral Literature to Written Literature
Oral literature has played a significant role in the development of written literature in Africa. Inspiration to write African Literature is purely from oral traditions. Many African writers have extensively extracted from oral traditions materials, cultural and artistic environment as well as inspiration for creating their works.
Oral Literature refers to literature delivered through the word of mouth. Oral literature has other several names, such as:
ORATURE- a short term for oral literature. It is a most contemporary used term to refer to oral literature.
TRADITIONAL LITERATURE - This emphasizes the fact that this form of literature comes from the past and it was handled down from one generation to another. This term is mostly used by Europeans than Africans because in Africa, oral literature is the literature of present too.
FOLK LITERATURE – which regards oral literature to belong to common people. Common in a sense that they are less educated, less sophisticated, uncivilized etc.The term is used by Europeans not Africans.
FOLKLORE LITERATURE - It is used by Europeans to mean literature belonging to a distant past or old fashioned e.g. proverbs etc.
Types of Oral Literature
There are major two types of oral literature
Oral prose narratives
Oral poetry or songs
Oral Prose Narratives
This is a genre of oral literary materials which are narrated. This has subcategories which are:
Myths
These are beliefs or sacred stories. They are religious stories because they explain the origin of people, their customs and institutions. Myths refer to things which happened at the beginning of time (world) or in the past. Myths are always set in the past in the earlier world.
Myths are always close to supernatural world e.g. God or gods, the moon, the sun, mountains etc.
The aim of myths is
To explain the origin of things, life, people, death, birth etc.
To control and regulate people’s behaviors i.e. moral and social behaviors
To protect and enhance people’s traditional beliefs and morality
Proverbs
Proverbs have spread throughout Africa and they are most respected oral materials as source of wisdom. In Africa, every conversation is decorated with proverbs; serious political, judicial and religious discussions are conducted through proverbs.
A proverb is a piece of folk wisdom expressed with terseness (shortness) and charm (appeal/attraction). Terseness is economy in the use of words while charm means convey message
Examples:
It is the visitor who can clearly point out where your house leaks
It means don’t praise yourself let others praise you
Don’t go slowly like a chameleon
Where there are many, nothing goes wrong
Every day the stomach gives thanks
A Riddle
It is word game in which the element of intellectual exercise and verbal skills are combined to varying degree.
It task someone’s intellectual ability
There is the necessity of matching an answer in terms of content and meaning.
The purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive the listener about its meaning. A description is given and then the answer is demanded as to what has been meant.
Always two parts are involved, the one who asks a questions and the one who provides an answer.
Examples:
My hens lay the eggs in the forest =pineapple
My house has no door =an egg
Functions of Proverbs and Riddles
To teach to observe and compare
They teach the young to be initiated in their culture
To educate the young with cultural traditions
Proverbs act as sources of wisdom in the society.
Legends
Are stories of heroic events which are memorable in a society from one generation to another. They narrate of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and demonstrating human values.
Folktales
These are stories which narrate on various events or things; they reflect the lives of the people. They use animals symbolically.
Tongue Twisters
Are word games narratives normally done by children. Involve children playing with words in various ways. They aim at entertaining children. They also develop language skills and memory.
Examples
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
Clean clams crammed in clean cans.
Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.
Oral Poetry or Songs
These are in rhythmical form.
Oral poetry is divided into several genres.
Ceremonial songs
Working songs- sung during working in order to motivate themselves to continue working
Political songs –related to politics in a society
Epics- these are long poems which narrate heroic events in a society
Recitations –related to praising oneself
Wedding songs –marriage
Initiation songs -sung during circumcision activities
Functions of Oral Literature
It gives information on various matters
It carries values and beliefs
Oral literature used for entertainment
It gives knowledge into individual society- oral literature records and presents historical and general experiences of people’s lives and therefore one obtains knowledge from oral literature.
Oral literature gives identity and self knowledge- oral literature identifies someone because each ethnic group has its own oral literature.
Oral literature is a socializing agent- it makes people to live together, share ideas.
Response of African Writers to Literature written by Europeans
Literature which emerged in the 20th century in English, French and Portuguese in Africa has been influenced by politics. African literature has also been affected by politics. African writers struggled to rectify false images of Africa, to rewrite fictionally and poetically, the history of pre colonial, colonial and post colonial Africa. African intellectuals and writers regard that the truth about Africa is supposed to be presented by Africans themselves and not otherwise.
African writers fought hard to create a dignified image of African past. Europeans who wrote about African past, show how African societies function before the coming of white men. They showed that Africans were uncivilized - witches and ignorant.
African writers show how Africans are civilized member of human society e.g. Things Fall Apart uses death of Okonkwo as a symbol for Africa (taboos and customs are observed which is an indication that Africans have cultures)
The argument of African writers is that Europeans have no right to deny the existence of Black Africans civilization.
Things which are represented in African Literature are as follow:
The conflict between modern and traditional ways of life i.e. modern beliefs against old ones e.g. Things Fall Apart, The River Between.
The home coming of black men who were studying/living abroad. For example Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol, No Longer at Ease.
The agitation/protest against ruling white settlers. Best writer is Ngugi wa Thiong’o and David Diop
Struggle for political independence, e.g Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s I Will Marry when I Want.
Humiliation of Africans resulting from Colonialism. Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
The theme of oppression by whites such use of coercive apparatus to oppress Africans. e.g. Peter Abrahams in Mine Boy.
Orality and writing in African literature
Orality is looked at within the context of literary works as a concept that denotes aspects of performance. According to Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa, orality entails the special choice of sounds, the specific selection of appropriate costumes, the choice of relevant occasion, the vitality of body language, the innovative variation of facial expressions as well as the mutually implicative, interactive participation of the audience. This means that in a work of art, orality is realized through performance which is carried out by people and it involves an interaction of an individual artist and their cultural conventions. Performance which is the main aspect of orality relies much on words and gestures. More specifically, orality is looked at by some scholars such as (Craig Tapping 74) as “both a reservoir and repertoire of traditions, models, and norms to which critics allude and which define literature as African”
Generally, orality is looked at as a living heritage of people's culture, a creative energy of traditional verbal art or a literary style. It refers to both oral materials such as proverbs, myths, folktales and songs as well as the performative style of these materials. Therefore, when looking at orality in written literary works we take into consideration both the insertion of oral materials in literary texts as well as an entrenchment of an oral tradition form of expression (oral narrative style) into a written literary text.
Oral and written literature
Merging of orality and literacy in Africa has its history and it can be traced back to the 19th century following the introduction of alphabetic writing upon African culture. According to Obiechina in “Culture” and Obiechina in “Narrative Proverbs”, following the 19th century advancement in African literature, a substantial body of Africa's oral literature was documented and archived. Moreover, a large volume of the African novel was built on synthesis of two traditions which are African oral tradition and written tradition. However, Obiechina maintains that the beginning of this synthesis was basically writing of indigenious languages and recording of Africal oral materials.
Obiechina’s observation is strengthened by Sullivan who argues that at the beginning, much of the African writings were influenced by whatever oral materials available to them and that writers could collect oral materials of their people and report them in their writing as they are without feeling any obligation to remain faithful to the oral tale they recounted. Their objective was simply "to tell an interesting story in an interesting way" (181). Such writers according to Sullivan were like Thomas Mofolo, Cyprian Ekwensi, Birago Diop and D. O Fanugwa.
Influence of oral literature on written literature
More studies show that the use of orality is today the most dominant trend in African literature. According to Anthonia Kalu, orality has for ages served in the continent as an institutional channel for the intense involvement with language that we recognize as the foundation of literary form. However, with the introduction of writing, literature has acquired in its status as a social institution and as a form of cultural production, new prominence and urgency. This according to Kalu has forced literary artists to reconsider their expressive medium in quest for a grounded authenticity of expression and vision. Thus, some of the best among our modern African writers “have had to undertake a resourcing of their material and modes of expression in the traditional culture which has offered itself as a living resource that remains available as a constant reference for the African imagination” (50).
Julien's African Literature and the Question of Orality points out that the African novel is said to be represented by among others the oral nature which refers to the representation of everyday conversation or the inclusion of proverbs, tales, riddles, praises and other oral genres as well as the question of narrative form, the adaptation of oral narrative genres.
Kalu's article, "African Literature and the Traditional Arts: Speaking Art, Moulding Theory" also makes an exploration of the purposeful use of the oral narrative as a contemporary African literary technique with positive implications for the development of an African literary theory and he mentions successful African writers including Ngลฉgฤฉ who has responded to the use of oral narrative by embedding African oral narrative theoretical frameworks in plot structure and other literary techniques as part of the efforts to claim African literature for Africans.
Based on the above view, orality can be used in written literary texts through an artistic exploitation and strategic deployment of units of traditional oral materials in the narratives. Orality can also be deployed in a more profound way through an artistic harnessing or embedding of the creative energy or the narrative framework which informs oral materials with the writing technique or tradition. With the latter, a synthesis of oral culture characteristics and written culture experiences takes place. What happens is what (Emmanuel Obiechina “Narrative Proverbs” 198) calls “…the merging of the worlds of orality and literacy” where vital aspects of orality, which include among other things its perfomative quality which is its intrinsic constituent, is absorbed into an emerging written literature.
AFRICAN WOMEN WRITERS AND AFRICAN LITERATURE
How are women/girls portrayed in literary works?
Are they positively or negatively portrayed?
What are they portrayed for?
How are they portrayed now?
What are the motives for the changes taking place?
From the 1970’s and particularly in 1980’s to date women have contributed much to the development of African Literature and that can easily be seen through feminist writing and criticism.
Feminism and African women writing
Feminism as a movement has its origin in America in 18th and 19th centuries. It is a movement to end sexism, sexist, and oppression. Is a movement aimed to end patriarchy. Under patriarchy ideology as a group men do benefit from patriarchy.
The assumptions under patriarchy are:
Males are superior to females and they should rule women.
Men dominate women, oppress them and exploit them.
Feminists are primarily committed to gender equality. Feminism is therefore, a women’s liberation movement. Feminists insist on the spread of feminist consciousness. It emphasizes on the importance of learning about patriarchy as a system of domination.
It tells women how patriarchy system was institutionalized/ began/ perpetuated/developed.
In America and western countries feminism was introduced in schools, universities.
In general feminists urge females and their bodies to no longer see themselves and their bodies as properties of men.
In this case women demanded the following.
control of their sexuality
Women demanded effective birth control
They also demanded reproductive rights
Demanded the end of sexual harassment such rape
They demanded the end of job discrimination basing on sex and gender.
Feminism as a movement did not spare Africa. There were some women who studied in America and Europe about feminism. These women started to struggle to end sexism, women harassment and discrimination in Africa. Some of these women are:
Buchi Emecheta
Flora Nwapa- The first African woman to publish a novel
Mariama Ba
Ama Ata Aidoo
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie etc
Issues of concern to African Female Writers are:
The representation and misrepresentation of women in literary works
The education of women- they assessed the way women were/are segregated in Education
The access of women to economic means of surviving
The issue of motherhood- they explained how motherhood is difficult
Women in domestic sphere – they asked if women alone are supposed to stay at home doing domestic works. They asked who set these rules.
Women and politics- women want to participate in political issues as men. They also wanted to participate in different political institutions
The issue of sexuality. Are women for men’s sexual gratifications? Were women created only for sex?
Generally, when we examine women writers in Africa we consider the following:
that traditionally African literature has been dominated by male writers and critics
that today there is a growing corpus literature by African women writers and a new generation of critics
Some Important Statements Made By African Women Writers
Buchi Emecheta
I am a feminist with a small ‘f’. I love men, and good men are the salt of the earth. But to tell me ‘that we should abolish marriage like the capital‘F’ (feminist) women who say women should live together and all that, I say No. Personally, I’d like to see the ideal happy marriage. But if it doesn’t work, for goodness sake, call it off.
So my sisters in America, I am not shunning your advanced help, in fact I still think women of Africa need your contribution, and at the same time we need our men.
Ama Ata Aidoo
When people ask me rather bluntly every now and then whether I am a feminist, I not only answer yes, but I go on to insist that every woman and every man should be a feminist – especially if they believe that Africans should take charge of African land, African wealth, African lives and the burden of African development.
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