AFRICAN LITERATURE

“Truth depends not only on who listens but one who speaks.”
― Birago
Diop

“Always something new for

Africa.”
― Rabelais

In this Module
 Characteristics of African Literature
 African Writers and Poets
 African Poems and Short Stories.

Welcome to the first Module of this course! With your learning experiences in the past
semester while studying English courses, I am sure that you completely develop your four
macro skills, most explicitly reading and writing. As you will engage in this course that focuses
on the different literary pieces of Africa and Asia, it is expected that you can apply all those
things you have learned in your previous years. Through this module, you would learn about
Afro-Asian families and understand their values, customs, traditions, and practices. Moreover,
making literary criticism or analysis of the selected literary pieces is the primary goal of this
course.

Specifically, after working on this module, you should be able to do the following:

• characterize African literature;

• share representative literary works by early and contemporary African writers; and
• discuss the prevailing ethos, ideas, and philosophies behind the chosen literary text.
 Now, let us begin our journey!

The Characteristics of
African Literature
TIME FRAME: One (1) Hour
OBJECTIVES:
• See the importance of the diversity of literature written by
African authors.
• Understanding few of the themes explored in literature from
Africa.
• Practice in reading comprehension

The Rise of Africa’s Great Civilization.

Between 751 and 664 B.C. the kingdom of Kush at the southern end of the Nile River
gained strength and prominence succeeding the New Kingdom of Egyptian civilization. Smaller
civilizations around the edges of the Sahara also existed among them the Fasa of the northern
Sudan, whose deeds are recalled by the Soninka oral epic, The Daust.
• Aksum (3rd century A.D.), a rich kingdom in eastern Africa arose in what is now
Ethiopia. It served as the center of a trade route and developed its own writing
system. The Kingdom of Old Ghana (A.D. 300) the first of great civilizations in
western Africa succeeded by the empires of Old Mali and Songhai. The legendary
city of Timbuktu was a center of trade and culture in both the Mali and Songhai
empires. New cultures sprang up throughout the South: Luba and Malawi empires in
central Africa, the two Congo kingdoms, the Swahili culture of eastern Africa, the
kingdom of Old Zimbabwe, and the Zulu nation near the southern tip of the cotinent.
• Africa’s Golden Age (between A.D. 300 and A.D. 1600) marked the time when
sculpture, music, metalwork, textiles, and oral literature flourished.

• Foreign influences came in the 4th century. The Roman Empire had proclaimed
Christianity as its state religion and taken control of the entire northern coast of
Africa including Egypt. Around 700 A.D. Islam, the religion of Mohammed, was
introduced into Africa as well as the Arabic writing system. Old Mali, Somali and
other eastern African nations were largely Muslim. Christianity and colonialism
came to sub-Saharan Africa towards the close of Africa’s Golden Age. European
powers created colonized countries in the late 1800s. Social and political chaos
reigned as traditional African nations were either split apart by European colonizers
or joined with incompatible neighbors.

• Mid-1900s marked the independence and rebirth of traditional cultures written in

African languages.
 Stargram!
Direction: What comes to your mind when you hear the word “Africa”? Write the key word or
idea inside the box.

AFRICA

Direction: Read the following questions below and write your answer in the spaces
provided. Your answers must be in a minimum of 3 sentences.
1. Based on the activity above, how would you compare Africa from your own country?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What do you think are the similarities of Africa (people, tradition, culture, etc.) to your
country?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
African literature
Literary works of the African continent. African literature consists of a body of work in different
languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial
languages (French, Portuguese, and English).

The basic characteristics of African English Literature are:

1) Written in both African and European languages. The predominant African languages
usedare Amharic, Zulu, Hausa, and Swahili.
2) Encapsulates different periods in African history, from ancient Africa to the period
ofImperialist domination (15th-19th centuries), and from the post-colonialist and
reconstruction period (19th-mid-twentieth century) to the post-
independent/contemporary period (mid-twentieth century-present).
3) Includes oral and written literature from more than 3,000 ethnic African groups.
4) May be regionally-based, such as West African Literature, North African Literature,
SouthAfrican Literature, or East African Literature.
5) Oral literature comes in varied forms such as myths, folk tales, proverbs, dramas,
songs,and folk tales. They often involve stories about the creation of the world and
legends about howvarious powerful dynasties originated in African regions.
6) During the colonization period, written slave narratives documented European
atrocitiesand the horrors of slavery. Nationalist newspapers as well as
resistance/liberation poetry critiqued European colonizers and their practices. In the 19th
century, various African authors produced works in English criticizing colonialist ambitions
and advocating for independence. These authors include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka,
and Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
8) During the post-colonialist era, various authors denounced the practice of apartheid.
Theseauthors include Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, and J.M. Coetzee.
9) Last, but not least, contemporary African literature often documents how corrupt,
modernAfrican governments perpetuate the suffering of the African people.

Short Video Clip Viewing

Direction: Read the poem “Africa” by David Diop and answer the following questions below.

AFRICA
By: David Diop (Senegal)
Africa my Africa Africa of whom my grandmother sings
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral On the banks of the distant river I have
savannahs
never known you
But your blood flows in my veins And saying yes to the whip under the midday
sun
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the
fields But a grave voice answers me
The blood of your sweat Impetuous son that tree young and strong
The sweat of your work That tree there
The work of your slavery In splendid loneliness amidst white and faded
flowers
The slavery of your children
That is Africa your Africa
Africa tell me Africa
That grows again patiently obstinately
Is this you this back that is bent
And its fruit gradually acquires The bitter
This back that breaks under the weight of
humiliation taste of liberty.
This back trembling with red scars

1. What is the poem all about?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What type of poem is this?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. What does the symbol “that tree young and strong” suggest?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Why do the fruits acquire a bitter taste of liberty? Why does liberty taste bitter?
 ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. What is the tone of the poem?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

6. Why does the poet say that “black blood flows in his veins”?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

7. How have the past effects of colonialism shaped the Africa’s present?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Great! You have completed the task and activities of Lesson 1. You are now ready to
turn pages for Lesson 2 of this module. Keep reading and have fun!