LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Define African literature

2. Describe the history of African literature
3. Evaluate a written work of an African
writer
 HISTORY

There are 54 nations which make

up Africa. Each of these countries
have their own history, culture,
tribes & traditions.
Build upon the history of slavery,
oppression, violation & humiliation.
 AFRICAN LITERATURE

written out of disgustful life

 HISTORY

Origin dating back thousands of

years to Ancient Egypt &
hieroglyphs.
African & Arabic culture blend with
the European culture to form a
unique literary form.
 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
HIEROGLYPHICS ALPHABET

Origin dating back thousands of

years to Ancient Egypt &
hieroglyphs.
African & Arabic culture blend with
the European culture to form a
unique literary form.
 HISTORY

Africa faced many hardships in its

history & its impact can be seen in
the themes of literature
colonization is one of the
hardships
 HISTORY

Africa faced many hardships in its

history & it’s impact can be seen in
the themes of literature
colonization is one of the
hardships for it led to slavery and
African diaspora
 HISTORY

Sub-Saharan Africa developed a

literature during the 19th & 20th
centuries
Due to the arrival of the
missionaries, African started writing in
both European & indigenous languages
 NEGRITUDE

Literary movement initiated by the

Black intellectuals from French
colonies in the 1930s.
 NEGRITUDE

founders of the movement tried to

rediscover African values that had
been erased by the French cultural
superiority
 NEGRITUDE

Negritude writers wrote poetry in

French and present African culture
and tradition equal to European
culture
 NEGRITUDE

slave narratives gained attention

reacted against colonial
repression in their works
since 19th century, writers used
newspaper to air their views
 NEGRITUDE

After World War II, Africans

demanded independence
More writers published their
works
Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe,
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ben Okri, etc.
 NEGRITUDE

writers were writing in European

languages
themes: clash between indigenous
and colonial cultures, condemnation
of European subjugation, pride in
the African past and hope for the
independence
 NEGRITUDE

contemporary African literature

reveals disillusionment and dissent
with current events
 LITERARY FORMS

Oral Literature
Written Literature
 ORAL LITERATURE

also known as “orature”

flourished in Africa for many
centuries
variety forms including folk tales,
myths, epics, funeral dirges, praise
poems and proverbs
 Myth

• A traditional story, especially one

concerning the early history of
people or explaining a natural or
social phenomenon and typically
involving supernatural beings or
events
 Epics

• elaborate literary forms

usually performed only by
experts on special occasions.
• often recount the heroic
exploits of ancestors
 Funeral Dirges

• chanted during funeral

ceremonies, lament the
departed, praise his memory
and ask for his protection
 Praise Poems

• Epithets called out in

reference to an object in
celebration of its outstanding
qualities and achievements
 Proverbs

• short, witty and metaphorical

• communicate a response to a
particular situation
• to offer advice and to
persuade
 Proverbs

• often employed as a rhetorical

device by presenting its
speaker as the holder of the
cultural knowledge or
authority
 WRITTEN LITERATURE

• include poems, novels, plays,

hymns and tales
• only 50% of Africa’s
population is illiterate and the
others do not have access to
the written literature
 Waves of Literacy in Africa

1. Ethiopia- written books

have been discovered that
appeared before the
earliest literature in Celtic
and German languages
 Waves of Literacy in Africa

2. Spread of Islam
 Waves of Literacy in Africa

3. Europe through trade

relationships, missionary
activities and colonialism.
 Waves of Literacy in Africa

• Missionaries translated Bible

into the local languages
• Resulted in the production of
hymns, morality tales and
other literatures in African
languages
 POETRY

• Paris in the Snow

• Totem- Leopold Senghor
• Letters to Martha- Dennis Brutus
• Train Journey- Dennis Brutus
 POETRY

• Telephone Conversation- Wole

Soyinka
• Africa- David Diop
• Song of Lawino- Okot P’Bitek
 NOVELS

• The House Boy- Ferdinand Oyono

• Thing Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe
• Heart of Darkness- Joseph
Conrad
• Arrow of God- Achebe
 NOVELS

• A Grain of Wheat- Ngugi Wa

Thiong’o
• Anthills of the Savannah- Achebe
• The Joys of Motherhood- Buchi
Emecheta
 FEATURES OF AFRICAN
LITERATURE
• Written in both African and European
languages
• Represent different period in African
history
• Includes oral and written literature
• During colonization, written slave
narratives documented horrors of
slavery