21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES

LEARNING MODULE 3:
Texts and Authors from Africa
Quarter: 2 Week: 3
Name: Grade & Section: Score: ________________
Teacher: Date: ________________

Learning Competency
Write a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts, applying a
reading approach, and doing an adaptation of these, require from the learner the
ability to identify representative texts and authors from Asia, North America,
Europe, Latin America, and Africa. (EN12Lit-IIa-22)

Objective
To 1. analyze and interpret texts based on their historical contexts.

Let’s Recall
Look at the image closely and see what it tells you about. Then, answer the
following questions below.

1. What do you think is the image all about?

2. What does the picture express?
3. Interpret the image and support your view by analyzing it.

Let’s Understand
African literature may have gained much of its popularity in the 1950s, but its
history goes back thousands of years ago to Ancient Egypt and hieroglyphs or
writing which uses pictures to represent words.

1
 Africa experienced several hardships in its long history which left an impact on the
themes of its literature. One hardship which led to many others is that of colonization
that led to slavery.
Sub-Saharan Africa developed a written literature during the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. This development came because of missionaries coming to the area
to build churches and language schools to translate religious texts.
Characteristics
Literature from Africa has many characteristics, and it has been composed in
English for Western and African audiences, and in African languages for African
readers.
Colonial African literature
In the colonial period, Africans exposed to Western languages began to write in
those tongues. In 1911, Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman)
of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) published what is probably the first African novel
written in English, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation.
When did the written African plays begin?
During this colonial period, African plays written in English began to emerge.
1. Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo of South Africa published the first English-language
African play, The Girl Who Killed to Save: Nongqawuse the Liberator in 1935.
2. In 1962, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African drama, The Black
Hermit. It is the story of a young man, Remi, who is the first of his tribe to attend
university. Amidst the backdrop of a politically torn country, Remi himself is torn
between his sense of tribalism and nationalism. This struggle runs deep, as he finds it
at the heart of his afflictions between himself, his marriage and familial relations, and
his greater sense of obligations to his people and the country. The overwhelming nature
of these problems drives him into isolation as a black hermit. His self-imposed exile into
the city leads him to find contentment to Jane, his new lover, and nightly clubbing.
3. In 1958, among the first pieces of African literature to receive significant worldwide
critical acclaim was Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe.
What are the themes of African literature?
African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of World War I and
independence) increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence. President of
Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, one of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet
and eventual, published in 1948 the first anthology of French-language poetry written by
Africans, (Anthology of the New Black and Malagasy Poetry in the French Language),
featuring a preface by the French existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre.
How were the writers in Africa?
For many writers, this emphasis was not restricted to their publishing. Many, indeed,
suffered deeply and directly: censured for casting aside their artistic responsibilities in
order to participate actively in warfare, Christopher Okigbo was killed in battle for Biafra
against the Nigerian movement in 1960s' civil war; Mongane Wally Serote was detained
under South Africa's Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 between 1969 and 1970, and
subsequently released withoutmtrial; in London in 1970, his countryman Arthur Norje
committed suicide; Malawi's Jack Mapanje was incarcerated with neither charge nor trial
2
because of an off-hand remark at a university pub; and, in 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was
hanged by the Nigerian junta.

Let’s Apply
Identify who or what is being asked in the given statements below.

1. Its several hardships in its long history left an impact on the themes of its
literature.
2. They came to Africa to build churches and language schools to translate religious
texts.
3. It is when millions of African people were enslaved and brought to Western
countries around the world.
4. This play depicts the story of a young man from a tribe which attended university
and made his life torn between his sense of tribalism and nationalism.
5. These are themes usually found in the late colonial African literature.

Let’s Analyze
Read closely and analyze the poem.

Encircle the letter of the most appropriate meaning of each of the following
passages.

1. What is the poem Africa by David Diop about?

a. The effect of colonialism in Africa c. The new Africa and how it became free
b. The life experience of the author d. The love of the author to his country

2. What do you mean by the word impetuous?

a. thoughtless b. cautious c. careful d. overpowered

3
3. To which of these poetic devices the first four lines are attributed?
a. To the people of Africa c. To the Africans
b. To the warriors of Africa d. To the author’s beloved homeland

4. What do these lines mean: Africa of whom my grandmother sings. On the banks of the
distant river, I have never known you. But your blood flows in my veins? All the
statements about these lines from the poem are correct except one.
a. The author was far from the country.
b. The author did not grow up in his own country.
c. The author’s love for the country is running in his veins.
d. The author was not aware of his origin.

5. What does the symbol ‘that tree young and strong” suggest?
a. It refers to the country.
b. It tells the country to begin to grow up again.
c. It gives a great impact to humanity.
d. It teaches the author to stand on his own.

Let’s Try
Read and understand the poem. Then, answer the questions below.

1. What appears to be a female figure lying down in the poem?

a. woman b. motherland c. the mountain d. the forest
2. What does the second stanza talk about?
a. It tells about the struggle of one’s land from its oppressor.
b. It pictures the description of the land.
c. The love of the author to her own country.
d. It describes the woman in the picture.
3. What is the tone of the third stanza?
a. idealistic b. desperate c. hopeful d. incompetent
4. Which stanza tells about Africa?
a. 1st stanza b. 2nd stanza c. 3rd stanza d. 4th stanza
5. Make a Venn Diagram to compare the poem Africa written by David Diop and the
poem “Africa” written by Maya Angelou. Be sure to include what each tells about
the poem.

4
 Let’s Create
Historical Criticism: This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by
investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a
context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.” A key goal for
historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original
readers.

Goal –Write a close analysis and interpret the given literary text by applying a historical
criticism.
Role – You are a literary critic of a text.
Audience – Your target audiences are your teachers and classmates.
Situation – You are tasked to write a close analysis of a literary text.
Performance –Write a close analysis and interpret the given literary text by
identifying the historical influences in the text.
Standards – Your output will be graded based on the rubric.

5
Standards – Your output will be graded according to the rubric.