Brief History and Background of African Literature

Afro-Asian Literature: Definition & Scope

• Reflects customs, traditions, philosophies, and the socio-political "storm-and-stress" of developing nations in Africa and Asia.

• Encompasses both oral and written forms—from ancient myths to contemporary publications.

• Serves as a cultural mirror, revealing how history, climate, colonisation, and religion shape identity.

African Historical Backdrop (Essential Context)

• Africa = second-largest continent; widely accepted cradle of humankind.

• Earliest recorded history in Ancient Egypt, then Nubia, Sahel, Maghrib (North-West), and the Horn of Africa.

• Key climatic shift: formerly fertile Sahara became desert; altered trade & cultural exchange.

• Writing invented in N.E. Africa during the Bronze Age; Egyptian hieroglyphs + papyrus ($\text{c. 3rd millennium BCE}$).

• Arab expansion ($7^{th}$ century) introduced Islam; rapid conquest of North Africa.

• Colonisation: European powers exploited land & peoples ($16^{th}$–$19^{th}$ centuries), causing economic under-development, slave trade, and the African Diaspora.

Overview of African Literature’s Trajectory

1. Oral Tradition (pre-writing)

2. Transition mediums (papyri, inscriptions, Ajami, Swahili manuscripts)

3. Pre-colonial written texts in indigenous scripts

4. Colonial-era works in European languages

5. Post-colonial & contemporary literature—multilingual, global readership

Oral Literature: Forms, Functions & Examples

• Genres: folk tales, myths, epics, funeral dirges, praise poems, proverbs.

• Cultural role: encode cosmology, ethics, history; performative—requires storyteller + audience.

• Epics:
  • Mwindo Epic (Congo) – magical child survives tyrant father.
  • Epic of Sundiata – rise of Sundiata Keita & founding of Mali Empire.

• Dirges: lament the dead, seek protection.

• Praise poems: public recitals lauding chiefs, towns, animals.

• Proverbs: concise metaphoric wisdom (e.g., “The eye never forgets what the heart has seen”).

Transition to Written Word

• Scribes, copyists, and later printing presses bridge oral to print.

• Early pulp literature: Onitsha Market (Nigeria), Nairobi detective stories, Accra novellas, Cape Town comics—cheap wood-pulp booklets spreading literacy.

Three Historic “Waves” of African Literacy

1. Ethiopia: Ge’ez & Amharic manuscripts pre-dating medieval Europe.

2. Spread of Islam: Arabic script (Ajami) across Sahel & Swahili Coast.

3. Colonial schools & missions: literacy in English, French, Portuguese.

Pre-Colonial Literature in Major African Languages

Ethiopian (Ge’ez & Amharic)

• Kebra Nagast ($1314{-}1322$): mythic Solomonic lineage of Ethiopian kings.

• Ta ‘Ammar Mariam ($15^{th}$ c.) – Miracles of Mary.

• First novels after printing press (late $19^{th}$ c.):
  • Lib Waled Tarik – disguised girl in love intrigue.
  • Haddis Alem ("New World") – tension between European education & tradition.

Hausa (Ajami → Roman script)

• Translation Bureau (Nigeria) contest $1933$ birthed first Hausa novels.

• Muhammadu Bello – Gandoki (anti-British resistance).

• Jabiru Abdullahi – Nagari Na Kowa (Islamic virtues under threat).

Swahili

• Classical verse compiled by Fumo Omar bin Nabhan.

• Lamu Chronicle: $18^{th}-19^{th}$-century coastal politics.

• Shaaban Robert – seminal poet-novelist (Almasi za Afrika).

Colonial-Era Literature (European Languages)

• First English African novel: Ethiopia Unbound (J. E. Casely Hayford, $1911$).

• Slave narratives: Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography (key abolitionist text).

• First English African play: The Girl Who Killed to Save (H. I. Dhlomo, $1935$).

• French anthology: Anthologie de la Nouvelle Poésie Nègre (L. S. Senghor, $1948$) —birth of Négritude poetics.

Post-Colonial & Contemporary Literature (1950s-Present)

• Independence wave ($1950s$–$1960s$) spurs literary boom; texts enter global curricula.

• Dual linguistics: writers employ both Western (English, French, Portuguese) & African languages.

• Seven recurrent thematic “clashes” (Ali Mazrui):

  1. Past vs Present

  2. Tradition vs Modernity

  3. Indigenous vs Foreign

  4. Individualism vs Community

  5. Socialism vs Capitalism

  6. Development vs Self-reliance

  7. Africanity vs Universality/Humanity

Characteristic Motifs & Symbols

• Slave narratives, anti-colonial protest, independence calls, African pride, future hope, desert imagery.

• Fusion of myth & history: fantastical elements grounded in realistic settings.

• Frequent structural tension: rural-urban, gender, and generational conflicts.

Influential Figures (Historical & Cultural)

• Nelson Mandela – first Black President of South Africa; autobiographical & political writings.

• Desmond Tutu – anti-apartheid bishop; Nobel & Gandhi Peace Prizes.

• Charlize Theron – South African actress; symbolizes global reach of African talent.

Canonical Authors & Landmarks

• Chinua Achebe – “Father of African Literature”; Things Fall Apart ($1958$) portrays Igbo life pre- & during colonisation.

• Wole Soyinka – Nigerian playwright/poet; first African Nobel laureate in Literature ($1986$); works like The Civilian and the Soldier.

• Nadine Gordimer – South African novelist; Nobel ($1991$); banned works Burger’s Daughter, July’s People, essay-story Loot.

• Additional contemporaries: Ayi Kwei Armah, Aminatta Forna, Alain Mabanckou, Ben Okri.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

• Literature as resistance: exposes economic, racial, gendered injustices resulting from colonisation & apartheid.

• Preservation of indigenous knowledge systems via proverbs, myths, and language revitalisation.

• Post-colonial discourse: negotiates identity in globalised world, balancing self-reliance with international cooperation.

Quick Reference Timeline

• $\text{c. 3000\ BCE}$ – Hieroglyphic writing & papyrus in Egypt.

• $7^{th}\text{ century CE}$ – Arab conquest; Islamisation.

• $1500\text{s}$–$1800\text{s}$ – Atlantic Slave Trade & African Diaspora.

• $19^{th}$ c. – Printing presses in Ethiopia; Ajami Hausa manuscripts; colonial incursion.

• $1911$ – First English African novel.

• $1950$ – Achebe begins modern canon.

• $1950\text{s–}1960\text{s}$ – Independence movements, literacy surge.

• $1986$ – First Nobel Prize in Literature for an African (Soyinka).