African Literature

The Beginnings of African Literature

   The first African literature was around 2300-2100, when the Egyptians begin using burial texts. This included de papyrus.  All of this starts in a oral way; proverbs and riddles, epic narratives, oration and personal testimony, praise poetry and songs, chants and rituals, stories, legends and folk tales. The traveling performers (griots) kept the oral tradition alive. 

Later, they started writing; they wrote a lot about religion and culture.
The earliest written Sub-Saharan Literature is very influenced by Islamic literature (the anonymous history of the city-state of Kilwa Kisiwani). The first African history (History of the Sudan) is written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi. In 1728 the earliest written Swahili work (Utendi wa Tambuka) is very influenced from Muslim tradition.

The Period of Colonization

Europeans arrived for the natural resources and tried to destroy the culture of the Africans, to make them slaves. The oral ytaditios and written works wew threatened fue to the Christian beliefs.

 But African Literature survived this attack. The narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustava Vassa was the first slave narrative that was published.  Achebe used his awesome narrative to stop  slavery. In Africa, Swahili poetry took off the influence of Islam and introduce native Bantu forms. The Europeans, brought journalism and government schools to Africa,  this helped a lot to the development of literature. Local newspapers had sections of local African poetry and short stories. Oliver Schreiner (Story of an African Farm) is considered the first African classic analysis of racial and sexual issues. Other notable writers, such as Samuel Mqhayi and Thomas Mofolo begin showing Africans as human characters.

   

The negritude movement

Developing in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. This movement was one of the premiere literary movements. The background of this movement was due to the rejections and desire of identity. They wanted to create consciousness of their black identity, their history, culture, etc…  In a 1967 interview, Cesaire explained: "We lived in an atmosphere of rejection, and we developed an inferiority complex." The desire to establish an identity begins with "a concrete consciousness of what we are--…that we are black . . . and have a history. . . there have been beautiful and important black civilizations…that  its values were values that could still make an important contribution to the world." Léopold Sédar Senghor was one of the prime thinkers of this movement. Later he  became president Senegal, creating a tradition of African writers becoming active political figures.

 "Things Fall Apart" This is the most read work of African Literature ever written.
Achebe opened the door  many Africans to have international recognition. One important event was that african women begin to let their voice be heard. African Literature is only gaining momentum as time marches onwards.

African iterature was very important, because thanks to this, the people that once were invisible, beacame known by everyone.

-Bibliography
*Unc.edu
African Literature
Unc.edu (1930) African Literature. [online] Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~hhalpin/ThingsFallApart/literature.html [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].