About African Literature

When you start to think about the most famous writers in history, you usually find out that most are either European or American, because its what general history literature has taught us, but this doesnt mean that the best writers are always from the same locations.
During my literature course this year I have been discovering more writers because we have had a certain focus on internationality and variety. We see writers from Albert Camus to Charles Dickens, from Miguel de Cervantes and Edgar Allan Poe to Jose Vasconcellos and Carlos Fuentes. This time ive had the fortune of diving a little into african literature, specifically into the life and works of Chinua Achebe.

As some might know, I wrote a biography of his life on the blog. Currently we are reading his most famous work: "Things Fall Apart". This has given me the opportunity to discover how important african culture and history is to their literature (obviously), and how it can even come to define a whole genre.

A few days ago I made a presentation about the Tuareg Tribe, an african nomad tribe that lives in the Sahara desert. I did not only learn how important traditions, rituals, magic and proverbs still are for their culture, but I also learned that its a major aspect of the common african people's lives, since my other classmates presented other african tribes, such as the Pygmies, the Bushmen, the Massai and the Igbos.

Chinua Achebe came from an Igbo tribe, and its easily noticeable how that part of him has remained and influenced his life and works. He writes about proverbs and traditional rituals in a way that is not only easily understandable, but also interesting, making you want to learn more.

We must also take into consideration that in Paris in the 1920's -1930's there was the negritude movement, where african artists such as Alan Paton, Franz Fanon and the same Chinua Achebe wanted to express that Africa had culture and that the people and culture had value. The beginner of the movement was Leopold Sedar Senghar. Today, more and more african artists emerge from different parts of the continent, proving their worth.

It is my belief that african literature is based around the ancient beliefs, traditional rituals, ceremonies and cultural aspects that are part of every african-born child that has lived and grown in that enviroment. We have southafrican authors such as Andries Gerhardus Visser or Herman Charles Bosman that have implemented Afrikaans in their works as well as english, also mixing the historical parts of their culture with their life, making works with topics ranging from Nelson Mandela to traditional african short stories about animals and magical men. We have the different varieties of these everywhere around the continent, with different versions in the north, south, east and west. The northern people are more heavily influenced by Berber/Arabic culture, while the people in the south might be more affected by the Dutch, French and the many other colonies that played an important role in african history. Even though they are all african, they have tribal tendencies, they remain grasped to their traditions, and some have very similar historical  backgrounds, all of the african cultures are different and special in their own way, as is their literature.

It comes down to identifying the context of the written material and knowing a little about the author to understand and appreciate a little more of what you have in your hands. I am really enjoying "Things Fall Apart", and I think that this has motivated me to have another look into african literature because of all it has to offer. I might do it in the near future, but I always end up asking myself... why not today?

Matias Reyes Guilmant

Chinua Achebe

    Albert Chinualumogu Achebe is a highly acclaimed African author. He was born November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria. He was the son of Isaiah Okafo, and Janet N. Achebe, a Christian Ibo family that taught him traditional Ibo values. 

Studying in the Government College in Umuahia from 1944 to 1947 and University College in Ibadan from 1948 to 1953, he then received his B.A. from London University in 1953.  He studied broadcasting at the British Broadcasting Corp. in London in 1956, and was later the director of External Broadcasting for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service. During that period he wrote the novel he is most famous for: “Things Fall Apart”.  

  

Achebe's novel introduced serious social and psychological analysis into Nigerian literature. His work is about the impact of western values creating social disorientation using Igbo words and narratives in his English writing. The novel describes what happened to Igbo society in the late 1800s, when European missionaries and colonizers laid claim to Nigeria.

Achebe has received many honors, such as Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and over 20 honorary doctorates. He also got the Nigerian National Merit Award, for high intellectual achievement that has shaped the culture of Nigeria. 

During the BiAfran war He was Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and also at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Then he taught at Bard College. 

Today  he lives with his wife Christie Chinwe Okoli and four children:  Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, and Nwando in Annandale, New York. A car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Now he is a faculty member at Brown University.

Some works by Chinua Achebe:

Things Fall Apart, 1958 (Sold more than 12 million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages)
No Longer at Ease, 1960
The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, 1962
Arrow of God, 1964
A Man of the People, 1966  (Talks about corruption and got him into trouble, but he managed to escape during the first military coup in his country.)
Chike and the River, 1966
Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems, 1971
How the Leopard Got His Claws 1972  (with John Iroaganachi)
Girls at War, 1973
Christmas at Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973
Morning Yet on Creation Day, 1975
The Flute, 1975
The Drum, 1978
Don't Let Him Die: An Anthology of Memorial Poems for Christofer Okigbo 1978 (Editor with Dubem Okafor)
Aka Weta: An Anthology of Igbo Poetry 1982 (co-editor)
The Trouble With Nigeria, 1984
African Short Stories, 1984
Anthills of the Savannah, 1988  (Booker McConnell Prize)
Hopes and Impediments, 1988

No Longer At Ease, A Man of the People, and Anthills of the Savannah, describe the struggles of Africans to free themselves from European politics. Achebe is also a political activist in Nigeria. His children's book, "How the Leopard Got His Claws" (1972) and the collection of poetry, "Christmas in Biafra" (1973) talk about internal problems in Nigeria.

Citations

BookRags.com (1930) Chinua Achebe Summary. [online] Available at: http://www.bookrags.com/biography/chinua-achebe/ [Accessed: 22 Jan 2013].

Famousauthors.org (1958) Chinua Achebe | Biography, Books and Facts. [online] Available at: http://www.famousauthors.org/chinua-achebe [Accessed: 22 Jan 2013].

Unc.edu (1930) Chinua Achebe's Biography and Style. [online] Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~hhalpin/ThingsFallApart/achebebio.html [Accessed: 22 Jan 2013].

Importance of Literature in education

I believe that Literature serves many roles in education. It has to do with history because of the whole non-fiction genre, but the fiction genre has its own, equally important part in education. A human being needs to develop an imagination, it’s a human necessity to satisfy our creativity and nurture it. Literature serves a cultural role in all our lives, directly or indirectly. We are all part of it, and lots of times we are creating it without even knowing it. It is one of the most important and influential parts of education, because it’s not only a subject, it’s also the means of communication that education adopts to help us understand. 

In this blog I expect to talk about a wide variety of subjects related to Literature, but what better way to begin than by explaining what it is and why we need it.

Let’s begin by defining literature. Literature is considered as all written works, published or unpublished, of any kind. This comprises a lot of information, ranging from lyrics and poetry to essays and scientific articles. Non-fiction is facts, from history, or science. Fiction is pure work of the mind, creating imaginary situations that sometimes could be possible, other times completely impossible. The most important thing is seeing what all this can bring us. Non-Fiction serves an obvious purpose, teaching reality and facts while fiction can give us the satisfaction and liberty of possibility that the human imagination makes available. I consider that sometimes we all have the need to escape from reality and submerge ourselves in our fears, feelings and desires. Just like art, human beings have the necessity to express themselves, and that expression brings openness of mind, liberty and clears the way for more creativity.

It is my belief that literature is necessary for education because it not only brings us reality, knowledge and information, but it also brings us that touch of fantasy that we all need once in a while. 

Thanks for reading.