African Literature

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African Literature

• An introduction

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Africa Ancient Kingdoms

• The cradle of life
• Egypt
• Eastern Africa
• Western Africa
• Literary Development and Devices

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In the Beginning

• Anthropologists believe that the first modern
  humans (homo sapiens) began in the northern
  regions of the African continent
• Cradle of life (Neolithic, new stone)
• Birthplace of human civilization (roughly 100,000
  years ago)
• Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, etc. (Fertile
  Crescent)
• Brought together through use of writing
  (technology)

• African climate is varied in several regions
  Desert, coastline, tropical rain forest, plains,
  and mountains.

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Egypt (3000 B.C.-343 B.C.)

• First great civilization
• Had a vibrant and strong empire that centered on
  a polytheistic society
• Pantheon of gods and influence on the middle
  eastern religious perspective Greek, Roman
• Written language Hieroglyphics

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Kushite Kingdom

• Conquered and ruled Egypt around 1000 B.C.
• Royal families traced lineage through female line
• More women ruled here than any other ancient
  civilization

• Other smaller civilizations popped up around
  Sahara
• Fasa of southern Sudan

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The Golden Age

• A.D. 300-1600
• Sculpture, music, metal work and textiles
• Literature plays a huge role in the creation and
  success of the empires
• Oral epics
• Praise poems
• Fables
• Proverbs
• Dramas

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Eastern African Empire Aksum

• Third century A.D., modern-day Ethiopia
• Well-developed oral traditions
• First great civilizations that created full and
  dominant cultural footholds in northern Africa
• Center of trade routes from Rome all the way to
  India
• Key to success was development of a specific and
  complex writing system

Migration south and west due to drought
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West African empires

• Old Ghana (A.D. 300-400) A strong and prosperous
  kingdom Mainly traders of salt and gold
• Old Mali (A.D. 1235) Overtook Old Ghana for
  supremacy
• Songhai The last of the great kingdoms
• Timbuktu The marriage of Songhai and Old Mali
  empires Hugely successful kingdom

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Religious and cultural influences

• Tribal origins are founded in a polytheistic and
  nature-based belief system
• 4th century A.D. Roman empire introduces
  Christianity
• 700 A.D. Islam introduced into the African
  continent
• Islam becomes the recognized state religion of
  Mali in 1235

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Literary Terms to Know in this Unit

• Parallelism
• Epithet
• Apostrophe
• Polytheism vs. Monotheism
• Omniscient point-of-view
• Legend
• Oral epic

• Griot
• Refrain
• Folk tale
• Trickster
• Personification
• Proverb
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Rhyme

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Oral Tradition

• Dilemma tale
• Form of moral tale, ends with a question, invites
  audience to share judgment.
• One tale deals with a man who died while hunting
  an ox to feed his three wives. The first wife
  learns through a dream what has happened to him,
  the second leads her fellow wives to the place
  where he died, and the third restores him to
  life. Which of the three most deserves his
  praise?
• Chain tale or Cumulative tale
• Formulaic story
• Every incident that came before is repeated
• The 12 days of Christmas
• A single extended joke

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Proverbs

• a short, traditional saying that expresses some
  obvious truth or familiar experience
• Used to convey accumulated cultural wisdom
• Often use literary elements (metaphors,
  alliteration, parallelism, rhyme)
• Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach
  him how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.