African American Literature Literature is the world ways of recording their insights and perceptions on the human experience. Africa didn’t start with actually writing down their history, they used other forms of literature to preserve their culture and history. They engaged in oral traditions when passing down knowledge of Africa’s past. Africa used myths, fables and proverbs, and riddles as ways of teaching and remembering their cultures historical events. African mythology play a big part in passing down values and beliefs of the African culture. African myths “include supernatural beings who influence human life” (Mythencyclopedia) and usually drive the everyday lives of the people. Myths were a direct way of teaching younger generations about the higher beliefs and religion; in most cases they will include supreme god who the tribes won’t worship directly but through other gods lesser in status. The supreme gods and goddess are also referred to as deities, which are accompanied by spirits who are “are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions”(Mythencyclopedia). Another characteristic found in a myth would be the asking of basic questions like who created the world. Who created man? Why does man have to die? This type of myth speaks of a world before the current one, it helps teach generations how the world took its form and acquired its customs. African myths were an essential part of African literary history and a big part in preserving the culture. Written literature wasn’t a familiarity to most of Africa until the later 16th century after visits from missionaries and explorers, but in its place were verbal fables and tales. These African tales “are used to... ... middle of paper ... ...es "African Mythology ." . www.Mythencyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. . . Gaffney, Floyd. "Day of Absence." Oxford Companion to African American Literature: n. pag. Print. Kumar, V. "Oral Tradition Africa Oral Tradition of Africa History of Africa History." . www.lifepaths360.com, 7 July 2008. Web. . . Oluyi, Isaac. "How to Avoid Mistakes in Life by Learning from the Stories of Others." . www.talkafrique.com, 3 Mar. 0201. Web. . . Sills, David. PROVERBS, SONGS, MYTHS, AND LEGENDS IN AFRICAN ORAL SOCIETY . : , . Print. Turner-Ward, David. Day of Absence. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1965. Print.
Laurence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes, uses first-person narrator to depict the whole life ofAminata Diallo, beginning with Bayo, a small village in West Africa, abducting from her family at eleven years old. She witnessed the death of her parents with her own eyes when she was stolen. She was then sent to America and began her slave life. She went through a lot: she lost her children and was informed that her husband was dead. At last she gained freedom again and became an abolitionist against the slave trade. This book uses slave narrative as its genre to present a powerful woman’s life.She was a slave, yes, but she was also an abolitionist. She always held hope in the heart, she resist her dehumanization.
In Truth's narrative, tradition is clearly an identifiable element in how her speech was composed. There is definitely a dialect present in her spoken words that would represent the language of uneducated African Amer...
The structure of the memoir immerses the reader in African culture by incorporating anecdotes, poems, proverbs, and songs. These elements combine to emphasize the importance of oral institutions and to convey the significance of understanding them, "One must learn proverbs a proverb is regarded as the horse' that carries words to a different level, investing them with meanings, enrobing the user with the garment of wisdom" (Falola 53). "As in this case and others that I witnessed, the leader must be gifted with language, making extensive use of proverbs, idioms, and cross-references" (Falola 133). While the verses add depth to the story, they often become cumbersome and superfluous. For example, when discussing the need to keep quiet in order to conceal the location of their musical group, the addition of the proverb, "You cannot light a fire when in hiding," is unnecessary seeing as the reader already has a clear understanding of the meaning of the text (Falola 243).
Five myths from throughout Africa will be mentioned throughout this essay. They are from the Boshongo, Mande, Shilluk, Egyptian, and Yoruba peoples. For a brief description of these myths please see the appendix. Please remember that these myths do not represent the beliefs and stories of all of Africa.
Most of this documentary supports and clarifies my understanding of contemporary African culture. During the course I’ve learned that traditional African leadership structures undertook great changes under colonial rule and continue to progress today. Pre-colonial Africa had several different states characterized by different types of leadership; these involved small family groups of hunter and gatherers, bigger organized clan groups, and micro nations. Many African communities are still being governed by a council of elders, which is responsible for facilitating conflict and making almost all the important decisions within the public.
Hidoo, Rose. Culture in Chains: Abandonment in the Work of Selected West African Writers. Owerri, Nigeria: Black Academy, 1994.
Levels of Literacy in African-American Literature - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Song of Solomon, and Push
Colonialism was when Europe took over most of Africa and Asia, and then Post-Colonialism followed. During Post-Colonialism people from Europe began to question the way European literature talked about people of color (Africans, Asians). This lens allows people to see the racism behind what they are reading, that it be intentional or unintentional. It questions poetic ideas like (darkness = evil) and (light = goodness, purity). It all gives you a different perspective on parts of the book to realize what is happening. OMAN tells the story of two friends during the Great Depression who go to a farm to fulfill their wish of owning a farm. Lennie has makes the whole dream harder because he must always watch out to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. He has already gotten in to trouble in the past, and now he is too in this new farm.
Achebe opens his lecture, "An Image of Africa," with the story of a student who sent him a letter saying how he was "particularly happy to learn about the customs and superstitions of an African tribe," not realizing that "the life of his own tribesmen in Yonkers, New York, is full of odd customs and superstitions" as well (1784). Western thou...
People." Research In African Literatures 37.4 (2006): 68-84. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. .
Sembene, Osmane. "The False Prophet." African Short Stories. Ed. Chinua Achebe and C. L. Innes. London: Heinemann, 1985. 2-7.
...’s depictions of both traditional and modern beliefs in varying degrees illustrate the importance of both in contemporary Nigerian culture, as well as the greater Africa as a whole, and how both are intertwined and cannot exist without the other. In effect, she skillfully subverts stereotypes or single perceptions of Africa as backward and traditional, proving instead, the multifaceted culture of Africa. She further illustrates that neither traditional African nor western culture is necessarily detrimental. It is the stark contrast of the fundamental cultures that inevitably leads to clashes and disagreements. In the end, what holds African countries such as Nigeria together is their shared pride. Modern, western influences can bring positive changes to society, but new cultures cannot completely eradicate the foundational cultures to which a society is founded on.
The role of African American literature in recent years has been to illuminate for the modern world the sophistication and beauty inherent in their culture as well as the constant struggle they experience in the oppressive American system. When writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois and Alice Walker present their material, they manage to convey to a future world the great depth of feeling and meaning their particular culture retained as compared with the culture of their white counterparts. Without this attempt at preservation, much of the richness of this community might have been lost or forgotten. At the same time, they illuminated some of the problems inherent within their society, including lack of education, lack of appreciation for their own value and lack of opportunity for the future. All three of these writers work to capture the important concepts of their society within the figurative elements of daily life, urban or rural, as they are defined from within rather than without. In poetry such as Hughes’ “Mother to Son”, W.E.B. DuBois’ work Souls of Black Folk or Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, one begins to understand the unifying theme of the black community as a constant struggle between attaining higher social status and more comfortable conditions while still remaining deeply connected to the cultural and spiritual richness of their heritage and families.
...econd African Writers Conference, Stockholm, 1986. Ed. Kirsten Holst Petersen. Upsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1998. 173-202.
The small African village located on the bank of the river Niger has a story of its own, that only the old and wise are able to des...