Scope and nature

of African History
and Literature
VLSS201: African History, Literature and
Society
Lecture 1

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 • By the end of this lecture, students should:
• know and understand what is meant by
African history and literature;
• describe the scope and nature of African
Objectives history and literature;
• explain the major events and themes of
African history and literature with examples.

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 • African history and literature refer to the
study of the past and creative works of and
from Africa.
Scope of • While the European perception of history and
literature generally refers to written works,
African the African concepts consist of a body of
History & works oral and written in both African
indigenous and foreign (colonial) languages
African such as English, French, and Portuguese.
Literature • The history and literature of and about
Africans reflect the society – both past and
present.

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 • In both its oral and written forms, African history
and literature have their roots in the continent’s
storytelling and performance traditions which are as
old as those of other civilizations.
• Examples are the Asante history of Okomfo
Nature of Anorkye and Yaa Asantewaa, or the tales of spider
(popularly known in Akan language as Anansesem).
African • African history and literature are dominated by the
History and oral form because, serious attention to writing began
later in the 15th Century.
Literature • However, it was only in the twentieth century,
especially in its last half that African history and
literature became a subject of study and debate in
institutions of education.

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 • It is important to note that African history and literature
are limitless; for they cover all subjects and reflect all the
different aspects of the society.
Major • However there are some major events which has affected
the society and its people physically and psychologically.
Themes and • These events have influenced creative writers in Africa to
Concepts in use their art to confront happenings in the society.
• Some of the major events are slavery (domestic, Trans-
African Saharan and Trans-Atlantic slave trades), and
colonialism.
History and • The aftermath of these major events gave birth to
Literature common themes in African history and literature such as
slavery, colonialism, nationalism, negritude, Pan-
Africanism and neo-colonialism, and post colonialism.

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Slavery

• Slaves were solely acquired to work without pay

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 Colonialism
• Colonialism is the system of governance where a
foreign country acquire partial or complete
control over another for its political and
economic benefit. British practiced indirect rule,
the French practiced direct rule and Belgians
practiced colonial trinity (trinité coloniale) of
state, missionary and private-company interests.
• Each of these systems of governance had positive
and negative effects on the people they
colonised.
• Under the theme of colonialism are sub-themes
such as: foreign interference or destruction of
African political governance, economics, culture,
education, self esteem etc.
Ask students to research all three systems of governance mentioned here and what
were their positive and negative effects on the people. 7
 • Nationalism simply means love for one’s
country.
• In Africa, nationalism is related to the
continent’s drive for freedom from foreign
domination and the search for a common
identity.
Nationalism • This drive succeeded in intensifying the
desire in Africans to attain their
independence from Europeans, because they
saw their practice of slavery and colonialism
as evil.

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Nationalism cont.
• In the first half of the twentieth century, the African elite felt
the need to come together to form a new community since
their identity did not lie in embracing an European identity.
• It was during this period that the educated African elite
sought to rediscover the traditions and cultural practices that
their colonial education had rejected (Sankofa).
• Nationalist writers sought to let Africa speak through their
works. They assumed that, why the continent had such a poor
image, globally, was that Africa was primarily represented
through the works of European writers, most notably, Joseph
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) and Joyce Cary’s Mister
Johnson (1990).

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Sankofa is an Akan proverb which means it is not a taboo to go back and fetch what
one abandoned. 9
 • African nationalists strongly believed that the
European writers did not understand the
culture and people of Africa; thus they
misrepresented Africa to the rest of the
world.
Nationalism • Writers like Kobina Sekyi, Casely Hayford,
Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye were
cont. nationalists who wrote with the aim of telling
the African story the African way and giving
insight into the cultural values and practices
the of African people

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Negritude
• Negritude is a literary and ideological movement developed by Francophone
black intellectuals, writers and politicians in France in the 1930s.
• Its founders included L.S. Senghor, (the greatest African exponent of the
philosophy of Negritude) Martinican poet Aime’ C’esaire and Guianan
Leon Damas.
• The word negritude derives from the French word “Negre” and literally
means “negro-ness”. Negritude is a response to the racism in France. It
turned the racial slur negre into a positively nuanced celebration of African
culture and character.
• It aimed, among other things to re-assert and revive through literature, the
cultural values, identity and authenticity of Africans, partly through a
renunciation of what is Western and partly through a re-ordering of imagery.
• Negritude emphasizes the values of African civilization and the black
contribution to human civilization.

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
 • Pan-Africanism is a concept and movement that encourages the solidarity of
Africans world-wide.
• It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political
progress and aims to unify and uplift people of African descent.
Pan-Africanism • The concept asserts that the fates of all African people on the continent and
in the Diaspora are intertwined; thus the need for all people of African
descent to come together and forge a common destiny.
• The largest Pan-African organization is the African Union.

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND
 • Some Pan-Africanists are W. E.B. Du Bois, George Padmore, Kwame
Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey and Edward Wilmot Blyden.
• In African literature, the concept of Pan-Africanism has become a strong
Pan-Africanism theme in works of writers like Kofi Awoonor, Ayi Kwei Armah, Kobina
Sekyi, Sol Plaatje and John Dube who aim to promote the Pan – Africanist
idea of Africans in the continent and Africans in the Diaspora uniting to
place Africa in the centre of the modern world.

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
 • This term was first used by Ghana’s first president,
Kwame Nkrumah, to describe the influence of
colonialism and its institutions in the newly
independent states of Africa.
• African history and literature which focuses on this
theme portrays an independent Africa which is only
Neo- independent in name but still colonised
psychologically, politically, economically,
colonialism structurally and socially in the manner in which it
still depends on the former colonizers for survival.
• African politicians and intellectual elite are culprits
as they perpetuate this neo-colonialism in the way
they team up with Europeans to exploit Africans.

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 • Post-colonialism have different definitions and
scope, but basically, it is deconstruction as it resists
colonial/imperial discourse of power and superiority.
• Texts and studies that emanate from formally
colonised states by Europeans, which subvert
colonial/imperial discourse of superiority are
Post- regarded as postcolonial.
colonialism • It advocates the need for formerly colonised
countries to consciously resist the new colonial rule
(neo-colonialism) by abandoning the colonial
institutions that were operated by Western
colonialists. This has resulted in another dimension
of the postcolonial theory which advocates the
revival of the colonialists’ history and literature.

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 • In this lecture we have looked at African
history and Literature as:
• history and literature of and from Africa;
• vast and limitless since it covers all topics
and is as old as that of other civilizations in
Summary of the world;
lesson • both oral and written;
• influenced by major themes such as slavery
and colonialism;
• covering sub-themes such as nationalism,
negritude, Pan-Africanism, neo-colonialism,
post-colonialsm.
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 • What does African history and literature
mean?
• Explain the scope of African history and
literature.
• Describe the nature of African history and
Assessment literature.
• With your own examples, discuss two major
themes of African history and literature.
• What are some of the themes common in
African history and literature?

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