Literature

Chapter One African Literature
    Literature has always been one very important aspect of a nations identity. It is through literature that history, culture, and heritage of a nation can be seen, scrutinized, and assessed for whatever purpose it may servewhether for the academic or just for the sake of knowing. The importance and contribution of literature are incomprehensible to the point that it cannot never be fully understood on what extent it has played in the birth, growth, triumph, and even destruction of a person, society, civilization, nation, and continent. This is because literature reflects the entire psyche of a nation, encompassing culture, religion, history, philosophies, and even values. As Antony Easthope puts it, works of literature consist of human experience. Thus, it is within literature that the entire life of a person can be reflected, even those of the horrors they have experiencedand this is most especially true with the life that the people of Africa have gone through.

    Trying to understand what African literature is, what it embodies and represents, and how it has reached its current state can only be explained by the other factors concerning the nationits culture, religion, values and the important historical events that have tremendously affected the country for centuries. Hence, if anyone would want to fully know what African literature is, and then one should first know what Africa is in the literal and figurative sense.

    Africa is one of the seven continents in the world, closest to the continents of Europe and Asia which explains much regarding why Africa has been conquered by many European nations and why Africa has always been linked to Asia in terms of financial and economic negotiations. This proximity is important as it explains a great deal regarding the different issues that Africa has been involved and the relationships it has had with different European countries and the United States of America. Because Africa was near such diverse and developing nations, it would be inevitable that the nearby countries would try to take hold or influence the nation. This is why it is important to note that Africa also holds an important historical background since it involves other countries. Africa has such a rich culture that the nation holds so much history concerning not just one country but entire continents which were known to yield so much power in terms of political, economic, and cultural influences.

Stephen Belcher states that Africa has been marked by external disruptions that there is a possibility that the real Africa is lost among the many countries and nations that influenced it. This is important since it would affect the history, background, and development of African literatureif there is actually one to begin with. What is trying to be assessed and seen here is just a literature of a nation and yet, it involves much complex subject matters that involve politics, religion, philosophies, and many other subjects that not only encompass one particular continent but other parts of the world as well. It can be likened to zeroing on a small problem, only to be confronted with a problem befuddling in its complexity. Hence, African literature is not just African literature it is also African culture, religion, history, philosophy, and values. However, literature has always been proven to be a complicated subject matter.

Culture
    Culture is one of the very important aspects of a nation as it embodies many characteristics that can be reflective of that particular nation. The very society that people move in is composed and controlled by the culture that they practice. To conclude that culture controls society is not a mere hypothesis but an undeniable fact since the very nature and definition of culture itself is synonymous to the nature of society. Malinowski defines culture and explains why culture is a highly significant aspect to the world at large and of course, in the discussion of literature

Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and all other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Hence, African culture then is the entire behaviour of the nation. It is the totality of their beliefs, nature, art, philosophies, laws, morals, traditions, and customs that are unique and distinct to them. Naturally, literature is also part of this African culture as much as African culture is part of literature. As Belcher explains, the entire African community is united by their literature, and  it is this literature that links them to their culture

What binds individuals into communities is not only the amalgam of shared practices and activities, the daily routine that allows reference to common experience, but also, often, a sense of common origin derived from knowledge of the stories about how the community came into being, how its institutions were established, and how they are justified.

Belcher is of course referring to the different mythologies, folklore, and legends that surround the origins of Africathe places, the people, and the practices. Africa, being a very superstitious nation even with all the influences of colonisers, takes pride in the weaving of their stories, proving that the literature within their culture in indeed very rich.

    The definition and precise characterisation of what is African culture may be difficult since it is a nation that has been controlled and even slaved over by other nations through the course of history. The cultural identity of Africa may be lost among the other cultures that have ruled this nation, making it nearly impossible to locate what is truly African and what is only African in its own right. In fact, this may be one of the problems of Africa, a nation that is touted as a third-world country and where poverty and strife are in abundancethe lack of one single identity in which to define and place them is truly lost amidst the long historical slavery and colonisation that the nation has gone through. Africa has been home to conquests, colonisations, and many transformations of modernisation that many of the older cultural configurations have become irrelevant, as lifestyles have changed.

    However, even if this is the case, this does not mean that the culture of Africa has been lostfor change does not completely erase what has been inherited from the distant past. Even if Africa has been colonised by different nations throughout history, this does not mean that Africa does not have their own single identity or distinct characteristic since what identifies a nation is not their inability to stand out for being untouched and untarnished but for their ability to be intact even if there are many attempts to tarnish, wound, and stain. This is also what makes Africa unique and splendid in some waysit is the collation of different cultures which make the very culture of Africa seen and stand out in vibrant colours for the richness, variety, and diversity that it can offer. The need to relate Africa to the different nations that has colonised it renders it incapable of having no single identity actually fulfils the entire identity of Africa. The concept that Africa is made from different nations and cultures makes Africa Africa.

The culture of Africa can be summed in one worddiverse. Their language is aplenty, their occupation, many. Migration is one theme which is prevalent in African culture and this greatly contributed to the spread of the languages and the changes in occupation. Some African groups or tribes tried their hand on crop production while others concentrated on metal works with their speciality on iron. If one group did not become successful, they just moved on and relocated to another place to try their luck. Thus, the African people were scattered and so was the development of one single culture. But what makes them united is their great penchant for artistic creativity
African societies along the west coast and on both sides of the half of the continenthad much in common. They showed inventive skill and artistic talent in building stone, in manufacturing metal objects, in carving wood and ivory, in weaving and dyeing.

Africans has been exalted for the art they have created out from animal skins or carved in their dwellings. However, the different tribes and groups which comprise the African people were also regarded as primitive and war-freaks, a false connotation that must have derived from the iron-craftsmanship that they have. Since Africaabounds in ironstonethe Negro learned to make weapons of wrought iron. It is but normal that war and conquest followed since the African tribes were now capable of defending themselves or making an offensive action toward other groups. However, overall, this does not mean that the people of Africa have a violent nature to begin with they were simply trying to make do with a lifestyle that is unique to them.

    In Chinua Achebes All Things Fall Apart, for example, the tribesmen adheres strongly to their customs and beliefs that an act of disobedience against such customs and beliefs is punishable not even the great, famous, and influential protagonist, Okonkwo, is exempted from this act. It is the traditions of the people which they protect since they look up to their deities and to their practices with such revering eyes. Violence is not part of their custom it is just something which is used if one refuses to acknowledge or respect the customs. Another example would be the contempt and disapproval that Okonkwo receives when he thinks first of his personal feelings and agenda over that of the sacredness of a practice of their clanwhen he openly ensues violence when the clan is commemorating the Week of Peace. This just proves that the violent, primitive, and dangerous African is a false notion created perhaps by ignorance of the culture of the African people.

Religion
The religion of Africa is quite simple in a way that whatever religion they originally have may be lost entirely to them and to the modern world. As what history and modern African literature depict, the religion of Africa is littered with traditional customs and beliefs that bank on superstitions of worshiping deities. However, because of trade and colonial rule, African religion is either Islamic or Christian in nature. This can be explained by the history of Africa. Belcher explains that Islam from the east started to spread their religion by means of trade with the Africans as early as 17th century A.D. He calls it the Islamic conquests in the interior wherein Islam integrated themselves into the African community and culture subconsciously that eventually the people picked it up.  It was not just religion of Islam that the Africans learned from the Arabs but culture and a whole other lifestyle as well

They subdued the Africans, mixed with them accustomed them to their civilization. They included Islamic scholars who taught many Africans to read and write Arabic. The culture of Islam wasabsorbed by Africans on the east coast to as far as the Mozambique Channel.

In the end, Islam became integrated into the African culture and community. Even if the Africans still practice their original traditions and customs, there are hints of Islam influences
In almost all of the kingdoms of Sahel, noble families now claim a tradition of origin linking them with the Islamic world. Figures such as Prophet Muhammad become a source of blessings and laws comparable to the former sky-gods and demiurges.

    This situation can also be seen in a different perspective wherein Africans have that such strong of a foundation and faith with their traditions that not even thousands of years of influence of tradesmen or conquerors fail to fully extinguish their original customs. This is also the same case with the influence and integration of Christianity within Africa
Christian missionaries (especially in the colonial period) had little trouble discerning echoes of the holy Scriptures in the narratives they head, or in linking the sky-gods they encountered with the divinity they were promoting.

Since Christian influences came much later compared to Islam, memories regarding the integration (forced or otherwise) are still somewhat freshthis theme is even reflected in many of todays contemporary novels such as Achebes novels.

In Things Fall Apart, the theme of modernity versus traditions is portrayed and though Oknokwo, the protagonist fights for traditions to remain, it is revealed in the end that he is one of the few who believe that their customs and beliefs are more important and choose to fight for it. The most climactic and dramatic battle of modernity versus traditions transpires in the arrival of the white Christian missionaries who choose to impose their religion on the Oknokwos people. In the earlier part of the book, the missionaries are kind enough not to force the tribesmen in accepting the Christian faith, but later on, much antagonism and vehemence springs from the missionaries intentional disruption, disrespect and disregard for the practices of the clan, causing a bloody outcome that results in the death of many people, including Oknokwo who chose to hang himself.
The book is just one of the many examples in African literature that portray the struggle of African people in the hands of the Christian missionaries who, unlike the Arabs way of integration through acculturation and trade, chose the more persistent way of preaching, and when not met with warmth and enthusiasm, resorted to violence in some cases. But all in all, Christian missionaries did have good intentions the problem lay in the way they handled the conversion of the African clans to Christianity as shown in Achebes novel.

Another important novel written by Achebe (aside from Things Fall Apart) which portrays the struggle of the onslaught of Christianity versus the need to preserve African customs and tradition is the Arrow of God. The forceful integration of Christianity (through colonisation) towards the reluctant African people is depicted in the novel and yet, the idea that it is better for African customs to remain is also portrayed as disadvantageous to the African people. Therefore, the novel succeeded in portraying both sides of the fight for Christianity and the fight for the preservation of the traditional customs, which Things Fall Apart failed to do. This being the case, the arrival and integration of Christianity into African culture is not exactly a negative notion, although it is not entirely welcome or positive either. In the end though, there are other important reasons behind the conversion of the Christians, and this can be best explained by how the Caribbean religion has changed with the slave trade that the Christian Europeans pioneered over the colonial period (see Chapter Two). African religion therefore became something central to African life, culture, and society and yet, it is a mixture of Christian preaching, Islamic teachings, and traditional superstitions based on worship of deities.Family Values

African families are known to be patriarchal in nature as it is the fathers or the male who become heads of the family or of the tribes. As with the West and Asia, the patriarchy is considered to be dominant since the male is considered to be the superior according to their customs and teachings. The family in African societies is unique in their own right as not only is it patriarchal in structure and domination, it is also extended in the patrilineal sense. This refers to a kinship or formation of the relationship that is directly founded on the line of the male members of the family, most especially through the fathers of the family. This information is crucial since it enables the male members and fathers of the line to be completely powerful and controlling while rendering the female to be weak and powerlessa role that has been consistently and continuously played by the female no matter what culture and country she may be from.

One example of the role that the male and female (or husband and the wife) play in the familial set up is Buchi Emechetas Second Class Citizen wherein the protagonist, Adah, a high-class Nigerian citizen, immigrates to Europe only to find out that she is a second class citizen not only to the dominantly white and racist European society (at that time) but also within the realm of her own family. Adah is somewhat playing the role of the intellectual and strong wife, mother, and female who knows that something must be done with regard to her predicament, but she is rendered helpless by the vehemence of the people around her because she is an African and an African woman at that. As what the societal ladder depicts, there is nothing more mortifying to be black, female, and poor as it would be the bottom of the ladder that the rest of the world will intentionally and guiltlessly step on.

However, African family values are not just about the prejudice and injustice done to women it is also the great love and respect that sons and daughters have for the maternal side of the family. If the father is dominant and inspires fear, the mother usually inspires love and affectiona balance of emotions within the family. The power of a mothers love is exemplified in another novel by Achebe entitled No Longer At Ease, which depicts a love-hate relationship between the mother and the son. But even if Obi wants to disobey his mother by marrying the girl that he loves who is a societal outcast, he still follows her wish to appease her. In the end, when the mother dies due to illness, Obi is more desolate over this loss compared to the loss of the girl that he loves when she leaves him for good.   Views of the Western World

The way the West perceive Africa can be seen in how it has treated the nationthat with slavery. Although Africa has had trade relations with Asia and other Eastern countries that led to the influence and incorporation of Asian and Eastern practices to their culture, the extent that the Wests influence have on Africa is so far the most impacting and lasting. At a time when European countries like Portugal and Spain were searching the seas for other lands that could contain immense wealth and opportunities to increase their wealth, they discovered Africa which was abundant in minerals which could be taken and people who could be slaves. European countries which were very near Africa literally ignored the continent before they found out that it was a nation that could provide opportunities for expansion of their colonies (political power), wealth (financial and economic power), and religion. Soon, a fight over the people of Africa and the wealth it may bring ensued, forcing European countries to pit against each other.

Hence, the Western World viewed the Africans as wild beasts or primitive people devoid of the same human capability that they have. In Achebes Things Fall Apart, this perception is portrayed (perhaps in a rather pessimistic or cynical way but hints at truth nonetheless) by the District Commissioner as the novel concludeswhen Oknokwo commits suicide by hanging himself, the District Commissioner does not feel any sadness nor guilt over the death, only plain interest and even delight as he would have a fascinating few lines to add to his on-progress book by the inclusion of Oknokwos death. The ultimate degradation transpires with the title that the District Commissioner has thought for his book in reference to the people of Africa The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. The title itself holds the views of the Western World for Africans, that they are Nigers, they are lowly, they are primitive, and they are in need of pacification or taming.  Views on Slavery
Slavery is one very lasting and important aspect in African culture, history, and literature. It may even seem that no African literature with the author being African in origin would write about the slave trade and the causes and effects of slavery that the entire nation has suffered under. However, a thorough discussion of what slavery meant to the Africans and the great part it played in making, breaking, growing, and destroying the African spirit and identity would be a long and arduous taskit would involve political, societal and economic issues that played a huge part in this aspect. But to illustrate once and for all the importance of slavery and what it did to a nation that could have been content when left alone is rendered in David Diops famous poem, Africa
Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
Africa, tell me Africa
Is this you, this back that is bent
This back that breaks
Under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun
But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous child that tree, young and strong
That tree over there
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers
That is your Africa springing up anew
Springing up patiently, obstinately
Whose fruit bit by bit acquires
The bitter taste of liberty.

Slavery is something which has imprinted an irremovable and painful mark on the bodies, soul, minds, and hearts of the Africans and perhaps, it is something which they can never forgive nor forgetfor who can forget the abuse, violence, inhumanity, and violation of basic human rights and basic humanness of the white people who think they are superior to the Africans just because they look, speak, think, walk, and dress differently The disdain and discrimination received by the Africans were rooted from the slave-trade system that was started centuries ago and yet until now, when the world is supposedly more judicious, liberal and modern, stereotypes have been created toward mulattoes and Negroes by the West who regard Africans, African in origins or just people with a darker shade of skin colour as people inferior to them.