COLUMBAN COLLEGE – BARRETTO

Basic Education Department

SY 2019 – 2020
ST
21 CENTURY LITERATURE OF THE PHILIPPINES AND
THE WORLD

WRITTEN REPORT

(AFRO ASIAN LITERATURE AND

AFRICAN LITERATURE)
SUBMITTED BY:
GROUP NO. 4
Storment, Sunshine C.
GROUP MEMBERS
Apostol, Iverson B.
Aran, Rochelle J.
Fabrigas, Carla Jean N.
Galang, Cristine May M.
Gimeo, Rhea Luz S.

SUBMITTED TO:
ALECKSZANDRA GARCIA
TEACHER

August 16, 2019

INTRODUCTION TO AFRO-LITERATURE
~Brief background about Africa and Asia

AFRICA
- the name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra-
"land of the Afri" - for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its
capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.
- the second largest continent, covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth.
- the continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean
Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters
of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

ASIA
- the word Asia is originated from the Ancient Greek word Aoia, first attributed to Herodotus in
reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt.
- it originally was a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as
Assuwa.
- Asia is bounded by the Artic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian
Ocean to the south, the Red Sea to the southwest, and Europe to the west.

~ What is Afro Asian Literature?

AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE
- it is a term for writing written by people from mixed African-Arab ethnicity, or African-Asian
ethnicity.
- in modern times, part of world literature, afro-asian literature is a separate segment of writing
of experiences in African and Asia for further cultural understanding and world
- afro-asian literature mirrors not only the customs and traditions of African and Asian countries
but also their philosophy of life which on the whole are deeply and predominantly
contemplative and hauntingly sweet.
- it is the reflection of the storm and the stress of developing nations seeking a place under the
sun which every student must understand so he or she may know how this literature affects the
history and culture of a nation.
- the background of Afro-Asian literature dates to the very beginning of when the first mixed
race individual began writing.
- earlier written documents were based on stories passed by word of mouth

 The Beginnings of Asian and African Literature

- Literary works were handed by mouth from generation to generation to entertain, and remind
the people about their past, heroic deeds of their people, ancestry and culture.
  Importance of Afro-Asian Literature
- the importance comes from the fact that afro-asian is a sign of new and modern times. these
times include literature from all kinds of people, from all places on earth. These days, we are
able to enjoy literature from all over the world thanks to the Internet and translation services.

 History of Afro-Asian Literature

- Traditional ballads or poems outlining Afro-Asian history are part of the culture's oral history
- these poems or songs were passed down from generation to generation
- told of the unique struggles and successes of Afro-Asian people.
- in most cultures, oral histories marked the beginnings of teaching history. Later, when more
people were able to read and write, history became recorded in prose, plays, and poems.
Genres: playwriting, poems, prose

 Characteristics of Afro-Asian Literature

- African literature is as diverse as the continent itself, but several characteristics an themes
prevail throughout much of the written works emerging from Africa. There is often great
emphasis on the history, culture and customs of a group of people when telling their stories.
- Afro-Asian's literary works were handed by mouth from generation to generation to entertain,
and remind the people about their past, heroic deeds of their people, ancestry and culture.
- Afro-Asian literature s a sign of new and modern times. these times include literature from all
kinds of people, from all places on earth

 Countries under Afro-Asian with rich literature

- South Korea
- North Korea
- Japan
- Saudi Arabia
- China
- India
- Egypt
- Israel
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Africa
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Vietnam
AFRICAN LITERATURE

History of African Literature

- African literature has origins dating back thousands of years to Ancient Egypt and
hieroglyphs, or writing which uses pictures to represent words. These Ancient Egyptian
beginnings led to Arabic poetry, which spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the
seventh century C.E. and through Western Africa in the ninth century C.E. These African and
Arabic cultures continued to blend with the European culture and literature to form a unique
literary form.
- Africa experienced several hardships in its long history which left an impact on the themes of
its literature. One hardship which led to many others is that of colonization. Colonization is
when people leave their country and settle in another land, often one which is already
inhabited. The problem with colonization is when the incoming people exploit the indigenous
people and the resources of the inhabited land.
- Colonization led to slavery. Millions of African people were enslaved and brought to Western
countries around the world from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. This spreading of
African people, largely against their will, is called the African Diaspora.
- Sub-Saharan Africa developed a written literature during the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. This development came as a result of missionaries coming to the area. The
missionaries came to Africa to build churches and language schools in order to translate
religious texts. This led to Africans writing in both European and indigenous languages.
- Though African literature's history is as long as it is rich, most of the popular works have
come out since 1950, especially the noteworthy Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Looking beyond the most recent works is necessary to understand the complete development
of this collection of literature.

 Literary forms of African Literature

African literature, literary works of the African continent. African literature consists of a body of
work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written
in colonial languages (French, Portuguese, and English).

ORAL LITERATURE

 stories - a connected series of events told through words (written or spoken), imagery
(still and moving), body language, performance, music, or any other form of
communication
 dramas - a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue
 riddles - statements that contain superficial words but they function figurativelt, and as
metaphors and are in the form of questions
 histories - a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular
people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account; chronicle
 songs - a lyrical poem which is sung with the playing of some musical instrument
 myths - tackle the nature strange occurrences of the earth and how things were created
with an aim to give an explanation to things
 proverbs - wise words usually given by parents or elders of the community
MAJOR AUTHOR’S LIFE’S AND WORKS

1. Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe is one of the best African authors who have contributed a lot in the field of
African literature. He was born in 1930, and schooled at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His
first groundbreaking novel titled Things Fall Apart was published in 1958. This novel which has
since been translated into over 50 languages due to its high demand, made Achebe very popular.
Chinua Achebe later served as a professor of African Studies at the David and Marianna Fisher
University and at the Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He died early 2013 in
Boston, Massachusetts, aged of 82 years old.

2. Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka is also one of the great heroes in the list of top and best African authors who have
won great awards and honours in the world of literature. He was born in 1934 in Nigeria and he
became the first African author to be awarded the Nobel Prize award in literature. In the late
1950’s, he wrote his very first important play titled ‘A Dance of the Forests’ that satirizes a
fledgling nation by highlighting that the present days were no longer as golden as past. Common
in his recent works, is the focus on satirizing the the evils fundamental in the practice of power in
modern West Africa.
3. Amos Tutuola
Amos Tutuola was born in 1920, Abeokuta in Western Nigeria and died in 1997. He was a self-
taught African author who usually focused his literature on the Yoruba folk tales. He became
popular after gaining the world fame with his best story ‘The Palm-Wine Drunkard’ that
completed in 1946.

4. Camera Laye
Camera Laye was born in 1928 in Kouroussa, Upper Guinea and later died in 1980. He was the
first African author from a French-speaking African country. His first novel written in French,
L’Enfant Noir (The African Child) made him one of the best and important novelists from the
French-speaking countries in Africa.

5. Dinaw Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu was also one of the best African authors who have contributed greatly in the
field of African literature. He was born in 1978 in Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia. He
moved to the USA together with his sister and mother two years after his birth, to reunite with
his father who had previously fled the country during the Red Terror. He graduated from
Georgetown University. So far, he has written two novels titled “The Beautiful Things that
Heaven Bears” which was established in 2007 and “How to Read the Air” established in 2010.
He also recently received a MacArthur Foundation, usually known as “genius grant”.

6. Mariama Bâ
Maria BA is also an African author born in 1929, Dakar, Senegal. She has been regarded as one
of the best and most original African authors to come from West Africa. Her works and life were
usually preoccupied with several issues such as power, gender relations, and inequality. She also
focused on the ways in which these issues were affected and framed by Islamic and African
cultural beliefs. She wrote her first novel titled So Long a Letter in 1981. She died in 1986, just
before publishing her second novel, Scarlet Song.

7. Buchi Emecheta
Buchi Emecheta was born in Lagos, the capital city of Nigeria in 1944. Her work and life as an
African author set the stage for the new generation of the west African female authors. Her
fiction was drawn from her experiences in Diaspora as well as influences from her educational
background. In the Ditch and Second-Class Citizen published in 1972 and 1974 respectively, are
Emecheta’s heavily autobiographical novels.

8. Bessie Head
Bessie Head was born in the year 1937, in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and
she died in 1986. She was one of the African female authors whose life and litarary works have
been brought into focus in recent days. She became famous because of her three novels; When
Rain Clouds Gather, published in 1968, Maru also published in 1971 and the third one A
Question of Power launched in 1974.

9. Ousmane Sembane
In 1923, Uosmane Sembane was born in Ziguinchor, a region found in southern Senegal. He is
widely acknowledged as the seminal figure in both African film and literature. His work was
focused centrally on the cultural practices as well as political discourses that surround the female
body in the continent of Africa. He died in 2007 after winning a critical acclaim for his film,
“Moolaadé” in 2004.

10. Ngugi wa Thiong’o

In 1938, Ngugi wa Thiong’o was born in Kamiriithu, Kenya. He is one of the best and most
celebrated African authors and intellectuals. He is also one of the African authors who have
enjoyed both national and international acclaim as an essayist, novelist, playwright, activist and
social commentator. His experience of the Mau Mau struggle for independence, British
colonialism and the position of Kenya in the neo-colonial era are some of the issues that
preoccupy much of his thoughts and writings. Some of his novels include Weep Not Child
published in 1964, The River Between (1965), and A Grain of Wheat published in 1967.

Famous Literary Masterpieces

1. Things Fall Apart

Novel, By Chinua Achebe – Nigeria

This is a literary piece of work written by one of the best African writers of all time – Chinua
Achebe. Chinua Achebe hails from Nigeria.

Things Fall Apart is a piece of work that focuses on a clash of traditions during Africa’s
transition period from the colonial rule. It is at this period that Africa’s traditional values were in
a violent clash with those values of their colonial subjugators.
Even though the Western culture brought profound positive effects on Africa – including modern
industrialization and infrastructure, it nonetheless caused tremendous destruction in terms of
Africa’s authentic traditional values that held families together and defined the gender roles.

Things Fall Apart is a theme about characterization and demonstration of Africa’s torn socio-
cultural fabric as different forces fight for their own domain.

2. An African Thunderstorm
Poem, By David Rubadiri – Malawi

David Rubadiri is a great poet, writer, novelist, diplomat, and playwright from Malawi.

Like most early African writers, he ran afoul with his country’s government under dictator
Hastings Kamuzu Banda and ran into exile in Uganda. While in Uganda, Obote’s government
was overthrown, forcing him again to run into exile in Kenya.

He served twice as his country’s diplomat, first has Malawi’s first ambassador to the US. After
Kamuzu Banda ceased to be president, he returned to the country and later became his country’s
Ambassador to the UN.

The following poetry extract is one of his great pieces of work, An African Thunderstorm:

Pregnant clouds

Ride stately on its back,

Gathering to perch on hills

Like sinister dark wings;

The wind whistles by

And trees bend to let it pass.

And like most writers of his time, he was critical of poor governance and leadership in Africa.
Some of his work was critical of Africa’s despotic regimes.

3. Burger’s Daughter
Novel, By Nadine Gordimer – South Africa

This is a historical and political novel by Nadine Gordimer, one of Africa’s earliest literary
Nobel Laureates.

This piece of work focuses on the criticism of the era of the draconian Apartheid regime of South
Africa. Burger’s Daughter was billed by the New York Times as Gordimer ’s most political and
most moving novel.
4. Aye Africa
Song, by Franklin Boukaka – DRC

This is a great song that many people brand it as “Africa’s Anthem”.

It is a deep moving song with that moves any listener who understands the plight of Africa,
especially after the mirage of the so-called ‘Independence’.

In the song, Franklin Boukaka questions whether this war, poverty and misery that Africa faces
is the independence and freedom that was promised by the Independence heroes.

From his background as a Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the song is
painfully relevant when you realize that DRC is in deep turmoil that has so far claimed over 10
million lives, not forgetting that over 6 million of them that were massacred by King Leopold of
Belgium prior to independence.

This is a painful song. Its lyrics can move any patriot to tears. A song from the deep heart of a
martyr who was killed trying to fight for a better country through words and deeds.

The song was sung in French. The following are some parts of the translated lyrics:

Ahe Africa he

Eh he Africa

Where is your freedom?

Where is your liberty?

Oh, it is hard labor to cut wood fire!

With such sufferings with our kids!

I don’t know how to fix that.

I gave my confidence

To people only focused on luxury stuffs and cars

But when elections comes, they remind me as an important person for them

The colonizer left already

But what do we do with this freedom now?

You can listen to this great piece of work and its lyrics from this video:

Rest In Peace, Franklin Boukaka.

5. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika

Song, by Enoch Sontonga – South Africa

Translated as ‘God Bless Africa’, this is another emotionally moving son by a great son of Africa
– Enoch Sontonga. It’s greatness is evidenced by the fact that it has been adapted by several
countries in Southern Africa as their national anthem.

These includes South Africa itself, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania (in Swahili version), and
Zimbwabwe (Shona version).

Enoch Sontonga was a teacher and Choirmaster at the Methodist Mission School in South
Africa. He composed and sung the song as part of religious service and as a special dedication to
his continent – Africa.

Enoch Sontonga died in obscurity during his youth at a prime age of only 33 years. But, his giant
legacy lives on in this great masterpiece that has been adopted as a National Anthem for 5
African countries.

His spirit guided and blessed most of Southern Africa’s liberation heroes as it was the song of
choice during their liberation struggle. A simple man whose hearty song invigorated the
liberation spirit of a people of 5 count