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    Characteristics of African Literature

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    Joela Castil
    African literature has its origins in ancient Egypt over thousands of years ago. It was influenced by Arabic poetry which spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Colonization in later centuries led to the slave trade and the forced transportation of millions of Africans. In the 19th-20th centuries, missionaries helped develop a written African literature by establishing schools and translating religious texts. While its history is long, many popular modern works have emerged since 1950, with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart being particularly notable.

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    Characteristics of African Literature

    Uploaded by

    Joela Castil
    3K views2 pages
    African literature has its origins in ancient Egypt over thousands of years ago. It was influenced by Arabic poetry which spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Colonization in later centuries led to the slave trade and the forced transportation of millions of Africans. In the 19th-20th centuries, missionaries helped develop a written African literature by establishing schools and translating religious texts. While its history is long, many popular modern works have emerged since 1950, with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart being particularly notable.

    Original Title

    CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN LITERATURE

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    African literature has its origins in ancient Egypt over thousands of years ago. It was influenced by Arabic poetry which spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Colonization in later centuries led to the slave trade and the forced transportation of millions of Africans. In the 19th-20th centuries, missionaries helped develop a written African literature by establishing schools and translating religious texts. While its history is long, many popular modern works have emerged since 1950, with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart being particularly notable.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    3K views2 pages

    Characteristics of African Literature

    Uploaded by

    Joela Castil
    African literature has its origins in ancient Egypt over thousands of years ago. It was influenced by Arabic poetry which spread during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Colonization in later centuries led to the slave trade and the forced transportation of millions of Africans. In the 19th-20th centuries, missionaries helped develop a written African literature by establishing schools and translating religious texts. While its history is long, many popular modern works have emerged since 1950, with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart being particularly notable.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    History:

    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.
    CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN LITERATURE
    There are 54 nations which make up Africa. Each of these separate countries
    have their own history, culture, tribes, and traditions. That being said, there are some
    commonalities shared by literature which comes from the continent as a whole.

    Defining African literature can be complicated. There are some authors who
    believe African literature can only be composed in African languages. Others believe
    African literature can be composed in any language so long as it is composed by
    authors from Africa.

     African literature preserves the rich culture and traditions of the African
    nations. The myths and trickster tales, which typically explain the
    creation of the universe, the activities of the gods at the beginning of
    creation, and the essence of existence.
     Most of the literary pieces of Africa shed light on controversial issues
    such as racial discrimination, political conflicts, civil war, gender
    sensitivity, and human rights issues.
     Characteristics of African literature include slave narratives, protests
    against colonization, calls for independence, African pride, hope for the
    future, and dissent.

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