Poetry in Africa
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
African poetry encompasses a wide variety of traditions arising from
Historical perspective
If African culture depends on community and social setting, it can be said that it "grows out of tradition and keeps tradition alive".[1] Present-day spoken-word and performance poetry can be viewed as "logical evolutions" of the ancient indigenous
Pre-colonial era
Numerous examples of
In the pre-colonial era in Nigeria, poetry was thought to be unwritten. "There existed a thin line between poets and musicians, who composed and rendered poetry in musical form. Poets then published their works in the form of renditions at funerals and marriage ceremonies, with themes focused on praising virtues and condemning vices in society."[3] Margaret Busby's 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa begins with a selection of traditional African poems, including ancient Egyptian love songs.[4]
Colonial era
While the West bears record of African literature from the period of colonisation and the slave trade, particularly of works by Africans using acquired Western languages as their medium of expression, the oral traditions of the time – particularly if in a mother tongue – were not recognised for their artistic value or the richness and significance of their content.[5]
Generated by the Atlantic slave trade and its opposition, from the 1780s onward, an unprecedented array of texts appeared, both pro- and anti-slavery. African authors writing in this period, along with abolitionists and apologists, raise questions about the relation of British Romanticism to colonialism and slavery.[6] Themes of liberation, independence and négritude among Africans in French-controlled territories began to permeate African literature in the late colonial period, between the end of World War I and independence. Léopold Sédar Senghor published the first anthology of French-language poetry written by Africans in 1948. He was one of the leaders of the négritude movement and the eventual President of Senegal.
Independence era
Sam Awa of the University of Lagos' Department of English states: "Moreover, African literature is protest in nature. It comes as a reaction to various forms of injustices meted out on Africans by the colonial masters and later, post-colonial masters."[8]
Post-colony
Most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s. With liberation and increased literacy, African literature written in English, French, Portuguese and traditional African languages has increased and is now more recognized internationally.[9]
In 1986, Nigerian writer, poet and playwright Wole Soyinka, became the first post-independence African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Modern era
In modern African poetry, works that focus on the healing and purging of the country and families have frequently appeared.
In January 2000, "Against All Odds: African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century",[10] the first conference on African languages and literatures ever to be held in Africa, took place, with participants from the diaspora, writers and scholars from Africa and around the world. Delegates examined the state of African languages in literature scholarship, publishing, and education in Africa.
Poet and editor Kwame Dawes directed the African Poetry Book Fund and produced a series of chapbooks.[11][12]
Joseph A. Ushie at the University of Uyo English Department, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, said that "Modern written African poetry has a double heritage — pre-colonial and Western. As in most post-colonial situations, the tilt of our writing should be more towards the pre-colonial African literary heritage as manifested in the song, dirge, folktale, elegy, panegyric or riddle. Essentially, such art was meant for the whole community rather than for a few initiates."[13]
Publication
Over the last two decades, a number of anthologies of African poetry have been published, predominantly by international university presses and by African scholars based on or associated with these institutions. In his article "The Critical Reception of Modern African Poetry",
See also
- African literature
- List of African poets
- List of Tanzanian poets
- List of Ghanaian poets
- List of Nigerian poets
- List of South African poets
- South African poetry
- Ebyevugo, poetry genre
- Pambazuka
- Badilisha Poetry X-Change and Badilisha Poetry Radio
- Africa Beyond
- Farafina Books
- Chimurenga (magazine)
- New Internationalist
- Wasafiri
- Kwani?
- Cassava Republic Press
References
- ^ Simon Gikandi, Encyclopedia of African Literature, Routledge, 2003, p. 570.
- ^ "Guide to Museums, Africa's Precolonial Literature". Africa.com. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ Opara, Chidi Anthony (11 April 2008). "Poetry Evolution in Nigeria". African Resource. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
- ^ Margaret Busby, Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent, Jonathan Cape, 1992.
- ^ Heart, Beitifull. "Article" (PDF).
- ^ "Writings on Slavery". Home.southernct.edu. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Guide to Museums". Africa.com. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ Sam Awa, "How Modern African Poets React to the Issue of Governance in Selected Works from Modern African Poetry", University of Lagos.
- ^ Scheub, Harold. "African Literature".
- ^ "Against All Odds: African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century. Asmara, Eritrea". Outreach.psu.edu. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "New-Generation African Poets : A Chapbook Box Set Series". African Poetry Book Fund. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ "Interview with Kwame Dawes, founder of the African Poetry Book Fund". National Book Foundation. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ "Mma and other Poems: At First Look by Joseph A. Ushie IRCALC Literary Review Series". Africaresearch.org. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- . Retrieved 2011-07-16.