Essays in honour of Wole Soyinka at 80, edited by Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Ogochukwu Promise/Chinua Achebe: tributes and reflections, edited by Nana Ayebia Clarke and James Currey/Approaches to the teaching the works of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, edited by Oliver Lovesey

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Robert McCutcheon
Keyword(s):  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Wole Soyinka ◽  
Chinua Achebe

Non-Violence as a Tool of African Revolutionary Praxis in Femi Osofisan’s Red is the Freedom Road

Utafiti ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Clement Olujide Ajidahun
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Wole Soyinka ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Revolutionary Praxis

Abstract The deployment of violence as a subversive and revolutionary tool for effecting social change in post-independent African states has been very controversial among literary scholars. This paper employs Marxism in re-reading Femi Osofisan’s Red is the Freedom Road, and argues that the use of violence as a popular means of engendering progressive transformation of society is too costly in blood and devastation. Instead, tackling the various sociopolitical challenges confronting postcolonial African nations is better pursued through dialogue and negotiation rather than armed confrontation. Osofisan’s revulsion in response to the use of violence permeates his drama; but this does not in any way reduce his literary stature when compared with Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Wole Soyinka, whose literary works seem to support the view that there comes a point when the deployment of violence becomes necessary.

scholarly journals Literature as a Medium for Social and Political Activism: The Case of Mashingaidze Gomo’s A Fine Madness

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodwell Makombe
Keyword(s):  
Political Activism ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
African Context ◽  
African Writers

Abstract:Over the years, literary scholars have engaged in heated debates on the role literary artists should play in society. In the African context, this debate has been championed by scholars such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, and Okot p’ Bitek, among others. The central bone of contention has always been the question of self-narration. How should African writers narrate the African story (-ies) against the backdrop of slavery, colonialism, and neoliberal imperialism? In the context of these debates, this article seeks to read A Fine Madness by the Zimbabwean writer Mashingaidze Gomo (2010) as a socially and politically engaged text.

scholarly journals Literatura, Linguagem e Descolonização em Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Quênia) e Chinua Achebe (Nigéria)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Bruno Ribeiro Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
African Languages ◽  
African People ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Writers ◽  
The Many

A história de literatura africana contemporânea está repleta de debates que tratam de sua utilidade frente aos povos de África e a natureza dessa literatura. Através das ideias de dois escritores africanos, Chinua Achebe e Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, este artigo revisita a história das ideias desses autores em respeito à literatura africana e sua linguagem de escrita. Tratamos de perceber como dois autores da mesma geração, porém de locais diferentes, Nigéria e Quênia, respectivamente, pensaram a produção literária e sua função em África no período pós-colonial.Palavras-chave: Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-), Literatura Africana, Línguas Africanas AbstractThe history of African contemporary literature is full of debates that deal with its utility to the many African people and the nature of this literature. Through the ideas of two African writers, Chinua Achebe and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, we revisit the history of the ideas of these authors in relation to African literature and the language in which this literature is written. We try to perceive how authors from the same generation, but from different locals, Nigeria and Kenya, respectively, thought their literary production and its function in Africa in the post-colonial period.Keywords: Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-), African Literatures, African Languages

The Afterlife of Oyono's Houseboy in the Swahili Schools Market: To Be or Not to Be Faithful to the Original

PMLA ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-184
Author(s):  
Ken Walibora Waliaula
Keyword(s):  
Italian Literature ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
African Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
False Proposition ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Asian Languages

Africa, the world's second-largest continent, speaks over two thousand languages but rarely translates itself. it is no wonder, therefore, that Ferdinand Oyono's francophone African classic Une vie de boy (1956), translated into at least twelve European and Asian languages, exists in only one African translation—that is, if we consider as non-African Oyono's original French and the English, Arabic, and Portuguese into which it was translated. Since 1963, when Obi Wali stated in his essay “The Dead End of African Literature” that African literature in English and French was “a clear contradiction, and a false proposition,” like “Italian literature in Hausa” (14), the question of the language of African literature has animated debate. Two decades later, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o restated Wali's contention, asserting that European languages led to African “spiritual subjugation” (9). Ngũgĩ argued strongly that African literature should be written in African languages. On the other hand, Chinua Achebe defended European languages, maintaining that they could “carry the weight of African experience” (62).

Tarker Golozo: Portrait of A Tiv Oral Singer

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Apegba KER
Keyword(s):  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Wole Soyinka ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Buchi Emecheta ◽  
The North ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
International Issues

Oral literature has been the original medium of communication in traditional societies. Unfortunately however, in most instances when contributions of individual members of a society are being considered, emphasis is usually placed on the contributions of the educated elites in such a society with rare attention given to the efforts of the oral artists who, through their songs preach unity and mobilize the populace to embrace many a government programmes/projects. In Nigeria for instance, whereas the role of literary artists like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Buchi Emecheta, just to mention a few, are well known and appreciated both within Nigeria and beyond, hardly are the roles and contributions of the countless oral artists that are constantly playing important roles in the development of various sectors of the Nigerian state highlighted and celebrated. This paper is therefore a deliberate effort to critically project the life and times of Tarker Golozo, one of the most outstanding oral composers/singers that ever lived in Tivland of Benue State in the North Central geo-political zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Golozo’s comments on local, national and sometimes international issues are worth documenting and analyzing. The aim is to project and therefore state that when considering contributions of members of a society to its development, a holistic approach should be adopted so as not to alienate any significant segment of such a society. The paper concludes that more scholarly research activities should be carried out by oral literary scholars across the globe to highlight, document and preserve such contributions as it is being done for the written artists, across cultures.

THE DOUBLE VISION OF JOSEPH CONRAD: „HEART OF DARKNESS“, A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS

Lipar ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol XXI (73) ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
Mirko Šešlak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Joseph Conrad ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
Double Vision ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Great Work ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Heart Of Darkness ◽  
The Subject

This article aims to explore the background of the dispute started by Chinua Achebe in his famous essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. The novel in ques- tion has become the subject of the dispute on whether it is deserving of being considered a great work of art. The reasons behind Achebe’s claim that it is not are the dehumanization of Africans found in various scenes throughout the novel, as well as the depiction of Africa itself as the barbaric and hostile other to civilized Europe. As in any such claim, while some support it, others find it faulty. There are those such as Achebe who would judge Conrad for the same reasons others, such as Bratlinger, Said, Mnthali, or Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, see him as the product of his time. This article will attempt to explore some of these claims and, if possible, determine the extent of their validity.

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