Lesson1

is called the Dark Continent not because of the complexion of the original inhabitants but because most people know very little about it.

is not a dark continent; it is a land flush with sunshine and vivid light. It is the last of the continents to feel the influence of Western Civilization.

• African Art

• Africa

• National Parks in Africa

• African Literature

Nowhere else in the world are they found in such variety and abundance. They are found in their natural habitat unlike zoos.

you can see wild animals in their natural habitats without risks of being harmed. 

• African Art

• Africa

• National Parks in Africa

• African Literature

In recent years, it has been copied and imitated by Western nations. African art is closely associated with religion, nature and superstition.

African music is based largely on the drum beat. African music is bound up with religious ceremony, composed as a prayer for rain and for success in hunting and in war.

• African Art

• The Negritude Movement

• National Parks in Africa

• African Literature

is often oral in nature, may be in prose or in poetry. Storytellers in Africa often tell stories using the call-and-response technique. As they expect their audience to give comments.

Poetry is often sung or recited in a singsong voice. The "praise" singers, bards, sometimes known as "griots", tell their stories with a musical backgrounds.

• African Art

• Africa

• National Parks in Africa

• African Literature

examples may be in the form of prose, often mythological or historical and can include tales of the trickster character, or a verse

• Pre Colonial Literature

• Oral Literature

• Colonial Africa Literature

• Post Colonial Africa Literature

Negritude was a literary and intellectual movement that originated in Paris in the 1930s1234. It was born in literature and expanded to other arts. The movement sought to reaffirm the cultural identity of blacks and rebel against the implicit superiority of European cultures. It was a reaction against the European colonization of Africa and its legacy of cultural racism.

Negritude movement which was characterized by the following features:

A rejection of white culture;

A fresh and sympathetic look at the African culture;

A cultural unity of all the black people;

Link with the mother Africa; and

Assertion of the African humanity. (Soile 1998:16)

• Pre Colonial Literature

• The Negritude Movement

• Colonial Africa Literature

• Post Colonial Africa Literature

They include animals tricksters like Anansi, a spider in the folklore of the Ashanti people of Ghana; Ijapa, the tortoise in Yoruba folklore of Nigeria.

They include animals

tricksters like Anansi, a spider in the folklore of the Ashanti people of Ghana; Ijapa, the tortoise in Yoruba folklore of Nigeria.

• Pre Colonial Literature

• Oral Literature

• Colonial Africa Literature

• Post Colonial Africa Literature

This was the time between the end of World War I and independence. African literature showed themes in liberation, independence, and negritude.

This was the time between the end of World War I and independence. African literature showed themes in liberation, independence, and negritude.

• Pre Colonial Literature

• Oral Literature

• Colonial Africa Literature

• Post Colonial Africa Literature

African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages and in traditional African languages such as Hausa.

There are seven conflict themes as used in African writings mentioned by Ali AMazrui etl (Ch19,Vol iii, PP:564):

the clash between Africa's past and present 

between tradition and modernity,

between indigenous and foreign, 

between individualism and community,

between socialism and capitalism, 

between development and self reliance;

and between Africanity and humanity.

• Pre Colonial Literature

• Oral Literature

• Colonial Africa Literature

• Post Colonial Africa Literature

He collected and translated into English much of African oral culture and art forms, preserving native culture . 

• Tools of resistance and liberation

• Kofi Owoonor

• Chinua Achebe

• Expression of social change