The very definition of African literature can be fodder to endless debate. What qualifies as African literature, anyway? For starters, what is indigenous literature, in the first place? The polemics in the debate contains the two most important factors: is African literature about Africa or the African experience? Are the writings of an African who is not based in Africa qualified as African literature?
The African language is more than a mere means of communication. It is the very core and soul of the African identity. The political facility of language can be used to unify a people. The use of native languages will yet be the unshackling of the African people from centuries of slavery and colonialism. Erasing a people’s language is like erasing their memory. Without the people’s traditional language, the country is spiritually empty, economically disenfranchised, and politically marginalized. This is, of course, the typical experience of colonized people. Africa is not unique in this experience.
Some African writers call the adoption in Africa of foreign languages as the “linguicide’ of African society and culture. The eradication of the country’s native languages, with the aid of foreign tongues, is tantamount to the death of a people’s collective memory. Thus, the death of culture follows and colonialism is successfully assimilated by the population.
Unfortunately, it is Africans themselves that have killed the African languages. Blame it on the comprehensive spread of colonial influence on the continent. Most Africans, themselves, including African writers have consciously chosen to use foreign languages. If Africa has become proficient in one language, that language is sadly foreign.
Via Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute/enotes
