AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE
Week 3
INTRODUCTION
Afro-Asian literature refers to the
body of literary works that emerge from
the African and Asian continents,
highlighting their cultural, social, and
historical connections.
Agenda
01 01
02
Characteristics of Afro-Asian
Literature
02 The Negro Renaissance
03
The relationship between Africa and Asia is
multifaceted and continues to evolve. As both
continents navigate the challenges of the 21st
century, their historical ties, economic
partnerships, and cultural exchanges remain
crucial for fostering cooperation and mutual
development.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE
ORAL TRADITIONS
Much of Afro-Asian literature is rooted in
oral storytelling traditions, which continue to
influence contemporary works and
emphasize the significance of folklore and
mythology.
ORAL TRADITIONS
Before written literature, oral storytelling
was the primary means of sharing
knowledge, history, and culture.
ORAL TRADITIONS
Griots played vital roles in preserving
traditions through narratives, proverbs, and
songs.
Griots are West African storytellers, musicians, and historians who preserve their people's oral traditions. They
are also known as jeliw, gewel, and griotte.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Afro-Asian literature often emphasizes the
interconnectedness of African and Asian
cultures, showcasing shared themes such
as colonialism, identity, migration, and the
human experience.
DIVERSE VOICES
The literature features a wide array of
voices, including those of indigenous
peoples, diaspora populations, and writers
from different ethnic and national
backgrounds.
THEMES OF IDENTITY
Common themes include the exploration of
identity, race, and belonging, often
addressing the complexities of post-colonial
experiences and cultural heritage.
KEY GENRES AND THEMES OF
AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE
PROSE FICTION
Chinua Achebe: "Things Fall Apart" critiques colonialism and its effects on
traditional Igbo society.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: "Petals of Blood" addresses post-colonial
disillusionment and social injustice.
Mariama Bâ: "So Long a Letter" presents women's experiences and
struggles in Senegalese society.
POETRY
Niyi Osundare: Known for his environmental and social themes.
Gabriel Okara: Blends traditional African themes with modernism.
Wole Soyinka: He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature.
DRAMA
Wole Soyinka: known for plays like "Death and the King’s Horseman."
Athol Fugard: South African playwright addressing apartheid in works like
"Sizwe Bansi Is Dead."
ESSAYS AND CRITICISMS
Many African writers engage in critical discourse about literature, identity,
and politics. Writers like Ayi Kwei Armah and Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie have contributed significantly to literary criticism and feminist
discourse.
NEGRO
RENAISSANCE
"New Negro" implies a more outspoken advocacy of
dignity and a refusal to submit quietly to the practices
and laws of Jim Crow racial segregation.
The Harlem Renaissance was a phase of a larger New
Negro movement that had emerged in the early 20th
century and in some ways ushered in the civil rights
movement of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The Civil Rights Movement in the US was a decades-
long struggle by African-Americans and their like-
minded allies to end institutionalized racial
discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial
segregation.
HARLEM,
NEW YORK
Harlem attracted a remarkable
concentration of intellect and
talent and served as the
symbolic capital of this cultural
awakening.
What ignited the Negro Renaissance?
The Great Migration of African Americans from rural to urban spaces and from South to North
between 1910 to 1970. It's also known as the Black Migration or the Great Northward Migration.
Dramatically rising levels of literacy.
The creation of national organizations dedicated to pressing African American civil rights, “uplifting”
the race, and opening socioeconomic opportunities.
Developing race pride including pan-African sensibilities and programs.
Black exiles and expatriates from the
Caribbean and Africa crossed paths in
metropoles such as New York City and
Paris after World War I and had an
invigorating influence on each other that
gave the broader “Negro renaissance” a
profoundly important international cast.
The Harlem Renaissance is unusual
among literary and artistic movements for
its close relationship to civil rights and
reform organizations.
The Crisis - American quarterly magazine published by the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). It was founded in 1910 and, for its first 24 years,
was edited by W.E.B. Du Bois. It is considered the world’s
oldest Black publication.
Opportunity, in full Opportunity: Journal Of Negro Life,
American magazine associated with the Harlem Renaissance,
published from 1923 to 1949. The editor, Charles S. Johnson,
aimed to give voice to black culture, hitherto neglected by
mainstream American publishing.
The Messenger, a socialist journal eventually
connected with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters, a Black labor union.
Negro World, the newspaper of Marcus
Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement
Association, also played a role, but few of
the major authors or artists identified with
Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement, even
if they contributed to the paper.
Harlem was a
catalyst for
artistic
experimentation
and a highly
popular nightlife
destination.
The interest in Black heritage coincided with efforts to define an
American culture distinct from that of Europe, one that would be
characterized by ethnic pluralism as well as a democratic
ethos.
In the pluralism model, ethnic groups can be maintained as
distinct groups within a political state.
It is the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the
underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or
practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a
people or period.
Black music provided the pulse of the
Harlem Renaissance and of the Jazz Age
more generally.
Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughan
• Jazz and Blues became very popular
• The Apollo Theatre was a venue where many musicians
started their careers.
• Black Arts reflected African-American
daily life.
• Artists made bold, stylized portraits of
African-American people.
• Some art inspired by jazz music.
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale
Hurston
Countee Cullen
•Harlem Wine (1926)
•Tableau (1925)
•One Way to Heaven, Harper & Brothers, 1932
Harlem
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Harlem
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
• What is the imagery in like a raisin in the sun?
the poem? Or fester like a sore—
• How does it make you And then run?
feel? Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Who is the speaker of Or crust and sugar over—
the poem? like a syrupy sweet?
• What is the message of
the poem? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
If We Must Die
BY CLAUDE MCKAY
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
If We Must Die
BY CLAUDE MCKAY
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
• What is the imagery Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
in the poem? While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
• How does it make Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
you feel? If we must die, O let us nobly die,
• Who is the speaker So that our precious blood may not be shed
of the poem? In vain; then even the monsters we defy
• What is the Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
message of the O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
poem? Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
02
Questions?
150,000
THANK YOU.
