Download African Literary Tradition

African Literary Tradition
Unit 2
Journal
 Identify as many proverbs as many English proverbs as you
can. Example: “It’s no use crying over spilled milk.” Choose
one of the proverbs that is especially meaningful to you and
tell how you have experienced the truth of that proverb in
your everyday life.
Introduction
 Time: 2700 B.C. to present
 Place: Africa
 Significance:
 Begins in ancient Egypt where people use paper and
ink to record.
 Ancient Egyptian literature is mostly religious, but
also contains love poems and tales.
 Oral literature—proverbs, chants, fables, folktales,
and epics.
Early Egyptian History
 Egypt referred to as the ”gift of the Nile”
 Provided settlers with water
 During flood season, provided silt for growing crops.
 Transportation for trade
 Papyrus (reeds that grew along the Nile)
 Egyptians developed paper from papyrus, which was better than
the clay tablets they had been using.
Early Egyptian History
 27 centuries of civilization
 31 dynasties, divided into 3 main eras
 The Old Kingdom: 2700-2200BC; great pyramids built during this time.
 The Middle Kingdom: 2000-1800BC; characterized by Egypt’s
expanding economy and power.
 The New Kingdom: 1600 to 1100BC; Egypt at peak of political power,
empire reached north to Syria, east to the Euphrates River, and south
to the East African countries of Nubia and Kush.
Early Egyptian Society
 Egyptian society resembled the shape of its pyramids.
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Pharaoh
Priests and scribes
Upper class (merchants, doctors, engineers, lawyers)
Workers, peasants, slaves
Early Egyptian Society
 Fascination with death, specifically the quest for life after
death.
 Book of the Dead—a “traveler’s guide” to the afterlife
containing everything the deceased needed to have and
know after death.
Rise of African Civilizations
 By the end of the New Kingdom (about 1000BC), Egypt had
lost most of its status as a world power.
 The kingdom of Kush, at the southern end of the Nile River
was gaining strength.
 Smaller civilizations around the edge of the Sahara also
existed.
 Farmed and raised livestock on the fertile grassland around the
desert.
Rise of African Civilizations
 Drought eventually drove many migrants south and west.
 Old Mali
 Songhai
 Timbuktu—center of trade and culture in both Mali and Songhai
empires
The Golden Age
 300-1600AD marked Africa’s long Golden Age.
 Sculpture, music, metalwork, textiles, and oral literature
flourished.
Foreign Influence
 During 4th century, Roman Empire had declared Christianity
as state religion and took control of the entire northern coast
of Africa, including Egypt.
 Around 700AD, Islam was introduced into Africa.
 With Islam, the Arabic writing system was introduced.
 By 1235, Islam was the state religion of Old Mali, Somali, and
other eastern African nations.
Foreign Influence
 Near the close of the Golden Age (~1600AD), Christianity
and colonialism came to sub-Saharan Africa.
 In the late 1800s, several European powers created
colonized countries.
 African nations were either split apart by European colonizers
or joined with incompatible neighbors.
 In the mid-1900s, a move toward independence gained force,
and a rebirth of traditional cultures came with it.
Griots
 Griots: Keepers of oral literature in West Africa.
 Today, may be a professional storyteller, singer, or entertainer.
African Proverbs, p. 85
 Proverbs—short saying that expresses a common truth or
experience, usually about human failings and the ways that
people interact with one another.
 Metaphor—comparison of two unlike objects, saying one is
another without the words like or as.
 An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
 Alliteration—repetition of sounds, typically on the stressed
syllable.
 He who laughs last laughs best.
 Parallelism—repetition of sentences or sentence elements that
are similar in structure or meaning.
 Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
 Rhyme
 When the cat’s away, the mice will play.
African Proverbs, p. 85
 In African culture, proverbs are more than just quaint old
sayings.
 Represent poetic form that uses few words but achieves great
depth of meaning.
 Used to settle legal disputes, resolve ethical problems, and teach
children.
Your Homework
 3.1 Introduction to African Literature and African Proverbs
worksheet—due Monday, September 16th!