African Poetry
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Recent papers in African Poetry
These poems, composed in Somali and in English, provide a poetic reflection of the recently emerged debate on the theme of Caddaan Studies which means "White Studies". The criticism and counter-criticism contained in the debate dug so... more
Un poème entendu à Paris un jour de recueillement collectif au lendemain des attentats de novembre 2015. Un poème retrouvé au hasard des pavés de la ville. Un poème repris en chœur chargé d’une mémoire nouvelle. La trajectoire littéraire... more
The article analyzes Black Consciousness poetry of 1970s and 1980s South Africa alongside the protest poetry of white South African poet Wopko Jensma. It is argued that while the racial definition of oppression and resistance by Black... more
The vibrant tradition of West African Arabic poetry is dominated by the genre of madih, that is, poetry in praise of the Prophet Muhammad. This genre of poetry has been mostly ignored in Western scholarship and dismissed as mere ‘pious... more
The composition and performance of Arabic Sufi poetry is the most characteristic artistic tradition of West African Sufi communities, and yet this tradition has yet to receive the scholarly attention it deserves. In this article, I sketch... more
Sample course outline and handouts. This undergraduate course ran from January 2018 to May 2018. FYI: this course outline includes a few word choice errors; I occasionally refer to 'novels' in the supplementary documents, which were... more
Although it is widely argued that the Hebrew Bible contains texts which caricature violence against women, the present article shows that some biblical texts could also offer liberating possibilities to oppressed women in South Africa.... more
In the poem ‘I’m a man’ by Mzi Mahola the first person speaker recalls what seems to be his traditional initiation ceremony. In this critical analysis the poem’s diction and poetic devices will be discussed in relation to the conveyance... more
Eye of the Earth comprises of nineteen poems governed by a single thematic interest: the despoliation of earth’s resources by crude human tillage and natural weathering. By symbolic inference, however, Osundare re-enacts social relations... more
Discussion, Explanation and Analysis of the African Poem:“The Grieved Lands of Africa” by AGOSTINHO NETO (1922 – 1979). African poem.
Abstract: Contemporary poet and scholar Joshua Bennett recently wrote, “If black studies is indeed the rewriting of knowledge itself, an ongoing critique of so-called Western civilization—as Wynter and Robinson and others remind us—then... more
POETRY, MUSIC AND SOCIETY
IN "TRADITIONAL AFRICA"
IN "TRADITIONAL AFRICA"
Chapter Eight: ‘I Am Ignorant of the Good Word in the Clean Book’ The oppression of the indigenous cultures of African communities through missionary activity during the European colonisation period of the twentieth century is a... more
Analysis of the Subject matter and poetic devices used in “The Grieved Land of Africa” by Augostinho Neto.
This Paper aims to reveal the trend and issues raised by post-colonialism in contemporary African poetry. Since the era of colonialism is no more, there has been a shift in the focus of African poetry and contemporary poets have... more
Wole Soyinka's Beatification of Area Boy : A Lagosian Kaleidoscope And Ngugi wa Thiong'o Trials of Dedan Kimathi are books written in two worlds apart both speak the same tails of civil war, betrayal, oppression and political... more
Public Interest or Strategic Litigation (PIL) - by which term is meant court action that operates to vindicate the welfare or collective well-being of the general public, is fast gaining acceptance and popularity in the Ugandan legal... more
This paper adopts the speech acts theory in analyzing selected excerpts from the popular East African play, The Trials of Dedan Kimathi by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo. Particular attention will be paid to the following aspects of... more
This is an annotation and translation of the Shukr’l-Waahib al-Mufeeda’l-Mawaahib (Showing Gratitude to the Benefactor for the Divine Overflowing Given to Those He Favors) by one of Black Africa’s leading mystics, Shaykh Abd’l-Qaadir ibn... more
This excellent poem composed by Shaykh Abdullahi ibn Fuduye` was one of the earliest of his poetic works, composed in the year 1201 A.H. (1785 C.E.) when he was twenty-two years old. He named the text Manan’l-Manaan Li Man Arada Shu`b... more
Cette contribution n'a aucune prétention à vouloir renouveler l'étude de la poésie en langue malgache. Elle n'a d'autre ambition que de proposer, très sommairement, quelques pistes pour une approche littéraire des débuts de la poésie... more
This succinct but brilliant poem by Shaykh Abdullahi ibn Fuduye`, may Allah be merciful to him and provide us with his baraka; regarding the particles of inflection (huruuf’l-`iraab) was first published according to my knowledge by Shaykh... more
This article engages with the works of Sudanese American poet Safia Elhillo, a rising star in Arab, African, and diasporic literary circles. It explores the chronotopic use of metre, repetition, keywords, and mise-en-abyme in Elhillo’s... more
Mathias Eugen Mnyampala (1917-1969) was a Tanzanian writer, lawyer and poet who wrote in Kiswahili. His mother tongue is Cigogo. He learned to read and to write in Kiswahili at the age of fifteen in a local Roman Catholic Bible school.... more
n his article "Myth and History in the Poetry of Osundare" Christopher Anyokwu examines the interrelation of myth and history from an African perspective. Anyokwu analyzes the poetry of one of Africa's most prolific and decorated... more
Le kiamu est un dialecte du kiswahili du Nord qui a fourni l'une des fondations linguistiques, avec les dialectes de Mombasa, au développement de la littérature classique d'expression swahilie entre le XVIIIème et le XIXème siècle. A ce... more
This is a review of The Beauty I have Seen (a trilogy) by Tanure Ojaide. This anthology is divided into three parts and it is about the compelling journey of the poet. The anthology won the 2011 Cadbury Prize for Poetry awarded by... more
Every literature bears the imprints of the social context from which it has derived. Even extreme Formalist/Structuralist readers, who insist that a poem should be, not mean; that poetry has no referents outside itself; that the value of... more
In spite of its several subject matters, its varying degrees of complexity or simplicity, its possible layers of meaning, Dennis Brutus’s poetry is held together by an underlying structure of thesis and antithesis; of two parts frequently... more
This article seeks to explore the ways in which Zimunya constructs Zimbabwean rural and urban landscapes and cultural identities at a time when the city is making inroads into the rural terrain and the rural hinterland is encroaching... more
A study of Wole Soyinka's poem "Telephone Conversation" from the perspective of Homi K Bhabha (postcolonial mimicry and its subversive potential).
This article contends that African poetry cannot be contemplated without recourse to pain and that it has become a recurrent motif in African poetry. The pain motif in African poetry is brought about by the worsening socio-political... more
Mamba Issue 6 is a big sizzling compilation as the journal continues to attract the attention of countries and continents by featuring works of new haijins from Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Morocco, and far-off Palestine. It features three haibans... more