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My title is provoked by two tendencies in the discussion of literature from Africa. First, a certain hesitancy over the last decade in using the bold, singular term of the decolonisation years: African Literature, the implication being a pan-African concept. The current conference, for example, refers to the plural form, African Literatures: "versions and subversions," i.e., "the multiple facets, themes and styles emerging currently...that question hegemonic discourses in this field."(1) Second, a tendency -- to some extent, in literature studies generally -- to subsume the literary work under cultural, political, or historical practice. Questions of value or quality simply vanish, there being no reason why, say, Achebe's novels are a better index to, or symptom of, the cultural aporias of colonialism or postcolonialism than any number of bestsellers or, for that matter, civil service or medical or prison reports of the period.
There are good reasons why the plural form African Literatures should be preferred. Indeed, my own study -- originally advertised by the publishers as "Southern African Literature in English" -- ended up titled Southern African Literatures. African Literatures remind us that Africa is far from homogeneous in language, culture, religion, style, or in the processes of its modernity. Rather, it is what Ali A. Mazrui describes as something of a "bazaar" (97). Early colonisation in the extreme north has resulted in considerable Arabic and Islamic influence; the return of South Africa to African recognition reminds us that the original people at the southern-most point -- San/Bushmen -- experienced the harshness first of Bantu-speaking African migrations, then Dutch colonial intrusions.
There are good reasons, too, why the literary text should be regarded primarily as a social document. African literature, at least in the colonial language, is the direct result of a political act: that of colonisation. The literature is itself, in consequence, often a political act. It is expected that the African writer address the big sociopolitical issues of the day. The writer who does not may end up being considered irrelevant. Indeed, I shall suggest that, in Africa, the close correlation between the texts of politics and the texts of art poses challenging questions as to what constitutes a literary culture, what might be regarded as the practice of art. Initially, we may...