African literature: the legacy of subjugation

AFRICAN LITERATURE : THE LEGACY OF SUBJUGATION 

The recent death of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o pulls us into the remembrance of the tyranny African literature suffered in the early and late ‘90s.

Literature itself is an art of freedom, speech and resistance to every other art we detest. We should be convinced that our universe itself is made up of art. Speech is art, breathing is art, science is a form of art, war is art; everything that exists and sub-exist adopts art. 

Literature and governance is such a complex fusion. Many writers who used literature as a tool of resistance were arrested, and imprisoned or sent into exile. The underlying question now is: Has African literature been liberalized? 

Jack Mapanje, a Malawian poet, was imprisoned without charge in 1987 under the regime of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The government never gave an official reason for his detention, but it is widely believed that his first poetry collection, Of Chameleons and Gods (1981), especially its subversive tone of metaphors, irony, and allegory to critique political repression, corruption, and authoritarianism of the Banda regime, was the cause of his arrest. 

He wrote:
“The chameleon changes color
to suit the day, and gods
deceive the people for power”
One of the major poems in the book “You Lazy Lot of the Dead" is particularly to provocative, calling out to the silent to speak up…
“You lazy lot of the dead!
Get up, and fight back!
The tyrants parade our fears
as trophies in the palace yard.”
These lines especially, were meant to challenge the masses to “Get up and fight back". He called the government “tyrants parading the fears of the people as trophies in the palace yard" meaning that the government took pleasure in the silence of the people, as it allotted them more ability to oppress. The government feared a protest, banned his book and got him arrested.

Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin was also an Ethiopian poet laureate, playwright, and cultural icon. Known for celebrating Ethiopian history and critiquing political oppression through literature. He was arrested during the Red terror era that took place circa 1976 under the Derg regime led by Mengistu Haile Mariam. He was detained while directing his revolutionary play “Abugida Qeyiso” which translates to “The alphabet of resistance". Tsegaye claimed that 36 of his 49 literary works were banned and censored during his lifetime.

Ngũgĩ died in the United States because he felt unsafe in his home country, Kenya. After several assaults, he was compelled to flee Kenya, to save his life. Jack Mapanje emigrated to the United Kingdom with his Family for safety, after bureaucratic obstructions and renewed threats.

Has African literature healed from this subjugation? Let's review recent years. 

• In April 2020 and December 2021, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, a Uganda writer was detained, tortured and forced to flee into exile in Germany. 
•In 2023, Boualem Sansal of Algeria was arrested for Publicly criticising The Algerian government and it's political stance on Western Sahara. He is still locked in prison to this day. 
•Dele Farotimi a Nigerian Lawyer, writer, and human rights activist was arrested on December 3, 2024 for an alleged statement of defamation in his book “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”. 

In a nutshell, African literature is yet to heal, and soon, silence will inevitably become its primary inheritance.

However, we can speak up, confront our political leaders/government and hold them accountable through the various mediums of art regardless of the possibility of it sending us to exile. 

To read more about African and Western writers, visit orcaspress.blogspot.com

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