MY LITERARY CENTS by Audilia Wakesho Mwamburi

The Concept Women Liberation is still an illusion in today's Africa.

Watch out!

AI has positively impacted our today's African Literature for the better the integration of creative ideas and the enthusiasm of work of art have greatly appreciated from the author's point of view all the way to the recipient the reader!.

To start us off, allow me to pose this challenge to us-2 questions only;

One- ‘How well do we know our African Literature today?

Two-  How well can we make ourselves enthusiastically aware about the world of African Literature today? 

I want to believe that by the end of this episode, I would have sort of -challenged you enough, intrigued you enough , to be curious about African Literature, being an ennobling influence in our today’s world!

Ben Okri candidly puts it clear in the article ‘’The Future is African Literature’’  as posted by Brittle paper website on sept. 2020, I quote: “African literature is taking over the world. It has sprouted from Africa, but it has grown in all the corners of the globe. It is a literature of the native lands, but it is also a literature of sensibility, of exile, of migration, of travel, of home-leaving, home-staying, homecoming. It is a literature that can no longer be contained in a continent, or by a school, or a name, or a homogeneity. It is a literature of all schools, of new schools without a name, a re-invention of the past, a transmutation of the storytelling earth”. End quote.

The words herein emphasize the idea that African Literature from the lenses of our today’s world has purely evolved from being a  ‘’sitting target’’ of confinement either of a locality or just a restrained idea. It is a kind of literature that has brought in prestige of thought, of action, of literacy and of identity , not only to those who live in Africa but also to the ones that have an awareness of its richness and its diversity. Simply saying, African Literature is an ennobling influence seen in many spectrums; as a call to action, a cautionary tale, or better yet a mouthpiece that creates a spark in diverse cultures. 

Statistically speaking as briefly highlighted by (African Literature Today); as of the year 2021; many African writers won almost half of the major international prizes—the Nobel, the Booker, the International Booker, France’s Prix Goncourt, Portugal’s Cameos Award, PEN’s Pinter Prize just to.mention a few.. This is a clear signal of how far and beyond African Literature is encroaching into the unknown or unheard of from a global scale.

It is prudent to state that African is indeed an Ennobling Influence as it  embeds in us the values of what a  community should embody. I mean, who doesn't want to live in a community that is primarily like a home to them . A home signifies a sense of comfort and belonging . As  Wole Soyinka’s Interpreters  remarks : The African view of the community revolves around the idea of “I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am”. 

In summation, if you are still in doubt about the Ennobling influence of African Literature,; let me point out the determinants that have led to this idea:

In the literary scholarly work and the world of publication: many African writers  have opted to convey their message or authorial intrusions in their own local  languages and it thus takes a serious passionate  reader to literally Google up the meanings or translation , affirming the fact that African literature is rich and attractive and basically anyone can attune to it hence language barrier is not an issue to creativity.

2.

Being an Ennobling influence, African Literature heavily emphasises and embeds in its youth the love and respect for their motherland. As we all know,  Africa’s history is incredibly deep and rich. This is to say that, it is very improbable that the respect and love for the continent that Africans so proudly hold will ever waver.

3.

African Literature has taken up different forms in its creative space. Highlighting the immensely dense writing pools that African writers have delved into for inspiration speaking of prose, novels, poems, screenplays henceforth.

Introduction: ' Ennobling Influence of African Literature '

As a preamble to this series,

You may ask, what does ennobling influence mean?

Well...The ennobling influence of African Literature simply means that Africa with all its literary entirety has proven beyond doubt that the generations of African writers to the present,- day new and upcoming ones have lived up to their narrative-based experiences which notably portray a commonality expression forming an elite literary community that is jolly aware of itself. This elite community has debunked the wildly distorted understanding of what Africanity is both from an intimate personal level to the widening global presence.

it is essential to note that African Literature, especially in the 21st century has now risen against all odds to the ranks of nobility. This is as far as literary riches, diversity and criticism are concerned. Suffice to say, the Umbrella of African Literature has now enveloped not only the ones that root from African continent but way and beyond the corners of the continent. The 21st century African Literature has now become an enriching experience that opens up more creative spaces that integrates the encompassing past with the enduring present for a betterment of an endearing future!

In summation, my fellow Literature lovers, this series will give a breakdown understanding of what the ennobling influence of African Literature is...right from the literary scholarly work and research done so far to the textual analyses garnered.

My apologies in advance, the series may come out quite seriously -faced in its presentation of solid matters as food for thought. This is to say, please ensure you are on track!

In this episode i intend to shed light on daring the undaring from a textual approach. My fellow literature lovers,I want to believe  that from the onset of this series we have progressively been unwrapping what it means to dare the undared. I am sure you are getting your personalised take away points.

One thing to note, as  i explore the various African books, i must say, i give respect to our legendary iconic parents of African literature such as Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie just to name a few, however on the flipside i strongly laud the upcoming authors - who singelehandely break the odds to unconfine  the African literary space by voicing out their downright voices to the so called generation Z. Ohh...Are you a generation z, by the way! If yes...well and good. If not, no worries, we are sailing on the same boat.

Let us start off. The first textual evidence on daring the undaring is

*****.Romeo Oriogun's In Sacrament of bodies. A poetry collection that dares the undared in creating a bigger discourse about queerness in African Literature. It is prudent to state that  Oriogun's authorial intrusion is paradoxical in nature on one end it shows the eddginess of personal thoughts against the society's prejudice while on the other it is a subtle showcase of individual's flaws. A good example is the poem-Heaven Is a Back Alley without God; the persona makes a mockery of a pastor who walks through the wooden houses at night in the name of finding solace in a boy; whom surprisingly the pastor covers the boy with his hands befire calling him sin on sunday. Oriogun does this daringly to unfold the level of bias and outright deceit  in churches.

********The second texual evidence on daring the undaring is in wild imperfections- A Womanist Anthology of poems compiled by Natalia Molebatsi- Featuring the work of Black women poets from Botswana to Brazil. It is a daring anthology deliberately designed for the wildly imperfect gender- women!  Women- Who have rejected societal standards that basically disguises self hurt in the name of proving a point. Ensure you have a read on this... the anthology aligns perfectly with the daring the undaring right from the various poems' structures to the poems' resounding message of rebellion as a sense of urgency for every woman from far and beyond to hold onto their imperfections. Candidly speaking, it is easier said than done. For when its done; then nothing, nothing at all will appear to be undaring for the women shall have already dared!

********** The third textual evidence ...wait hold on...Have you ever been dumped, fired, or experienced any semblance of rejection? then isnt this the book for you to dare read ..In Confident and Killing It by Tiwalola : Is A Practical Guide to Overcoming Fear and Unlocking Your Most Empowered Self. Tiwalola dares the undared by challenging her readers to become the most unapologetic and unstoppable version of themselves. Primarirly, it is a book that helps one to overcome fear and live life to the fullest. The YOLO  vibe !  I quote getting sassy with negative thoughts and succeeding in all areas of life. End quote. I cant emphasise further-  It is all about the practical tips and tricks and real-life stories from everyday women.....in discovering your authentic self, what you are capable of, bouncing back to Unlocking your most confident self. Havent we already got dared...lets go!

Lasr but not least is In WRITING ROBOTICS Africa Vs Asia

edited by Tendai Mwanaka

A book that  features 18 writers and poets from the two regions, Asia and Africa working conjointly in this daring discourse of Robots, in whatever form. The book highlights how both Africa and Asia are coming to terms with the everyday oncoming Robotics revolution, in context, the now so called 4th Industrial revolution! I mean how can we not fathom this ever-evolving discourse - From the traditional African robotics science, to the latest robots and the imagined robots

A kind reminder , if you are new in my channel  please subscribe  and if you are sort of on and off - kindly kindly revisit the former episodes to understand any current episode.

My previous episode -part 1;  entailed an interpretation of daring the undaring based on literary global context with a mix of self perceptions.

This episode (part 2 ) is designed to give a laid back ,random yet tangible, literal reality check that guides the understanding of daring the undaring in form of guiding objectives.

1. First objective is -from an individual point of view-To state the dares that you dared that previously were undaring to you.

As a self testament, what i have dared that appeared to be undared  was me opting to pursue Literature at  postgraduate level (my preference initially was to do linguistics) ohhh how i love literature now! Secondly, I dared the undared by undertaking a literary research project that was poetry-based away from the   typical research projects. (As the kenyan saying goes- if you know you know)

Last but not least, is how i dared the undared by finding this gap as my creative space which is to give forth my two cents worth on African literature and voicing out a redefinition of African literature from the predìsposed conceptions into the candid vibration of what resonates with the 21st century Africa that paints a bold picture of true sense of self .

(Now my listener, it is your turn to tell me rather us on the comment section below how ýou dared the undared)

2.The Second objective is: from a societal point of view-To describe the daring things that we as an African society have dared to do yet on the surface they seem to be undared.

Ofcourse there are couple of them especially in the recent years- please revisit the prelude episode. Nonetheless, to name a few they are:

1. The recognition and awareness of why and how it is purely okay to expose one's fragility - a mark of embracing one's true self no matter what. (A postmodernist concept )

2. The eradication of gender stereotypes in all spheres of life.

3. The empowerment of the girl child that its aftermath has surprisingly overpowered the boy child  -as the boy child is yet to be groomed how on to cohabit with this empowered girl child.

4.  Daring thing - The redefined Africa people who have now accepted the wounds and the traumas of colonial past and have now risen against all odds and redefined themselves by making what was initialy archaic to be cool- an acknoledgement of reclaiming our Africanity . Some of the smallscale evidences are: 1.The coming back of kinky afros and natural hair looks.2.The passionate pride of african beauty. 3. The use of authentic african settings in either music videos or movies. (Please add on - the list is endless)

3.Third objective is: from a literary and scholarly point of view: To evaluate the daring moves that African literature has  dared against the undared,  globally.

This is worth noting since African literature has time and again been pushing the limits of literariness away from the rigidity of thought. A wave of africans telling their own stories in their own individualised way. Examples include: use of vernacular words in writing, literally coining words from their local contexts,  (previously- in written forms such words were italised but now, writers write as it is - it is upon the reader to figure it out).

Another daring move is in the many fully funded African literary prize awards that aim to celebrate and compel African writers, scholars and critics to explore their literary creativity to unfathomed lengths.

As a sequel of the previous episodes, Daring the Undaring streams from the postmodernist idealogy that gives preminence to the individual. It is a wide umbrella of unfathomed deep- imaginations of individual ideas put together collectively to tell a global story of African Literature!

The gradual dorminance of this daring the undaring perspective in African literature has call into question the norm where the readers read and  the writers write' . Professor  Bhakti Shingarpure correctly asserts in an article  posted by Los Angels Review of Books on Jan 4th 2021 titled African Literature and Digital Culture -  I quote:

" Our reading habits have been substantially altered: we read so much now on screens, circulate PDFs via email, follow famous writers online, write mini-reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, consume all kinds of viral book controversies, cry out on Twitter for more diversity in literature, and feverishly share listicles and book recommendations on our Facebook timelines. End quote.

This is to say, the basic reading and writing by readers and writers in that respect,  has transformed into a whole new outlook that reanimates the advancement on digitalization of ideas created and shared. In essence, what daring the undaring does amidst all the newness, it gives credit where it's due to the imaginative, the dynamic, and the forward thinkers on the continent- the globally driven individuals! An instance in point, is  the known south African bussinessman and investment banker,  Hlumelo Biko', an author of the 2021 highly acclaimed book ' Africa Reimagined-Reclaiming Prosperity for the Continent' . In the book,  Biko seeks to candidly dare the African nations to intentionally colllaborate conjointly in enriching each other 's resources with a successful goal of making the African continent prosperous and fully indepedent in its own riches. Briefly put, Biko simply portrays a descriptive assessment  of a hopeful globally driven Africa that will dare the undared ' pipe dream' as quoted in his book ' . ( it is a good read of a visionary Africa- a must read if you havent ! )

With all  said, Daring the Undaring taps into the awakening and acknowledgement of real -world fears and triumphs that an individual has presently experienced and is consciously alert to do what is paramount to shape the future. 

Next episode will entail a part 2 of interpreting  the Daring the Undaring.

A descry of the daring the undaring African literature is an echo of the perspective of Prof. Simon Gikandi's interview on "The Genealogies of African Literature ' interviewed by Tinashe Mushakavanhu as posted by the Brittle paper website on Sept. 2020; the interview had a mind-boggling question- "... Can we speculate the futures of African Literature?"

For brevity sake, the key highlight as a take away point into the descry of daring the undaring is simply put in Gikandi's words, open quote " One way of thinking about it, is to think about Africa as a floating signifier that means different things to different people at different times and in different places. end quote. This is to say, African Literature is fluid in nature and as it flows from time periods to generations and geography landscapes it does mould into itself to suit the specificities.

And surely indeed- this is a perfect way to describe the daring the undaring African literature in our today’s society. To put it bluntly, it is the new found space that keeps widening from the new societal issues to the uncovering candid styles of presenting literature by the ever emerging writers and scholars of African literature all the way to the reception of it by the lovers of Literature.

In this regard let me now allow us to get a glimpse of this Daring the Undaring African Literature that is becoming vividly evident each new day:

***** One key example are the platforms that I aforementioned in the previous episode

1. Brittle paper is an African literary blog which has dared the undared to focus mostly on the new voices and works of upcoming vibrant young African writers whose contents are refreshing in thoughts and insights which pose challenging questions that need to be answered in order to get our footing as a society in all the facets of life under the context of the globally driven environment .

2. Writers space Africa is a literary magazine platform that has also dared the undared in creating a room for all the African writers to demystify their uniqueness with a sole aim of which I quote" celebrating an awakening of this generation’s unabashed zeal to tell OUR stories of what it is to be African" end quote.

3. Jalada is a pan African writers' collective whose prime purpose is to have quote and quote "freedom to write without doubts" This daring

the undaring step brought along a series of interesting inventions such as : Jalada Mobile literary Festival and Jalada Book Caravan and many more- all these made the platform a bank for African literaniness.

The three platforms are just but a few of the many daring the undaring moves that African literature has grown into.

*****Second key example which is vividly evident as well, is the expansion of African literary creativity as showcased by the contemporary African authors who have dared to partake the undared. I must say, for factual grounds, my engagement on this, is heavily borrowed from an article on "The Next Generation special issue on contemporary African Literature by Otosirienzie Obi Young posted on 'Open Country Mag' website on April 8th. 2022.

And this is the starter phrase: I quote:

"Most of us were living in the continent, younger millennials, all of us politically tired, many of us economically deprived, every one of us culturally thirsty. We were tired of being tired, which meant we were tired of being afraid, of not aiming for tall dreams." End quote.

Well put.

This is now the asserting spirit in African Literature that has become more prominent and aspirational to its highest peak of literary discourses.

The article highlights a number of authors alongside their dariness from across Africa . I will briefly name a few:

1.In the coast of kenya, Khadija Abdalla

 questioned why she couldn’t write a fairytale of her city, she dared this undared hence laying grounds for her novel The House of Rust.

2. In South Africa, Letlhogonolo Mogkoroane and Alma-Nalisha Cele dared the undared and st

This video is a prelude to my next series dubbed  African Literature: " Daring the Undaring '

Please listen till the end. 

You will definitely have food for thought!

Let us sail in!

My fellow literature lovers allow me to take you on this next journey in African Literature where I share my thoughts and perceptions of the new look of African literature that I call it- Daring the Undaring.

Why- you may ask?

Through my learning experience both as an undergraduate and postgraduate student in literature; I have discovered that African literature has always been a disintegration of a people's collective decisions, issues, experiences, expectations or concerns instead of focussing on the individual. I purely don't dispute this as it is a trait that has since time immemorial been ingrained in us to always put others before our individual selves. To give examples, my previous episodes have shown various ' circumstances' that have been from a collective point of view.

With my little knowledge on Postmodernist reality in African Literature( surely I must say, I have not yet exhaustively explored it); indeed, African Literature has taken a turn to focus on nothing else but just an individual- putting oneself before others!

In Okwiri Oduor’s words, open quote: I am very hopeful about this thing—this shape-shifting, colorful, incredible thing—that we call African literature. "end quote.

This is the daring the undaring African literature which has gradually been preparing for both the present and future Africans on what to look forward to. It is a distinctive kind of Literature that in a way, we are being refurbished as a people and acknowledging that we should not fall prey to the global changes.

Daring the undaring offers us a redefined platform that puts an individual at the pedestal whilst maintaining our heritage and authenticity in showing an individual's sense of self and pride as an African despite the influences of Globalization.

Let me conscuously hint to you some inspiring educational yet challenging platforms that have undoubtedly given African literature a new look- (please note and underline); this is purely not a marketing name dropping rather my go to platforms for creative and scholarly inspiration: They include: Brittle paper/ Writers space Africa and Jalada. Check them out.

My main challenge to you as you go through this series with me is that you ask yourself these questions:

Do you think that our contemporary African society has now started to seriously listen to issues that previously were unfamiliar?

Do you agree that we as a society have individually chose to create a room for the grey areas thus putting it in Black and white is now outdone and quite illogical.

Or on the flipside;

Do you think that today's Africans are simply afraid to live up their narratives when put at a slightest gesture of dilemma, or do they quickly opt to expose their individual fragility at a given moment of stress?

In my breakdown of this series, I will try to explore some of the factual evidences that fits into the description of daring the undaring African Literature. I will also be experimenting various contemporary authors that have sort to imagine something new yet odd in thought as far as the discourse on Individualism is concerned. And ofcourse I will give examples of the texts that have surely hit the nail on daring the undaring. Ohh...and, for the first time ever,right at the peak of this series, get ready for a surprise- something really refreshing and intensively thought provoking.!

There you go. Let us start the daring the undaring!