Thread by @WendyLBelcher

I get a variety of *interesting* responses when someone asks me what I do and I say that I’m a professor of African literature.
One American member of the public said to me,
“You teach African literature? That must be a short course.”
That’s a verbatim quote.
#AfLit
1/17

Another American member of the public said, “You teach African literature? Do students take that?”
I was about to respond that they do,
when his wife chastised him for being rudely honest—
not for being wrong, but for being rude.
2/17

The inability to recognize the breadth and depth of African literature is shocking.
How is this still possible when Nigerian literature is one of the great national literatures of the twentieth century?
3/17

How is this still possible when South Africa has more literature Nobel Laureates than any country in the world? When Ethiopia has eight centuries of criminally understudied written literatures?
When the early modern archives of West Africa are spilling over with riches?
4/17

For me, the greatest offense is the adamant refusal to consider African literature as something more than sixty years old.
For most, African literature starts in 1958 with Chinua Achebe’s brilliant novel *Things Fall Apart* and everything before it is blank darkness.
5/17

In fact, to show you the scope of the public's ignorance,
let me string together into a skit various conversations I have had over the past decade to demonstrate how tough people find it to acknowledge the greatness (in quantity and quality) of African Literature.
6/17

Me: Nice to meet you. I study early African written literature.
Other: Early? Oh, you mean, from the 1950s.
Me: No, my period is the fourteenth through the nineteenth century.
Long pause.
7/17

Other: Oh, you mean, oral literature.
Me. No, I mean written literature, like I said.

Other: Oh, you mean, like, Equiano.
Me: Equiano is one of the 100s of African authors I study. But most of those I study aren’t writing outside of Africa but in Africa.
Long pause.
8/17

Other: Oh, you mean, like, the African missionaries who wrote reports for the Europeans.
Me: Gold Coast missionaries like Philip Quaque are among the African authors I study. But most of those I study aren’t writing for Europeans.
9/17

Other: Oh, you mean Africans writing in European languages along the Coast.
Me: African authors writing in European languages are among those I study, but most of those I study are writing in African languages.

10/17

Other: Oh, you mean, like, North African authors.
Me: North African authors are among those I study, but most of those I study are early West African and East African authors.
11/17

Other: Oh, you mean writing in Arabic.
Me: African authors writing in Arabic are among those I study, but most of those I study are writing in other African languages.
12/17

Other: Oh, you mean like, poetry.
Me: African poetry is among the genres I study, but I am currently writing an article arguing that the first African novel appeared in 1322. Written by Africans, for Africans, about Africans, in an African language.
13/17

Long pause.

Other: Wait, what?!

Me: Look, whatever limits you can imagine—in terms of era, genre, region, language, audience—African literatures exceed them.
14/17

Before the 20th cent, Africans wrote not just in Europe, but also on the African continent; they wrote not just in European languages, but in African languages; they wrote not just for European consumption, but for their own consumption;
15/17

they wrote not just in northern Africa, but in sub-Saharan Africa; they wrote not just orally, but textually; they wrote not just historical or religious texts, but epic and biography;
16/17

and they wrote not just in the nineteenth century, but in the eighteenth century and the seventeenth century and sixteenth century and long, long before.

Stop saying otherwise!

#Africanliterature #stereotypesofAfrica
17/17

Whoops! I meant to type "more than almost any." South Africa ranks 13 out of 195 countries in Nobel Laureates in Literature. The first 12 winning countries are all in Europe. So, it is in the top 6.6 of countries, certainly deserving of respect. Chile, China, Japan have 2 as well

Many are asking for recs. I'm completing an article about such, so for now I'm just going to recommend one book:
written in 1672 by Africans for Africans in an African language about an African women.
Read it, and then come ask me for more:
amazon.com/Struggles-Moth…
18/17

Also, check out my web page on my long-term book project:
Early African Literature: An Anthology of Written Texts from 3000 BCE to 1900 CE
The introduction and some of the texts are there.
wendybelcher.com/african-litera…
19/17

In the rec above, I put a link to the $40 scholarly edition of the 1672 book;
here is the link to the $14 teaching and general public edition.
amazon.com/Life-Walatta-P…
20/17

Or, if you hate Amazon, you can purchase it here:
press.princeton.edu/titles/14173.h…
21/17

unroll