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!
