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“Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka |
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Writer and Activist
On Nigeria’s independence day,Wole Soyinka opened his play A Dance of the Forests. The government considered the play an act of mutiny. Visit Stanford University to learn how Soyinka has continued to challenge the Nigerian government and how his activism has landed him behind bars more than once.
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Stories of Fantasy, Protest, and Everyday Life
Yoruba culture and values were originally preserved by storytellers, who chanted traditional tales while the village gathered to listen. Visit Brown University to learn how the arrival of Europeans changed the way Nigerian stories are told.
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“The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” by Bessie Head |
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Still Managing the Long Stretch Ahead
She didn’t live to see the end of apartheid in South Africa, but Bessie Head predicted its demise. Click through this PBS slideshow to see photos and read about some of the challenges that post-apartheid South Africans face. Then, check out the Handbook for a look at how apartheid has affected three South African industries.
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“Marriage Is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe |
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Art Is a Cultural Affair
In preparation for weddings and other village events, Ibo women once decorated their bodies with traditional designs called uli. Today, some artists marry uli with materials and designs from other cultures. Stroll through this Smithsonian exhibit to meet uli artists and to check out the paintings, engravings, and sculptures that have resulted from an intermarriage of culture.
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“The Train from Rhodesia” by Nadine Gordimer |
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Truth in a Land of Lies
Nadine Gordimer knows what it was like living under layers of lies in apartheid-divided South Africa, so she dedicated her life to exposing those lies. Open The Boston Globe to learn how the Nobel Prize–winning author took on apartheid, and find out how she intended to keep busy once her cause was won.
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“In the Shadow of War” by Ben Okri |
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War in the Shadow of Independence
Nigeria had only recently won independence from Britain when its government was overthrown in a military coup. This action was the first volley in Nigeria’s Civil War, a conflict that greatly influenced Okri and his writing. Drop by Postimperial and Postcolonial Literature in English for a closer look at the Biafran conflict.
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from Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane |
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Alien in His Own Land
As a child in Alexandra, South Africa, Mark Mathabane lived in fear of white “bogeymen” and black policemen. At Mathabane.com, you can slip into the writer’s childhood through the first two chapters of Kaffir Boy. Find out what was so scary about the Peri-Urban police, and discover how Mathabane learned that he was an alien in his own land.
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The Politics of History
In Kaffir Boy, Mrs. Smith explains to her son that his history textbooks don’t necessarily tell the whole truth. Visit South Africa and Zimbabwe through PBS Online’s Wonders of the African World to discover why the white governments of these two countries twisted history into propaganda, and how that act stripped a people of its roots.
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“Half a Day” by Naguib Mahfouz |
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The Changing Styles of Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz has been called “the grand old man of Arabic fiction,” and in many parts of the Arab world, his characters have become household names. Yet for all their accessibility, his works are quite complex and exhibit a variety of styles, from historical to realistic to surrealistic. Visit the Egypt State Information Service and discover how Mahfouz is writing today.
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