Email this article 
AFROCENTRICITY AND UNDERSTANDING AFRICAN LITERATURE: TOWARDS RE-STATING AND RE-IGNITION OF AFRICAN THINKING IN THE CRITICISM OF ZIMBABWEAN LITERATURE
Abstract
For a long time, indigenous African systems, experiences, knowledge, skills, philosophy, psychology, history and social experiences have been based on other people’s views, values and historical experiences. They have been questioned, under-stated, re-interpreted and even doubted by many scholars of African literature using Eurocentric views and values. Thus, it cannot be denied that today there are so many literary scholars of African literature who have unreservedly used Eurocentric views and methodologies on African and Zimbabwean literature, creating a mismatch between our general understanding of African artistic and literary creations and their aesthetic values (Chinweizu et al., 1980; Achebe, 1990; Ngugi, 1986). This presentation believes that literary values that can be said to be suitable in evaluating African literature and African literary thinking should be based on our understanding of African people’s natural reaction and interaction with their habitat, making African culture in the form of language, material and spiritual resources the exquisite bedrock of our understanding of African people and all their life and historical experiences. As Okpaku (1970) and Achebe (1990, 2000) would say, critical standards should derive from culture as the basis of sustainable criticism and development of African literature and in order to avoid dislocated and inappropriate knowledge applications. This paper uses a typically African oriented approach to evaluate some of the literary forms of criticisms by selected Zimbabwean critics. It argues that there is need to re-connect, re-ignite and re-claim African aesthetic values in the criticism of African literature in Zimbabwe.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Achebe, C. (1975). Morning yet on Creation Day. New York, Anchor.
Achebe, C. (1975). Hopes and Impediments: selected Essays. London, Heinemann.
Bishop, R. (Ed) (1989). African Critics and the Western Literary Tradition. Kunapipi 3 Volume 1.
Chinweizu, J., Madubuike, J. and Jemmie, (1980). Toward the Decolonization of African Literature: African Fiction and Poverty and their critics. London, Heinemann.
Chivaura, V. G. and Mararike, C. (1998). The Human Factor Approach to Development in Africa. Harare, UZ Publications.
Chiwome, E.M. (1996). The Social History of the Shona Novel. Eiffel Flats, Juta Publications.
Gondo, K. T. (2011). Pfungwa Huru Dzekuongorora Nadzo Uvaranomwe. Cape Town, CASAS.
Gondo, K. T. (2014). An Analysis of Perceptions of Literature in Zimbabwe: In Search of a New Understanding of Literature in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Journal of Teacher Education. Harare, UZ Publications, pp 36-53.
Kahari, G. P. (1990). The Rise of the Shona Novel and other related genres. Gweru, Mambo Press.
Mungoshi, C. M. (1989). Towards a definition of Zimbabwean Literature. Unpublished. Harare.
Furusa, M (1996). Proverbs as an expression of African Philosophy. In Mutswairo, S. M. et al (Ed). Introduction to Shona Culture. Eiffel Flats, Juta Publications.
P’ Bitek, O. (1976). Africa’s Cultural Revolution. Nairobi, Books for Africa.
P’ Bitek, O. (1986). Artist the Ruler. London, OUP.
Wild-Viet, F. (1993). Teachers, Preachers and Non-Believers. Harare, Baobab Books.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 Kutsirayi Timothy Gondo, Thembelihle Gondo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.
Copyright © 2017-2023. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies (ISSN 2559 - 7914 / ISSN-L 2559 - 7914). All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.
