The growth of a literary tradition in East Africa

Abstract

The concern for a literary tradition in East Africa is an old one. It is tied to the attempts by East African Men of Letters to liberate the African aesthetic. For a long time what held sway here was the Great Tradition. The literary culture evolved based on English letters. The English language was picked by the African child when he made the first journey to school. At school he or she was introduced to a culture of literacy. He or she was formally introduced to setbooks. He or she studied books to help acquire a certain level of literacy. The pupil formulated sentences in English, described his first journey to school. But when he came back home he was open to the world of his village, with all the narratives, the songs, the riddles and the proverbs. This was especially true of children in the colonial era who were told that the English language was the basis of their social mobility. The literary education of the African child was more imitative than creative. The African school was based on the English School, with a Debating Society, a Sunday School, The School Magazine, and the Open School Speech Day. These institutions formed the first base available to the African child in entering the world of public debate. The school debate conducted its affairs in the English language. The school magazine accepted to publish short stories and poems in the English language. The subjects debated and written about revolved around career roles and the adjustment of the African child to the Western world. The English literary culture instilled into the African child was reinforced when he or she joined the University College. The literary education acquired manifested itself in the English Department Magazine, which changed its name to Penpoint and Dhana, Nexus which became-Busara and Darlite which became Umma. There were other magazines available to the student, coming from Kampala, the cities of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. They included Transition, East Africa Journal and its literary supplement, Ghala and Zuka. Makerere University, more than any other institution of higher learning, did a lot to shape East Africa's literary culture. The writer at that campus fashioned his writings to the English literary tradition in themes and style. The definition of the writer and literature that came from Makerere reflected the view of literature by the New Criticism in England articulated by: Mathew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, and later, F.R. Leavis. Makerereargued that a writer drew from the tradition which had been developed by writers who had gone before him or before her. This tradition suited critics of East African literature who focused on realism. But it did not fit into theoretical framework of the scholars who wanted to study literature in indigenous languages. New schools of literature emerged at the University of Nairobi and at the University of Dar es Salaam. Others, like the song school was forged by writers who grew outside the University "Eng. Lit", literary culture. These included Okot p'Bitek, Okello Oculi, Taban Lo Liyong, and Ali A. Mazrui. These writers worked with Pio Zirimu, Peter Nazareth, Grant Kamenju, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Micere Githae Mugo and Chris L. Wanjala to sever the links of East African literary culture from The Great Tradition. East African men of culture redefined their literature. They consciously based their writings on the oral tradition, whilst keeping their literary practice within the whirlwind of the world debate. The rumbles in the United States of America and the United Kingdom over canon revision affects us here in East Africa in a very direct way. The Departments of Literature and English in those countries robbed our idea of literature and its relevance to history and society, and resold it to the whole world. But East African writers have built on the oral traditions which have become the bases for their creativity and literary criticism. This foundation is becoming stronger and stronger every day-