Download or read book Wole Soyinka Literature Activism and African Transformation written by Bola Dauda and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely and expansive biography of Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer, Nobel laureate, and social activist, shows how the author's early years influence his life's work and how his writing, in turn, informs his political engagement. Three sections spanning his life, major texts, and place in history, connect Soyinka's legacy with global issues beyond the borders of his own country, and indeed beyond the African continent. Covering his encounters with the widespread rise of kleptocratic rule and international corporate corruption, his reflection on the human condition of the North-South divide, and the consequences of postcolonialism, this comprehensive biography locates Wole Soyinka as a global figure whose life and works have made him a subject of conversation in the public sphere, as well as one of Africa's most successful and popular authors. Looking at the different forms of Soyinka's work--plays, novels, and memoirs, among others--this volume argues that Soyinka used writing to inform, mobilize, and sometimes incite civil action, in a decades-long attempt at literary social engineering.
Download or read book Wole Soyinka Literature Activism and African Transformation written by Bola Dauda and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely and expansive biography of Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer, Nobel laureate, and social activist, shows how the author's early years influence his life's work and how his writing, in turn, informs his political engagement. Three sections spanning his life, major texts, and place in history, connect Soyinka's legacy with global issues beyond the borders of his own country, and indeed beyond the African continent. Covering his encounters with the widespread rise of kleptocratic rule and international corporate corruption, his reflection on the human condition of the North-South divide, and the consequences of postcolonialism, this comprehensive biography locates Wole Soyinka as a global figure whose life and works have made him a subject of conversation in the public sphere, as well as one of Africa's most successful and popular authors. Looking at the different forms of Soyinka's work--plays, novels, and memoirs, among others--this volume argues that Soyinka used writing to inform, mobilize, and sometimes incite civil action, in a decades-long attempt at literary social engineering.
Download or read book You Must Set Forth at Dawn written by Wole Soyinka and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-03-13 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first African to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as a political activist of prodigious energies, Wole Soyinka now follows his modern classic Ake: The Years of Childhood with an equally important chronicle of his turbulent life as an adult in (and in exile from) his beloved, beleaguered homeland. In the tough, humane, and lyrical language that has typified his plays and novels, Soyinka captures the indomitable spirit of Nigeria itself by bringing to life the friends and family who bolstered and inspired him, and by describing the pioneering theater works that defied censure and tradition. Soyinka not only recounts his exile and the terrible reign of General Sani Abacha, but shares vivid memories and playful anecdotes–including his improbable friendship with a prominent Nigerian businessman and the time he smuggled a frozen wildcat into America so that his students could experience a proper Nigerian barbecue. More than a major figure in the world of literature, Wole Soyinka is a courageous voice for human rights, democracy, and freedom. You Must Set Forth at Dawn is an intimate chronicle of his thrilling public life, a meditation on justice and tyranny, and a mesmerizing testament to a ravaged yet hopeful land.
Download or read book Wole Soyinka written by Biodun Jeyifo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-11-13 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodun Jeyifo examines the connections between the innovative and influential writings of Wole Soyinka and his radical political activism. Jeyifo carries out detailed analyses of Soyinka's most ambitious works, relating them to the controversies generated by Soyinka's use of literature and theatre for radical political purposes. He gives a fascinating account of the profound but paradoxical affinities and misgivings Soyinka has felt about the significance of the avant-garde movements of the twentieth century. Jeyifo also explores Soyinka's works with regard to the impact on his artistic sensibilities of the pervasiveness of representational ambiguity and linguistic exuberance in Yoruba culture. The analyses and evaluations of this study are presented in the context of Soyinka's sustained engagement with the violence of collective experience in post-independence, postcolonial Africa and the developing world. No existing study of Soyinka's works and career has attempted such a systematic investigation of their complex relationship to politics.
Download or read book Of Africa written by Wole Soyinka and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Nobel laureate offers a keen, thought-provoking analysis of Africa's current crises and points the way to cultural and political renewal A member of the unique generation of African writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, Wole Soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. He deeply comprehends the pressing problems of Africa, and, an irrepressible essayist and a staunch critic of the oppressive boot, he unhesitatingly speaks out. In this magnificent new work, Soyinka offers a wide-ranging inquiry into Africa's culture, religion, history, imagination, and identity. He seeks to understand how the continent's history is entwined with the histories of others, while exploring Africa's truest assets: "its humanity, the quality and valuation of its own existence, and modes of managing its environment--both physical and intangible (which includes the spiritual)." Fully grasping the extent of Africa's most challenging issues, Soyinka nevertheless refuses defeatism. With eloquence he analyzes problems ranging from the meaning of the past to the threat of theocracy. He asks hard questions about racial attitudes, inter-ethnic and religious violence, the viability of nations whose boundaries were laid out by outsiders, African identity on the continent and among displaced Africans, and more. Soyinka's exploration of Africa relocates the continent in the reader's imagination and maps a course toward an African future of peace and affirmation.
Download or read book Milestones in African Literature written by Toyin Falola and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-07-31 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Milestones in African Literature offers an accessible guide to ten key moments in African literature. It traces literature in Africa through forms and genres, as well as social and political changes. Toyin Falola embraces the richness of African literature, and considers the oral tradition, pre-colonial literature, apartheid, print media and digital literature, postcolonialism, and migration literature. He explores the realities of African people by drawing from and highlighting peoples’ convictions, spirituality, and pasts. The book reveals African literature’s capacity to convey cultural, social, and political messages through storytelling, while depicting the social structures and cultural norms that shape these experiences through the examination of perspectives and literary works of African authors. Milestones in African Literature is the ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students interested in African literatures. It will also be invaluable for teachers and researchers aiming to strengthen their knowledge.
Download or read book Social Ethics and Governance in Contemporary African Writing written by Nimi Wariboko and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2023-01-12 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Ethics and Governance in Contemporary African Writing is the first book to bring rigorous literary, philosophical, and artistic discourse together to interrogate the ethics of governance and development in postcolonial Africa. It takes literature seriously as a context for philosophical reflection, vividly engaging the human agency, creativity, and resourcefulness of local Nigerians as political and social actors and shedding new light on the dynamics of human flourishing. Drawing on important secondary scholarship across several humanities disciplines, especially literature, philosophy, and the performing arts, Nimi Wariboko provides compelling and innovative analysis of the challenges and opportunities on governance and development in postcolonial Nigerian state and society. With a detailed introductory chapter and an authoritative analysis contained in six cohesive chapters, all anchored in political and social ethics and close readings of fascinating literary and artistic works-such as A. Igoni Barrett's Blackass and the comedy skits of MC Edo Pikin-this is a landmark contribution to Nigerian cultural studies. Wariboko's practical engagement between literature and philosophy also opens up new ways of seeing literary analysis as ethical methodology, beyond the specific contexts of Nigeria or Africa.
Download or read book Chinua Achebe written by Toyin Falola and published by . This book was released on 2024-11-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An imaginative, narratological reading of Chinua Achebe's novels, stories, poetry, and essays through a literary and historical framework. Toyin Falola analyzes fictional and historical cartographies of Africa in Achebe's literary works to offer a critical representation of Africa's present and future. In particular, he focuses on the historical valuation of a full range of the writer's works – novels including Things Fall Apart, but also short stories, poems, and essays – as important materials that have contributed to the political events in Nigeria and, by extension, Africa. The raw creativity found in Achebe's stories and his ability to tell the Nigerian story – precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial – have endeared him to many, including readers and those critical of him and his works. Chinua Achebe: Narrating Africa in Fictions and History analyzes all of the writer's works, dwelling on the Nigerian political context upon which many, if not all, of his narratives lie. As a result, it examines methodologies of narration and ideologies that allow his works to resonate with the imagination of Africa.
Download or read book The Movement of Transition written by Oyin Ogunba and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Birth of Breaking written by Serouj "Midus" Aprahamian and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2023-07-27 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of how breaking – one of the most widely practiced dance forms in the world today – began as a distinctly African American expression in the Bronx, New York, during the 1970s. Breaking is the first and most widely practiced hip-hop dance in the world, with around one million participants in this dynamic, multifaceted artform – and, as of 2024, Olympic sport. Yet, despite its global reach and nearly 50-year history, stories of breaking's origins have largely neglected the African Americans who founded it. Dancer and scholar Serouj "Midus" Aprahamian offers, for the first time, a detailed look into the African American beginnings of breaking in the Bronx, New York. The Birth of Breaking challenges numerous myths and misconceptions that have permeated studies of hip-hop's evolution, considering the influence breaking has had on hip-hop culture. Including previously unseen archival material, interviews, and detailed depictions of the dance at its outset, this book brings to life this buried history, with a particular focus on the early development of the dance, the institutional settings where hip-hop was conceived, and the movement's impact on sociocultural conditions in New York City throughout the 1970s. By featuring the overlooked first-hand accounts of over 50 founding b-boys and b-girls alongside movement analysis informed by his embodied knowledge of the dance, Aprahamian reveals how indebted breaking is to African American culture, as well as the disturbing factors behind its historical erasure.
Download or read book Nigerian Literary Imagination and the Nationhood Project written by Toyin Falola and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-07-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how modern Nigerian fiction is rooted in writers’ understanding of their identity and perception of Nigeria as a country and home. Surveying a broad range of authors and texts, the book shows how these fictionalized representations of Nigeria reveal authentic perceptions of Nigeria’s history and culture today. Many of the lessons in these works of literature provide cautionary tales and critiques of Nigeria, as well as an examination of the lasting impact of colonialism. Furthermore, the book presents the nation as both the framework and subject of its narrative. By conducting literary analyses of Nigerian fiction with historical reference points, this work demonstrates how Nigerian literature can convey profound themes and knowledge that resonates with audiences, teaching Nigerians and non-Nigerians about the colonial and postcolonial experience. The chapters cover topics on nationhood, women’s writing, postcolonial modernity, and Nigerian literature in the digital age.
Download or read book An Intellectual Biography of Africa written by Francis Kwarteng and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2022-07-13 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is the birthplace of humanity and civilization. And yet people generally don’t want to accept the scientific impression of Africa as the birthplace of human civilization. The skeptics include Africans themselves, a direct result of the colonial educational systems still in place across Africa, and even those Africans who acquire Western education, particularly in the humanities, have been trapped in the symptomatology of epistemic peonage. These colonial educational systems have overstayed their welcome and should be dismantled. This is where African agency comes in. Agential autonomy deserves an authoritative voice in shaping the curricular direction of Africa. Agential autonomy implicitly sanctions an Afrocentric approach to curriculum development, pedagogy, historiography, literary theory, indigenous language development, and knowledge construction. Science, technology, engineering, mathematics?information and communications technology (STEM-ICT) and research and development (R&D) both exercise foundational leverage in the scientific and cultural discourse of the kind of African Renaissance Cheikh Anta Diop envisaged. “Mr. Francis Kwarteng has written a book that looks at some of the major distortions of African history and Africa’s major contributions to human civilization. In this context, Mr. Kwarteng joins a long list of thinkers who roundly reject the foundational Eurocentric epistemology of Africa in favor of an Afrocentric paradigm of Africa’s material, spiritual, scientific, and epistemic assertion. Mr. Kwarteng places S.T.E.M. and a revision of the humanities at the center of the African Renaissance and critiques Eurocentric fantasies about Africa and its Diaspora following the critical examples of Cheikh Anta Diop, Ama Mazama, Molefi Kete Asante, Abdul Karim Bangura, Theophile Obenga, Maulana Karenga, Mubabingo Bilolo, Kwame Nkrumah, Ivan Van Sertima, W.E.B. Du Bois, and several others. Readers of this book will be challenged to look at Africa through a critical lens.” Ama Mazama, editor/author of Africa in the 21st Century: Toward a New Future “There are countless books about the evolution of European intellectual thought but scarcely any that captures the pioneering contributions of Africans since the beginning of recorded knowledge in Kmet, a.k.a. Ancient Egypt. Well, that long drought has ended with the publication of Kwarteng's An Intellectual Biography of Africa: A Philosophical Anatomy of Advancing Africa the Diopian Way. Prepare to be educated.” Milton Allimadi, author of Manufacturing Hate: How Africa Was Demonized in the Media
Download or read book Perspectives on Wole Soyinka written by and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays that examine the aesthetics and the radical politics of one of Africa's greatest writers
Download or read book Mazisi Kunene written by Dike Okoro and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-14 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the life and work of Mazisi Kunene, the only recognized poet laureate of Africa, a Nobel Prize nominee, and a key symbol of African cultural independence. Kunene is widely recognized for his epic poems that assert cultural identity and condemn the disruption of the growth and development of African culture through colonialism/postcolonialism. This book explores how ‘oraliterature’ and cultural traditions informed Kunene’s poetry, how Kunene’s poetry highlights African women and mothers, and how activism, mythology and transnational identities are depicted in his verse to promote cultural and generational continuities from Africa to the Diasporic Africans. Drawing on a range of interviews and comparative studies, the book situates Kunene’s work in a wider conversation about South African social struggles. This book is an important contribution to our understanding of one of the giants of African literary history. As such, it will be of interest to researchers across African literary and postcolonial studies.
Download or read book Wole Soyinka written by Mpalive-Hangson Msiska and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concentrating on the writer's plays, fiction and poetry, this book looks at Soyinka's exploration of African identity, the relationship between myth and reality, and the metaphysical aspects of evil.
Download or read book Death and the King s Horseman written by Wole Soyinka and published by Methuen Drama. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny. When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favourite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors. A British Colonial Officer, Pilkings, intervenes to prevent the death and arrests Elesin. The play is a set text for NEAB GCSE, NEAB A Level and NEAB A/S Level. 'A masterpiece of 20th century drama' - Guardian "A transfixing work of modern world drama" (Independent); "clearly a masterpiece. . . he achieves the full impact of Greek tragedy" (Irving Wardle, Independent on Sunday); "the action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone: a clash of values and cultures so fundamental that tragedy issues: a tragedy for each individual, each tribe" (Michael Schmidt, Daily Telegraph)
Download or read book Essays in Honour of Wole Soyinka at 80 written by Ivor Agyeman-Duah and published by Ayebia Clarke Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays in Honour of Wole Soyinka at 80, edited by two award-winning African writers, is a celebration of the literary life of Wole Soyinka at an important stage in his life. The volume provides the most extensive anthology ever produced on Africa s first Nobel Laureate in Literature and features 30 essays with a foreword by the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku. Diverse aspects of his life are reflected in six themes that also documents the literary and cultural histories of West Africa from the 1950s to the present day.
