African Stories from non-white perspective?

Question

I'm putting together a sample syllabus for my Literature and Pedagogy class, and I'm leaning towards a theme of post-colonial/comparative literature where I pair stories from a white colonial perspective with stories or poems from the "other" perspective of the non-white and colonized/affected populations. I'm trying to keep the topics within the same times and places. An example of a narrative pair I'm using would be:

Jane Eyre (Emphasis on the colonial presence around the periphery of the story and the language/spatiality used to place Jane as an "other" herself)

vs.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (A story about Rochester's wife from HER perspective, using it as an example of the alternative narrative--the other side of the coin)

My professor really wants me to use Jamaica Kincaid, I think because she's just fond of the author, but I'd like to do something besides another West Indies and Caribbean setting. I have plenty of white perspectives of colonial Egypt and other parts of Africa such as:

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Gustave Flaubert's Journals of Egypt
and Florence Nightingales 'Letters from Egypt'

but I'm having trouble finding the "alternative" perspective to these white colonial narratives. It doesn't matter if it was written AT the time (during the 19th century) or at a later date (Wide Sargasso Sea was written in the 1960s, for example) but it would be nice if the setting of the novel, short story or poem was roughly equivalent to the 1840s-1890s setting of the white narratives I've listed above.

Any suggestions? Reasons why you think your suggestions work? Am I just plain crazy?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

There are a lot of great African writers today. I'm a big fan of Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian. I've included a link below, wikipedia's so-so list of African writers, arranged by nationality.

You also might consider India: Frances Hodges Burnet's Secret Garden versus Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, for instance. They both feature a boy-girl pairing of young children, issues of class/caste, and strong nature themes. Plus, I imagine students would be relieved to enjoy something a little simpler, like a childrens book.

And a great melding of post colonial experiences (and a fun read) is Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Its characters are Jamaican, Bangladeshi, and British and live in London in the 1970s.

Hope that helps.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Afr…

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

That Secret Garden/God of Small Things match is fascinating--I've read both and I can see where you're coming from..

Using Chinua Achebe all the same. Thanks guys.

Answer 2

Things Fall Apart by Chiuana Achebe (sp?)

It's a great read, short but incredible.

Answer 3

Chinua Achebe is an Ibo author; his Things Fall Apart is pretty good. It's about the colonization from an Ibo perspective. It's an easy read but captures the culture well. And his No Longer At Ease, I think, is about the same thing, but I haven't read it yet.