2.  Consists of ancient tribal practices  Religious rituals  “living dead” ancestors  Folk tales  Talking drums  Also consists of Western influences  Christianity  Recorded music  Cinemas  Automated transportation

3.  The first Africans to write poetry, plays, personal narratives and literature were those displaced by the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 1600’s  Phyllis Wheatley – “On Being Brought from Africa to America”  Olaudah Equiano – “Gustavus Vassa”

4.  Ashanti – Central Ghana (Western Africa)  Douala – Cameroon  Ewe – Togo, Ghana, & Dahomey  Kikuyu – Bantu people of Kenya (Swahili & Zulu)  Hausa – Sudan and northern Nigeria  Igbo - Nigeria  Sotho – Southern Africa  Swahili – Eastern and Central Africa  Xhosa – Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)  Yoruba – Southwestern Nigeria  Zulu – Southeastern Africa

5.  Developed in the 1930’s by a small group of French-speaking blacks who were studying in Paris  Sought to fight against the French colonial racism  Inspired by the Harlem Renaissance  Claude McKay & Langston Hughes laid the groundwork  The writing that emerged from this told of the frustration and loss of their motherland

6.  Central theme is typically related to the reclamation of African ancestry and an African view of humanity and its relationship to nature  Black African Women writers are typically concerned with the changing role of women as they emerge from traditional tribal positions to assume new places in society

7.  Nigerian native – Igbo region  Widely known for Things Fall Apart (1958)  He received international acclaim with this story  He writes in English but transforms the language to reflect the African oral tradition  He uses many Igbo proverbs to deliver the flavor of his country  Dead Men’s Path is a conflict  External conflict – between a character and a natural force  Internal conflict – occurs within a character’s mind  While reading this story focus on these questions:  Does Achebe force you to choose sides?  Does he give you a balanced picture of both sides?