A Yoruba saying Baa leni baa bani, aa dena lehin eni ni, m eaning that when we pursue a person and could not catch up with the person, we stop pursuing. Throughout the twentieth century, thou
sands o f A frican writers pursued popularity and a wider audience through European languages. They would never write in their m other tongues, or in any African indigenous language. Up to the start o f the tw enty-first century, over ninety-seven percent o f them are neither popular nor able to reach audiences outside a few
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classroom s. They had hoped to m obilize A fricans and effect changes in the A fricans’ sociopolitical lives. They had hoped that through their critical comments, their satires, and som etim es hard- hit direct criticism s, they would effect changes in A frica, or perhaps, help shape the perspectives taken by the A frican leaders.
A fter many decades of European language writing, A frican writers ended up producing elitist literature. Apart from the few elites at home only a few cam puses abroad use their books. M odem A frican writers have chased after success and have not caught up with it. It is tim e to change strategy. It is tim e they cam e back home, to the source and m edium of African culture, to African indigenous languages, to reach a greater African audience.
The challenge o f writing in African indigenous languages in the twenty-first century is beyond any twentieth century rhetoric.
N either Obi W ali nor Ngugi wa T hiong’O is responsible for the powerful wave we are about to witness. Up to the end of the last century, there was very little evidence of success, in terms of people’s m obilization and positive cultural enrichm ent that we could discuss in Africa. Yet, N gugi’s I Will M a rry When I Want, written in Gikuyu, alm ost achieved this feat before the w riter was jailed, and the play was banned in Kenya. A frica is still the starving, poverty-ridden, and in more hardships today than decades ago. N eo-colonial influences on A frican leaders grow by the minute, and more than ever before, A frica is indebted to foreign banks and governm ents. The culture o f alienation o f the African people started by the colonial im perialists and continued by the po st-1960 African leaders, is indirectly being justified and held up by the African writers who continued to use foreign languages, and foreign languages alone, in their writings. The so-called national cohesion brought about by the continued use o f European languages as official languages in many countries o f A frica only succeed in keeping A frican masses outside governm ent and m aintaining the m ysticism created around political leadership by the colonial masters. In a country like Nigeria w here there are about 400 languages, people are often told that English will m aintain national cohesion. In reality, what it has done is alienate comm on Nigerians from their leaders!
Modern African Writers 91 In his very strong comm ents on what he calls the language question in Africa, Chidi Am uta has the follow ing suggestions:
The problem of communication in our literature is directly related to the forces that prevent human communication at the economic and social levels. As part of the struggle to correct this anomaly, all the avenues of cultural communication should be ex
plored to get the benefit of progressive revolutionary literature across to the greatess possible majority of our peoples. In this respect, European languages, African languages, oral performances, written expres
sion, radio broadcasts, etc, are implicated. (Amuta 1987: 113-114)
The African literature experience has to be holistic. I strongly support A m uta’s idea as expressed above. Every A frican writer should use A frican languages, and the same writers may write, in addition, in European languages. But w riting alone may not achieve the desired result — oral perform ances are necessary to carry indigenous language literatures to the grassroots. As Kofi Anyidoho once called for, there should be a greater respect for, and interaction with, African oral artists, to carry indigenous language writings to the masses. African writers can form coali
tions with oral artists, and encourage oral artists to use their work, and the ideas they form ulate, as materials for public oral perfor
mances.
All M odem African writers should consider the following suggestions because their drums must learn to use the right songs for advertising in the market before market gates close on them. If contemporary African writers must continue to be relevant into the twenty-first century, in my opinion, they must:
a. write in African languages, and may continue to write as well in any colonial languages o f choice;
b. make the following their primary objectives:
1) reaching out to more African audiences;
2) enriching A frica’s own cultures, like broadening the sophis
tication of African languages, and creating writing ortho
graphies for more African languages;
3) encouraging dialogues among A frican languages and cul
tures;
4) encouraging translation among A frican languages;
5) encouraging dialogue between A frican language and non- A frican languages (through continued translations, adapta
tions, etc.
W riters who have never written in their native languages before must prepare for some difficulties when they start w riting in their m other tongues. As they ask questions o f them selves, they must provide them selves with answers. The follow ing are exam ples of the challenges they may face:
1) writers must first decide in what A frican languages to write, in their own m other tongues, or in regional/national native lingua franca? For exam ple, will a Luo or Gikuyu Kenyan write in their m other tongue, or in Swahili, their national/official language?
2) in what dialect of the language should they write? Should they use standard dialect, if their chosen language already has a standardized orthography;
3) what oral perform ance mode w ould they adopt?
4) what new perform ance modes should they introduce?
5) how will they attain literacy in they native language if they haven’t got this ability before?
6) how would they get published?
7) what is best way to take their works to their people even after writing?
8) how to survive in the face o f their society’s biting poverty and lack o f m onetary profit from writing?
The A frican language w riter must face these challenges head-on.
He or she needs to be innovative, and to adopt the attitude of: “I w on’t give up.” There is no clear-cut solution to any of these difficulties. I believe that the writers m ust adopt solutions that will help their specific purpose as new-comers to A frican language writing. Some writers may have to create their own working orthography if no orthography previously existed for their chosen languages. Tanure Ojaide, a Nigerian poet who has recently5 5 Personal interview with Tanure Ojaide, January 2000.
Modern African Writers 93 decided to write in Uhrobo, his m other tongue, has to design a working orthography for himself. Although many people have written in Uhrobo before, there is no standard orthography for the language. Literary works must be written in the w riter’s native dialect. As I have argued elsewhere (see “Introduction” , A lm ajiri), literature loses its originality and identity when a w riter’s original dialect o f thought is suppressed in favor o f a so-called standard dialect. It is like asking an Am erican to write in British or the Australian dialect. There is no such thing as standard dialect in literature! The dialect is an aspect of literary identity, and shows the uniqueness o f a writer.
African writers have a rich oral heritage to explore. As already argued, they cannot depend on writing as a sole forum to convey their messages to their people. M ost African people still depend on oral perform ance for cultural and literary expressions. A dopting the public oral performance should not be a second thought for an African writer. The only question is whether writers them selves want to be oral performers, or they want to collaborate with pro
fessional African griots to perform their works for them. African language writers may invent new perform ance modes or use al
ready existing performance patterns from their comm unities. Their people will easily relate to works in well-known comm unity modes. In cases where African writers introduce new and qualita
tive perform ance patterns, they will have no problem because of a high demand for literature among Africans. Indigenous African language writers cannot afford to isolate the traditional oral per
former in their communities. That is the only way they can reach the grassroots o f their comm unities. W ole Soyinka is better known among his Yoruba ethnic group not because o f being a w riter or winning the Nobel prize in literature, but because he participated in his people’s struggle at the grassroots against a set of draconian Nigerian military regimes. A fter the Nigerian elections of 1999, Soyinka, like Chinua Achebe, repeatedly returned to N igeria to address public forums.
Yet, Soyinka is more likely to be even more popular among his people if he were to write indigenous language literature and perform at market squares. W riters who are unable to write in their m other tongues must start to learn how to write in their languages.
As I already explained, many African scholars learn additional European languages when they go on research trips to G erm any or Italy, or take degrees from overseas universities. Every African writer can be literate in African languages if he or she truly com mitted to learning them. W ole Soyinka translated D. O. F agunw a’s Igbo Irunm ole into English and is deeply literate in his m other tongue. Soyinka’s excellent translation shows w hat we can expect if he writes in his own Yoruba novel or drama.
All the debates about African renaissance (see my paper “M o
ving A frica Forward: from Alienation to Participation”) will only be useful to the continent if grassroots A fricans are involved, and if they are allowed to initiate their own process o f renew al and rebirth. Contem porary A frican writers have a strong role to play in m obilizing the A frican people through African languages. The following are among the exciting results we may expect in a future vibrant indigenous language writing culture in Africa:
1) a phenom enal growth in literacy in indigenous languages throughout Africa;
2) African languages without orthographies could soon have them as writers use their m other tongues;
3) more vigorous education and m obilization will happen in Africa;
4) new oral and written perform ance modes will be created, new words coined, and indigenous language vocabulary enriched;
5) increased cross fertilization of ideas and concepts between African and European languages on one hand, and among African languages on the other as translations increase in both ways;
6) a strong reading and writing culture will gradually evolve;
7) oral artists and A frican writers will form alliances.
Conclusion
If contem porary A frican writers take up this challenge, A frica will enter an exciting era o f indigenous language writing. A lthough this is long overdue, the gains from a vigorous African language writing tradition will com pensate for the delay. Econom ic,
politi-Modern African Writers 95 cal and cultural issues must be at the center o f indigenous language writing. W hat many decades of colonial language litera
ture could not achieve in Africa, a short tim e o f indigenous language writing will accomplish. W riters constantly under the night cover o f European languages can em erge in African day
break and speak heart-to-heart to their own peoples. W ith socially relevant works such as N gugi’s N gaahika ndeenda (I Will M arry When I Want) in all parts o f Africa, African writers are more likely to succeed in m obilizing Africans for progress and developm ent.
References
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Beier, U. 1970. Yoruba Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Gerard, A. 1990. Contexts o f African Literature. Amsterdam & Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.
Irele, A. 1981. The African Experience in Literature and Ideology. Lon
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Ogunjimi, B., Na’Allah, A.-R. 1991. Introduction to African Oral Literature. Ilorin: Unilorin Press.
Na’Allah, A.-R. 2000. Oral Involvement and Arabic Influence on Hausa and Yoruba Writing Traditions in Nigeria. — Canadian Review o f Comparative Literature.
Na’Allah, A.-R. 2000. Introduction — Almajiri. Trenton: Africa World Press.
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Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ngugi wa Miriil. 1982. I will marry when I want.
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Olatunji, O. O. 1970. Characteristic Features of Yoruba Oral Poetry.
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