African Diaspora Literature Rising in Popularity

The African Diaspora is a commonly used jargon these days and was coined around 1990s. It refers to the communities all over the globe those have descended from the historic movement of African people in the past. The African Diaspora community exists across all the continents, including the Americas, Asia – including the Middle East and Europe. Thanks to the flourishing slave trade during the Middle Ages, African community has been subjected to forced migration since the historic times.

Thankfully, this Diaspora community strived hard to retain its indigenous culture. The old tradition of story-telling existed in Africa since a very long time. The dispersed community maintained this age-old practice of oral storytelling even in their new homes across the foreign lands. The themes of these stories invariably revolved around their native land, inherited culture and traditional way of life.

This tradition sustained across time, denying towering adversities. This tradition eventually gifted the world a unique genre of literature from African Diaspora authors. This category of literature, especially at its initial phase, consisted of slave narratives. It is remarkable to note, in a society which was dominated by whites, this genre of books and stories became unbelievably popular almost in no time.

The firsthand descriptions about life under slavery not only exposed the brutality that slaves faced in the hands of so-called civilized society. It also exposed the severe vulnerability in which these people had to lead their lives. In fact, this genre of books and accounts definitely contributed in abolishment of the curse of slavery from the surface of the earth.

However, the struggle for freedom and equality in the adopted nations for these folks was neither easy nor short-lived. In accordance to the striking popularity of African Diaspora writers, famous West African poets are creating huge impact among the fraternity of global booklovers.