Intensifying Reasons That Made Nigerian Literature Popularized

Nigeria is one of the most influencing countries in Africa, for which, the region got impressive attention in the global literary domain. As the history narrates, oral folklore was the only way to convey the unspoken thoughts of human mind in the form of poems and stories. However, with the implementation of printed literature, it received maximum appreciation from all around the world. Today, even the academic syllabus seems to have placed such literary genres at a dominating facade.

To hold by the hands of a proficient and skillful Nigerian writer means, fetching a perfect picturesque detail of this region. With their corrective usage of words, phrases, lyrics and many more, one can well relate with the past and present social, political and humanitarian attributes of Africa. As there are no scripted details about the historical facts and facets of Africa, this range of writers is a guiding aid to take them all the way to the corrective past. Torturing consequences that the habitants of this place have gone through during the colonial ruling can also be collected from their writings.

All the famous West African poets are amply able to portray every minute facts and facets of pre and post colonial after-math. Mostly written in the English, French and Portuguese dialects, their writings can also be reasoned for introducing Nigeria in the world literary graph. As words and phrases are the only weapon for uplifting the social awareness and also the traits of humanitarian philosophies, these series of writers has engineered them in a best possible way. Productive outcome of which, has overtly dignified the literature and its forms in Africa. Fiction, poetry, drama, novel and no matter what the form is, Nigerian literary masters of the past and in this contemporary time seems to be ably garlanded with all. Significant emphasis still remains on the influential poets, poetries and poems though.

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. 

Poetries from Niger Delta Announcing Triumph of Humanity over Butchering War

“Blood diamonds” is a popular terminology these days. Mother Nature has gifted Africa with significant volume of natural wealth. However, mostly because of the incompetent sociopolitical leadership ruling over the continent, the region has remained one of the most underdeveloped zones across the planet. The continent experiences high level of poverty, illiteracy is high among the young folks; malnutrition is somewhat like epidemic among children. In short, the region and the indigenous community are subjected to severe economic exploitation occurring across ages.

The “blood diamonds” or “conflict diamonds” along with the ever raging Niger Delta Conflict is making life hell for the region’s entire civilian society. There is a huge deposit of mineral oil across Western Africa and since the early 1990s a severely blood-spilling conflict is going over the region to gain control of this flourishing fuel trade. Till date, the conflict has claimed countless number of lives and hundreds and thousands of folks have been forced to evacuate their homes. In the midst of this spine-chilling reality, NigerDelta poetry is flourishing like never before. The wise believe there is an inherent yet subtle connection between creativity and adversity.

A bunch of profusely talented poets and writers from the region is steadily captivating lovers of poetry and literature through their dedicated work overcoming all difficulties that life has gifted them with.  These literary geniuses are keen sociopolitical observers and thus, they portray the reality of the contemporary society through their works. The fraternity of famous West African poet is busy revealing a different Africa to their reader base, spread across all the four corners of the world. Thanks to the dedicated works of these geniuses, severe economic exploitation going across the region is revealed to the global community.

Prior to the rise to stardom of these African literary geniuses, the world knew only about the unbelievable wilderness and primitive way of life existing in the continent. Now, the topic of African culture and literature is equally relevant among the global intellectual community.