Mapping Models of Mutual Coexistence in African Literature
Abstract
Moving from the premise that African literature can introduce the reader to and inform him or her about the changing world of coexistence on the continent and elsewhere, this paper employs sample texts from contemporary African literature to explore the varying perspectives from which African writers represent changing historical phases of mutual coexistence on the continent in their works. It aims at showing how the literature reveals more about the "customs, conflicts, stresses, changes and transformations" (Ngugi 1997, p. 4) that accompany social movements and evolution over time. My paper argues that the African continent's historical encounter with the western world has primarily, at least in the literature I examine here, informed and transformed the ways in which people perceive and relate with each other in society. I use Ato Quayson's reading practice dubbed "Calibrations" in my analysis.
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Introduction
In recent times, questions of mutual coexistence have increasingly been brought to the world stage by globalisation and a complex international political system that have accentuated the realities of conflict, violence, and combat. Such questions, germane to the social science disciplines, have caught the attention of literature which has debated the subject from a variety of interesting perspectives. Primarily, literature deals with humans in society, exploring how they live and relate with one another in their daily subsistence and conduct of affairs. These interactive processes lay the groundwork for the formation of social collectives organically linked on the basis of defined shared relations. As x-rayed in Pozo (2004), Ngugi wa Thiong'o notes that the literary artist is chiefly interested in human relationships and their quality, which do not "occur in a vacuum [but] develop in the context of ecology, economics, politics, culture and psyche" (p. 5). Ngugi (1997)'s comments on the rapport between art and human society positions literature as the conscious acts of men and women in society. Literature is thus carved out as a product of human intellect and imagination fixed towards social relations as can be visualised from his words: "the very act of writing even at the level of the individual implies social relationship: one is writing about somebody for somebody" (p. 4).
From another perspective, literature's social character endows mutual coexistence with the capacity to "reflect deeply on the nature of being" (Diamond, 1989, p. 435). For Ojaide & Obi (2002), social issues and the way people relate are the subject of literature, whether in drama, fiction or poetry. "How individuals react; man and woman in love; friendship; the individual and the larger society; human relationships, in short, are the sine qua non of literature" (p. 5). The views of these writers and critics establish literature's groundedness in society, while also underscoring its capacity to reflect that society and also to reflect on it. This resonates with my premise, in this paper, that African literature, in its various iterations, can serve as an effective tool in interrogating paradigms of mutual coexistence on the continent and beyond. As it were, the literature has, over the years, represented, commented on, and even proposed models of living together in society at the familial, tribal, national and transnational levels.
Conclusion
This analysis of sample texts from written African literature of the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods reveals the rich dialogue around the subject of mutual coexistence in African societies. While the communal ideal remains the defining model of living together in African contexts, the works nevertheless explore other paradigmatic situations that are already fraught with conflicts. In such contexts, the writers suggest either outright separation between inimical groups or constructive dialogue, based, as we find in the case of Ezeulu in Achebe's Arrow of God (1964) and Kamala and Kamalo in Butake's Family Saga (2005b), on dignity and equality of the human being. This draws from the understanding that, as people live on planet earth, they will be bound to meet others or live together with them. Those who withdraw into themselves will implode, for, as Ngugi again notes, "culture contact is the oxygen of any civilization" (Ngugi 1997, p. 23). But while this might be so, I argue that there is the need for the following to obtain for this oxygen to be comfortably breathed by all. I am here alluding to the importance of referring constantly to the essential unity and interdependence of humanity, public participation to strengthen living together as well as the value of acknowledging guilt and remorse and the granting of forgiveness. The writers I have studied here have employed different aesthetic premises to map these in their works while equally insisting that, where social cohesion is fragmented, the need to identify mechanisms and institutions for conflict resolution becomes ultimately crucial.
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