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72. Africa: English-speaking Africa (Part V: National and international)
In the broadest outline, the history of much of Africa could be said to fall into three phases: original identity; dominant colonisation; independence. The same broad framework can be seen in Africa's literature for children: an original oral tradition of story-telling; the arrival of literacy and literature from abroad; and the growth (or not) of a new indigenous youth literature.
The British desire for empire brought the English language to such West African countries as Nigeria and Ghana, to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in the east, and to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa in the south.
The lack of books in early Africa did not mean that people were without education. You don't have to go to school in order to be educated. The whole of life was an opportunity for learning. Parents taught their children what was needed: skills to earn a living, how to cook and run the home, how to tend cattle or grow food - as well as good manners and courage and honesty. Yet the education that came with book-learning was the key to employment in the British Empire. So literacy (in English) meant social and economic advancement. African schools in the nineteenth century were often British-run, using books printed in Britain, and accepting that the benevolent white man knew best. It is little wonder that in shaking off the colonial yoke, some African countries have even considered ejecting that imported idea the 'book' (and the library) to return to their long-established oral tradition. For any institution to play an important role in society it must be legitimate and relevant. According to Adolphe Amadi, the dominant ethos of African society is at variance with the aims of libraries (Amadi 1981: 68-9). There is an opinion that most Africans do not wish to continue with reading once their formal education has been completed 'they derive more pleasure from the oral and performing arts - talking, singing, dancing, socialising - than from the rather private and individual reading of a book' (Chakava 1984: 348).
However, as the present universal emphasis is on literacy, it would seem that the young people of Africa (even if not their parents) will be steadily introduced to...