POET

RY

Agostinho Neto
(September 17, 1922
September 10, 1979)
served as thefirst
PresidentofAngola(1975
1979), leading thePopular
Movement for the
Liberation of Angola(MPLA)
in thewar for
independenceand thecivil
war. His birthday is
celebrated asNational
Heroes Day, apublic
holiday in Angola.

KINAXIXI

Lopold Sdar
Senghor
(9 October 1906 20 December 2001)
was aSenegalesepoet, politician, and
cultural theorist who for two decades
served as the first President of Senegal
(1960 1980) .Senghor was the first
African elected as a member of Acadmie
Franaise. Before independence, he
founded the political party called the
Senegalese Democratic Bloc.

BLACK WOMAN

SALUTATION TO THE
DAWN
by Kalidasa

THE PRIDE TO BE AN
AFRICAN

Leonard Okema
AcholiLand!

Rise up Africa

INDIA, a land overflowing with religion

and the religious spirit, has a written
literature that started with Vedic holy texts
some time after 1500.
These homilies and hymns gave rise to
the Upanishads,a body a religious prose
writings philosophical in nature and dealing
with basic tenets of Hinduism, the dominant
religion of India.

Later, oral history, legend, and

moral tales were fused into twogreat books:
The Mahabharata, considered
the national epic of India, and the
Ramayana.

Other major additions to the literature of

India are thePunaras(400 B.C.-1400 A.D.)
and the Panchatantra(450 A.D.), which is
a collection of five books of fables and
short tales interspersed with poetry.
Another
form
of
literature
was
theshastas,which sought to systematize
all learning in the form of laws for the arts
and sciences.

The seventh century A.D. saw the peak

of classical poetry. Drama and lyric
poetry abounded. During this period,
Kalidasa emerged as a poet and writer
of note.
He produced three masterpieces
whichShakuntala, a play,is the most
celebrated.


In the latter part of the Middle
Ages, the courts of the Mogul
emperors, which produced PersoArabic writing inspired a literature
in Urdu. The major artistic form
was theghazal,a stylized form
of lyrical folk song.

Early works ofJapanese literaturewere heavily

influenced by cultural contact withChina andChinese
literature, often written inClassical Chinese.Indian
literaturealso had an influence through the diffusion
ofBuddhism in Japan.
Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a
separate style in its own right as Japanese writers began
writing their own works about Japan, although the influence
of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained until
the end of theEdo period.
Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and
diplomacy in the 19thcentury,Westernand Eastern literature
have strongly affected each other and continue to do so.

Haiku

is a very short form ofJapanese poetrytypically

characterised by three qualities:
The essence of haiku is "cutting" (kiru).This is often
represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas
and akireji("cutting word") between them, a kind of
verbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of
separation and colors the manner in which the
juxtaposed elements are related.
Traditional haiku consist of 17on(also known asmorae),
in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5onrespectively.
Akigo(seasonal reference), usually drawn from asaijiki,
an extensive but defined list of such words.

Examples:
I.
at

the age old pond

a frog leaps into water
a deep resonance
II.
the first cold shower
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw

Tanka
Tanka( "short poem"?)is agenreof
classicalJapanese poetryand one of the
major genres ofJapanese literature.
On the white sand
Of the beach of a small isle
In the Eastern Sea
I, my face streaked with tears,
Am playing with a crab
Ishikawa Takuboku

Historical
Background
of Afro-Asian
Literature

African and Asian cultures are some of

the oldest in the world. It is thought that man
started in Africa migrating to populate the
rest of the world.
As genetic changes occurred there were
also newer ethnicities spreading around the
world. Combinations of these ethnicities
occurred giving rise to mixed races.

All of this culture and thought of what happened

in the past has been revealed through written and
anthropological studies.
The literal start of Afro-Asian literature is hard to
depict considering literature and writings have
been around for millennia, even prior to the
"modern" world; however, the term Afro-Asian
literature is newer to the scene.

Afro-Asian literature is a subset of world literature

studies. It has become a separate segment in English in
which stories are based on experiences in Africa, Asia
or other cultures in the same area that help one
understand the differences in culture.
Many of the texts discuss world peace that the
writers would like to see in order to find improved lives.

Afro-Asian history are part of the culture's oral

history - these poems or songs were passed down
from generation to generation, and they told of the
unique struggles and successes of Afro-Asian
people.
Later, when more people were able to read and
write, history became recorded in prose, plays, and
textbooks.

In a literal sense, the background of Afro-Asian

literature dates to the very beginnings of when
the first mixed race individual began writing.
An exact date is harder to come by given the
wide topic this question asks to be answered. Like
most literature you can be assured that earlier
written documents were based on stories passed
by word of mouth.

Afro-Asian
Short
Stories

Characteristics of an AfroAsian Short Story

short story is a piece of prose fiction

which can be read at a single sitting.
It ought to combine matter-of-fact
description with poetic atmosphere.
It ought to present a unified impression of
temper, tone, colour, and effect.
It mostly shows a decisive moment of life.

 There

is often little action, hardly any character

development, but we get a snapshot of life.
Its plot is not very complex (in contrast to the
novel), but it creates a unified impression and
leaves us with a vivid sensation rather than a
number of remembered facts.
There is a close connection between the short
story and the poem as there is both a unique
union of idea and structure.

Examples of Afro-Asian
Short Story

AfroAsian
Novels

Afro Asian literature is a form of

writing that is written by African
Asians. This is in terms of poems and
novels. This is regarded as different
form of writing.
Afro-Asian literature is a term for
novels or writing such as poems
written by people from mixed Africanarab
ethnicity,
or
african-asian
ethnicity.

In modern times, a part of

world
literature,
Afro-Asian
literature is a separate segment
of
writing
[in
English]
of
experiences in Africa and Asia to
further cultural understanding
and world peace.

Example of Afro-Asian Novel

Ngugi wa Thiong'o - the distinguished
African
writer
andAmnesty
InternationalPrisoner of Conscience (Kenya
1977), has been at the forefront of discussions
on the role of indigenous languages in
decolonization, particularly in Africa, and has
provided
inspiration
to
anti-colonialist
struggles throughout the world.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o novels include Weep
Not Child (1964), The River Between (1965), A
Grain of Wheat (1967), Petals of Blood (1977),
Devil on a Cross (1982) andMatigari Ma
Njiruungi(1986).

In 1977 Kenyan authorities detained Ngugi

without charge after the production of his play,
Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want).
The drama, staged in the Gikuyu language with
a cast of peasants and workers from the village
of Kamiriithu, was sharply critical of the
inequalities and deprivation faced by ordinary
Kenyans. Amnesty International designated
Ngugi aPrisoner of Conscience, and he was
released in 1978.

References:

http://poetry.wordpress.com/2005/10/19/leonardokema-acholi-land/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/rise-up-africa-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku
Keene, Donald,Dawn to the West: Japanese
Literature of the Modern Era - Poetry, Drama,
Criticism (A History of Japanese Literature, Volume
4), Columbia University Press, 1999
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/jimbol2
010-420187-afro-asian-literature-education-pptpowerpoint/