The Pioneers of Writing in African Languages in The English-speaking African World

It is wrong to refer to the writers of Negritude as the first writers of sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, if their advent has been a landmark in the history of black African literature, it must be noted that writers in southern Africa were the first to write literary works. It is useful to briefly recall their positions and linguistic choices because, contrary to what one might think, they have not all adopted the same attitude towards the use of Western languages.

The first of these, Thomas Mofolo (1876-1948), who would not usurp the status of the father of African literature, is a writer from Lesotho who wrote all his novels in Mesotho, his mother tongue. In particular, he wrote Moeti oa bochabela (1907), Pitseng (1910) and Chaka (1910).

Unfortunately, this effort of valorization and perpetuation of African vernacular languages has not been pursued by African writers; the company was neglected, especially by those of the second generation. These writers, whose texts clearly claimed an anti-colonial discourse, and who opposed the exploitation of the African continent and the inferiority of the black, have mostly used the language of the colonizer. In the writings of Nigerians Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Amos Tutola or Ghanaians Ayi Kwei Armah, Efua Sutherland, Ama Ata Aidoo and Kofi Awonoor, to name but a few, the adoption of the English language is seen as both communication tool and weapon against deculturation (acculturation). However, these writers did not forget that this language was imposed on them by the imperial system which considered that the metropolitan language was the norm to follow and therefore perceived, as Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin write, and variation as linguistic "impurity". Some of them have successfully risked claiming this impurity (notably Amos Tutola and Okot p'Bitek), while others have limited themselves to proposing solutions for the future of African literatures. For example, while advocating for the promotion of African vernacular languages, Ayi Kwei Armah advocates for the adoption of a continental language of reference. Citing geographical and lexical reasons, Kiswahili, the vernacular language of East Africa, would be, according to him, a wise choice (Armah, 2010: 129). However, Armah, author of eight novels and several novels and essays in the English language, has so far produced no work in his mother tongue, nor even in Kiswahili. While waiting for the wish he expressed (and which would be part of a continental political choice) to be considered, other writers, alas few in number, adopted a more pragmatic attitude, taking the decision to abandon the language of the colonizer for write in African languages.

One of the most convincing cases is undoubtedly that of Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. Author of novels, short stories, plays and essays, this prolific writer published his first writings in English, like most African writers, before turning to writing in African languages. Ngugi understood the devastating impact of English on Kenyan culture and decided to help promote literature in Kikuyu and Swahili. The founding act of this awakening is undoubtedly the change of his name from James to Wa Thiong'o. Subsequently, he will defend the idea that language is not only an instrument of communication; it is also a bearer of the history and culture of each people. Of the two fundamental functions of language emphasized by Ngugi, that is to say, the communication and transmission of history and culture, the second poses a problem for African writers who write in foreign languages to the detriment of those of their own continent. Their role as a transmission belt for cultural heritage cannot be adequately fulfilled if they continue to write exclusively in European languages. For Ngugi, only Africans who still feel colonized and indoctrinated continue to see European languages as communication tools par excellence. It is for this reason that he proposes a decolonization of the writer's mind which tends to write only for African intellectuals and Westerners while the local population should be its priority audience. The different articulations of this argument are developed in his book Decolonizing the Mind in which he refuses to take part in a literature that he describes as Afro-European.

It is not only anti-colonial discourse and the fight against neo-colonialism that is perceived through its position. Indeed, we note in this call a revolutionary break, a real determination to hatch an African vernacular literature. Since 1977, after seventeen years of writing in English, Ngugi has written in Kikuyu. Ngaahika Ndeenda: Ithaako ria ngerekano (I Will Marry When I Want), written in collaboration with Ngugi wa Mirii in 1980 and, two years later, the novel Caitaani mutharaba-Ini (Devil on the Cross) are the first publications directly written in his native language; they denote an awareness integrating language as a primary instrument for the development of African literature in African languages.

It is worth noting that such an ambition is almost absent from the governmental priorities of the politicians who took the reins of state power after obtaining African independence. Only former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere (1922-1999), who, in his desire to promote a popular culture in his country, translated two Shakespeare plays into Swahili, is an exception to this. Although regrettable, this lack of political commitment is not enough to obliterate the efforts of writers in English-speaking Africa who have become interested in African languages. The same determination also exists in so-called Francophone African countries; on the other hand, compared to the former English colonies where we can note a firm awareness, it seems amorphous in many respects.