CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
This study is examining the concept of negritude in general and also as reflected in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests.
The word Negritude was invented by Aime Cesaire, the colored poet-politician from Martinique, in 1932 in his well-known poem ‘Cahier d’un reteur au pays natal’, but its ideology has been defined mainly by the Senegalese poet-politician, Leopold Sedar Senghor, who declared in a speech before the Ghanian Parliament in 1962 that:
Negritude is not even an attachment to a particular race, our own, although such attachment is legitimate. Negritude is the awareness, defense and development of African cultural values…(1975:66)
Cesaire also recognizes in his essay, ”Discours Sur le Colonialisme”, that the principal error of the European lies in the equations:
Christianity = Civilization
Paganism = Barbarity… (1975:66)
Everything and everyone is judged in relation to the above equation. Cesaire’s Negritude and Senghor’s is also the affirmation of African cultural values. It is a positive expression of human dignity and pride which of necessity has to be preceded by a purification of the harmful aspects of the Western European conditioning of the Black which has made him turn against himself. Cesaire is repudiating the cloak of white sophistication without repudiating the Whiteman and all his values. His repudiation of this conditioning is the recognition that cultural and religious values are not absolute but entirely relative.
Negritude is therefore that warmth of comprehension which establishes an immediate link with the essence of things; it is finally ‘the ensemble of cultural values of the black world as expressed in life, the institutions and works of black men’.
In the first texts of Leopold Sedar Senghor, Negritude has in fact become the doctrine of the synthesis between cultures, of a watered and desired acculturation. He refused to accept their claim that through their education they were building Christianity and civilization in him where there was nothing but paganism and barbarism.
The concept of Negritude emerged as the expression of a revolt against the historical situation of French colonialism and racism. The cultural significance of Negritude can be best seen from the background of the usual pattern of cultural nativism which characterizes the struggles of every colonized or oppressed people to re-establish and raise the status of their culture. In accordance with this pattern, cultural assertion may take the form of their extolling of the virtues of specific aspects of their indigenous culture, their debunking of some specific of the colonizing or dominant group or both forms. Thus, Negritude as a typical nativistic movement repudiates certain intrinsic values of European civilization such as its contractual determination of social relationships and its slavish adherence to scientific planning of every detail of life. While on the other hand, it extols the African’s close attachment to the soil and to nature, the warmth of his humanity expressed in relationships which are purely personal and his immense vitality and zest for a life which is not circumscribed by much planning.
The Negritude movement was a re-assertion of confidence in the past and embodied a need to re-establish the historical validity of it.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There is the problem of what really is African Personality and Negritude and how are they different from each other. It is the responsibility of this researcher to find a solution to the problem and also to highlight and expatiate on how African Personality is portrayed in the play text A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka. And also to disclose the myth of the black past and setbacks of Negritude on African literature and society.
1.3 Rationale of the Study
This research work is necessary because it focuses on Negritude, its setbacks, how Wole Soyinka’s play text reflects either the concept of Negritude or that of African personality. African personality should be regenerated and stood for, the play A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka has been tagged difficult to comprehend and the aim of this research work is to bring it to its simplest form, for a better understanding to the readers of this work.
1.4 Scope of the Study
This study’s main focus is Negritude. It will examine the African personality and how it is portrayed in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests. It will also compare both concepts.
1.5 Methodology of the Study
This research employs the historical and literary methodologies. The historical methodology which entails the investigation of documented sources from literary materials such as journals, articles, magazines, newspapers and textbooks to trace the beginnings and development of the subject under consideration. The literary methodology which is also called the analytical methodology focuses on written and printed library and archival sources, especially books, journals, reports, literary works such as plays and poems which are analyzed and relevant data relating to the subject will be collected.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The importance of this research work to the readers is that it is going to highlight the areas they have found difficult concerning African Personality and Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests.
This essay also broadens the understanding of those who regard African personality and Negritude as one. Moreover this essay acts as a reference point to other researchers who would like to investigate on this topic because it opens a new vista for further research.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
Although some relevant materials are not available, hence, seeking and sorting out useful information of this study proved difficult. Time and financial constraints also cannot be left out. However, the little information that was available was fully utilized.