Protest Literature and Why African Literature Protests

Protest: A statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something.

-Oxford Languages

When you think protest, you probably think of dissatisfied people holding placards and demanding that they are listened to. You probably think of the masses walking the streets and chanting a slogan, one coined to encapsulate their major problem. End Sars, Black Lives Matter, and End Police Brutality are a few examples.

Now, although protests are just a people merging their voices to demand change, the existing power might see them as a threat and sometimes, especially in African countries where the government is above the people, these protests end in massacres, or if we are lucky, a systemic shutting down of the voices that scream the loudest.

Because of this, a great way to protest, to express dissatisfaction and demand reform is to put it within the pages of a book. Many writers do this—lend their voices to the masses by expounding on society’s ills and demanding change within a fictional world that closely mirrors ours. This form of literature is what is called protest literature.

Protest literature refers to literary works (essays, fiction, poems) that discuss and challenge actual socio-political issues.

Although African literature is not the only space where you will find protest, it is by far the most saturated. This did not happen by chance but because of the injustices suffered by Africans during colonisation, and the subsequent struggle for decolonisation in literature.

Most African fiction have elements of protest in them, and I will list a few then pick out three and briefly (because I want to make this post bite-sized) explain why they are protest literature.

• Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

• Disgrace by J.M Coetzee

• The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

• The Path of Thunder by Peter Abrahams

• Weep Not, Child by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

• Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe

• Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo

Here are my picks.

This 1964 novel takes place during the Mau Mau Uprising and is about the struggle of the people of Kenya against the oppression of the British colonists and the subsequent beating down of the Kenyans due to the British’s method of divide and conquer. The story is seen through the eyes of Njoroge, a young Kenyan whose coming of age is affected badly by the events that take place during those final years of British rule.

Weep Not, Child is a protest novel because not only does it show the sad reality of Kenya in those times—a reality that stirred the Mau Mau Uprising—but it also gives ample hints at Ngugi’s belief that to conquer the oppressors the Kenyan people must refuse to be divided and instead fight as a collective. This way, they would be able to reclaim their freedom, their land and their integrity.

Anthills of the Savannah (1987) is Chinua Achebe’s fifth novel. The satirical novel is about three friends, Sam, Chris Oriko, and Ikem Osodi in the fictional West African nation of Kangan during the aftermath of a military coup in Kangan. Sam, a career soldier is installed as the new military dictator and he installs his friends in high-level positions; Chris becoming the Minister of Information and Ikem the editor of a national newspaper, The Gazette.

Anthills of the Savannah is considered protest literature because the novel was written to mirror the real events of 1960s Nigeria (violent coups and insurgencies), to bring to light the corrupt nature of the Nigerian government and to show both the futility of (as seen in Ikem and Chris’s fates) and the hope for (as seen in the successful second coup and the naming ceremony) change.

Looking at the above picks you probably think protest in literature is only against the government and colonialism, however, protest is larger than that. I mean, people protest against the use of plastics and fuels for a greener world, against the killing of animals, and against gender inequality.

The next book is a testament that you can protest about an issue that does not necessarily concern the government but still needs to be addressed because, let’s face it, even though the government might be what we complain about 80% of the time, there are other issues that affect us and deserve to be talked about. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo highlights one such issue.

This debut novel published in 2017 is a protest against the pressure placed on married couples to bear children and the effects of this pressure on a couple who cannot.

Ayobami Adebayo introduces us to a married couple, Yejide and Akin, who are madly in love and whose love is tested when a new wife is introduced into the home because Yejide did not bear Akin a child. It raises the question of infertility, of motherhood and how it shapes a woman’s place in society, and of mental health in the Nigerian clime.

Simple.

Because all writers write from their experiences and the environment to which they belong. A south African who witnesses apartheid in his everyday life will be inclined to write a story with themes of apartheid. It is the same for a Nigerian who suffers from corruption and a nation full of injustices. The same for a writer who witnesses harmful practices like child marriage and gender-based violence. The same for African writers who still feel the effects of colonialism and neo-colonialism.

So, why is African literature considered protest literature?

Answer: Because we protest. Because we must live with the damages caused by these injustices and therefore must lend our voices to the fight.

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