Alexander K. Opicho
9 October 2005
Nairobi — Even though works of literature authored by Africans are referred to in the West as comparative literature - meaning that African creativity is sub in value and it derives its direction from its Western prototype - we should honour European writers who conform to the African literary spirit.
Foremost in the category of white African writers that deserve honour is Franz Fanon. Fanon was born on the Martinique Island in a Franco-Arabic family. But when he moved to Algeria as a revolutionary psychiatrist, he chose to be at Africa's service through his prolific authorship.
In his Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon appreciated racial diversity as a universal strength by arguing that "the common weakness that devours humanity is that a black man is ever striving to become a white man while a white man struggles to become a human being".
The psychological logic is that it is not the duty of a Negro to hate a white nor is it the obligation of the white to impeach the Negroes' collective intentions but it is our moral duty to serve mankind.
This is appealing. The passage of time and death of Fanon have never reduced nobility from his ideas. In his other works - notably The Wretched of the Earth and The Dying Colonialism - Fanon exercised a serious concern for Africa more than other artists in the north of Africa. T
he skilfully perpetrated fear and other psychological traumas that Negroes suffer have been ascribed as ills of European colonialism by Fanon in all of his works.
Another white African celebrity of un-blemished stature in art is Denis Brutus. Brutus is a South African white. A greater part of his life was spent in prison at Robben Island and Pretoria.
The poetry that fearlessly fault-found the white perpetrated apartheid that Brutus wrote was the reason for his regular incarceration. Brutus can better be identified as Africa's literary jailbird who only gets equivalence in Kenya's Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
All that beautiful poetry of Brutus that loudly echoes the need for Africa's political and mental freedom was penned in prison. That is why in his Letters to Martha, there is a long poem captioned 'Poems from Prison', which gave a detailed revelation of the agonies of being the inmate in the apartheid led jail.
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye is a white Kenyan. She is the author of Coming to Birth, among other award-winning works. She was born in Europe and only came to Kenya as an African missionary bookseller. The admirable feature about Macgoye is how she addresses African literature. She has boldly accepted The beauty inherent in African literature.
By referring to some good works by our white brethren, it is possible to get our celebrities of African art from the white African stock.
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