Unajua? – Most books about colonialism in Africa were written by Europeans until Africans started writing their side of the story.

Colonialism in Africa changed Africans lives in a huge way. Many of the first books of modern African literature show this change, like the ones in the African Writers Series.

The African Writers Series was a collection of books published by Heinemann between 1962 and 2003.

You can read about the African Writers Series here

Most African countries were independent by 1980 so it was a time when people, including writers, reflected on the effects of colonialism in Africa.

This article is about 11 books about colonialism in Africa. They are historical fiction novels based on real events and facts of colonialism in African countries.

** There are no spoilers but you will get information on colonialism in the books. **

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11 Best Books About Colonialism In Africa From The African Writers Series

Before you get to reading..

Colonialism in Africa officially started after the Berlin Conference in 1884 where the continent was divided between seven European countries.

African countries became free from colonialism around 80 years later (see the Year of Africa), thanks to African independence movements – see here.

Before African countries became independent they were seen as European colonies. They had names like British Nigeria or French West Africa.

You can read more here for –> A very Brief History of Africa

The years of publication used in this article are the ones in the African Writers Series.

Click to Read: West African Art.. What is it?

#1 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart (1958) is a novel set in colonial Nigeria, also called British Nigeria, it was a British colony from the mid 19th century until Nigeria’s independence in 1960.

During colonialism, British culture and christian religion was brought, often forcefully, on Nigerians. There are about 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria like the Igbo people, the main subjects in Things Fall Apart.

Being the first book in the African Writers Series, Things Fall Apart was a turning point for African literature because it is African history written by an African.

People study the book around the world. It is on the BBC News list of the 100 most influential novels and Time’s 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

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#2 Books About Colonialism In Africa

The Healers

Ayi Kwei Armah

The Healers (1979) is a novel about colonial Ghana and the Ashanti people.

Between 1824 and 1900, the Ashanti Empire fought in the Anglo-Ashanti Wars to keep their independence and land from the British Empire.

In 1900, Britain won the fifth war, see the War of the Golden Stool. In 1957, Ghana became the first country to get independence in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Healers is Ayi Kwei Armah’s the fifth novel. Many of his works, like The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1969), are in the African Writers Series.

For more on The War of the Golden Stool click here

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Psst! You can see a pic of the Ashanti king if you read: 25 Beautiful African Royalty Outfits

#3 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Burning Grass

Cyprian Ekwensi

Burning Grass (1962) is set in northern colonial Nigeria, it used to be the Northern Nigeria Protectorate until it was united with the Southern Nigerian Protectorate to form the Protectorate of Nigeria (1914-1954).

The main characters of the novel are Fulani, which is an ethnic group mostly from the Sahara and Sahel regions of West Africa.

Cyprian Ekwensi was not Fula but lived among them; he shared about that in Three Weeks among the Fulani, which was in the October 1960 edition of the Nigeria Magazine.

The Healers was the second book published in the African Writers Series and he wrote many more.

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11 Types of West African Artifacts And Their Meaning

#4 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Season of Migration to the North

Tayeb Salih

The Season of Migration to the North (1969) is a novel set in Sudan right after its independence; it was ruled by Britain and Egypt at the same time!

The book shows the change that colonialism brought to lives in Sudan (now Sudan and South Sudan). Sudan became independent in 1956, but soon after Sudanese people lived through two long civil wars.

In 2001, The Season of Migration to the North was chosen as the most important Arab novel of the 20th century. Edward Said said it is one of the six best novels of modern Arabic literature.

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#5 Books About Colonialism In Africa

The Joys of Motherhood

Buchi Emecheta

The Joys of Motherhood (1980) is a novel set in colonial Nigeria during World War II. The characters’ lives are set in a traditional Igbo village and the city of Lagos.

The book shows us the way that Nigerian lives and culture changed, especially the role of girls, women and mothers in Igbo life.

The book is not really about the joys of motherhood. The Joys of Motherhood focuses on the lives of women which was rare at the time; it gives readers a time to rethink who a woman is.

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#6 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Arrow of God

Chinua Achebe

Arrow of God (1965) is also a novel set in Igboland in colonial Nigeria.

Britain massively changed the way of life of people like the Igbo ethnic group in southern Nigeria where spirituality was an important part of life. 

Arrow of God is the third book in the African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe with Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease (1963). It won the first Jock Campbell/New Statesman Prize for African writing.

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11 Types of West African Artifacts And Their Meaning

#7 Books About Colonialism In Africa

The River Between

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

The River Between (1965) is a novel set in colonial Kenya. During colonialism Britain took and banned Africans from their own land, and called it “White Highlands”.

Kenyans had their land and freedom stolen which created many conflicts between Europeans and Africans, but also among Africans.

The River Between follows Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child (1964) which was the first novel in English by an East African. It was also published in the African Writers Series.

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Do you know why Africans resisted colonialism? Learn here –> 5 Causes Of Resistance Movements In Africa During Colonialism

#8 Books About Colonialism In Africa

A Grain of Wheat

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

A Grain of Wheat (1967) is set in colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau War when the British colonial government declared a state of emergency.

For more on The Mau Mau War click here

The Mau Mau War (1952-60) was an African independence movement mainly fought by the Kikuyu people to get their land and freedom back from British colonialists.

A Grain of Wheat follows The River Between. Books by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o show the change colonialism brought to Kenya, before and after independence in 1963.

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15 Types of Clothing in Medieval Africa Every Time Traveller Should Own

#9 Books About Colonialism In Africa

God’s Bits of Wood

Ousmane Sembène

God’s Bits of Wood (1970) is a novel set in colonial Senegal but also in Mali, both countries were part of French West Africa.

French colonial rule meant that Africans lived under injustice, but they led movements to free themselves like the 1947-48 Dakar-Niger Railway strike, which is the subject of God’s Bits of Wood.

Les bouts de bois de Dieu (1960) is the original title of the book, which was published the year of Senegal’s independence, it was then translated from French then published in the African Writers Series.

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#10 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Efuru

Flora Nwapa

Efuru (1966) is a novel set in Igboland colonial Nigeria. It is different from most novels of its time because it is all about a woman’s perspective.

Flora Nwapa whose full name was Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa is seen as the mother of modern African literature and a trailblazer for other women.

Efuru is the first book by an African woman that was published around the world.

Image source: Wikipedia, used under Fair Use

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#11 Books About Colonialism In Africa

Mhudi

Sol Plaatje

Mhudi: An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago (1978) is a novel set in 1830s colonial South Africa during the war between Mzilikazi’s Matebele and Barolong in Kunana.

Mhudi, which is a love story, is different from European books of the time about Africans, because it shows Africans as full human beings (see Apartheid South Africa).

Sol Plaatje helped start the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) that became the African National Congress (ANC) in 1923.

Nelson Mandela was an African nationalist and the leader of the ANC

Mhudi is the first novel in English by a black South African. It was completed in 1920 but only published much later.

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Continue reading, friend …

THINK ABOUT IT! How has colonialism changed lives around you?

Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

~ African Proverb ~

Word Bank📚🧑🏿‍🏫

Character

Condominium

Ethnic group

Protectorate

State of emergency

Sub-Saharan Africa

Turning point

Read More ! 🙂 

 

References

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. – ROMANS 11:36

This post was all about books about colonialism in Africa