So I recently read Esquire magazine’s “75 books every man should read.” It’s a cool list but, of course, it’s full of dead white dudes. Inspired by the passing of “bro” John Matshikiza (an avid reader and writer) and the recent political shakeup in South Africa, I got to thinking, what do Afripop readers think is required reading for Africans? What books about the continent helped you develop an African consciousness, my people? Let’s create our own list, right here on this here blog. Send me your suggestions and we’ll publish a complete list in a few weeks.
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My beloved, chomie...
This is fantastic! What a wonderful excersize and reflection on my own literary affair!!! My being says "yummy"!! So ke uyazi chomie I had to go back (songs have been written bout this process ne? *smile*) and here's my list for now...uyazi marait will be mix masala! *wink*
- Beloved: (Sula, Bluest eye...all of it)Toni Morrison
- Have you seen Zandile: Gcina Mhlophe
- To sir with love ER Braithwaite
- To kill a mockingbird: Lee Harper or Harper Lee (eish ya ne)
-A dry white season : Andre Brink
- Alice Walker (don't be shy with her!)
- Waiting for the barbarians - JM Coetzee
- Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga (the sequel is also fab! Deep ne?)
-Anthills of the savannah - Chinua Achebe
- The beautiful ones are not yet born - Arma Aita Adoo (sp?)
- Women who run with the wolves - Estes ne? (ndilibele)
- Country of my skull - A Krog
-Zenzele : Nizipho Maraire
- A life : Mamphela Ramphela
Uhmm...had a whole lot! Oh! Lordy, ofcourse
-Wizard of the crow : Ngugi wa Thiongo
-Unbowed - Wangari Mathaai
-Ben Okri - absolutely! don't hold back! he's literary dessert! Dig in!
- So long a letter - Mariama Ba (yho!)
- Maya Angelou: Caged bird, but don't hokd back there also!
-100 yrs of solitute : GG Marquez
-I write what I like: Biko
- Things fall apart :Achebe (mentioned him already? well, can always have more of a good thing! Seconds please! Some more!! *tee-heee*
- the Zakes Mda triology: madonna, redness, dying..
Ok I'm forgetting authors, but I remember
- a small gathering of bones
-river cross my heart
-the final passage
Ok sana, brain is frozen ngoku! Will update ok!! Sunshine and inspiration!!
my sista intle lento uyenzayo!!!!utsho ngobuhle nje!!
i am surprised that nobody has these books down
THE BIBLE
THE LAND IS OURS-the Political Legacy of Mangaliso Sobukwe, by S.E.M. Pheko
SUBUKWE AND APARTHEID, Benjamin Pogrund
I WRITE WHAT I LIKE, Steve Biko
BLUES PEOPLE, Amiri Baraka
STOLEN LEGACY, George G. M. James
DEMOCRACY MATTERS, Cornel West
AFRICANA, probably the greatest manuscript about the entire African Diaspora
SPEAK SO YOU CAN SPEAK AGAIN, the life of Zora Neale Hurston
here is my 2bhobho....
Petals of blood, Weep not child - Ngungi wa Thiongo
African love stories - Ama Ata Aido (edited by)
Black skin, white masks - France Fanon
Scatter the asses and go, Hyenas - Mongane Wally Serote
Black God of the sun - Ekow Eshun
Mavericks - Lauren Beukes (edited by)
Heart of darkness - Joseph Conrad
Indaba my children - Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
Development as freedom - Amartya Sen
The Spirit of intimacy - Sobonfu E. Some
God's bit of wood, The money order with white genesis - Ousmane Sembene
Zenzele: a letter for my daughter - Nozipho Maraire
i know this is not a book but might as well be
Chimurenga
http://chimurenga.co.za
BOOKS:
“Dreams From My Father,&”THE AUDACITY OF HOPE
Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Both By Barack Obama
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois simply bcoz this century is about identity
O' Mandingo
The Only Black at a Dinner Party
Gerard Sekoto: I Am An African by MANGANYI, CHABANI
The Good Women of China by Xinran just coz Africa and Asia share so much in common
Capitalist Nigger by Chika Onyeani
ok well.......i leave it here
Yo Yo,
Here is one or Two:
Hero of the Nation-- Henry Blasius Masauko Chipembere
Black Sunlight-- Dambudzo Merachera
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts--Amos Tutola
Question of Power--Bessie Head
Their Eyes Were Watching God--Zora Neal Hurston
Ready For Revolution--Kwame Ture
Autobiography of Malcolm X-- Malcolm X
The Making of Black Revolutionaries--
James Forman
Destruction of Black Civilization-- Chancellor Williams
The African Origin of Civilization--Cheikh Anta Diop
The Isis Papers--Francess Cress Welsing
The Alchemist-- Paulo Coelho
Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Maru by Bessie Head (1971)
Eskia Mphahlele "Down Second Avenue" (1959)
"Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa - a catalogue based on the exhibition of the same title held in London, Whitechapel Gallery, (1995)
"The Hip-Hop Generation" Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture" by Bakari Kitwana (2002)
"The Party is Over" James Matthews (1971)
The Quite Violence of Dreams, Thirteen Cents and The Hidden Star by K. Sello Duiker
All Ben Okri books - Star Book, Dangerous Love, The Famished Road , Songs of Enchantment, Astonishing the Gods, etc
"The God of Small Things" (1997) by Arundhati Roy.
"The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945 - 1994" Okwui Enwezor
Njabulo Ndebele "The Cry of Winnie Mandela"
Gabeba Baderoon "The Dream in the Next Body"
So, I think I could help you with this list sissie, thought I may be "gendered" in my approach - but forgive me for my womanist stance/lens (smile).
So, here's my list of books to add to your list:
Woman at Point Zero - Nawal el Sadaawi
Purple Hibiscus + Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimimanda Adichi Ngozi
Our Sister Killjoy - Ama Ata Aidoo
Head Above Water - Buchi Emecheta
The Heart of Redness - Zakes Mda
You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town/David's Story/Playing in the Light - Zoe Wicomb
Mother to Mother - Sindiwe Magona
Unbowed -Wangari Maathai
Decolonising the Mind - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Anthills of the Savannah - Chinua Achebe
Hero of the Nation - Henry Masauko Chipembere
Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathbane
Distant View of a Minaret - Alifa Rifaat
So Long a Letter - Mariama Ba
A long way gone - Ishmael Beah
Song for Night/Becoming Abigail - Chris Abani
Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Desert Flower/Desert Dawn - Waris Dirie
Born Under the Big Rain - Fadumo Korn
When Rain Clouds Gather/Maru/A Question of Power - Bessie Head
Women are Different - Flora Nwapa
The Stone Virgins - Yvonne Vera
Call me woman - Ellen Kuzwayo
And they didn't die - Lauretta Ngcobo
That's all I can do off the top of my head (smile).
Biko- Donald Woods
Roots - Alex Haley
Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Oops I forgot who its by
Long Walk to Freedom - Madiba
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
As they come to me I will comment.
Anthem of the Decades, by Mazisi Kunene.
There is plenty of misinformation about the spirituality of Africans/Nguni in the South. Namely, the idea that unlike other ethnic groups (including our Venda and Tsonga relatives) our spirituality has never included deities and has always been headed and guided by ancestral spirits. Although this idea is popular, to re-study the system of colonialism is to comprehend the magnitude of genocide's impact on a peoples ability to keep spiritual intelligence and practice intact; there remains a severe breakdown. By retelling the story of our origin, Kunene's book demystifies the idea that Africans of the South have a system and orientation that is dissimilar from what is spiritually common among Africans within and outside of South Africa.