Modern African Verse and the Politics of Authentication

In his article "Modern African Verse and the Politics of Authentication" Gabriel S. Bamgbose argues that the authenticity of modern African poetry is marked by the intricate tie between African verse and African life in its diversities and complexities. Bamgbose examines the "modern" nature of African poetry, its oral roots, its treatment of colonial, and cultural nationalist issues, its issues of négritude, language, radical consciousness, gender, and its "international" nature. Bamgbose draws on the poetry of Okot p'Bitek, Taban Lo Liyong, and Frank Chipasula of East Africa, Tchikaya U Tam'si, Tati Loutard, and Gahlia Gwangwa'a of Central Africa, and Dennis Brutus, Agostinho Neto, and Luvuyo Mkangelwa of Southern Africa (he excludes poetry from West Africa, which has often taken the front space in critical discourse on modern African poetry). In doing so, he reveals that modern African poetry possesses a complex nature, a direct representation of the spirit, identities, and realities of Black Africa and Africans.