African Poetry and Society Problems - Essay Example

Do Not Fear the Past by Zuhura Seng’enge

Zuhura is a young poet that is currently working as a volunteer in the Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA). Inspired by literature from a young age, she has been a poet from when she was in primary school, writing her first poem at the age of 12. Since her first poem at that tender age, she has always used poetry as a way of expressing herself and for inspiring others. "Do not fear the past" is a moving poem that brings attention to the past and asks people to not believe everything that they were told as some of the stories may not be necessarily true but could be lies.

The Target Audience

Senge’nge mainly targets the African people in this poem. She uses a multilayered approach by looking at the world from an African perspective and also tries to engage the Africans from a global perspective. In this seemingly radical poem, she talks directly to the African people asking them to move on in life and. She states that "do not fear the past". She also asks her audience to move away from the past lies said to them at a young age, learn their history and free themselves from evil by reading the bible and the Quran (Uimonen, 2018). She encourages the African people to rise above their painful past and struggles that occurred during colonization. In her poem, she expresses the deep anxieties and the fears that the African people still hold even in this present age as a result of the past injustices of colonization. She encourages Africans to rise above these challenges and move forward despite these past challenges. However, in some parts, she appears to be in pure anguish and exudes a feeling of hopelessness in the readers.

When it Was Performed

Seng'enge utilizes both an African and global approach in her poem. She takes the African approach when she states that the past is ugly but "ours. She also tells the audience to find the knowledge that was stolen and the life that was robbed from "us". In these two instances, she clearly shows herself as part of the African society that she is trying to talk to and advise. This was effective in bringing the audience to the point of more understanding because they feel the author identifies with the situation as well (Uimonen, 2018). She also steps aside and considers the situation from a global perspective. This seen in the way she narrates in other lines not as a part of the African audience but more as a different person who is trying to advise an African. This is seen in most of the lines of her poem. She also tells her audience not to hold the lies that they were told when they were young and to learn the history of their people and seek the truth.

Reason for Performance

Seng'enge first narrated this poem in the Women Scream in international Poetry Festival in Tanzania in 2014 and also the same function in 2015. She also narrated it in the Swahili carnival of 2014, and the Dar Poetry Festival of 2015. Her first performance was in an event that brought together global leaders, especially women, to discuss issues that affect society. Her poem was, therefore, one of the most inspiring poems that empowered women to look beyond the injustices that they have faced both in the past and at present and to embrace it and forge ahead to a better future. Sen,g'enge's dream as stated in, her biography is to inspire the young to use art as a means of change for improving their lives. Seng’enge’s aim for this poem was therefore to empower the African person to learn and appreciate their history and identify and move forward towards a more informed future where their informed actions guide the development of the African person.

This poem was written in response to a myriad of political situations in the continent. It was written in time the continent in battling with a state of confusion and anxiety resulting from past injustices from colonialism. The continent, after many years of forced rule and oppression, is trying to find itself and rise above these challenges with historical injustices being a significant impediment. These include those from partitioning of ancestral lands diving communities and causing separation, rampant corruption in the countries, the place of the woman in the current society among many other issues. Seng'enge therefore in consideration of all these issues, is bringing back focus to the African population by advising them to accept the painful past, learn about the African culture and identity that was lost during the colonial period and use this knowledge in building a future for the continent. The pet also acknowledges the importance of religion and its books to bring peace and sanity in the continent. She asks her audience to read the bible and the Quran and to find the meaning of religion (Uimonen, 2018).

Core Message of the Poem

The core message of the poem that Seng'enge wishes to impart is that Africans should rise from the dust and ahead despite the crippling effects of the past injustices. She writes in anguish to bring the audience to understand these injustices but also tells them to accept it and move on. She warns the Africans not to be content with consuming information from the western world, especially about Africa itself because it is not entirely true.

Relationship with Themes

Like many poems by African poets, Zuhura’s “Do not fear the past” talks about the pain that the African people went through under the colonial rule. She expresses the deep anxieties still faced by the Africans as a direct result of the oppressive colonial rule. She asks the African people to not fear the past despite it being ugly. She also brings attention to the manner in which the African people are being depicted outside and the effects it has on the African continent. She asks people to therefore not believe in the lies that they have been told about themselves but to actively learn the history of their people, seek the truth but to free themselves from evil.

In her poem, she shows the serious difficulties and pains that the African people went through under the colonial rule. She highlights the excesses of the colonialists in dealing with the Africans by stating that "blood was spilt and people dead". This is true because when the colonialists came to Africa, they were met with strong resistance by the Africans, and there were serious conflicts that led to the death of many people. The colonialists were more advanced in their fighting and had more powerful weapons such as guns and were, therefore, able to fight off the resistance with lesser casualties than with the Africans (Helgesson et al., 2017). In addition to the deaths that occurred during the scramble and partitioning of Africa, there were also many other ills that the Africans faced. Many people were moved from their own ancestral land to live in settlements to free land for ownership by the colonialists. As a result of these settlements, many families have torn apart, and relatives separated from their loved ones. They were also forced to do hard labour under the colonialisms in their own lands. The Africans' opposition to this infringement of their rights was met with fierce force leading to many deaths and more ills.

While Seng'enge does not explicitly talk about misogyny, she asks her audience to digress from the past ways that were oppressive and inhuman and ask people to find the truth in learning both the Quran and the bible. The past was full of oppression and evil, and the poet sees a way to move away from this is by learning from the holy books. These are the books that talks about love and forgiveness and value for every human being. So, in essence, the author seems to reiterate the importance of placing a value for every individual and thus avoid evil. She talks about the spilt blood and deaths but also states that love and unity survived. It is therefore evident that in her message to the audience, she is calling for love among the people and for digression from evil. By showing the importance of embracing the past, learning from it, it would, therefore, be meaning full to conclude that all evil including against women should be avoided (Helgesson et al., 2017).

One of the major issues that also arise from this poem that relates to the theme is alienation. Seng'enge has many lines in her poem that talks of the need to look for the lost identify and to embrace it. She asks her audience to learn the tongues of their ancestors, to reconnect with the blood, and find the knowledge stolen from them in the past. She also asks the audience to learn from the wisdom of their race and own the identity that the colonialist s erased. She is therefore seeking to bring attention to the identities that were robbed of the African people by the colonialists when they arrived to the continent (Helgesson et al, 2017). The colonialists disrupted the way of living for the African people by separating families and killing the social structure of the people. They actively worked on destroying the traditions and customs of the Africans and instead tried to assimilate them to the westernized ways. This assimilation was actively sought in a bid to completely rob them of their identity, and Seng’enge asks Africans to learn it and to embrace it back.

One of the things that are also evident, and the poet seems to be responding to is the issue of misrepresentation of Africans by the western media. The western media focuses on the failures of the continent, such as focusing too much on the African slums and not on the positive stories. The western media, therefore, notoriously continues to propagate negative stereotypes about the continent, showing it is a land of poverty and problems. This has caused the African s, especially those living abroad to fret upon these perceptions of their continent and its inhabitant because these opinions affect their future. Seng'enge seems to be responding to this issue when she asks Africans to find the truth of their people and not believe in the lies they were told. In this, she acknowledges the rampant misinformation from the west on the continent and asks Africans to actively learn and understand their history and free themselves.