Children’s literature in Africa: a study of immersion of human developmental values.
Date
2021
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Abstract
Texts and literature are used to ignite critical thought in people and to demonstrate what is of
value in society. This research sought to explore and appraise some selected African
children’s literature with a view to identifying the lessons and morals which are immersed in
them for the development of African children. The objectives of the study were to: (1)
investigate the reasons given by West and Southern African authors of African children’s
literature (novels) for why they write for African children; (2) explore the content and
message of the selected children’s literature; (3) determine the extent to which the content
and message of the selected children’s literature fit or are consistent with the intended
rationale for the writing of these books; (4) determine the extent to which authors of
children’s books from West Africa share the same philosophy or rationale for writing with
those from Southern Africa; (5) outline the African child growth and developmental values
immersed in the selected children’s literature; and (6) examine the psycho-educational
relevance of the selected African children’s books.
The study adopted a text-based qualitative research methodology. This is a methodology
which, according to Boote and Beile (2005), does not seek information from human
participants but only from texts. The data for this research thus already existed inside the
sampled texts. Children’s literature written in English from two geographical locations
namely West Africa and Southern Africa constituted the source of the data for the research.
The study revealed that the novels written by the sampled African authors have some major
similarities regardless of their geographic location. At the same time, there are also some
minor differences between them. The most prominent human-building virtue found in some
of the texts investigated is the notion of the importance of family and community in
successful child development in Africa. Most of the stories in the novels studied could be
classified as cautionary stories which warn against lying, indulgence in mischievous
behaviours and breaking of rules. The selected literature provides representations of Africans
and real-life experiences of Africans such as poverty, which are current with relatable issues
(Caser, 2017). The literature represents Africans as people with laws and ways of social
interaction which include respect for elders and one another. They provide an image of
African people from African perspectives. The selected children’s books are considered
suitable for the English language education system and career development of African
children. Implications of these findings were drawn from the research and some
recommendations for policy and practice were proffered.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.