Heinemann African Writers Series Presentation Handouts

 

Things Fall Apart Presentation Reflection Essay

I enjoyed doing working on this project and I also enjoyed my topic. Through the research process, presentation, and presentation feedback I learned a lot. The way I went about accomplishing this assignment was first doing basic research on the African Writers Series (i.e. what is was and when it began). After I found the answers to these questions, I began to look into doing some research on just a few of the authors in the series, including Achebe. Through my research I found that all of my six chosen authors had a major impact on those around them. Some of these impacts were good and some were bad but for the greater good. If I could go back one thing that I would have focused on is the overall importance of the series. I feel like I did this but might have focused on the authors a little too much, or either chose too many authors to examine.

Looking back, one thing in particular that I gained from this assignment as a whole is the change of my perception of “African history”. In one of our classes I stated that I thought African history was only that of sub-Saharan Africa and only that of “Black Africa”. This has now changed. While I was researching, I found that there was a white lady in the African Writers Series. This threw me off, since my perception was that black Africa was the only African history. As I continued research I found that she had written works that opposed the apartheid in South Africa. I soon began to change my perception of African history due role in the progression of Africa (South Africa). History existing from Nigeria and the Igbo people all the way down to South Africa, the Apartheid, and the works of Nadine Gordimer.

 

 

 

Works Cited (Presentation)

“Ama Ata Aidoo | Ghanaian Writer.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Ama-Ata-Aidoo>.

 

Biography.com Editors. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/steve-biko-38884#synopsis>.

 

“Okot P’Bitek | Ugandan Author.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Okot-pBitek>.

 

Verongos, Helen T. “Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2014. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/books/nadine-gordimer-novelist-and-apartheid-foe-dies-at-90.html?_r=1>.