British views of Africa as seen in Victorian literature
Date
1976
Authors
Fatoke, Samuel Aderemi Olumuyiwa
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Abstract
"British Views of Africa As Seen in Victorian Literature", examines the relationship between the perceptions of Africa and Africans by British writers, on the one hand, and the latter's political and economic interests, on the other. This study concentrates on the story of the external image of a mysterious and remote continent which includes the activities of those many visitors - merchants, soldiers, explorers, missionaries, kings and proconsuls - whose contributions to Africa 's history are not to be gainsaid but who were essentially outsiders and temporary residents. This study shows that these Anglo-African fiction writers have revealed more about themselves and British society than they have told us about Africa. In this respect this study gives the idea that attention has been concentrated, on the "stranger's view" about Africa but not on the response and perspective of the African himself.
The first chapter deals with the early and persistent British image of Africa which divides sub-Saharan Africans into noble savages and bestial savages. Closely related to this approach of Victorian writers of the African population is the tendency of many of them to ignore indigenous African people altogether. Of ten the literary stereotype of the "Dark Continent" consists of breathtaking landscapes, noble beasts, magnificent flora, but no people.
The second chapter examines how the British writers reflect the rise and establishment of a racist ideology as a principal handmaiden to the slave trade, slavery, and empire. Assessments of the human qualities of Africans have varied with the manner in which they fit into the plans of white settlers, missionaries and proconsuls. At one period, the adaptability of Africans to Western life styles and beliefs was perceived as reflecting an openness to Christianity and "Western civilization". At a later period, most especially during the "Age of Certainty", when the Africans had begun to make demands, some of which-were based upon their adopted ideology, their behaviour was seen as evidence of degeneration. This study also examines the strongly androcentric mystique that permeates British writing on Africa particularly during the nineteenth century.
Chapter three dilates on whether the English have been bearers of the white man's burden· in Africa or the idealizer of the "unspoiled Masai". In this case, the Victorian writers see Africa as the obverse of England. The European - the Englishman in particular - is seen as rational, mature, and exceedingly well disciplined, while the black African is perceived as non-rational, childlike, and quite undisciplined. Chapters -four and five concentrate on changing perceptions of Africa during the first four decades of the present century, when relations between Africans and Europeans began to take new directions, whose final significance is still uncertain.
This study finally tries to critically analyze the Victorian lectures 'and writings, which are non-fiction, mostly from the "Victorian Lions" as the explorers were called. These writings and lectures are some of the most rewarding sources of African history, because in attempting to delete, disguise or belittle the role of the Africans, they often reveal the opposite of what was intended. They are fruitful sources of unconscious evidence, supplying the very evidence they sought to suppress or recording facts the significance of which they are totally ignorant. Some examples of this will be found in this study. This study does not treat fiction and non-fiction separately since both are governed by the same tradition. The fiction, however, does give more forceful phrasing to the images because of the concentration of each novel upon a single complex of images.