Beyond Racism: A Study of SembAne Ousmaneas Les Bouts De Bois De Dieu

Abstract

An essential ingredient is missing in "Art for art's sake." That vacuum is the functionality of the art. Art cannot solely be for its own purpose because it is a social creation. A given human society gives birth to its creation and production to reflect on human living conditions, actions, inactions and experiences among other things. For Africa and its people, functional art is the ultimate. An art, which does not only inject its aesthetic values but also teaches moral, transmits cultural values, improves vocabulary pool and heals broken hearts with a view to developing human society, is the kind of creativity or art favourable to Africa sphere. And, by extension, we believe the entire world will benefit from such art in this century, where cultural matters generate serious debates. In this study, we attempt to validate that African literature contributes to the decolonization and the eventual political liberation of African countries by examining the connection between literature and society. Using Sembène Ousmane's Les bouts de bois de Dieu as platform and adopting sociological criticism as our theoretical framework, the paper concludes that African literature is a panacea to the development of human consciousness and consequent societal advancement.