Europe is Not My Center

Traditional Art Forms as a Means of Narrative

Abstract

Art has long been a central element of African tradition and culture, serving as a tool of expression and transmission. It can be used to reflect on popular sentiments and relive historical events. Many African societies and cultures prioritize visual or oral art forms such as poetry, film, and music. This can be attributed to longstanding oral traditions that precede modern times and to artists like Ousmane Sembène, who vowed to democratize art and present it in a way all Africans could consume, regardless of literacy. Sembène was not the only one, as Schumann highlights a similar trend in South Africa: “Oral communication also has been much more accessible to a large part of the South African population than the printed press due to lack of literacy and economic means (for which the apartheid
system was of course partly responsible).” (2008, p.18). [...]