Name: Misty and Jackie______________
Africa and Post-Colonial Nations
For your web quest, you will conduct an investigative search to understand the history, terms, and important
influences on African Literature and its colonial roots. Please write in complete sentences unless asked for a
list. Write your answers in the space provided.
PART ONE—Terms, Definitions, and important facts
1. Follow this link: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/impafr.htm and
describe which European Nations held control over South Africa and Nigeria in the past before
liberation. How many European languages are spoken in Africa?
British, France 6 different languages
2. Look up the term Post-colonialism. Define. What do you think happens to a colonized country once the
colonizers leave? Post-colonial studies record the human relations among the colonial nations and the
peoples of the colonies.
3. Look up definitions for the following terms: creole, hybridity, binaries, and Eurocentrism. Write them
below. How do these terms relate to post-colonialism?
 Creole: A person of European descent born in the West Indies or Spanish America
 Hybridity: Genetics The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring


produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.
Binaries: Characterized by or consisting of two parts or components; twofold.
Eurocentrism: Centered or focused on Europe or European peoples, especially in relation to historical or cultural influence
These terms are related because they talk about the details of human relations and the peoples of the colonies.
4. Research countries in Africa that have been
colonized and write them below, followed by the country that colonized them in
the right-hand box.
Colonized countries:
Madagascar
Ethiopia
Nigeria
Angola
Belgian Congo
Morocco
European Nation that colonized them:
French
Italian
British
Portuguese
Belgian
Spanish
PART TWO—South Africa, Apartheid, and Nelson Mandela
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html
5. Follow the link above to look at the history of Apartheid. In the box below, write a SHORT summary of
Apartheid. What is it? Who was persecuted? Why? Follow this link for a video:
http://www.biography.com/people/nelson-mandela-9397017 Who was Nelson Mandela? Why was he
important to South Africa?
South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. Population in
Apartheid for blacks is 19 million and for whites is 4.5 million. Apartheid is the official government
policy of racial segregation; officially renounced in 1992
He became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement and joined the African National
Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the
South African government and its racist policies
PART THREE—Nigeria and Chinua Achebe
6. Follow the link: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/impafr.htm and list
who had control over Nigeria as a colonized state. When did they gain their independence? Look up
Chinua Achebe. What book is he famous for writing? What was it about?
7. Reflect: Based on what you have read thus far, what sense of cultural identity does a community of a
colonized population retain? How does this affect the identity of a Nation?