Africanness and Britishness Pedigree and Research of African English literature

Abstract

As an intersection of African literature and English literature, Afro-British literature has become a common carrier of “Africanness” and “Englishness”, not only upholding the thick tradition of African local culture, but also powerfully supporting and expressing “Africanness” through its potential discourse of resistance and emancipatory demands. Not only does it hold on to the thick African local cultural tradition and strongly support and speak of “Africanness”, but it also intervenes in, subverts and reshapes “Britishness” through its potential discourse of resistance and demand for liberation. Afro-British literature has made an important contribution to the mutual understanding and appreciation of the two literary traditions and to the connection of cultures, ethnic groups and societies in two different regions across the oceans, providing an excellent and realistic blueprint for the construction of culture in the post-imperial and post-racial era, and shaping a paradigm for the construction of community in the context of globalization and pluralism nowadays.