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Okot P'Bitek (1931-1982). Uganda.Okot p'Bitek was born in Gulu, the largest town in Acholi town in Uganda in 1931. He began writing at an early age. Okot played for the Ugandan national soccer team, and in 1958, he remained in England after a soccer tour to continue his education. He received a certificate in education from Bristol University, and earned a law degree from University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. In the early 1960's he studied social anthropology at Oxford, and received a B.Litt. He returned to Uganda to teach at Makerere University in Kampala. In 1967, he went to teach at Nairobi University. He died of a liver infection in 1982. In 1953, he wrote his first novel, Lak Tar (White Teeth). It is the story of a young Acholi man who must work away from home to earn money for bridewealth, so that he may marry. After working in Kampala and on a sugar plantation, he returns home with only a small portion of the necessary sum. On his return trip, he is pick pocketed, and returns to Gulu with nothing. In 1969, Song of Lawino was published. It is written in the style of a traditional Acholi song. It is an Acholi wife's lament about her college-educated husband, who has rejected Acholi traditions and ideas for Western ones. Much of Lawino's anger is directed at her husband's lover who embodies these Western values and customs, and who she contrasts with herself. In Song of Ocol, her husband responds to her, decrying what he perceives as Africa's backwardness, and extoling the virtues of European society and ideas. Lawino and Ocol's debate reflects the discourse taking place at the time in African societies about the implications of adopting Western culture and ideals. Other works, including Song of A Prisoner (1971) and Song of Malaya (1971) are written in the same poetic style. Okot p'Bitek has been criticized by other African writers, including Ngugi wa Thiong'o, for not adequately addressing the underlying causes of Africa's problems. Okot, however, believed that his work, like all good African literature, dealt honestly with the human condition and had "deep human roots." (KJ) Lak Tar. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Literature Bureau, 1953. |
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