LITERATURE AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED AFRICAN FEMINIST TEXTS

Abstract

Literature educates, entertains, informs, and places young people on an equilibrium scale worldwide. Literature is the vehicle to an open mind, fast assimilation, and comprehension of people, places, things, and core and mundane foreign heritage, amongst other cogent scientific and artistic information. This research is qualitative and uses three African feminist texts as the background of this study, namely, ‘So long a letter by Mariama Ba for the tenacity of purpose, discipline, friendship, tolerance, great family values, filial duties, and respect. ‘I no fear Boko Haram” by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo for intelligence, foresight, tourism, being loquacious, the effect of insecurity and terrorism on the populace, and Alifa Rifaat’s Distance view of a minaret and other stories where “An incident in the Ghobashi household” “is selected for outstanding family values, consequences of being wayward and indiscipline. Literary works are not judgmental. They present a balanced assessment of characters and situations from the writer’s point of view for a pragmatic and germane assessment by the readers. This paper, therefore, posits that literary text will be of immense benefit to the young adult in every society due to its therapeutic, dynamic, time-saving, speeding up time, fleet accessibility of facts and facts of diverse people, cultures, wisdom accumulation, and fulfillment which serves as a great panacea for youth development, due to its immeasurable qualities.

Keywords: Literature, youth development, African feminist texts