The question of whether contemporary African writers still uphold autochthony, the preservation, promotion and representation of indigenous African cultures, languages, beliefs, values and ways of life or have increasingly moved towards the commercialisation of African experience deserves critical attention.
This question becomes particularly important when considering Damilare Kuku’s Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad and Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow, Chinkemkasimma Cassidy Chukwuma’s Husband Is Useless, and, for comparison, Katy Brent’s How to Kill Men and Get Away With It and Blythe Roberson’s How to Date Men When You Hate Men.
The argument is not that African writers must write only about traditional African societies or reject modernity. Rather, it is necessary to examine whether contemporary African literature is gradually drifting from the cultural and intellectual objectives historically associated with African literature.
The titles themselves provide an important point of departure because they reveal not only subject matter but also the language through which contemporary literature seeks to attract readers.
Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad presents contemporary Lagos through stories of women, relationships, marriage, sexuality and male behaviour. Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow explores Témì’s struggle with beauty standards, cosmetic surgery, family expectations and the social value attached to women’s bodies.
