ABSTRACT
Various factors influence a creative process in which the transposition and/or revival of the African oral tradition and its blending with modern literary strategies has become the dominant creative aesthetic trend. Any attempt to conceptualize African children's literature will inevitably draw upon theories of Afrocentrism and postcolonialism. Afrocentrism provides an ideological inspiration for the African writer with which to counter the imperial power and attempt to assert social and cultural autonomy. The emergence of written African children's literature emanates from Christian missionaries' evangelical-linguistic efforts. The missionaries' primary intention was to harness strategies that would aid their evangelical activities. Before delving into the content of this new literature, with its expected function in mind, it is crucial to stress its elitist origins and thus its double-edged role in responding to coloniality and post-coloniality. Zimbabwean writers have combined modern and traditional stylistics in fascinating ways.
