THE CRISIS OF BLACK AWARENESS AND THE DIALECTICS OF VIOLENCE IN AFRICAN AND AFRO-LATIN AMERICAN FICTION

The kind of leadership of the future which black writers envisage of their society can be deduced from the caliber of the personalities who people the universe of black literature. For literary protagonists not only faithfully reflect the people who create them, but they also mirror the ideological, political, economical, social and religious philosophies which define a people. The present paper attempts through an examination of two significant black novels - Jugungo by Ecuadorian writer, Adalberto Ortiz and Remember Ruben by the Cameroonian writer, Mongo Beti to identify the heroes who symbolizes the black leadership of the future. The paper argues that the two heroes cannot be good leaders because the do not envisage anything beyond the mere physical extermination of the enemy. It goes further to criticize the writers for failing to wed violence with lucid political ideology. It concludes by making the point that cty positive leader must of necessity combine courage and vision. For if we destroy we lAist have something in mind to replace what we have destroyed otherwise our action will be negative.