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What is Third World?

Alfred Sauvy, a French demographer, anthropologist, and historian, is credited with coining the
term Third World during the Cold War. Sauvy noted a group of countries, many former colonies
that did not share the ideological views of Western capitalism or Soviet socialism. The so-called
third world countries are former colonies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These countries are
considered economically, politically, culturally and technologically backward or underdeveloped
countries. Thus, they are seen as inferior to countries in The First and The Second Worlds.

Politics and Violence of Naming

Points to Note:
The Third World was name by a Western scholar(s) Alfred Sauvy.
The name does not reflect the diverse socio-cultural, political and economic realities of the
people on the continents labeled as Third World
The name emerged from Western colonialism and nationalistic experiences in non-Western
colonised countries.
The name seems too broad to capture socio-cultural and political experiences of diverse people
on the continents
The name is a product of Western imagination about non-Western countries/people. That is, it is
grounded on binary opposition between Western subject and non-Western people. Thus, the
name re-inscribes Western hegemony.

WHAT IS THIRD WORLD LITERATURE?

• According to Fredric Jameson (1986), unlike the literature of the First World, Third World
Literatures are necessarily national allegories. This implies that Third World Literature
is not private affairs, but public, general, regional to the extent that those that are privatist
dwell on political issues. Writers from Africa, Asia and Latin America do not close their
eyes against national issues. As a matter of fact, the story of the private individual destiny
is always an allegory of the embattled situation of the public third world culture and
society.
• Another concept of Third World Literature is that Third World writers often express their
dissatisfaction with the First World. This is done thematically, technically,
ideologically, generically, etc. They write to reconstruct the distorted history of their
nations. It is the issue of “I” and the “other”. It is a kind of writing back to the centre. In
the same vein, it is a sort of reply, counter-canonical text to the canonical (recognized)
text of the imperialist First World which has misrepresented the Third world countries. It
is a reaction and counter-reaction to the so-called canonical text.

Thematically, the new themes that are not dwelt upon in the in the canonical texts are prioritized
in the third world literature. Third world literature dwells on social/socialist reality unlike First
World literature which is often meant to entertain. Third World literature comments about the
social realities; thus, it is necessarily didactic and utilitarian (art for life’s sake).

Technically, writers neglect the forms of the First World literature. They do not imitate. They are
thus unique in their own way.
Generically, there is no serious distinction among the three genres of literature among Third
World writers.
• Third world texts can be likely characterized by the degree of their immediacy, topicality,
mimesis, quality and social realism.
Immediacy – This means that they treat issues that are of immediate concern to the people. They
discuss substantial issues that are people-oriented.
Topicality – Topical issues which affect the third world are often depicted.
Mimesis – They reflect the social realities in third world countries. At times, it could be a biting
realism, i.e. satirical. It both reflects and refracts realities. There is also magical realism whereby
they make use of magical issues as a result of the boredom of people about social realism.
• According to Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Third World literature exposes to the audience or readers
the naked reality of the relationship between Europe and the Third world. Third world
literature is a useful material in foregrounding the dissonant relationship between the
Third World and the Europe.

• Also, Third World literature is referred to as literature of resistance because it is a utilitarian

literature used to resist certain stereotypical notions of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
They resist the myopic representations of Third World. It is a literature where the “other”
is able to speak for itself. That is why it is called testimonial literature given by
themselves and not by outsiders. It is used to criticize the western error-as-truth
tendency. It is testimonial literature because it pitches its tent with the underdeveloped
world.
• According to Peter Nazareth, “to belong to the third world is therefore to accept an identity,
an identity with the wretched of the earth spoken for by Frantz Fanon, to determine to
end all exploitation and oppression.” It is a quintessential weapon to fight exploitation,
suppression, dehumanization, etc. across the globe.
• According to Barbara Harlow, “third world literature can be associated with the theme of
resistance because there is always the conscious formation of the counter-hegemonic
discourse. Examples of those literature are Palestinian, Latin American, African, Asian
as well as South American literatures.
• Similarly, third world literature is a literature of conscientisation (awakening,
revolutionary); it prepares the people to revolt against abnormalities that tend to have
become norms. It is against literature that mythologises, which prohibits creativity. It
anaesthetizes First World literature. Third World literature is a literature of possibility,
recreation, problem posing. It is dialogical, not one-sided/monological as the First World
canonical texts. It fundamentally de-mythologises the deification of the First World as
presented in First World texts.
• It is a literature of liberation. It can, therefore, be concluded by borrowing from Ngugi’s
parlance that third world literature decolonizes the mind.
Fundamental Features of Third World Literature According to Janos Riesz
Janos Riesz identifies five different motifs of Third World literature.

I. The political and economic presence: This feature has to do with their over-reliance on
present socio-economic and political events. The writers are like social commentators.
They are always righters correcting the wrongdoings in the society. They are like a bard
in an oral traditional society. Third World literature is a committed literature. However,
their commitments may wear different outlooks. They are chroniclers.

II. The Colonial Past: Third world writers often visit the past by writing and criticizing the
colonial past. They address the negative effects of colonialism on their nations. The belief
is that this needs to be added urgently to the neo-colonial present. They try to link the
present political administration to the colonial. They are of the opinion that neo-
colonialism is just an extension of colonialism. They do not cast all the blame on the
colonialists; thus, they are very objective in their criticism. They see colonialism and
neocolonialism as the same. Therefore, there is theme of liberation and resistance in their
works. They resist colonialism and neocolonialism. They serve as the conscience of the
society. They conscientise the masses to fight for their rights.

III. Response to European or Western Civilisation: They write to deconstruct the

distorted portrayal of the third world by the European writers. Generally, in third world
literature, there is a rejection of the West, including its literary models. They reject
European culture as bad and not practicable in the third world countries. Western culture
 is individualistic, while third world culture is communalistic. Thus, there is a
deconstruction. Third world writers romanticize third world culture, while they demonise
Western culture. They also reject the idea of realism which European literature is fond of,
while they embrace magical realism – moving beyond reality to mythology. They
indigenize their literary writings.

IV. Language Issues: There is problem of language in third world countries. Most of their
works are bilingual and polyglot. Most third world countries are linguistically pluralistic.
Thus, there is code switching and mixing in their works. This is not so in Western
literature – multilingualism vs. monolingualism. They are confronted with the problem of
untranslatability of some words. Third world writings are in different languages;
however, the popular one is the ex-colonialist’s language – English. This often affects the
right depiction of their thought. Thought is well depicted in one’s language. The
choice/use of foreign language in third world literary world prevents writers from
portraying their thoughts carefully.

V. Formation of the Canon: In third world literature, there is always the subversion of the
present canon and emphasis on canonical revision. In the past, third world literary
productions were not recognized and recommended. However, this is being changed
since there are Nobel laureates from third world countries – Derek Walcott and Wole
Soyinka.
We can say that in third world literature, social being determines thought. The belief is that any
character or being in third world literature is a social, not rigid being. Man is alterable according
to the dictate of the society. It is a literature where human beings grow/change.
History (people’s history) is central in third world literature. They dwell much on the history –
glorification of their culture (negritude).
Third world reader is a participant. He changes his reasoning in the hermeneutics of the literary
texts.