A Companion to African Literatures
1st Edition
Published on 22. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
608 pages
978-1-119-05818-2 (ISBN)
Description
Rediscover the diversity of modern African literatures with this authoritative resource edited by a leader in the field
How have African literatures unfolded in their rich diversity in our modern era of decolonization, nationalisms, and extensive transnational movement of peoples? How have African writers engaged urgent questions regarding race, nation, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality? And how do African literary genres interrelate with traditional oral forms or audio-visual and digital media? A Companion to African Literatures addresses these issues and many more.
Consisting of essays by distinguished scholars and emerging leaders in the field, this book offers rigorous, deeply engaging discussions of African literatures on the continent and in diaspora. It covers the four main geographical regions (East and Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa), presenting ample material to learn from and think with.
A Companion To African Literatures is divided into five parts. The first four cover different regions of the continent, while the fifth part considers conceptual issues and newer directions of inquiry. Chapters focus on literatures in European languages officially used in Africa -- English, French, and Portuguese -- as well as homegrown African languages: Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, Swahili, and Yoruba. With its lineup of lucid and authoritative analyses, readers will find in A Companion to African Literatures a distinctive, rewarding academic resource.
Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students in literary studies programs with an African focus, A Companion to African Literatures will also earn a place in the libraries of teachers, researchers, and professors who wish to strengthen their background in the study of African literatures.
How have African literatures unfolded in their rich diversity in our modern era of decolonization, nationalisms, and extensive transnational movement of peoples? How have African writers engaged urgent questions regarding race, nation, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality? And how do African literary genres interrelate with traditional oral forms or audio-visual and digital media? A Companion to African Literatures addresses these issues and many more.
Consisting of essays by distinguished scholars and emerging leaders in the field, this book offers rigorous, deeply engaging discussions of African literatures on the continent and in diaspora. It covers the four main geographical regions (East and Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa), presenting ample material to learn from and think with.
A Companion To African Literatures is divided into five parts. The first four cover different regions of the continent, while the fifth part considers conceptual issues and newer directions of inquiry. Chapters focus on literatures in European languages officially used in Africa -- English, French, and Portuguese -- as well as homegrown African languages: Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, Swahili, and Yoruba. With its lineup of lucid and authoritative analyses, readers will find in A Companion to African Literatures a distinctive, rewarding academic resource.
Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students in literary studies programs with an African focus, A Companion to African Literatures will also earn a place in the libraries of teachers, researchers, and professors who wish to strengthen their background in the study of African literatures.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Olakunle George
A Companion to African Literatures
E-Book
12/2020
1st Edition
Wiley
€182.99
Available for download
Olakunle George
A Companion to African Literatures
E-Book
12/2020
1st Edition
Wiley
€182.99
Available for download
Person
Olakunle George is Professor of English and Africana Studies at Brown University. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Modern Language Association's Forum on 20th and 21st Century Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (2012-2017), and the Executive Committee of the Division on African Literatures (1999-2004). He is the author of African Literature and Social Change: Tribe, Nation, Race, and Relocating Agency: Modernity and African Letters.
Content
Notes on Contributors ix
Preface xv
Part I East and Central Africa 1
1 East and Central Africa: An Introduction 3
Grace A. Musila
2 Rereading East African Literature Through a Human Rights Lens: The Example of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not, Child 19
Katwiwa Mule
3 Of Authenticity and Engagement in Francophone African Cultural Production 29
Brian Valente-Quinn
4 Literature and Hybridity in Mauritius and Réunion 45
Anjali Prabhu
5 The Representation of Nation and National Identity in Modern Amharic Literature 61
Tewodros Gebre
6 Swahili Literature (Fasihi ya Kiswahili) 79
Evan Maina Mwangi
Part II North Africa 101
7 North Africa: An Introduction 103
Mohamed-Salah Omri
8 Nation and Identity in Modern Arabic Literature in Egypt 117
Ahmed Idrissi Alami
9 Hyphens & Hymens: francoarab Literature of the Maghreb 133
yasser elhariry
10 Translation and North African Letters 151
Tahia Abdel Nasser
11 Cross-Pollination and Interweavings between the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa Through Art, Cinema, and Music 165
Hélène Tissières
12 France and North Africa: A Cinematic Retrospective of Centuries of Entangled Relations 181
Fazia Aïtel
Part III Southern Africa 195
13 Southern Africa: An Introduction 197
Stefan Helgesson
14 Anglophone Literature of South Africa 213
Peter Blair
15 The Machinery of Life-Writing Under Zimbabwe's Third Chimurenga 235
Josiah Nyanda
16 The Afrikaans Cultural Expressions of the Powerless and Subjugated 251
Hein Willemse
17 Lusophone Southern African Literature (Angola, Mozambique) 267
Luís Madureira
18 A Socio-Critical Survey of Black South African English Poetry, 1900-2000 283
Thengani H. Ngwenya
Part IV West Africa 303
19 West Africa: An Introduction 305
Olakunle George
20 West African Literature in English 319
Neil ten Kortenaar
21 Migration, Literary Imagination, and Mirages in the Francophone Text: Paths to Anthropological Mutilation 333
Cilas Kemedjio
22 Reading Yorùbá Literature 351
Adélékè Adeeko
Part V Redoublings and Reconstellations 365
23 Post-Hybrid Conjunctive Consciousness in the Literature of the New African Diaspora 367
Lokangaka Losambe
24 Outing Africa: On Sexualities, Gender, and Transgender in African Literatures 381
Chantal Zabus
25 African Literature and the European Canon: From Past to Present and Back Again 399
Jeanne-Marie Jackson
26 War, Human Rights, and Historical Representation: Torture as Synecdoche 411
Eleni Coundouriotis
27 African Literature's Other Media: Art Film, Nollywood 425
Noah Tsika
28 Navigating Digital Worlds: African Literary Forms in the Digital Age 439
Stephanie Bosch Santana
Index 455
Preface xv
Part I East and Central Africa 1
1 East and Central Africa: An Introduction 3
Grace A. Musila
2 Rereading East African Literature Through a Human Rights Lens: The Example of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not, Child 19
Katwiwa Mule
3 Of Authenticity and Engagement in Francophone African Cultural Production 29
Brian Valente-Quinn
4 Literature and Hybridity in Mauritius and Réunion 45
Anjali Prabhu
5 The Representation of Nation and National Identity in Modern Amharic Literature 61
Tewodros Gebre
6 Swahili Literature (Fasihi ya Kiswahili) 79
Evan Maina Mwangi
Part II North Africa 101
7 North Africa: An Introduction 103
Mohamed-Salah Omri
8 Nation and Identity in Modern Arabic Literature in Egypt 117
Ahmed Idrissi Alami
9 Hyphens & Hymens: francoarab Literature of the Maghreb 133
yasser elhariry
10 Translation and North African Letters 151
Tahia Abdel Nasser
11 Cross-Pollination and Interweavings between the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa Through Art, Cinema, and Music 165
Hélène Tissières
12 France and North Africa: A Cinematic Retrospective of Centuries of Entangled Relations 181
Fazia Aïtel
Part III Southern Africa 195
13 Southern Africa: An Introduction 197
Stefan Helgesson
14 Anglophone Literature of South Africa 213
Peter Blair
15 The Machinery of Life-Writing Under Zimbabwe's Third Chimurenga 235
Josiah Nyanda
16 The Afrikaans Cultural Expressions of the Powerless and Subjugated 251
Hein Willemse
17 Lusophone Southern African Literature (Angola, Mozambique) 267
Luís Madureira
18 A Socio-Critical Survey of Black South African English Poetry, 1900-2000 283
Thengani H. Ngwenya
Part IV West Africa 303
19 West Africa: An Introduction 305
Olakunle George
20 West African Literature in English 319
Neil ten Kortenaar
21 Migration, Literary Imagination, and Mirages in the Francophone Text: Paths to Anthropological Mutilation 333
Cilas Kemedjio
22 Reading Yorùbá Literature 351
Adélékè Adeeko
Part V Redoublings and Reconstellations 365
23 Post-Hybrid Conjunctive Consciousness in the Literature of the New African Diaspora 367
Lokangaka Losambe
24 Outing Africa: On Sexualities, Gender, and Transgender in African Literatures 381
Chantal Zabus
25 African Literature and the European Canon: From Past to Present and Back Again 399
Jeanne-Marie Jackson
26 War, Human Rights, and Historical Representation: Torture as Synecdoche 411
Eleni Coundouriotis
27 African Literature's Other Media: Art Film, Nollywood 425
Noah Tsika
28 Navigating Digital Worlds: African Literary Forms in the Digital Age 439
Stephanie Bosch Santana
Index 455