Crossings and Comparisons in African Literary and Cultural Studies

280 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

This book constructs a platform for the critical exploration of African literatures written in a variety of African and European languages and goes beyond the mainstream in African literary and cultural studies by engaging multiple hermeneutic approaches to narratives, performance, and visual arts.


Putting emphasis on comparing cultural productions in at least two linguistic expressions, the book foregrounds the analytical strategies employed by the contributors to delve into the epistemologies of African social, cultural and political life, as critical assessments of the novel, short stories, music, drama, film, poetry, social media, festivals, and academic institutions become paramount. The contributions underscore the necessity to respond to trends and transformations that African literary genres and media have seen across time and space with interest in how these changes have been enriched by the different languages of expression.


Going beyond regional and linguistic boxes, in which African literatures, music, and film have often been encapsulated, the chapters in this book present a critical assessment of the ideological, aesthetic, thematic, and linguistic models that illustrate similarities, but also differences, that can be made visible through comparative approaches, and which underscore the innovative potential to put African narratives, lyrics, and discourses conveyed in more than one language in conversation with one another.



Contents


Crossings and Comparisons in African Literatures and Cultures: Introduction ............. 1
SUSANNE GEHRMANN AND PEPETUAL MFORBE CHIANGONG


African Language Literatures in Dialogue


When the Emperor Travelled the Continent. On the Cosmopolis
of Islamic Literature and its Adaptation into African Languages ................................ 13
CLARISSA VIERKE (UNIVERSITÄT BAYREUTH)


Rhetorical Strategies of Humour in West African Epics:
Crossing Languages, Genres, and Media ..................................................................... 37
ANNE M. CAROVANI (UNIVERSITÄT GREIFSWALD)


Cross-Readings of Europhone African Literature


The Representation of History in Poetic Space. Strategies of Polyphony
in Contemporary African Novels: Boubacar Boris Diop’s Murambi

and Mia Couto’s Vinte e Zinco ..................................................................................... 61
LUCIA WEIß (FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN)


Narrating Lives and Negotiating Space in Prison.
A Comparative Analysis of Calixthe Beyala’s Tu t’appelleras Tanga

and Petina Gappah’s The Book of Memory .................................................................. 83
ISABEL SCHRÖDER (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN)


African Child Soldier Narratives in Children’s Literature.
A Cross-Regional and Cross-Language Comparison ................................................. 103
CHARLOTT SCHÖNWETTER (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN)


Political Practice and Irate Satire in Cameroonian Drama:
A Cross-language Exploration of What God has Put Asunder by
Victor Epie ’Ngome and La chèvre du sous-préfet by Charles Soh ............................ 121
PEPETUAL MFORBE CHIANGONG (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN)


Critical Humanisms on the Margins of African Literary Canons:
Bakary Diallo and Richard Rive ................................................................................ 141
CULLEN GOLDBLATT (PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY)


Crossing the Languages of African Music


Inclusive Rapport: Nation, Language, and Identity in Nigeriène
and Nigerian Hausa Rap Music ................................................................................. 153
ABDALLA UBA ADAMU (BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO)


Travelling without Visa: Afropolitan Vibe, Technoculture,
and the Language of Cultural Production .................................................................. 175
OLADIPUPO OYELEYE (UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON)


Entangling Prose, Film, and the Digital Space


From a Francophone Novel to an Anglophone Film: Emmanuel Dongala’s
Johnny chien méchant and Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Johnny Mad Dog ................... 193
GBANDE DARÉ (UNIVERSITÉ DE LOMÉ) AND SUSANNE GEHRMANN
(HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN)


Virtual Communication Remediated. Truth, Disguise, and Falsity
in Petina Gappah’s Anthology Rotten Row ................................................................ 217
RICARDA DE HAAS (UNIVERSITÄT WIEN)


Disseminating and Teaching African Literatures


The Compartmentalisation of Literature in Kiswahili and
Literature in English – the Kenyan Situation ............................................................. 237
MIRIAM MARANGA-MUSONYE (UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI)


New African Trajectories beyond Francophonie. Festivals, Anthologies, Research ...... 253
BERNADETTE DESORBAY (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN)


Contributors ............................................................................................................... 271

• Reihe: LuKA - Studien zu Literaturen und Kunst Afrikas
• ISBN: 9783868219340
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 15.02.2022
• Genre: Sprachwissenschaft, Literaturwissenschaft/Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
• Verlag: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier
• Herausgegeben von: Susanne Gehrmann, Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong