Literatures in African Languages
Literatures in African Languages

Author: B. W. Andrzejewski

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1985-11-21

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 0521256461

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Although African literatures in English and French are widely known outside Africa, those in the African languages themselves have not received comparable attention. In this book a number have been selected for survey by fourteen specialist writers, providing the reader with an introduction to this very wide field and a body of reference material which includes extensive bibliographies and biographical information on African authors. Theoretical issues such as genre divisions are discussed in the essays and the historical, social and political forces at work in the creation and reception of African literature are examined. Literature is treated as an art whose medium is language, so that both the oral and written forms are encompassed. This book will be of value not only to readers concerned with the cultures of Africa but to all those with an interest in the literary phenomena of the world in general.

Decolonising the Mind
Decolonising the Mind

Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 0852555016

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Ngugi wrote his first novels and plays in English but was determined, even before his detention without trial in 1978, to move to writing in Gikuyu.

The Rise of the African Novel
The Rise of the African Novel

Author: Mukoma Wa Ngugi

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2018-03-27

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 047205368X

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Engaging questions of language, identity, and reception to restore South African and diaspora writing to the African literary tradition

Dust
Dust

Author: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0345802543

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A Washington Post Notable Book When a young man is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi, his grief-stricken father and sister bring his body back to their crumbling home in the Kenyan drylands. But the murder has stirred up memories long since buried, precipitating a series of events no one could have foreseen. As the truth unfolds, we come to learn the secrets held by this parched landscape, hidden deep within the shared past of a family and their conflicted nation. Spanning Kenya’s turbulent 1950s and 1960s, Dust is spellbinding debut from a breathtaking new voice in literature.

Oral Literature in Africa
Oral Literature in Africa

Author: Ruth Finnegan

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Published: 2012-09

Total Pages: 614

ISBN-13: 1906924708

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Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan's ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This book is the first volume in the World Oral Literature Series, an ongoing collaboration between OBP and World Oral Literature Project. A free online archive of recordings and photographs that Finnegan made during her fieldwork in the late 1960s is hosted by the World Oral Literature Project (http: //www.oralliterature.org/collections/rfinnegan001.html) and can also be accessed from publisher's website.

Looking for Transwonderland
Looking for Transwonderland

Author: Noo Saro-Wiwa

Publisher: Catapult

Published: 2012-09-01

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 159376491X

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A “remarkable chronicle” of a journey back to this West African nation after years of exile (The New York Times Book Review). Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to visit her father in Nigeria—a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts and sense of individuality. After her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was killed there, she didn’t return for several years. Then she decided to come to terms with the country her father given his life for. Traveling from the exuberant chaos of Lagos to the calm beauty of the eastern mountains; from the eccentricity of a Nigerian dog show to the decrepit kitsch of the Transwonderland Amusement Park, she explores Nigerian Christianity, delves into the country’s history of slavery, examines the corrupting effect of oil, and ponders the huge success of Nollywood. She finds the country as exasperating as ever, and frequently despairs at the corruption and inefficiency she encounters. But she also discovers that it is far more beautiful and varied than she had ever imagined, with its captivating thick tropical rain forest and ancient palaces and monuments—and most engagingly and entertainingly, its unforgettable people. “The author allows her love-hate relationship with Nigeria to flavor this thoughtful travel journal, lending it irony, wit and frankness.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Anglophone Literary-Linguistic Continuum
The Anglophone Literary-Linguistic Continuum

Author: Andindilile, Michael

Publisher: NISC (Pty) Ltd

Published: 2018-11-05

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1920033238

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Michael Andindilile in The Anglophone Literary–Linguistic Continuum: English and Indigenous Languages in African Literary Discourse interrogates Obi Wali’s (1963) prophecy that continued use of former colonial languages in the production of African literature could only lead to ‘sterility’, as African literatures can only be written in indigenous African languages. In doing so, Andindilile critically examines selected of novels of Achebe of Nigeria, Ngũgĩ of Kenya, Gordimer of South Africa and Farah of Somalia and shows that, when we pay close attention to what these authors represent about their African societies, and the way they integrate African languages, values, beliefs and cultures, we can discover what constitutes the Anglophone African literary–linguistic continuum. This continuum can be defined as variations in the literary usage of English in African literary discourse, with the language serving as the base to which writers add variations inspired by indigenous languages, beliefs, cultures and, sometimes, nation-specific experiences.

Language in Contemporary African Cultures and Societies
Language in Contemporary African Cultures and Societies

Author: Leonard Muaka

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2018-12-03

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1498572286

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Language in Contemporary African Cultures and Societies examines language in contemporary Africa by positioning language at the center of interrelationships between individuals, society, and culture. Because of how language permeates every aspect of human existence within each society, this book has assembled contributions by researchers and scholars who focus on different topics within African languages and cultures. By presenting African languages as resources and subject and subject of the study, this book discusses Africa’s multilingualism, language policy, preservation, and their uses in development, security, liberation, and identity formation in the diaspora. Based on empirical research and analysis of texts, this book takes a closer look at the continent and the diaspora by situating African languages, cultures, and literatures at the center, and shows how African languages are used in the liberation, transfer of knowledge, and promotion of literacy among Africans globally. It is a book that seeks to bridge the gap between the continent and the diaspora. All contributors are experienced scholars of language, literature, education and linguistics. The chapters provide a major means for examining the interplay of language, literature, and education.

Encyclopedia of African Literature
Encyclopedia of African Literature

Author: Simon Gikandi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 1009

ISBN-13: 1134582226

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The most comprehensive reference work on African literature to date, this book covers all the key historical and cultural issues in the field. The Encyclopedia contains over 600 entries covering criticism and theory, African literature's development as a field of scholarship, and studies of established and lesser-known writers and their texts. While the greatest proportion of literary work in Africa has been a product of the twentieth century, the Encyclopedia also covers the literature back to the earliest eras of story-telling and oral transmission, making this a unique and valuable resource for those studying social sciences as well as humanities. This work includes cross-references, suggestions for further reading, and a comprehensive index.