Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Literary Activism in 21st-Century Africa

Methodology, Practice and Social Production

Av Madhu Krishnan, Doseline Kiguru

1364 kr

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Beskrivning

Drawing on case studies from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya and Uganda, this open access book explores the ways in which literary activism operates as an essential site of self-making and socio-political engagement in the 21st-century.From the era of anti-colonial mobilization to the centrality of writers in liberationist struggles in Nigeria, South Africa and elsewhere, an apparent link has emerged between literature and literary production; political mobilisation and activism; and the various struggles to determine the imaginative horizons of social and political experience on the African continent. This book seeks to understand, in light of this, how cultural producers and literary collectives have leveraged creative practice to open sites for socio-political engagement against a backdrop of structural and material inequality.Examining what is meant by terms such as ‘the literary’ and ‘activism’ from the standpoint of cultural production across regions of Africa today, it explores methodologies for practice-, field- and collective research which might enable ways of working beyond academia. It also highlights creative practice as knowledge production and critical inquiry as creative practice, and asserts the importance of literary cultures as spaces for world-making and social formations, even as some of these cultures and their associated publics remain less visible from a global or Northern perspective. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on Bloomsbury Collections. Open access was funded by the European Research Council.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum: 2026-12-10
Mått: 156 x 234 x 25 mm
Vikt: 454 g
Format: Inbunden
Språk: Engelska
Antal sidor: 192
Förlag: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781350509474

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Mer om författaren

Madhu Krishnan is Professor of African, World and Comparative Literatures in the Department of English at the University of Bristol, UK.Doseline Kiguru is Lecturer in World Literatures at the University of Bristol, UK.

Recensioner i media

“The literary is alive,” proclaim Madhu Krishnan and Doseline Kiguru, and so is this book – a work of scholarship filled with the evolving voices, conversations and relationships that exist between literary activists, writers, editors, translators, readers and academics, across West and East Africa. Literary Activism in 21st Century Africa expands existing research on publishing, global literary networks and the literature of human rights by focussing on the myriad individuals, organisations and networks that together make the writing, production, and circulation of literature – broadly defined – possible. Grounded in grants funded by the Global North, the authors are open about the challenges of their work in terms of power dynamics, co-ownership, decolonial agendas and bureaucratic university structures. They also, crucially, remind readers of the value of friendship, quiet conversations, being in place and reflective practice. Peppered with examples and vignettes authored by literary activists themselves, the book is essential reading for undergraduates wanting to understand contexts of literary production. It is also a valuable resource for (post)doctoral researchers conducting their own fieldwork, particularly given the authors’ reassuring honesty about the value of failure! Above all, Krishnan and Kiguru bring to life the commitment and imagination of African literary activists themselves, honouring the often underpaid, underfunded, extraordinary work they do in culturally rich but sometimes challenging contexts.

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