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WE THE EDITORS
of
the International Research Confederacy on African Literature and Culture (IRCALC)
are currently receiving submissions in existing literatures and oratures
of Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa involving issues in
contemporary postcolonial modernities and citizenship (re)definitions.
This time we have chosen to look specifically at the literature of
Conflict, of War and Post war dilemmas; literatures that address the
discords and divisions within Africa, the question of historical disputes,
of ideological, tribal and cultural clashes and the resultant tensions
wrought on individuals and family, citizens and leaderships on national
and continental scales.
Our reason for such a focus in 2008 is that while the leading nations of
the western world may yet posture on peace and an end to nuclear
rearmaments, Africa, born out of historical catastrophe imposed both from
within and without, has been neglected in its burden of poverty and
violence etched deeper in the fabric of its postcolonial strictures.
Generations of African writers who seem to harp on the deep need for
urgent rescue from degradation wrought upon the continent from centuries
of violence and exploitation inflicted within and without her borders have
been glossed over in literary taxonomies of modernism or protest.
While our proposition is to look for arguments confronting any one or more
theories for critique, interpretation or exposition of fiction,
biographies, travelogues, irrespective of the language of narrative, which
explore the idea of conflicts in African past and contemporary histories,
our objective is in the discernment of how such literatures of
contemporary African and Diasporic existence should be received by
literary communities from Africa-centred perspectives, and what
implications for African cultures and literatures abound by their
existence and studies. In other words, how have these conflicts developed
free, independent and uncluttered aesthetics of African literature in the
last decades of their appearance?
Our reading is inclusive but certainly not exhaustive of the newer list of
African literatures which includes the writings of Ossie Enekwe, Peter
Onwudinjo, Mabel Segun, Ama Ata Aidoo, Chin Ce, Chris Abani, Joe Ushie,
Yvonne Vera, Neshani Andreas, Mia Couto, Femi Osofisan, JM Coetzee, Edward
Brathwaite, Ferdinand Oyono, Ngugi wa Thiong�o, Pepetela, Chimamanda Adichie, Agostinho Neto,
L�onora Miano, etc. [Click
here for more
lists]
Comparative approaches with non African or Diasporic African literatures
are particularly welcome. In addition, contributors may choose to
concentrate on any one or two of the following subcategories emerging from
our 2008 affiliated African Fictions discourse series: Trauma
and the Continent, The Aesthetics of Reconciliation, Female Trauma and the
Politics of African Feminism(s), Writing/Righting the Environment:
Representation and Activism, Death, Agony, and Other-Worldly
Significations.
Please request PDF copies or extracts from previous discourses on the
above prior to your abstract proposals.
Submissions Guidelines:
Original abstracts of no more than 600 words showing
topic, intended arguments and their relevance to the discourse theme or
subcategory should be submitted by Microsoft Word attachment for approval
to the Editors,
[email protected] If accepted contributors will
be notified by correspondence and their abstracts published on the
website. All original submissions shall come in English. Materials in
French and other indigenous African languages such as Hausa and Swahili
shall be accepted as long as they are followed by their English
translations.
Papers which citations do follow the MLA 2003 format will be rejected.
Poetry
Scholarly essays on
poetry must compare two or more recent poets of African, African-American,
African-Caribbean expressions also using the MLA parenthetical citation
format.
Book Reviews:
Fiction, Poetry, Drama
Book
reviews of not more than 1000�2000
words must be analytical and critical and geared towards useful basis for
further academic study. Please indicate book prices, publishers contact
addresses including URL if available.
Creative Works: Poetry, Short Fiction, Art
(Images)
Limit poetry and
art submissions to six poems /images (grayscale jpg) of not more than
twenty lines per poem. Poems of exceptional length may be divided into
parts which altogether must be no more than six parts to make a complete
entry. A short title and description should follow jpg image
entries.
Short
Fiction/Biographical Entries
Short
Fiction/Biographical Entries of writers should not exceed
3000 words and for biographical information must contain previously
unpublished /additional information regarding the artiste-poet, novelist
or dramatist. a jpg
image of the artiste is required.
Deadline:
Assessment and
review of all
Abstracts and Papers will end in
August 2007.
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