Abstracts Submissions - Ongoing
AFRICA AND HER WRITERS
2013 Journal of African Literature (JAL #10)
In the Journal of African Literature #9 we provided the forum for rediscovery - and revalidating - of traditional African values as modern African texts find themselves constantly seeking and reinventing new spatialisations, new definitions and new ways in which universal African visions may find expressions in and by means of literature.
Using
the works of several writers we highlighted approaches to concepts
and problems of race, heroism and the African writer�s memory and
refraction of linear time. The heroism and wisdom of the metagenre of
African proverbs was rediscovered in the new writings of African
scholars. The unity of culture was also highlighted in the importance of
sharing equally fruits of modern collective efforts. A palimpsestic or
multidimensional notion of time and existence was inscribed as against
the historical time that seems very much an arbitrary creation of human
materialist consciousness. And the perception of unity in great variety
was seen to broaden rather than narrow our perception of our universe.
The Contemporary Series [II] argues that as we recognize common values,
the plan of universal brotherhood, indeed, comes nearer and we begin to
sense our own place in its ultimate realization.
Africa and
her Writers - JAL #10 2013
With the
end of the Mayan calendar of millennial history by 2012, and the
prospect, through literature, of advancing those dreams which humanity
had so often expressed through their enlightened spokesmen and women, we
are learning to recognize the common ideals which unfold as we grow,
realising that the contribution emphasized by each great thought, as it
develops, broadens our perspectives, and that the perception of unity in
great variety enriches all in the universe.
To this end more critical entries and reviews on favourite authors of African fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction are invited for the special 10th anniversary issue entitled AFRICA AND HER WRITERS.
With the unique focus on authors and their work, JAL 10 goes beyond the textual categorisations within conventional literary traditions to investigate progress and aesthetic in African and African-American writings, illuminating significant psychological, spiritual and ethical values that dominate much of ancient and modern African and African-American works of the centuries.
It explores the tropes prevalent in the understanding and recreation of history, and the shaping of culture brought about by fictional creations that are continually evolving and reassessed within the standards of existing canons. Further curiosity about the literary content and processes of cultural inheritance, provoking the quest for a meaningful heuristic for approaching contemporary arts will be pursued.
In line with rediscovery - and revalidation - of values and traditions we welcome insights into racial, trans-national, cultural and gender relations where such specific interests and problems are addressed with awareness of variety and difference. In addition to bringing new ideas to light, works which envision the imaginative articulation of self and reconstruction or contestation of history and circumstance for communal benefit and social transformation will be welcome.
Researchers and scholars of Black and African writing are welcome to submit proposals and to dialogue with the editors regarding possible, suggested improvements on their research effort. Contributors willing and prepared to work with the editors to propagate the literature and thought of ancient, modern and diaspora Africa are welcome.
Selected Reading from the Journal of African Literature No. 9, 2012:
Florice Tanner. Unity in Variety: The Teaching of Hermes Trismegistus
(Thoth).
Paul Ugor. The District Commissioner in Colonial Africa: Hollywood,
Empires and Reinvention of Patriarchy.
H. Oby Okolocha. Rethinking Feminism and the African Woman�s Identity in
Tess Onwueme�s Tell it to Women.
Rodrigue Rwirahira. The Construction of Heroism in Rwandese Insigamigani
Texts.
Kei Okajima. Memory and Palimpsestic Time in Ben Okri�s Famished Road.
Dilek Sarikaya. British Racial Problems and the Poetry of Fred D�Aguiar.
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
[email protected]
or to
[email protected]
Download PDF Essays in African Writing: "Mutant Traditions" ; "Re-visioning African Writing"