Crossings and Comparisons in African Literary and Cultural Studies

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 Nige