Dynamism In African Languages And Literature

The book provides novel perspectives towards conceptualisation of African Potentials. It explores diverse and dynamic aspects of linguistic communications in Africa, ranging from convivial multilingual practices to literal and musical arts. The book reflects the diversity and ever-changing dynamism in the African sociolinguistic sphere, that is, metalinguistic discourse in East Africa, sociolinguistic dynamism in Angola, conflict reconciliation speech performed in Ethiopia, and syncretic urban linguistic code called Sheng in Kenya. The volume also explores multi-dimensional relationships between literary arts and the society by investigating such topics as traditional Swahili poetry, publication of children books in Benin, and transformation and reconstruction of Yoruba popular music. The book elucidates dynamic process of creation through mixing of traditional and foreign elements of culture.

Essays on Language, Communication and Literature in Africa explores language choice questions, together with domain-driven lingua-communicative and literary resources situated within the discourses of law, culture, medicine, visual art, politics, the media, music and literature in Africa. It identifies the distinctive African paraphernalia of these discourses, and foregrounds their real-world and mediated cultural and societal values, and highlights the Western presence through the inclusion of aspects of Shakespearean perspectives which bear universal tidings and speak to the African gender tradition. The chapters’ attention to verbal and visual artistic communicative mechanisms underlines such engagements as multilingualism policies, socio-political declension, social dynamism and cultural interventions that characterise the African setting. These realities are discussed in impressive detail, authoritative scholastic depth and effective stylistic tones that reflect the authors’ familiarity with the facets of African societies deducible from language, communication and literature.

This volume collects some of the best lectures at the African Literature Association's 25th annual conference held in 1999. The conference brought together for the first time a large number of scholars, creative writers and artists from Northern Africa and their counterparts from Sub- Saharan Africa. The conference and this collection highlight the inspiring and stimulating dialogue between two literary and cultural areas that have often been artificially compartmentalised. The essays draw suprising connections and illustrate the breadth and dynamism of African literature.

This edited book examines the crucial role still played by African languages in pedagogy and literatures in the 21st century, generating insights into how they effectively serve cultural needs across the African continent and beyond. Boldly positioning African languages as key resources in the 21st century, chapters focus on themes such as language revolt by marginalized groups at grassroots level, the experience of American students learning African languages, female empowerment through the use of African languages in music, film and literary works, and immigration issues. The contributions are written by scholars of language, literature, education and linguistics, and the book will be of interest to students and scholars in these and related areas.

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.

Informed by a global space animated by various conflicts, this book brings a refreshing perspective on how the disciplines of literature and language engage this phenomenon. In its shift from a purely political interrogation of conflict, the volume provides a broad analytic canvas on which human behaviour in such contexts can be examined. This is an ultimate invitation to a re-visioning of socio-cultural parameters of identity construction, borders, natural resources, religion, cultural values, beliefs, governance, ideology, and globalisation. The book’s varied perspective, animated by a rich diversity of literary and linguistic approaches, gives it an interdisciplinary emphasis that will appeal to readers across disciplines. Its ultimate message is that conflict is not subject-bound. The liberal analysis of different aspects makes the volume an invaluable asset not only to literature and language scholars but also to everyone with inclinations towards conflict creation and management.

"The papers for this volume were all delivered at the 33rd Annual Conference of the African Literature Association held in Morgantown, West Virginia."

That Africa is at a crossroads in an increasingly globalised world is indisputable. Equally unassailable is the fact that the humanities, as a broad field of intellection, research and learning in Africa, appears to have been pigeonholed in debates of relevance in the development aspirations of many African nations. Historical experiences and contemporary research outputs indicate, however, that the humanities, in its various shades, is critical to Africa’s capacity to respond effectively to such problems as security, corruption, political ineptitude, poverty, superstition, and HIV/AIDS, among many other mounting challenges which confront the people of Africa. The vibrancy and resilience of Africa’s cultures, against these and other odds of globalisation episodes in the course of our history, demand the focused attention of academia to exploit their relevance to contemporary issues. This collection provides a comprehensive overview of issues in the humanities at the turn of the 21st century, which create a veritable platform for the global redefinition and understanding of Africa’s rich cultures and traditions. Such areas covered include ruminations in metaphysics and psychology, pathos and ethos, cinematic and literary connections, and historical conceptualisations.