USA Africa Dialogue Series - Academe’s Willful Ignorance of African Literature

"Every now and again, people declare that African literature has arrived, or is arriving, or will arrive soon. It's not surprising that African literature is read as emerging: In the long emergency that seems to define Africa in the eyes of the rest of the world—in which "Africa" is a place of starving children, warring clans, and technological backwardness—the idea of African literature can seem positively utopian. It can be a delightful discovery when it seems to emerge. But that discovery says everything about the person making it, and nothing about the literature, which emerged a long time ago. And as long as critics and publishers frame African literature as always on the cusp, it will continue to be an emerging literature whose emergence is infinitely deferred. It will remain utopian, just out of reach.

It's long past time to get over this narrative. Its function is, simply, to excuse and legitimize the ignorance of those who have chosen to ignore African literature."

- Aaron Bady

http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2015/03/04/academes-willful-ignorance-of-african-literature/

Every now and again, people declare that African literature has arrived, or is arriving, or will arrive soon. It's not surprising that African literature is read as emerging: In the long emergency t...

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- Ikhide