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Theoretical Trajectories: An Interrogation.
African postcolonial critical discourses in the last twenty-five years
CALL FOR PAPERS
Contributions are invited toward a collection of critical essays on African postcolonial critical discourse in English in the last twenty-five years. The primary intention of the anthology is to offer a comprehensive review of the body of literary and intellectual debates on issues pertaining to the production of the narrative, and the role of the writer in the postcolonial African context. The book will be structured so as to focus on the following areas:
An interrogation of the body of work of individual critics who have made a mark on the trajectory of intellectual debate. Some names that we suggest are: Anthony Appiah, Ali Mazrui, Bernth Lindfors, David Cook, Carol Boyce, Abiola Irele, Simon Gikandi etc among others.
Inter/intra comparisons of the critical essays of the first generation critics such as Ngugi, Soyinka, Achebe etc, with particular emphasis on their reflections in the last ten years
An examination of the odd but thought provoking critical essay by writer- intellectuals such as Ayi Kwei Armah, Mariama Ba, Nurudin Farah etc
Feminist/Womanist perspectives of critics such as Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Mary Kolawole, Carol Boyce Davie, Ifi Amadiume etc among others
A comparative study of Indian postcolonial critics, and their African counterparts
A response to seminal essays that have found their way into the cannon in terms of courses offered by University departments by critics such as Achille Mbembe, Biodun Jeyifo, Chidi Amuta, Adebayo Williams and Neil Lazarus.
An introduction to emerging trends in African critical discourse in the new millennium
We are open to suggestions of names other than those mentioned above. The tentative deadline for submission of final papers is 31st Sept. 2008. Interested contributors are requested to submit a short abstract of 500 words to editors Mala Pandurang at mpandu@yahoo.com and Anke Bartels at a.bartels@tu-bs.de not later than 30th May 2008.
Papers must adhere to the MLA style. The length of the paper should not exceed 5000 words.
About the editors:
Mala Pandurang is Head, Department of English, Dr BMN College, Mumbai, India. She is also a Post-doctoral Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn. She has taught at the University of Texas at Austin as Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor.
Her publications include Postcolonial African Fiction. A Crisis of Consciousness (1997), Articulating Gender (ed.) (2000), Vikram Seth. Multiple Locations, Multiple Affiliations (2003), Mediating Indian Writing in English: German Responses (Co-ed.)(2005, 2006) Chinua Achebe. An Anthology of Recent Criticism (ed.) (2006) and Ngugi Wa Thiongo. An Anthology of Recent Criticism (ed.) ( 2007).
Anke Bartels read English and German Studies at the Technical University of Braunschweig. After receiving her PhD, she was a visiting lecturer for German Studies at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. She is currently working on a post-doc thesis on East African women writers as well as teaching English literature and cultural studies at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg. Her research interests include contemporary British theatre, feminism, cultural studies and post-colonial literatures.
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