ALT 41: African Literature in African Languages (African Literature Today, 41)

Interrogates and explores African literature in African languages today, and the continuing interfaces between works in indigenous languages and those written in European languages or languages of colonizers. Sixty years after the Conference of African Writers of English Expression at Makerere University, the dominance in the global canon of African literatures written in European languages over those in indigenous languages continues to be an issue. This volume of ALT re-examines this central question of African literatures to ask, 'What is the state of African literatures in African languages today?' Contributors discuss the translation of Gurnah's novel Paradise to Swahili, and Osemwegie's Ọrọ Epic to English, and Wolof wrestlers' panegyrics. They analyse Edo eco-critical poetry, and the poetics of Igbo mask poetry, and morality in early prose fiction in indigenous Nigerian languages. Other essays contribute a semiotic analysis of Duruaku's A Matter of Identity, and the decolonization of trauma in Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them. Overall, the volume paints a complex image of African cultural production in indigenous languages, especially in the ways Africa's oral performance traditions remain resilient in the face of a seemingly undiminished presence of non-African language literary traditions. Interrogates and explores African literature in African languages today, and the continuing interfaces between works in indigenous languages and those written in European languages or languages of colonizers. Sixty years after the Conference of African Writers of English Expression at Makerere University, the dominance in the global canon of African literatures written in European languages over those in indigenous languages continues to be an issue. This volume of ALT re-examines this central question of African literatures to ask,'What is the state of African literatures in African languages today?'Contributors discuss the translation of Gurnah's novel Paradise to Swahili, and Osemwegie's Ọrọ Epic to English, and Wolof wrestlers'panegyrics. They analyse Edo eco-critical poetry, and the poetics of Igbo mask poetry, and morality in early prose fiction in indigenous Nigerian languages. Other essays contribute a semiotic analysis of Duruaku's A Matter of Identity, and the decolonization of trauma in Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them. Overall, the volume paints a complex image of African cultural production in indigenous languages, especially in the ways Africa's oral performance traditions remain resilient in the face of a seemingly undiminished presence of non-African language literary traditions. Funded by the Knowledge Unlatched Select 2024 collection, this title is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND. Front cover Table of Contents Notes on Contributors Introduction. African Literature in African Languages: Orality and the Burden of Modernity ARTICLES Pictures of Materialism in the Benin Ecological Worldview: Eco-Critical Poems of Osemwengie Ero The Swahili Mtapta: Exploring Translation in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise Ikponmwosa Osemwegie’s Ọrọ Epic and Translation: The Past and Prospects of Edo Literature The Panegyric of the Champion: How Wolof Wrestlers Borrowed from Female Oral Genres to Win In and O ‘A People’s Firewood Cooks for Them’: The Contextual Prosody of Igbo Mask Poetry and Mbem Poetics Reclaiming the Muted Voices of Xhosa Literature: A Personal Testament Literary Supplement Four Poems Three Poems Four Poems Pulse on Martin Niemöller Two Poems Poem Ties that Gag Featured Articles Costume as Mystico-Metaphoric Communication in Toni Duruaku’s A Matter of Identity Decolonizing Trauma Studies: The Recognition-Solidarity Nexus in Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them Tribute Remembering Gerald Moore (22 August 1924 - 27 December 2022) Reviews Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Do Not Burn My Bones and Other Stories Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Broken Bodies, Damaged Souls and Other Poems Al-Bishak, Black Papyrus: Global Origins of Writing and Written Literature Traced to Black Africa Olu Obafemi, Ajon! (The Legend Who Made a King/Dom)