African Visions: Literary Images, Political Change, and Social Struggle in Contemporary Africa

by Silvia Federici, Joseph McLaren, Cheryl Mwaria

Overview

The complexity of African society entering the 21st century necessitates an interdisciplinary examination of Africa's political, social, and cultural developments and challenges. Focusing on Social Movements and Literature, Social Change and Culture, the book brings together a wide range of essays by committed scholars, writers, and activists concerned with progressive approaches to Africa's dilemmas.

Beginning with an overview by anthropologist Cheryl Mwaria, African Visions addresses such issues as structural adjustments, religious freedom, human rights, democratization, educational movements, and health care. Particular analyses consider intellectual property, student activism, and the AIDS epidemic. Mwaria, Federici, and McLaren also explore the way social and cultural questions have been treated in literary works and theoretical studies dealing with hybridity, sexual politics, literacy, socialist orientations, and language. Noted literary scholars Odun Balogun and Alamin Mazrui consider aspects of these issues. The collection also examines trends in literature, publishing, and theater in such countries as Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, and South Africa in relation to themes such as gender, popular culture, African novels, and protest. Highlighting articles by two of Africa's leading activist/writers Dennis Brutus of South Africa, stressing regional cooperation, and Ngûgî wa Thiong'o of Kenya, advocating African languages, African Visions avoids the pessimism associated with numerous 20th century studies. Brutus and Ngûgî consider the economic and cultural effects of globalization and the necessity for promoting self-determination. An essential resource for all scholars and students concerned with contemporary African life and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275971021
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2000
Series:	Contributions in Afro-American & African Studies
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.68(d)
Lexile:	1490L (what's this?)

About the Author

CHERYL B. MWARIA is a medical anthropologist who is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of African Studies at Hofstra University. She has served on the Board of the American Ethnological Society and is a member of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa. She has written on childbirth and child rearing in Kenya, biomedical ethics, women's health, and race relations.

SILVIA FEDERICI is Associate Professor of International Studies and Political Philosophy at New College, Hofstra University. She is a founding member and coordinator of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa. Among her earlier publications is Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization (Praeger, 1995).

JOSEPH McLAREN is an Associate Professor of English at Hofstra University. He has written extensively on black literature and culture. His works include Langston Hughes: Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition, 1921-1943 (Greenwood Press, 1997).

Table of Contents

Introduction
Social Movements
Poem: What Is the Soul of Africa by Dennis Brutus
Africa 2000: In the New Global Context by Dennis Brutus
The International Intellectual Property Regime and the Enclosure of African Knowledge by C. George Caffentzis
Mijikenda Perspectives on Religious Freedom and Cultural "Rights" by Diane Ciekawy
Structural Adjustment and the African Diaspora in Italy, by Steven Colatrella
The New African Student Movement by Silvia Federici
Academic Pursuits under the Link, by Karim F. Hirji
Democratization and Interventionism in Francaphone Sub-Saharan Africa by Francois Ngolet
A Vision of the Past as a Beacon for the Future: The Application of Fatimid Ideals in the City of Cairo by Habibeh Rahim
Women, AIDS and the Female Condom: Preventing HIV in Southern Africa by Ida Susser
Literature, Social Change, and Culture
Poem: The Monstrous Instrument by Maina Kinyatti
African Languages and Global Culture in the 21st Century by Ngûgî wa Thiong'o
Hybridity, Neouniversalist Cultural Theory, and the Comparative Study of Black Literatures by F. Odun Balogun
White Women, Black Revolutionaries: Sex and Politics in Four Novels by Nancy Topping Bazin
Popular Hausa Drama in Niger and the Politics of Its Appropriation by Ousseina Alidou Doula
Developmental Pleasures, Education, Entertainment, and Popular Literacy in South Africa by Loren Kruger
Socialist Oriented Literature in Post-Colonial Africa: Retrospective and Prospective by Alamin M. Mazrui
The Nigerian Novel in English: Trends and Prospects by Joseph McLaren
Writing In and Out of Algeria, Writing Algeria, Today by Soraya Mekerta
Post-Apartheid Drama by Donald Morales
Index

Editorial Reviews

An anthology of 18 essays published under the auspices of Hofstra University, which hosted the October 1995 conference where some of them were first presented. Scholars, political activists, and artists discuss the future of Africa. Many of them are originally from Africa and are now working in the US. Among the social movements they describe are the international intellectual property regime and the enclosure of African knowledge, and the new African student movement. The offerings on literature, social change, and culture include looks at white women and black revolutionaries in four novels by Nadine Gordimer, and trends and prospects of the Nigerian novel in English. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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