The Book in Africa: Critical Debates

by C. Davis (Editor), D. Johnson (Editor)

Overview

This volume presents new research and critical debates in African book history, and brings together a range of disciplinary perspectives by leading scholars in the subject. It includes case studies from across Africa, ranging from third-century manuscript traditions to twenty-first century internet communications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349486441
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Series:	New Directions in Book History
Edition description:	1st ed. 2015
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Fawzi Abdulrazak, independent scholar, USA Joyce Ashuntantang, University of Hartford, USA Nourdin Bejjit, Mohamed V University, Morocco Ruth Bush, University of Bristol, UK Caroline Davis, Oxford Brookes University, UK Archie Dick, University of Pretoria, South Africa Claire Ducournau, University Paul Valéry - Montpellier III, France Alessandro Gori, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Jack Hogan, University of Kent, UK Shamil Jeppie, University of Cape Town, South Africa David Johnson, The Open University, UK Elizabeth le Roux, University of Pretoria, South Africa Giacomo Macola, University of Kent, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction PART I: FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT 1. Copying and Circulation in South Africa's Reading Cultures, 1780-1840; Archie L. Dick 2. Printing as an Agent of Change in Morocco, 1864-1912; Fawzi Abdulrazak 3. Between Manuscripts and Books: Islamic Printing in Ethiopia; Alessandro Gori 4. Making Book History in Timbuktu; Shamil Jeppie PART II: POLITICS AND PROFIT IN AFRICAN PRINT CULTURES 5. Print Culture and Imagining the Union of South Africa; David Johnson 6. Creating a Book Empire: Longmans in Africa; Caroline Davis 7. From Royalism to E-secessionism: Lozi Histories and Ethnic Politics in Zambia; Jack Hogan and Giacomo Macola 8. Between the Cathedral and the Market: A Study of Wits University Press; Elizabeth Le Roux PART III: THE MAKING OF AFRICAN LITERATURE 9. Francophone African Literary Prizes and the 'Empire of the French Language'; Ruth Bush and Claire Ducournau 10. Heinemann's African Writers Series and the Rise of James Ngũgĩ; Nourdin Bejjit 11. The Publishing and Digital Dissemination of Creative Writing in Cameroon; Joyce B. Ashuntantang Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This landmark volume decolonizes the history of the book in Africa exploding tired stereotypes of Europe as 'literate' and Africa as 'oral'. A rich array of case studies examine the long pre-colonial history of manuscript and book production while bringing the story up to date with publishing histories of multinational companies, local academic presses, and the work of major figures of African literature. A treasure-trove for lovers of the book, and those with an interest in global media studies, African studies, book history, postcolonial studies." Professor Isabel Hofmeyr, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Editorial Reviews

The book will be valuable to the fields of book history and postcolonial studies, not only because it demonstrates the need for new critical approaches to the book in Africa but also for the challenges it poses to the broader discipline of book history.” (Rachel Bower, Textual Cultures, Vol. 10 (1), 2016)

“The essays in this collection offer an illuminating glimpse of the critical debates on the Book in Africa, and will certainly create a lot of interest in this area of expertise, especially on the importance of archival sources as pivotal in literary scholarship.” (Jabulani Mkhize, Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 42 (2), 2016)

“This is an important volume because it directs our attention to difficult questions, including that of the relationship between socio-historical contexts and literary production. The book will be valuable to the fields of book history and postcolonial studies, not only because it demonstrates the need for new critical approaches to the book in Africa but also for the challenges it poses to the broader discipline of book history.” (Rachel Bower, Textual Practice, Vol. 10 (1), 2016)

“The Book in Africa: Critical Debates is the third title in Palgrave Macmillan’s wide-ranging new series New Directions in Book History. In a decade when scholars have begun to look beyond the western and predominantly white print culture to push forward the former boundaries of the field, this new volume edited by Caroline Davis and David Johnson provides researchers with eleven case studies encompassing the fields of the history of the book, publishing studies, library studies, and literary history.” (Gulfer Goze, SHARP News, sharpweb.org, August, 2016)

“This volume brings valuable perspectives to understandings of ‘the book’ across Africa, presenting a diversity of linguistic and publishing contexts and genuinely innovative research. … provides a timely corrective to commonly held assumptions that Africa’s publishing future will be exclusively digital, and a sobering reminder of the need to engage at the level of the basic economic and publishing realities of both print and electronic publishing in Africa.” (Stephanie Kitchen, Logos, Vol. 27 (4), 2016)

"The Book in Africa is recommended for all African studies collections, library and information science departments, as well as collections on publishing and book studies, print culture, and book history." Hans M. Zell, The African Book Publishing Record

From the Publisher