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Seminarium

The Limits of the Afropolitan Novel: Towards an African Street Literature

Seminar with Associate Professor Ashleigh Harris , Uppsala University

The place of the novel as a literary form in Africa is contested. Its colonial origins and its unaffordability for most Africans make it a bad fit for the continent, yet it was also central to the creation of most postcolonial African national literary canons. These bipolar traditions remain unresolved in recent debates about Afropolitanism and the novel in Africa today.

This paper extends this debate, arguing that Africa’s ‘de-realization’ in global representation and the global economy is reflected in the African novel becoming dominated by Afropolitan, rather than African, aesthetics, styles, and forms. Furthermore, the paper outlines the ways in which local literary initiatives in African megacities are offering alternatives to the global book industry, alternatives that I will define under the title ‘African Street Literature’

Växjö Fe3016, Kalmar Johan Höglund Add to your calendar