Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2016)

Towards an Anglophone African Literature Praxis: A Case of a Literary- linguistic Conundrum and the Teaching of African Letter

https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v5i1.148
Michael Andindilile

Corresponding Author(s) : Michael Andindilile

michaelandindilile@udsm.ac.tz

Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), Vol. 5 No. 1 (2016)

Abstract

This article attempts to bring together various strands vital in the study and teaching
of Anglophone African literature in an increasingly globalised world, which no longer
has the luxury of ignoring the rich literatures from this unique continent often given
an unwarranted bad name. It looks beyond the literary-linguistic conundrum to
examine how the most can come out of the interpretation and teaching of
Anglophone African literatures, primarily drawing on examples from Chinua Achebe’s oeuvre. It primarily argues that the increasingly transnational world has heightened
the need to study and teach literatures from traditionally non-English contexts in the
language, English, that has become a global language—controversies aside—to foster
transnational discourse. It also illuminates on intricate issues pertaining to the study
and teaching of Anglophone African literatures outside local particularities.

Keywords

Anglophonism, African literature, transnationalism, literary discourse
Towards an Anglophone African Literature Praxis: A Case of a Literary- linguistic Conundrum and the Teaching of African Letter. (2022). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 5(1). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v5i1.148
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Bakhtin, M. 1987. The Dialogic Imagination. (C. Emerson and M. Holquist Trans.). Austin: University
  2. of Texas Press. Bamiro, E. 2000. The English Language and the Construction of Cultural and Social Identity in
  3. Zimbabwean and Tribagonian Literatures. Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics. Berkeley: Peter Lang Pub Inc. Batibo, H. 2005. Language Decline and Death in Africa: Causes, Consequences and Challenges. Clevedon, Buffalo: Multilingual Matters. Bhabha, H. 2004. The Location of Culture (2nd edn.). London: Routledge. Bickerton, D. 1973).The Nature of Creole Continuum. Language, 49(3): 640–669.
  4. Cary, J. 1939, 1995. Mister Johnson. London: Everyman. Cozier, D.H. & R.M. Blench. 1992. An Index of Nigerian Languages (2nd edn). Dallas: Summer Institute
  5. of Linguistics. Deleuze, G. & F. Guattari, 1986. Kafka: Toward A Minority Literature. (D. Polan Trans). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Egar, E. E. 2000. The Rhetorical Implications of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Ejejuru, F. 1990. Traditional Oral Aesthetics in Modern African Languages: Oka Okwu in Theme and
  6. Characters Exploration in the Land’s Lord. The Literary Griot, 2(2): 1–21.
  7. Heine, B. & D. Nurse. (eds.). 2008. A Linguistic Geography of Africa. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  8. Jussawalla, F. & R.W. Dasenbrock. 1992. Interviews with Writers of the Post-Colonial World. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Kachru, B. B. 1992. The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Kalu, A. 2000. African Literature and the Traditional Arts: Speaking Art, Moulding Theory. Research
  9. in African Literature, 31(4): 48–62.
  10. Lindfors, B. 1969/1997. Interview with Chinua Achebe. In B. Lindfors (ed.), Conversations with
  11. Chinua Achebe (pp. 27–34). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. —. 1972. The Palm Oil with Which Achebe’s Words Are Eaten. African Literature Today, 1(4): 2–18.
  12. Lugard, F.J.D. 1965. The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (5th edn). London: Archon Books. Mahood, M. M. 1965. Joyce Cary’s Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Mazrui, A. 1986. The Africans: Triple Heritage. Boston: Little, Brown
  13. Mudimbe, V.Y. 1994. The Idea of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Ng?g? W.T. 1965. The River Between. Oxford: Heinemann —. 1982/1987. Devil on the Cross. Oxford: Heinemann. —. 1986/1997. Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature. Oxford: James
  14. Currey. Nkosi, L. 1962. Chinua Achebe. In B. Lindfors (ed.). Conversations with Chinua Achebe (pp. 3–6).
  15. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi
  16. Nwogum, D. 1964. The Chi Offended. Transition, 4 (15): 5.
  17. Ogbaa, K. 1997. Interview with Chinua Achebe. In B. Lindfors (ed.), Conversations with Chinua
  18. Achebe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Onwuemene, M. 1999. Limits of Transliteration: Nigerian Writers’ Endeavour Toward A National
  19. Literary Language. PMLA, 114(5): 1055–1066.
  20. Rowell, C. H. 1989/1997. An Interview with Chinua Achebe. In B. Lindfors (ed.), Conversations with
  21. Chinua Achebe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Searle, C. 1987/1997. Achebe and the Bruised Heart of Africa. In B. Lindfors (ed.), Conversations
  22. with Chinua Achebe (pp. 155–64). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Shelton, A.J. 1964. The Offended Chi in Achebe’s Novels. Transition, 3(13): 36–37.
  23. Snead, J. 1990. European Pedgrees/African Contagions: Nationality, Narrative, and Communality in
  24. Tutuola, Achebe, and Reed. In H. Bhabha (ed.). Nation and Narration, pp. 231–49. London and
  25. New York: Routledge. Uchendu, V. 1965. The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria. New York: Hort, Rinehart and Winston. Yeats, W.B. 1956. The Second Coming. In the Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. New York: Macmillan
Read More
Author biographies is not available.

How to Cite

Towards an Anglophone African Literature Praxis: A Case of a Literary- linguistic Conundrum and the Teaching of African Letter. (2022). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 5(1). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v5i1.148
Download