A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Literary Networks and the Making of 21st Century African Literature In English: Kwani Trust, Farafina, Cassava Republic Press And The Production Of Cultural Memory Katherine Jane Haines A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Sussex School of English June 2016 2 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. KATHERINE JANE HAINES 3 Abstract This thesis examines the literary production of three publishers based on the African continent established shortly after the turn of the millennium - Nairobi-based Kwani Trust, Lagos-based Kachifo and Abuja-based Cassava Republic Press. It asks how these three contemporary and connected literary institutions, and the writers associated with them, have opened up new spaces and forms for the production of cultural memory and for African literature in English. The first part of the study offers close readings of texts by writers including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Parselelo Kantai and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, foregrounding the different ways in which these give literary form to memory and geography. I highlight a particular preoccupation with historiography in the editorial agenda of Kwani Trust. Reading contemporary novels published by Farafina and Cassava Republic Press through the work of Achille Mbembe, I characterize these as opening up new forms for imagining space. The argument that stretches across the thesis is that Kwani Trust, Kachifo’s Farafina imprint and Cassava Republic Press have opened up new spaces and forms for cultural production by making memory, geography and literature material. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the second part of the study analyses the digital and physical exchanges, as well as the medium, through which these literary texts have been created, produced and validated. I argue for a particular connection between the dynamics of materiality as relating to physical form, and materiality as relating to cultural value. With chapters focused on the medium of print, and on the relationships revealed by particular literary events located in Nairobi and Lagos, I demonstrate the significance of these publishing companies in establishing the foundations of a pan-African literary network which has nurtured and brought cultural value to some of the leading voices in twenty-first century African writing in English published from London or New York, as well as inspiring and validating new literary institutions on the continent. Through this, I make a case that literary studies requires new models that better account for the global cultural flows and multiple sites of value that this study makes visible, redefining Casanova’s Eurocentric conception of ‘world literary space’. 4 5 For Joyce Mills and Marjorie Wallis 6 7 On the one hand is the skein of words, images, and artifacts that operate according to a complex dynamic of tradition and innovation, competition, and cooperation. On the other are writers, critics, and the theorists who produce the artifacts. While no one person working alone can swing that small universe one way or another, individuals matter in determining its trajectory, and networks of people matter even more. N. Katherine Hayles Writing Machines 8 9 Contents Acknowledgements 10 1. Introduction 13 PART I: TEXTUAL SPACES 2. Popular Memory: Where is the Past Located in Kenya? 46 3. Mapping Memory: Where is the Past Located in Nigeria? 82 PART II: MEDIATED LITERARY SPACES 4. Exchanges in Nairobi and Lagos: Conceptualizing a Literary Network 112 5. How books Matter: The Medium of Print 133 6. Conclusion 152 Appendices 166 Bibliography 173 10 Acknowledgements My background as an editor means that ever since I can remember I’ve always read a book’s acknowledgements first. I think in some ways this practice sparked my interest in tracing and documenting the networks out of which texts emerge. I therefore feel a significant amount of happiness in now being able to compile my own acknowledgements and thank the many people who have been part of making this study possible and enabling it to find this form. My first debt is to Stephanie Newell who as my supervisor provided an amazing combination of intellectual inspiration and guidance, and pastoral care, infused with an infectious enthusiasm that has enabled me to carry out this research project. Thank you to Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor for starting the conversations that led to me writing about and working at Kwani Trust. A huge thank you to the founders and editors of the three publishing companies that form the focus of this study for being so generous to me with their time and for providing rich and inspiring material with which to illuminate and inflect the histories and literary production I have spent the last few years thinking about and trying to document: Muhtar bakare, bibi bakare-Yusuf, Eghosa Imasuen, billy Kahora, binyavanga Wainaina and Jeremy Weate. Alongside these conversations, this study has taken shape through information and reflections shared in interview by: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Kaine Agary, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Ike Anya, Nicholas Asego, Doreen Baingana, Simiyu barasa, A. Igoni Barrett, Jude Dibia, Simidele Dosekun, Victor Ehikhamenor, Akachi Ezeigbo, Dayo Forster, Muthoni Garland, Stanley Gazemba, Simon Gikandi, Moraa Gitaa, Mehul Gohil, Helon Habila, Emmanuel Iduma, David Kaiza, Toni Kan, Parselelo Kantai, Aleya Kassam, Judy Kibinge, Kinyanjui Kombani, Arno Kopecky, Ebun Latoye, Keguro Macharia, Tom Maliti, Juliet Maruru, Tony Mochama, David Muita, Boniface Mwangi, John Mwazemba, Sitawa Namwalie, Okey Ndibe, Joseph Ngunjiri, Martin Njaga, Lawrence Njagi, Kimani Njogu, Joyce Nyairo, Yemisi Ogbe, Tolu Ogunlesi, Nnedi Okorafor, Kofo Okunola, Patrick Oloko, Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi, Femi Onileagbon, E. C. Osondu, Alison Ojany Owuor, Yona Oyegun- Masade, Remi Raji, Kalundi Serumaga, Odili Ujubuoñu, Jumoke Verissimo, Mbugua wa 11 Mungai, Mukoma wa Ngugi, James Wamathai, Njeri Wangari, David Waweru and Molara Wood. Thank you all for your time and insights. I also had a series of invaluable conversations with booksellers in Nairobi at Bookpoint, Laxmi Booksellers and Savani’s, as well as with Chand Bahal at Bookstop, Rajiv Chowdhry at Textbook Centre and Mr Gitau at Chania bookshop. In March 2012 I began working for Kwani Trust as an Associate Editor for the Kwani? Manuscript Project. This experience and the access to information and connections it enabled has been hugely inspiring and significantly enriched my research. Thank you to my colleagues at Kwani Trust - Clifton Gachagua, Kate Hampton, Velma Kiome, Anne Moraa, Mike Mburu, Ogutu Muraya, Otieno Owino and Angela Wachuka - for letting me into this space and for the significant formal and informal conversations The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, with additional research trips made possible by a number of smaller research grants from the Doctoral School and School of English at the University of Sussex. I am very grateful for the support and intellectual exchange that has come out of building relationships with new colleagues and in particular with other PhD students and scholars, and feel lucky that many of these have developed into friendships. Thank you to Akachi Ezeigbo and Patrick Oloko for hosting me at the University of Lagos, for looking after me and for helping to facilitate my research. Thank you to Rehab Abdelghany, John Masterson and Laura Vellacott at the University of Sussex. A very big thank you to Katie Reid for being on this journey together, and to our extended Africa in Words family Nara Improta, Steph bosch-Santana and Rebecca Jones. Thank you to Carli Coetzee for her amazing investment in bringing together and supporting all of us in the JACS reading group, and to Emma Shercliff for the important shared reference points. A lot has been lost and gained over the last five years of writing this thesis. I thank Steve Haines for his support and our daughter Ella Haines for lighting the way. There are a few people, places and sounds without which completing this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you to the boston Tea Party on Princess Victoria Street, and to the music of FKA Twigs and Corinne bailey Rae. Thank you to my family Roger Wallis, Clare Wallis, Ed Wallis and Jim Wallis – especially to Jim and Ed for the proofreading and to Mum for even more of this and more besides. Thank you to Emylia Hall for the solidarity of home office sessions and the pom poms to cheer me on. Thank you to billy Kahora for the 12 golden hours and for reading. Thank you to Madhu Krishnan and Ruth bush for opening up and welcoming me into spaces in bristol for dialogue and building shared interests, and for generously reading and providing feedback on parts of this thesis. Chapter 4 is forthcoming in a revised form in Research in African Literatures as part of Special Issue: Interrogating the “Post-Nation” in African Literary Writing: Globalities and Localities edited by Madhu Krishnan. Chapter 5 is forthcoming in a revised form in Wasafiri as part of Special Issue: Under Pressure: Print Activism in the 21st Century edited by Madhu Krishnan and Ruth bush.