DOCSLIB.ORG

From the South

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
From the South VOICESFROM THE SOUTH ewsletter -March 2015 E-N Founded in 1985, the The Karibu Foundation is Karibu Foundation is an an independent founda- independent foundation tion that supports voices A New Cartography of Africa that supports voices from from the Global South the Global South that Alternative Maps lift the “unseen” of Africa that provide alternatives provide alternatives to to the dominant para- the dominant paradigms In March 2015, African publishing houses Chimurenga (South Africa) digms of power, distribu- and Kwani? (Kenya) finalized a joint project that explored the links be- of power, distribution, tion, and development. tween contemporary Africa, the maps we use to show it, and how these and development. maps don’t always reflect what is actually happening on the ground for Africans. The project was based primarily on the following questions: If Visit our website to the maps that we use today to understand Africa were a by-product, tool, http://www.karibu.no and result of imperialism, what would happen if Africans instead created sign-up for “Voices from [email protected] maps for their own use? How would this shift the perception Africans the South,” our monthly have of themselves and how they make life on the continent? How can e-newsletter. these maps make visible African’s own realities or imaginations? The Karibu Foundation Kirkens Hus In this month’s “Voices from the South,” the founder and editor of http://www.karibu.no Rådhusgt 1-3 Chimurenga, Ntone Edjabe, writes about the project, and the eight al- [email protected] ternative maps that are being launched this month across Africa. He 0151 Oslo explores especially how the process of creating these “alternative cartog- Norway raphies” opened up the imaginations of the cartographers to highlight Africa’s own evolving narratives. The Karibu Foundation Kirkens Hus Rådhusgt 1-3 By Ntone Edjabe only by GDP and such indicators of “de- Founder, Chimurenga velopment”. And as we work in a world 0151 Oslo ruled by the uncertain- scales, set squares Norway Since its launch, and compasses alone would not work; we Chimurenga has also requires hands, feet and hearts. And Chimurenga is a pan african engaged, forcefully, memory. As Wendell Hassan Marsh has with this question: space for arts, culture and said, “History is the science of the state, politics, based in Cape Town, When will the new while memory is the art of the stateless.” emerge – and if it is South Africa. Its goal is to already here, how do we decipher it? Mapping the unseen provide and sustain a pan- African, multidisplinary But no edition has addressed this query In light of this, we began to ask ourselves space for debate and innova- as centrally as our current project on new how one represents the unseen in Africa. tion beyond partisan limits cartographies. and national boundaries in For example, how does represent Soma- Africa. Broadly, our maps project contests the lia? Through the Berlin 1884-85-inherited narrowness of the notion of the “failed diagram, or through the political imagi- For more information, visit: state” that publications such as Foreign nary of Greater Somalia, which includes http://www.chimurenga.co.za/ Policy and various think-thanks main- parts of Ethiopia and Kenya? streamed at the peak of the structural adjustments of the late 1980s to justify What of the Swahili Coast which extends Photo: Sandit, sus. Agnate Western interventionism in the so-called from Kenya through Tanzania and north- nam si blaciis eos rem lac- developing world. ern Mozambique to include parts of the cusant fugitia dolo quatem Indian Ocean, and whose reluctance to be harum et excea dis et dolumet Our reality in Africa cannot be mapped integrated into any nation-state project fugiaSubscribe doluptam veratibusto “VOICESalianimod FROM untur THE aliquis SOUTH” vo- at www.karibu.no Page 1 other than its own goes back seven ever, we ask: what if maps were made The alternative maps centuries? What of the transnational by Africans for their own use, to un- identity of the Tuareg across the Sahel derstand and make visible their own The eight maps we’ve commissioned belt – and other pastoralist communi- realities or imaginaries? How does it thus far are the following: ties? shift the perception we have of our- - “secret countries” (Greater Soma- selves and how we make life on this lia, Royal Bafokeng Nation etc.); These questions make visible the ex- continent? istence of “secret countries” that are - Gaddafi’s financial and military uncontainable within the borders we We do not know, and this is why we network; know. started this work. And we’re not do- ing it alone. We are collaborating with - soft power (foreign cultural agen- But there are other queries: what are Kwani?, the Kenyan literary maga- cies; the new trade routes in Africa – for zine. Together we’ve invited writers the production and circulation of and artists to produce this language, - the entertainment complex and its khat and other narcotics? Or for the in words and images. relationship with the trendy notion export of young males bodies to the of “Africa Rising”); global industrial complex? Our aim with this project is to shift the knowledge about and from Africa - new trade routes; Who fights Africa’s wars? If water has from “what it should be” to what we replaced oil as one of the most sought experience and imagine it to be – to - water conflicts (tied to land and after resources, are we witnessing the make visible networks of trade, power water grabs); dawn of a new age of hydro-imperi- structures, movement of people and alism? - neopats and repats (new and re- ideas as we experience them. turning migrants from the West and What was the real extent of Gaddafi’s We are very aware of the specificity of Asia); financial empire across the continent? each country – we live in them. But - who fights Africa’s wars (the fic- What is the impact of the “neopats” we’re not producing maps of any in- (new migrants from the China, India tion of national armies and various dividual country precisely because players in armed conflicts). and Mediterranean Europe) or the we’re contesting the country-focus “repats” (returning Africans) on the approach. Read together with the texts which continent? accompany them (memoir, essays, We’re instead mapping political, eco- reportage, fiction) they invite readers The emergence of Boko Haram in the nomic and cultural realities that show Lac Chad region is a good example to look at our world differently and how dated that approach is, that it has to consider what is emerging or re- of the limit of our current analytical more to do with political correctness frames. To speak of this movement in emerging across the continent (geo- and some idea of “post-colonial Afri- politically and otherwise). the context of contemporary Nigerian ca” than the reality we experience and politics is to overlook ethno-religious imagine. Each of the maps represents This though is by no means the fi- ties that have connected people in several places and relations between nal word. The commissioning and that region longer than the existence and beyond countries, essentially, research process is still ongoing and of Cameroon, Nigeria or Chad. Simi- highlighting evolving narratives as we welcome contributions, thoughts, larly, to analyze it through the logic opposed to supposedly fixed nodes. provocations and reflections. With of the “War on Terror” is to overlook the support of the Karibu Foundation long-standing local struggles among However, these maps of “the new” and in collaboration with Kwani?, we various groups in the region. are not only relevant to Africans but will initiate a dedicated webpage to to the world. As philosopher Achille Changing perceptions in a time of house the research and ongoing con- Mbembe suggests in an interview tributions to this project. imperialism featured in the issue, “if you want to We understand the role of cartogra- know where the world is going, look The aim, as always, remains, to write phy as a tool of imperialism. How- at Africa”. our world differently.■ Page 2 Page 3 Photos: Ipsum quam consequia eatur arcimint volutempos et aut quiae pori omnis sitamusci untiandae a untiandae sitamusci pori omnis quiae et aut volutempos arcimint eatur consequia quam Ipsum Photos: Maps reprinted from the Chimurenga Chronic, March 2015 Visit chimurengachronic.co.za for more info. The maps and accompanying text can be purchased in full (both in print and digitally) from Chimurenga’s webshop: http://www.chimurenga.co.za/ chimurenga-shop. Ntone can be reached at: [email protected] Page 2 Page 3.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download This PDF File
    Podcasting as Activism and/or Entrepreneurship: Cooperative Networks, Publics and African Literary Production Madhu Krishnan; Kate Wallis University of Bristol; University of Exeter, UK In April 2017, we were present at a workshop titled “Personal Histories, Personal Archives, Alternative Print Cultures,” organized as part of the AHRC Research Network “Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa and its Diasporas” (see Smit for a report on the session). The workshop was held at the now-defunct Long Street premises of Chimurenga, a self-described “project-based mutable object, publication, pan-African platform for editorial and curatorial work” based in Cape Town and best known for their eponymous magazine, which published sixteen issues between 2002 and 2011 (Chimurenga). As part of a conversation with collaborators Billy Kahora and Bongani Kona, editor Stacy Hardy was asked how Chimurenga sought out and forged readerships and publics. In her response, Hardy argued that the idea of a “target market” was “dangerous” and “arrogant,” offering a powerful repudiation to dominant models within the global publishing industry and book trade. Chimurenga, Hardy explained, worked from the premise articulated by founder Ntone Edjabe that “you don’t have to find readers, they find you.” Chimurenga’s ethos, Hardy explained, was one based on recognition, what she terms the “recognition of being part of something,” of “encountering Chimurenga and clocking into belonging” (Hardy, Kahora and Kona). Readers, for Hardy, were “Chimurenga people” who would find the publication and, on finding it, find something of themselves within it, be it through engagement with the magazine, attendance at Chimurenga’s live events and parties, or participation in the collective’s online presence.
    [Show full text]
  • Prizing African Literature: Awards and Cultural Value
    Prizing African Literature: Awards and Cultural Value Doseline Wanjiru Kiguru Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University Supervisors: Dr. Daniel Roux and Dr. Mathilda Slabbert Department of English Studies Stellenbosch University March 2016 i Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained herein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. March 2016 Signature…………….………….. Copyright © 2016 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Dedication To Dr. Mutuma Ruteere iii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract This study investigates the centrality of international literary awards in African literary production with an emphasis on the Caine Prize for African Writing (CP) and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (CWSSP). It acknowledges that the production of cultural value in any kind of setting is not always just a social process, but it is also always politicised and leaning towards the prevailing social power. The prize-winning short stories are highly influenced or dependent on the material conditions of the stories’ production and consumption. The content is shaped by the prize, its requirements, rules, and regulations as well as the politics associated with the specific prize. As James English (2005) asserts, “[t]here is no evading the social and political freight of a global award at a time when global markets determine more and more the fate of local symbolic economies” (298).
    [Show full text]
  • Poetics and Politics in Contemporary African Travel Writing
    Poetics and Politics in Contemporary African Travel Writing Maureen Amimo Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof Louise Green Co-supervisor: Prof Grace Musila March 2020 i Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: ……………………………………… Copyright © 2020 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract This study investigates contemporary travel narratives about Africa by Africans authors. Scholarship on travel writing about Africa has largely centred examples from the Global North, yet there is a rich body of travel writing by African authors. I approach African travel writing as an emerging genre that allows African authors to engage their marginality within the genre and initiate a transformative poetics inscribing alternative politics as viable forms of meaning-making. I argue that contemporary African travel writing stretches and redefines the aesthetic limits of the genre through experimentation which enables the form to carry the weight and complexities of African experiences. Drawing on the work of theorists such as Edward Said, Mary Louise Pratt, James Clifford and Syed Manzurul Islam, as well as local philosophy emergent from the texts, I examine the reimaginations of the form of the travel narrative, which centre African experiences.
    [Show full text]
  • +| Download the Pdf Version
    “Embracing Opacity” Interview with Ntone Edjabe (Chimurenga Magazine) Ntone Edjabe is the founder and editor of Chimurenga, a literary magazine produced in Cape Town focusing on contemporary African politics and popular culture. The title Chimurenga refers to the Shona word for ‘struggle’ as well as to a popular music genre in Zimbabwe. In this conversation on July 14th 2011, Edjabe looks back at the first decade of publishing Chimurenga and speaks about the philosophy underlying the publication. His current project, The Chimurenga Chronicle, takes on the form of a newspaper backdated to the week of May 11 – 18 2008, the period marked by the outbreak of so-called xenophobic violence in South Africa. In an effort to shift the perspective away from the confines of nation-states The Chimurenga Chronicle is produced in cooperation with independent publishers Kwani? in Kenya and Nigeria’s Cassava Republic Press. The newspaper will be released on October 19th 2011, the day known in South Africa as “Black Wednesday” since the historic day in 1977 when the apartheid regime declared 19 Black Consciousness organisations illegal and banned two newspapers. Subtitled “A speculative, future-forward newspaper that travels back in time to re-imagine the present”, The Chimurenga Chronicle engages with the call of theorist Achille Mbembe, to “imagine new forms of mobilization and leadership, to create an ‘intellectual plus-value’ based on a ‘concept-of-what-will-come’”. The first edition of Chimurenga was published in 2002. Approaching your 10th anniversary as a literary magazine, what are some of the changes and continuities characterising the Chimurenga publication? There was no clear strategy behind the project in the beginning, and I think that is perhaps one of the reasons why we are still here.
    [Show full text]
  • A Pan-African Space in Cape Town? the Chimurenga Archive of Pan-African Festivals
    Journal of African Cultural Studies ISSN: 1369-6815 (Print) 1469-9346 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjac20 A Pan-African space in Cape Town? The Chimurenga archive of Pan-African festivals Alice Aterianus-Owanga To cite this article: Alice Aterianus-Owanga (2019): A Pan-African space in Cape Town? The Chimurenga archive of Pan-African festivals, Journal of African Cultural Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2019.1632696 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2019.1632696 Published online: 23 Aug 2019. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjac20 JOURNAL OF AFRICAN CULTURAL STUDIES https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2019.1632696 A Pan-African space in Cape Town? The Chimurenga archive of Pan-African festivals Alice Aterianus-Owanga Institut de sciences sociales des religions, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Created in 2002 in Cape Town by Ntone Edjabe, Chimurenga is a Pan-Africanism; archives; multidimensional project that combines a print magazine, a festivals; FESTAC; memory; workspace, a platform for editorial and curatorial activities, an Cape Town; South Africa; online library, and a radio station (the Pan-African Space Station). Chimurenga Based on collaborative ethnographic research with the Chimurenga team, this paper discusses the collection, production and creation of an archive about Pan-African festivals that this collective has developed through their cultural activities. After a brief overview of Festival of Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC) which took place in Lagos in 1977, and the history of Pan-African festivals, I describe the materials collected by Chimurenga and the projects in which they have participated.
    [Show full text]
  • In This Context: Collaborations & Biennials
    Issue 32 / October 2016 Notes on Curating ONCURATING www.oncurating.org In this Context: Collaborations & Biennials Edited by Nkule Mabaso Contributors Ntone Edjabe, Justin Davy, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Interviews conducted by Nancy Dantas, Valeria Geselev, Misheck Masamvu, Marcus Neustetter, Abongile Gwele, Nkule Mabaso, Olga Speakes Smooth Nzewi, Daudi Karungi, Iolanda Pensa, Gregory G. Sholette Contents 02 Editorial Nkule Mabaso INTERVIEWS ON COLLABORATIONS INTERVIEWS ON BIENNIALS 09 55 Ntone Edjabe of Chimurenga Smooth Nzewi interviewed by Valeria Geselev interviewed by Nkule Mabaso 13 62 Justin Davy of Burning Museum Daudi Karungi interviewed by Nancy Dantas interviewed by Nkule Mabaso 19 65 Gregory Sholette Misheck Masamvu interviewed by Nkule Mabaso interviewed by Olga Speakes 24 Marcus Neustetter of On Air 70 interviewed by Abongile Gwele Imprint PAPERS 33 Counting On Your Collective Silence by Gregory G. Sholette 43 For Whom Are Biennials Organized? by Elvira Dyangani Ose 48 Public Art and Urban Change in Douala by Iolanda Pensa Editorial In this Context: Collaborations & Biennials Editorial Nkule Mabaso This issue of OnCurating consists of two parts: the first part researches collaborative work with an emphasis on African collectives, and the second part offers an insight into the development of biennials on the African continent. Part 1 Collaboration Is collaboration an inherently ‘better’ method, producing ‘better’ results? The curatorial collective claims that the purpose of collaboration lies in producing something that would
    [Show full text]
  • African Cities Reader II
    AFRICAN CITIES READER II Mobilities and Fixtures African Cities Reader: Mobilities and Fixtures Ntone Edjabe and Edgar Pieterse (editors) Published by Chimurenga and the African Centre for Cities P.O. Box 15117 Vlaeberg, 8018 South Africa Tel: +27 (21) 422 4168 Email: [email protected] Chimurenga, African Centre for Cities and contributors © 2011 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book. ISBN: 978-0-9814273-4-8 Print design and layout: Chimurenga LAB DTP: Natasha Johnson Editorial Assistant: Jennifer Bryant Copy Editing: Andrea Meeson Cover images: Manu Herbstein www.africancitiesreader.org.za Contents Preface 5 Avalon in Two Monuments 106-111 Khulile Nxumalo Anti-Teleology 7-23 Dominique Malaquais Avalon 112-119 Nicole Turner Airport Theatre, African Villain 24-29 Martin Kimani The Psychogeography of Loose Associations 120-125 Sherif El-Azma The Car Doctors of Maamobi 30-41 Manu Herbstein Tailor 126-135 Jonny Steinberg Pilgrimages: Jambo 42-47 Adrift and Exposed 136-143 Victor LaValle Iain Chambers/Isaac Julien Hargeisa Snapshots 48-50 Mining Sounds 144-149 Doreen Baingana
    [Show full text]
  • 05Y266 PCF Awards Book 2011 Text 3.Indd 1 01-12-11 08:50 … It Is Impossible to ‘Develop’ Another Person Or Country from Outside
    PRINCE CLAUS AWARDS 2011 05y266 PCF_Awards book_2011 text 3.indd 1 01-12-11 08:50 … IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ‘develoP’ ANOTHER PERSON OR COUNTRY FROM OUTSIDE. PEOPLE DEVELOP THEMSELVES, AND SO DO COUNTRIES. ALL THAT WE CAN DO IS ASSIST THAT PROCESS IF ASKED TO DO SO … HRH Prince Claus, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 1988 05y266 PCF_Awards book_2011 text 3.indd 2 01-12-11 08:50 05y266 PCF_Awards book_2011 text 3.indd 3 01-12-11 08:50 FOREWORD 4 2011 Prince Claus Awards 05y266 PCF_Awards book_2011 text 3.indd 4 01-12-11 08:50 by HRH PRINCE FRISO AND HRH PRINCE CONSTANTIJN Honorary Chairmen of the Prince Claus Fund The Prince Claus Fund has a short but energetic history of 15 action-packed years. It was launched with the conviction that culture influences development and that every human society has the necessary wealth of cultural heritage and talent to develop itself. This has proved true. And in fact it often seems that the more difficult a society’s circumstances, the greater the inventiveness and commitment of its cultural activists. The Prince Claus Laureates are clear and shining examples showing the impact of cultural actions on local development. Raising the status and increasing the outreach of these crucial role models through the Prince Claus Awards has been part of the Fund’s strategy from the very beginning, and over the past 15 years we have been introduced to some truly remarkable individuals and organisations. The Zimbabwe International Book Fair (1997) and Algeria’s Barzakh Editions (2010) are catalysts for development through the promotion and production of local literature and the creation of intercultural bridges through co-publication and translation.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2014 Table of Content
    ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Table of content Letter from the Executive Director 4 Lettera 27 Our mission 7 Activities in 2014 8 Strategic Plan 2014-2016 9 Activities Activity map 12 AtWork 14 Ashoka Changemaker Schools 22 Sustain-Ability 24 Why Africa? 26 WikiAfrica 28 Focus on migrants 30 Kër Thiossane/Afropixel#4 Festival 32 Promoting contemporary African art 34 Mobile Access to Knowledge (Mobile A2K) 36 Summary 38 Our imaginary space is the twenty seventh letter, the missing letter, the letter not yet written, the hybrid sign, an empty box, the link between the written and the spoken, connection with the Letter from the Executive Director future, intersection of analogic and digital. Letter from the Executive Director The real space is our body, a nomad between Milano, Africa and the rest of the world. At the beginning, says the Bible, was the verb. But even the verb requires some mastering. It is not enough to claim to be a specialist of some speciality to be able to convince an audience. It is not given to everyone to be a good Each of us at least storyteller. We, every now and then, cross the path of those “specialists”. They come with their résumé that they hold like a flag and explain that once in a lifetime has they have been working for thirty years on, let’s say, Cameroon. They have published numerous books and claim to be the authority on the matter. dreamt about building And from the very minute they discover that I am of Cameroonian origins, they start to lecture me on Cameroon.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Provocations Nuruddin Farah Five Decades on © Claude Lortie 57 (1) 2020 • Vierde Reeks • Fourth Series • Herfs • Autumn
    ’n tydskrif vir afrika-letterkunde • a journal for african literature Ali M. Ahad • Ali J. Ahmed • Annel H. Pieterse • Annie Gagiano • Asis De • Azille Coetzee • Chris Broodryk Christopher Fotheringham • Cristina Ali Farah • Delia Rabie • Earl Basson • F. Fiona Moolla • Hanika Froneman Hein Willemse • Isolde de Villiers • Kamil Naicker • Karen Haire • Lethabo Mailula • Marco Medugno • Natalia Flores Neil van Heerden • Nick M. Tembo • Nuruddin Farah • Pauline Dodgson-Katiyo • Reed W. Dasenbrock • Siseko H. Kumalo Shawna-Leze Meiring • Stefan van Zyl • Tenita Z. Kidelo • Tycho Maas • Vivian Gerrand 57 (1) 2020 • Vierde reeks • Fourth series • Herfs • Autumn Tydskrif VIR LETTERKUNDE Literary provocations Nuruddin Farah five decades on © Claude Lortie 57 (1) 2020 • Vierde reeks • Fourth series • Herfs • Autumn Redakteur/ Editor Jacomien van Niekerk, U Pretoria (RSA) Streeksredakteure/ Regional Editors Algemeen / General Willie Burger, U Pretoria (RSA) Arabies / Arabic Muhammed Haron, U Botswana (Botswana) Frans / French Antoinette Tidjani Alou, U Abdou Moumouni (Niger) Kasonga M. Kapanga, U Richmond (VSA / USA) Oos-Afrika / East Africa Alex Wanjala, U Nairobi (Kenia / Kenya) Resensies / Reviews Bibi Burger, U Pretoria (RSA) Suider-Afrika / Southern Africa Grant Andrews, U Witwatersrand (RSA) Susan Meyer, North-West / Noordwes U (RSA) Lesibana Rafapa, U Limpopo (RSA) Wes-Afrika / West Africa Jonathon Repinecz, George Mason (VSA / USA) Isidore Diala, Imo state U (Nigerië / Nigeria) Administasie / Administrator Tercia Klopper, U Pretoria (RSA)
    [Show full text]
  • Princess Iolanda Pensa
    Princess Iolanda Pensa Dakar 2006 ‘Princess!’ shouts Jean-Charles. He slips off his chair, breaks into a smile and hurries into Marilyn’s arms. At the Dakar Biennial, in the Jazz Club Pen’Art, the musicians accompany the chatter and excitement as old friends meet up. Everyone’s cheerful, happy to be seeing each other after months, even years in some cases. Marilyn Douala Bell laughs. At Douala she’s Princess Marilyn Douala Bell, daughter of King Bell, a descendent of Rudolph Douala Manga Bell, hanged in 1914 for opposing German colonial rule, but among friends she’s just Marilyn. Jean-Charles’ princess is affectionately humorous. ‘My beautiful flower’, he seems to roguishly imply, with a deliberately retro tone, ‘we know you’re not just plain Marilyn’. Despite her many responsibilities, Princess Marilyn Douala Bell can spend this evening relaxing. She’s among friends; she can forget her official duties in the round of greetings. The table is crowded, Mamadou Jean-Charles Tall is seated halfway down it. An architect, brilliant and fair-minded, he has designed working-class housing, homes for the newly rich Senegalese, and the Elton service stations: structured like city squares and landmarks, they have become a model exported all over West Africa and are now being imitated by other oil companies. A few places down sits the anthropologist AbdouMaliq Simone. He has made seminal studies of the cities of Johannesburg and Douala, rich in narratives, encounters, and relationships. Sylviane Diop, cultural manager and promoter of the GAW digital art association, is seated beside her colleague N’Goné Fall, architect and curator.
    [Show full text]
  • Place, Space and Patriarchal Femininity in Selected
    Place, Space and Patriarchal Femininities in Selected Contemporary Novels by African Women Writers Lize-Maree Steenkamp 3699107 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Philosophiae in the Department of English Studies, University of the Western Cape. February 2019 Supervised by Associate Professor F. Fiona Moolla MLA 8th Edition (Please note that MLA 8th ed. varies significantly from earlier guidelines.) Recommended length: 80 000 – 100 000 words Actual length: 85 595 words http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ Steenkamp i Preliminary Pages Keywords African literature Nigerian literature Egyptian literature Sudanese literature homosocial place space public space private space feminism http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ Steenkamp ii Abstract Place, Space and Patriarchal Femininities in Selected Contemporary Novels by African Women Writers L Steenkamp, PhD Thesis, Department of English Studies, University of the Western Cape In much feminist literature, women’s spaces are analysed as constructive and supportive sites that may offer respite from patriarchy. However, women’s spaces are not inherently emancipatory. Through the socio-spatial dispersal of patriarchal power, places and spaces varying in scale – nations, cities, rural towns, private-public places and the home – can construct women who further the interests of men. Specifically, homosocial spaces, spaces where women interact with other women, can produce femininities that oppress other women by actively advancing patriarchal concerns. The selected primary texts consider spaces in regionally diverse but socially similar African contexts: Sefi Atta’s Swallow (2011) and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010) are set in Nigeria, Miral al- Tahawy’s The Tent (1998) is set in Egypt, while Leila Aboulela’s Lyrics Alley (2010) is set in both Egypt and Sudan.
    [Show full text]