The Project on new African Literature
Linked with Abdourahman Ali Waberi – Djibouti.
We present exciting new and emergent African literatures, especially those trapped within the ideological, political, economic, and institutional contexts of the Postcolony, and excluded by the canonising mechanisms of the metropolitan academy. This approach will be our tradition. Apart from facilitating critical conversations, we will disseminate, archive, and comment on the works of well-known, emergent and relatively unknown but equally engaging writers of the third generation from the entire continent. Although the site map is self-explanatory, it might be useful to point out that the ‘resources’ icon opens up a photo gallery of literary activities, as well as clips of authors reading excerpts from their work. This, hopefully, will expand to become a formidable online audio library with time. Our ‘programs’ icon prepares the reader for still unfolding subsidiary projects like the Elmina Press, a long term publishing project for making new African and black diasporic literatures as well as scholarly work visible in the metropolis, and for expanding outlets for manuscripts that would otherwise remain buried. (Homepage).
People;
Programs;
Resources;
The Language Curtain, Gbounbboun;
PONAL Quarterly Forum PQF;
Submission Guidelines;
Address: Project on New African Literatures, 1812 Dunton Tower, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
K1S 5B6;
Contact.
About: http://www.projectponal.com/mission.html
Excerpt: … Yet, these international successes do not even begin to reflect the scope of continental developments that have come under such critical rubrics as third generation writing (in Nigeria), migritude writing (in Francophone Africa), post-apartheid or post-trauma writing (in southern Africa), and post-Uhuru writing (in Eastern Africa).
For instance, the international glitz accorded the third generation Nigerian novel by the commendable efforts of Adichie, Habila, Abani, and Attah, masks almost two decades of an unprecedented effervescence of third generation poetry spearheaded by such brilliant poets as Ifowodo, Maxim Uzor Uzoatu, Afam Akeh, Uche Nduka, Remi Raji, Chiedu Ezeanah, Toyin Adewale-Gabriel, Lola Shoneyin, Obi Nwakanma, and PONAL’s Amatoritsero Ede. PONAL will stimulate and disseminate work on such phenomenal continental developments as a way of bridging the gap that has continued to bifurcate the broader field of African Studies along continental and diasporic lines.
Our primary responsibility, therefore, is to build upon the present African Studies momentum at Carleton to forge a convivial atmosphere for work on the new literary processes that are emerging in Africa. PONAL will actively establish research collaborations with institutions and individuals in Africa and Euro-America. Our activities may be found on this self-explanatory website. However, we wish to draw attention to the following: … (full text).