African literature: A case of absolute necessity?

It is a truism that literature is the expression of an epoch in its socio-cultural realities, its politico-ideological engagements and its theologico-spiritual aspirations. Literature is therefore an aesthetic recording of a people in history, namely, the history that defines the existence of the former and suggests the criteria and modes of its own evaluation. At another level, literature can be considered a stylized rewriting of this history; a history that consistently takes advantage of the people while forgetting that it is only an offshoot of the latter's being in the world.

African literature has particularly enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, albeit a not-so-cordial one, with history, given that its very birth is grounded in the need of affirming the existence of the African mind and atmosphere. The historical trajectory of the African continent has consistently served as fertile ground for African fiction.

From the assimilationist premise of colonialism to the ‘subjectivised' liberalization of globalization, Africa's historical trajectory has given rise to a militant literature; a functional literature that is largely defined by the historical epoch, the place of the writer and genre type. It is a literature in which the writer's commitment and historical relevance is evident. The aesthetics of African literature is thus bound by the text/context dichotomy as the literary work is often a textualization of the society and the society, on its part, a contextualization of the work in question.

The evolution of African literature, in particular, has engendered a corresponding development in African thought and ideas. With the passage of time, writers, themes, genre types and literary frontiers, among others, have evolved, underscoring the dynamism of this creative enterprise. Today, African literature has transcended borders and stands its ground in the world market of ideas. We can thus affirm its existence. However, the regionalization of the continent on the economic and historical planes, its division into black and white Africa or its compartmentalization along the lines of Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and hispanophone seems to call the above affirmation into question. Does Africa, in effect, have A literature? Does it have A history?

This colloquium, which is exclusively for young researchers, namely, Master's, Doctorate and young PhD holders, seeks to reexamine the relationship between African literature and history; a subject today at the center of art and politics on the continent. The focus is on rethinking African literature, especially the significance of African writing to the different historical epochs, namely, the end of the second world war(1945) to the independence period (1960 when most countries in Africa gained independence), to the present. The colloquium also seeks to revisit the changing forms of this literature, the values embedded in it, as well as its textualities and peculiarities as a literature. An examination of the transcultural perspectives of the literature is equally envisioned.

Through the novel, yet critical and constructive perspective of young researchers, it is a question of revisiting the historical trajectory of African literature, its engagement with history and the varying perspectives of the latter we glean from the different genres. The principal objective of the colloquium is to provoke a serious and objective, multifaceted and novel rereading of African literature, not only as a creative enterprise, but as an inevitable factor of palpable development on the continent. It seeks to provide new ways of harnessing these gains for further development of the continent.

The rereading can be done under the following sub themes;
Pioneer Writing: styles, themes and vision Literary genres: Poetic figures and ideological configurations A question of gender: feminine writing and writing from a feminist perspective African writing: rupture, transversality, transgenericity and transcontinentality War literature Literature from both sides of the Sahara: Mahgrebian literature/ Black African literature Written literature/Oral literature: break or continuity? The criticism of African/Cameroon literature: cultural referents, theoretical models, epistemological considerations Reception of African literature: Who reads African literature?

Abstracts of not more than one page (in French or in English) should be sent by the 28th February 2013, latest, to the following addresses:

colloquejeuneschercheurslcayde1@yahoo.fr, littafric@gmail.com