ISOLA - The International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa

The International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) is an association of scholars from all over the world who are interested in exploring the rich oral traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora from as many disciplinary perspectives as possible.

The Society was established in 1991 in London and it draws its international membership from experts and students involved in the exploration of the oral traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora. The Society's members engage in the fullest spectrum of research with respect to African oral traditions, be it performance, literary, linguistic, comparative, theoretical or metatheoretical studies.


Members are encouraged to report on their restorative, archival, and field research while establishing multi-disciplinary networks. To this end, the Society organizes regular scholarly conferences. The international character of ISOLA is demonstrated not only by the diversity of its membership, but also by the distribution of the sites of our conferences. Our meetings have been held in London, UK (1991); Legon, Ghana (1995); Cape Town, South Africa (1998); Chambery, France (2002); Banjul, Gambia (2004); and, Trinidad and Tobago (2006).



Our ninth conference is scheduled to take place in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, 2012. Please check our website for updates and/or change. The Call for Papers will be posted shortly.. We identify with the initiatives of UNESCO towards the preservation of the world's "intangible heritage," and we are in the process of establishing a stable cooperative relationship with the organization. Our main languages of discussion and communication are English and French.

ISOLA Listserv

ISOLA also maintains a listserv for communication among members. Registered members will be subscribed by the Secretary/Treasurer. Once subscribed, ISOLA members can send messages to and receive messages and announcements from the entire membership of ISOLA.


Executive Council of ISOLA
ISOLA is administered by an executive council. The executive council is elected at ISOLA's conventions every two years. You may view the full list of executive council members and their contact information.

PRESIDENT
Dr. Antoinette Tidjani Alou
Professor of French and Comparative Literature - Universite Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niamey, Niger.
Email: tidjanialoua@yahoo.fr

VICE PRESIDENT
Dr Chiji Akoma
Associate Professor of African Literature - Department of English, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19026, USA

PUBLICATIONS OFFICER/EDITOR PUBLICATION OFFICER
Dr Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, North Carolina State University, USA

SECRETARY
Ursula BAUMGARDT
Professeur des Universités à l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France

COMMUNICATION OFFICER AND WEBMASTER
Dr. Robert Cancel
Associate Professor of Associate Professor of African and Comparative Literature
Department of Literature, U. C. San Diego Encinitas, CA 92024, USA

ARCHIVIST
Dr. Anne Marie Dauphin
Independent Researcher
Paris, France

Chairperson: Local Organizing Committee
Dr Koffi Léon,
Université de Cocody-Abidjan

Past President of ISOLA - Hein Willemse (Ex-Officio)
Dr. Hein Willemse,
Professor of Afrikaans,
University of Pretoria, South Africa