The Routledge Handbook of the New African Diasporic Literature introduces world literature readers to the transnational, multivocal writings of immigrant African authors. Covering works produced in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in the world, this book investigates three major aesthetic paradigms in African diasporic literature: the Sankofan wave (late 1960s–early 1990s); the Janusian wave (1990s–2020s); and the Offshoots of the New Arrivants (those born and growing up outside Africa).
Written by well-established and emerging scholars of African and diasporic literatures from across the world, the chapters in the book cover the works of well-known and not-so-well-known Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone writers from different theoretical positionalities and critical approaches, pointing out the unique innovative artistic qualities of this major subgenre of African literature. The focus on the “diasporic consciousness” of the writers and their works sets this handbook apart from others that solely emphasize migration, which is more of a process than the community of settled African people involved in the dynamic acts of living reflected in diasporic writings.
This book will appeal to researchers and students from across the fields of Literature, Diaspora Studies, African Studies, Migration Studies, and Postcolonial Studies.
List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Introduction: Trends in the New African Diasporic Literature Lokangaka Losambe and Tanure Ojaide Part I: The Sankofan Wave (late 1960s – early 1990s) A. Anglophone Perspectives 1. The Shapeshifter in Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Migrant Writing Gĩchingiri Ndĩgĩrĩgĩ 2. Abdulrazak Gurnah and V.S. Naipaul: Memory of Departure vs. Enigma of Arrival Simon Keith Lewis 3. Paradise Destroyed: Exile and Diaspora in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise and NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names Joya Uraizee 4. Diaspora as Motif in the Poetry of Jack Mapanje, Frank Chipasula and Lupenga Mphande Dike Okoro 5. Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Erotics of Black World Archives Uhuru Portia Phalafala 6. Contextualizing Racism and Humanity in Dennis Brutus’s Poetry Kehinde Akano 7. Zoë Wicomb and the Poetics of Social Irony Stefan Helgesson 8. ‘Dizzy with the To-ing and Fro-ing’: Diasporic Prose of the ‘New South Africa’ Peter Blair 9. Cultural Displacement, Identity and Home in Buchi Emecheta’s Diasporic Fiction H. Oby Okolocha 10. Writing Against the Rift: Ben Okri’s Diasporic Consciousness Defies Closure Rosemary Gray 11. Troubadours, They Traverse: Global Vision and Diasporic Imagination in the Poetry of Niyi Osundare and Tijan Sallah Wumi Raji 12. The Place of Memory and the Memory of Place in Tanure Ojaide’s Diasporic Poems Saeedat Bolajoko Aliyu 13. Living in the Interstices: Afropolitanism and the Poetry of Tanure Ojaide and Alfred Kisubi Edoama Odueme 14. Tracing the ‘Missing Link’: Postcolonial Reconfigurations and Diasporic Imaginaries in Funso Aiyejina’s Writing Olajumoke Verissimo 15. New African Diasporic Drama: Nigerian Meaning-Making Identities and Ethos Mabel Evwierhoma 16. (W)righting the African Diaspora: Tess Onwueme’s Interrogation of African Diasporic Trauma, History, and Belonging Maureen N. Eke B. Francophone Perspectives 17. Historical Afroeuropean and Transatlantic Mobilities in Contemporary Francophone Afrodiasporic Fiction Anna-Leena Toivanen 18. Ivoiritié in Tanella Boni’s Exile Discourse Honoré Missihoun 19. Tale(ing) Africa in a Global Context: War, Nature, and Pandemic in Veronique Tadjo’s The Shadow of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda and In the Company of Men Zaynab Ango 20. Congolese Trasnational/Diasporic Writers and their Multi-Pronged Fights Kasongo Mulenda Kapanga Part II: The Janusian Wave (1990s and 2020s) A. Anglophone Perspectives 21. Benjamin Kwakye and Okey Ndibe: Migration and Diasporic Encounters Joseph McLaren 22. Negotiating Home in the New World African Diasporic Wrtings: The Niger Delta and Black Canadian Geographies in the Poetry of Nduka Otiono and Amatoritsero Ede Mathias Iroro Orhero 23. Helon Habila’s Narratives: Thematic Visions and Narratology in The Chibok Girls and Travelers. Effiok Bassey Uwatt 24. Diasporic Consciousness and Narrative Ambiguity in Short Stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chika Unigwe Daria Tunca 25. Chika Unigwe’s Better Never than Late: Engaging the African Immigrant Experience in Belgium, Europe. Enajite Ojaruega 26. Chris Abani, The Anthropocene, and Transnational Ecoglobal Criticism Sarah E. Turner 27. Dinaw Mengestu’s Diasporic Practice Taylor Eggan 28. Cruel Optimism: The Longings of Outsiders Within Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi 29. The Poetics of Mobility, Proximity, and Emb’race in Joyce Ash’s A Basket of Flaming Ashes (2010) and Beautiful Fire (2018) Gilbert Shang Ndi 30. Holding the Global Gaze: The Image of Africa and the Unapologetic Aesthetics of (Un)Belonging in the Second Wave New African Diasporic Literatures: NoViolet Bulawayo, Sefi Atta, Zukiswa Wanner, and Nana Nkweti Martha Ndakalako 31. The Poetics of Unhomeliness and Homemaking in Gabeba Baderoon’s Poetry Nasseem Lallmahomed-Aumeerally 32. The Transatlantic Turn in Laila Lalami’s Migrant Writing Ahmed Idrissi Alami 33. Postcolonial Diasporic Conjunctive Consciousness in Leila Aboulela’s The Translator Lokangaka Losambe B. Francophone Perspectives 34. Fatou Diome, Abdourahman Waberi, and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr: Authors of French Expression Writing in and for “La Littérature-Monde” Valérie K. Orlando 35. Extending the Boundaries of Fiction and Identity in Alain Mabanckou’s Black Bazar Augustine H. Asaah 36. Calixthe Beyala’s Literary Work Travels North Ylva Lindberg 37. Calixthe Beyala’s Your Name Shall Be Tanga: An African-Diasporic Anomaly Christine Grogan 38. Politicizing the “Universal” of the African Diasporic Stage Space in France Brian Valente-Quinn Part III: Offshoots of the New Arrivants (Born and Growing in Diasporic Spaces) A. Anglophone Perspectives 39. Who is Teju Cole? Or Is Teju Cole the Same as Julius? Kenneth Harrow 40. Peace, Love, World: Helen Oyeyemi’s Peace Piece in Peaces F. Fiona Moolla 41. Between Home and Away: Contemporary Black British Poetry Jennifer Leetsch 42. Reading the New Diaspora in Yewande Omotoso’s Fiction Christopher Ouma B. Francophone and Lusophone 43. Marie NDiaye’s Un Temps de Saison: Native Hospitality and ‘Going Native’ in Rural France Judith Still 44. Archives of Absence: Reconstituting Lives Asunder in Yara Monteiro’s “Essa Dama Bate Bué” Daniel F. Silva 45. Curly Hair as an Identity Marker: From Angola to Portugal Cornesha Tweede 46. Crossing and Uncrossing: African Diaspora in Joaquim Arena’s Reparative Writing Patricia Martinho Ferreira Index
Lokangaka Losambe is the Frederick M. and Fannie C.P. Corse Professor of English at the University of Vermont. He previously taught African, African Diaspora, and English literatures at universities in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland, and South Africa. Dr. Losambe also served as the president of the African Literature Association (ALA) in 2012–2013. Tanure Ojaide is the Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies at the UNC, Charlotte. He has published collections of poetry, novels, short stories, memoirs, and self-authored and co-authored scholarly books. Dr. Ojaide teaches and publishes on African Literature and Culture, the Folklore of Africa and the African Diaspora, and Globalization in African Poetry.
