Reflecting Africa

Reflecting Africa: Literature, Culture, and Society considers how African writers are affected by their culture and society and how they use their works to respond. Written by leading scholar and poet Tanure Ojaide, the book argues that African authors are a product of their local environment, which is then reflected in the literary productions they bring to a global readership. Starting with critical reflections on the author’s own positionality, the book spans the continent’s oral traditions right up to contemporary literary works. It picks up key themes which run through the works of African writers, such as African environments and ecosystems, folklore in literary and artistic productions, oral tradition and its influence on the written literature, African cultural sovereignty, and the impact of globalization on the African creative mind. The book also reflects on the failure of Western models of democracy in Africa, and the position of authors in the diaspora. Encompassing the personal and the general, the distant and the nearby, this book will be an important read for researchers and advanced students across the fields of African literature, cultural studies, and African/a studies.