Overview

The stereotype of Africa as a predominantly 'natural' space ignores the existence of vibrant and cosmopolitan urban environments on the continent. Far from merely embodying backwardness and lack, African cities are sites of complex and diverse cultural productions which participate in modernity and its dynamics of global flows and exchanges. This volume merges the concerns of urban, literary and cultural studies by focusing on the flows and exchanges of texts and textual elements. By analysing how texts such as popular and canonical fiction, popular music, self-help pamphlets, graffiti, films, journalistic writing, rumours and urban legends engage with the problems of citizenship, self-organisation and survival, the collection shows that despite all the problems of Africa, its cities continue to engender forward-looking creativity and hope. The texts collected here belong to several different genres themselves, and they are authored by both distinguished and younger scholars, based in and outside of Africa. The volume explores the textualities emerging from the cities of Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Above all, it calls for an end to disabling hierarchical categorisations of both texts and cities. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ranka Primorac (University of Southampton, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 18.90cm , Height: 1.00cm , Length: 24.60cm
Weight:   0.249kg
ISBN:  

9780415852531

ISBN 10:   0415852536
Pages:   128
Publication Date:   31 May 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: City, text, future Ranka Primorac 2. A city that keeps a country going: In praise of Dakar Donal Cruise O’Brien 3. Corresponding with the city: Self-help literature in urban West Africa Stephanie Newell 4. Philly Lutaaya: Popular music and the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda Joel Isabirye 5. Remapping urban modernities: Julie Ward’s death and the Kenyan grapevine Grace A. Musila 6. The modern city and citizen efficacy in a Zambian novel Ranka Primorac 7. Lusaka Laura Miti-Banda 8. The urban palimpsest: Re-presenting Sophiatown Meg Samuelson 9. Myth and legend in urban oral memory: Bulawayo, 1930–60 Terence Ranger 10. Ivan Vladislavic and the possible city James Graham 11. City, identity and dystopia: Writing Lagos in contemporary Nigerian novels Rita Nnodim 12. Afterword: Modernity and transformation in African cities Jennifer Robinson

Reviews

Author Information

Ranka Primorac is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Southampton. Previously, she has taught Africa-related courses in several institutions of higher learning, including Cambridge and the London branch of New York University, and has authored The Place of Tears: The Novel and Politics in Modern Zimbabwe (2006) and co-edited Zimbabwe in Crisis: The International Response and the Space of Silence (2007).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions