Childhood In African Literature

Author : Christopher E. W. Ouma
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2020-02-27
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783030362560

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Childhood in Contemporary Diasporic African Literature by Christopher E. W. Ouma Pdf

This book examines the representation of figures, memories and images of childhood in selected contemporary diasporic African fiction by Adichie, Abani, Wainaina and Oyeyemi. The book argues that childhood is a key framework for thinking about contemporary African and African Diasporic identities. It argues that through the privileging of childhood memory, alternative conceptions of time emerge in this literature, and which allow African writers to re-imagine what family, ethnicity, nation means within the new spaces of diaspora that a majority of them occupy. The book therefore looks at the connections between childhood, space, time and memory, childhood gender and sexuality, childhoods in contexts of war, as well as migrant childhoods. These dimensions of childhood particularly relate to the return of the memory of Biafra, the figures of child soldiers, memories of growing up in Cold War Africa, queer boyhoods/sonhood as well as experiences of migration within Africa, North America and Europe.

Author : Eldred D. Jones,Marjorie Jones
Publisher : Africa World Press
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0865436738

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Childhood in African Literature by Eldred D. Jones,Marjorie Jones Pdf

"African authors have consistently returned to childhood to find their personal as well as their racial roots. Far from being merely nostalgic yearnings for a lost paradise, many of the treatments of childhood as shown in articles in this issue have exposed a grim reality of cruelty, harshness, parental (particularly paternal) egocentrism and extraordinary bruisings of the vulnerable child psyche. Camara Laye may have portrayed a paradise state but Yvonne Vera has treated one of the cruelest features of childhood anywhere. African authors generally have been sternly responsible in their portrayal of childhood." -- Publisher's description

Author : Vivian Yenika-Agbaw
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 168 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2007-12-13
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781135923679

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Representing Africa in Children's Literature by Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Pdf

Representing Africa in Children’s Literature explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children’s and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both "insiders" and "outsiders" writing about Africa for children.

Author : De-Valera N.Y.M. Botchway,Awo Sarpong,Charles Quist-Adade
Publisher : Vernon Press
Page : 279 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2019-03-05
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781622735341

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New Perspectives on African Childhood by De-Valera N.Y.M. Botchway,Awo Sarpong,Charles Quist-Adade Pdf

What does it mean to be a child in Africa? In the detached Western media, narratives of penury, wickedness and death have dominated portrayals of African childhood. The hegemonic lens of the West has failed to take into account the intricacies of not only what it means to be an African child in local and culturally specific contexts, but also African childhood in general. Challenging colonial discourses, this edited volume guides the reader through different comprehensions and perspectives of childhood in Africa. Using a blend of theory, empiricism and history, the contributors to this volume offer studies from a range of fields including African literature, Afro-centric psychology and sociology. Importantly, in its eclectic geographical coverage of Africa, this book unashamedly presents the good, the bad and the ugly of African childhood. The resilience, creativity, pains and triumphs of African childhood are skilfully woven together to present the myriad of lived experiences and aspirations of children from across Africa. As an important contribution to African childhood studies, this book has the potential to be used by policymakers to shape, sustain or change socio-cultural, economic and education systems that accommodate African childhood dynamics and experiences at different levels.

Author : Crystal Lynn Webster
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2021-04-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9781469663241

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Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood by Crystal Lynn Webster Pdf

For all that is known about the depth and breadth of African American history, we still understand surprisingly little about the lives of African American children, particularly those affected by northern emancipation. But hidden in institutional records, school primers and penmanship books, biographical sketches, and unpublished documents is a rich archive that reveals the social and affective worlds of northern Black children. Drawing evidence from the urban centers of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, Crystal Webster's innovative research yields a powerful new history of African American childhood before the Civil War. Webster argues that young African Americans were frequently left outside the nineteenth century's emerging constructions of both race and childhood. They were marginalized in the development of schooling, ignored in debates over child labor, and presumed to lack the inherent innocence ascribed to white children. But Webster shows that Black children nevertheless carved out physical and social space for play, for learning, and for their own aspirations. Reading her sources against the grain, Webster reveals a complex reality for antebellum Black children. Lacking societal status, they nevertheless found meaningful agency as historical actors, making the most of the limited freedoms and possibilities they enjoyed.

Author : Osita Agbu
Publisher : African Books Collective
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2009-10-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9782869783904

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Children and Youth in the Labour Process in Africa by Osita Agbu Pdf

It is increasingly clear that children and the youth today play a significant role in the labour process in Africa. But, to what extent is this role benign? And when and why does this role become exploitative rather than beneficial? This book on children and the youth in Africa sets out to address these questions. The book observes that in Africa today, children are under pressure to work, often engaged in the worst forms of child labour and therefore not living out their role as children. It argues that the social and economic environment of the African child is markedly different from what occurs elsewhere, and goes further to challenge all factors that have combined in stripping children of their childhood and turning them into instruments and commodities in the labour process. It also explains the sources, dynamics, magnitude and likely consequences of the exploitation of children and the youth in contemporary Africa. The book is an invaluable contribution to the discourse on children, while the case studies are aimed at creating more awareness about the development problems of children and the youth in Africa, with a view to evolving more effective national and global responses.

Author : Irene Sabatini
Publisher : Clipper Audio
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2015-01-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1471298272

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Peace and Conflict by Irene Sabatini Pdf

Author : Camara Laye
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1954-01-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 080901548X

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The Dark Child by Camara Laye Pdf

The Dark Child is a distinct and graceful memoir of Camara Laye's youth in the village of Koroussa, French Guinea. Long regarded Africa's preeminent Francophone novelist, Laye (1928-80) herein marvels over his mother's supernatural powers, his father's distinction as the village goldsmith, and his own passage into manhood, which is marked by animistic beliefs and bloody rituals of primeval origin. Eventually, he must choose between this unique place and the academic success that lures him to distant cities. More than autobiography of one boy, this is the universal story of sacred traditions struggling against the encroachment of a modern world. A passionate and deeply affecting record, The Dark Child is a classic of African literature.

Author : Oduor Obura
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2021-06-13
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000408003

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Decolonising Childhoods in Eastern Africa by Oduor Obura Pdf

This book deconstructs Eurocentric narratives and showcases local voices to re-examine childhood in Eastern Africa. Moving away from portrayals of eastern African childhood as characterised by want, the author argues for a differentiated and pluralist nature of the eastern African childhood. Taking a chronological approach, the author provides a multidisciplinary critical reading of Africanist research on childhood in eastern Africa, drawing from anthropological and cultural studies, while examining writings from the pre-imperial and colonial periods. Moving into the contemporary period, the book reveals the continuity, tensions and ruptures of these portrayals in humanitarian, legal, and journalistic discourses, before exploring postcolonial writings on childhood in works by Eastern African novelists. Based on such a multidisciplinary perspective, this book will be of interest to scholars of African literature, eastern African history, critical childhood studies, museums and Africanist epistemologies.

Author : Chibundu Onuzo
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2012-03-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780571268900

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The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo Pdf

Winner of a Betty Trask Award Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize Longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize The Spider King's Daughter is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos, a city torn between tradition and modernity, corruption and truth, love and family loyalty. Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father's favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house. A world away from Abike's mansion, in the city's slums, lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father's death and now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.

Author : De-Valera NYM Botchway,Awo Sarpong,Charles Quist-Adade
Publisher : Vernon Press
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2019-09-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781622735877

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New Perspectives on African Childhood by De-Valera NYM Botchway,Awo Sarpong,Charles Quist-Adade Pdf

What does it mean to be a child in Africa? In the detached Western media, narratives of penury, wickedness and death have dominated portrayals of African childhood. The hegemonic lens of the West has failed to take into account the intricacies of not only what it means to be an African child in local and culturally specific contexts, but also African childhood in general. Challenging colonial discourses, this edited volume guides the reader through different comprehensions and perspectives of childhood in Africa. Using a blend of theory, empiricism and history, the contributors to this volume offer studies from a range of fields including African literature, Afro-centric psychology and sociology. Importantly, in its eclectic geographical coverage of Africa, this book unashamedly presents the good, the bad and the ugly of African childhood. The resilience, creativity, pains and triumphs of African childhood are skilfully woven together to present the myriad of lived experiences and aspirations of children from across Africa. As an important contribution to African childhood studies, this book has the potential to be used by policymakers to shape, sustain or change socio-cultural, economic and education systems that accommodate African childhood dynamics and experiences at different levels.

Author : Vivian Yenika-Agbaw
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2007-12-13
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781135923662

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Representing Africa in Children's Literature by Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Pdf

Representing Africa in Children’s Literature explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children’s and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both "insiders" and "outsiders" writing about Africa for children.

Author : Ruth Finnegan
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
Page : 614 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2012-09
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781906924706

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Oral Literature in Africa by Ruth Finnegan Pdf

Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan's ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This book is the first volume in the World Oral Literature Series, an ongoing collaboration between OBP and World Oral Literature Project. A free online archive of recordings and photographs that Finnegan made during her fieldwork in the late 1960s is hosted by the World Oral Literature Project (http: //www.oralliterature.org/collections/rfinnegan001.html) and can also be accessed from publisher's website.

Author : Ngugi wa Thiong'o,Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Publisher : Heinemann
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0435908308

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Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o,Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo Pdf

"Two small boys stand on a rubbish heap and look into the future. One boy is excited, he is beginning school; the other, his brother, is an apprentice carpetner. Together, they will serve their country--the teacher and the craftsman. But this is Kenya and times are against them. In the forests, the Mau Mau are waging war against the white government, and two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, and the rest of their family, need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical man, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge, the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up"--P. [4] of cover.

Author : Wole Soyinka
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2014-08
Category : Authors, Nigerian
ISBN : 0413777251

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Aké by Wole Soyinka Pdf