Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa and its Diasporas
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: School of Humanities
Abstract
This project focuses on the contemporary legacies of black internationalism (c.f. Hayes Edwards) in the construction of African and diasporic solidarity through the study of small magazines, both print and digital. Through their role as sites of intimacy and collaboration, these works give rise to the creation of networks of affiliation and corridors of storytelling which span localities, regions and transnational and diasporic contexts, functioning as active participants in the creation of black and African ideologies in the global imaginary.
Small magazines and literary networks play a crucial role in everyday social and political life in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). From the late days of empire to the present day, cultural forms of expression have served as central media through which notions of national, ethnic and civic belonging have developed, while also offering an outlet for the fostering of large-scale forms of activism and for the transmission of new orthodoxies for subjectivity. This interdisciplinary network examines the circulation and production of small magazines in SSA in order to explore the ways in which these publications enable lateral forms of self-fashioning in the early twenty-first century, covering areas including citizenship, sexuality and ethnicity in order to produce an examination of affiliation, identity and civic participation in SSA today. Ranging from formal publications in receipt of state and NGO sponsorship to informal 'zines' circulated through counter-cultural networks and taking forms spanning print and digital media, these new publications are not widely known nor accessible outside of their specific localities; yet, through their vernacular and often-overlapping trajectories of distribution, these publications hold a far more central role in the fostering of everyday practices than their better-known 'high' literary counterparts. Beginning with better-distributed publications including Kwani? (Kenya), Saraba (Nigeria) and Chimurenga (South Africa) and expanding into lesser-known publications, the network will engage with a broad range of forms of social creation through informal networks of literary writing, bringing together scholars with expertise in ethnographic methods, historical study and literary criticism, along with writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs working in Africa and its diasporas.
The network addresses questions including: what forms of identification are produced, contested and authenticated in the small magazines which proliferate across SSA? How do the informal networks produced by publishers, writers and readers function with respect to formalised political and civic networks? What modes of self-fashioning emerge through the entanglements of actors and publics operating in sub-Saharan Africa? These questions will be explored during two research weeks in Cape Town and Kampala; the network's findings will be presented at an international conference to be held in Bristol which will form the basis for a special journal issue showcasing network findings. Additional activities will include public engagement events at the 2018 Africa Writes festival (London); the creation and maintenance of a project website hosting a blog, teaching resources and a working paper for NGOs and cultural organizations working on literary citizenship in SSA; and a range of non-academic articles to be published with Africa in Words.
Rather than view its material as passive, the network will emphasise the coproduction of knowledge, developing bespoke research methods and leveraging vernacular forms of literary criticism which span the gap between material and aesthetic approaches. Where study of SSA has been hampered by a reliance on methods which mirror the top-down approach to socio-political intervention in SSA by global powers, this network will undertake a multifocal approach which places its emphasis on the everyday as the ground from which to develop theoretical insight.
Small magazines and literary networks play a crucial role in everyday social and political life in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). From the late days of empire to the present day, cultural forms of expression have served as central media through which notions of national, ethnic and civic belonging have developed, while also offering an outlet for the fostering of large-scale forms of activism and for the transmission of new orthodoxies for subjectivity. This interdisciplinary network examines the circulation and production of small magazines in SSA in order to explore the ways in which these publications enable lateral forms of self-fashioning in the early twenty-first century, covering areas including citizenship, sexuality and ethnicity in order to produce an examination of affiliation, identity and civic participation in SSA today. Ranging from formal publications in receipt of state and NGO sponsorship to informal 'zines' circulated through counter-cultural networks and taking forms spanning print and digital media, these new publications are not widely known nor accessible outside of their specific localities; yet, through their vernacular and often-overlapping trajectories of distribution, these publications hold a far more central role in the fostering of everyday practices than their better-known 'high' literary counterparts. Beginning with better-distributed publications including Kwani? (Kenya), Saraba (Nigeria) and Chimurenga (South Africa) and expanding into lesser-known publications, the network will engage with a broad range of forms of social creation through informal networks of literary writing, bringing together scholars with expertise in ethnographic methods, historical study and literary criticism, along with writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs working in Africa and its diasporas.
The network addresses questions including: what forms of identification are produced, contested and authenticated in the small magazines which proliferate across SSA? How do the informal networks produced by publishers, writers and readers function with respect to formalised political and civic networks? What modes of self-fashioning emerge through the entanglements of actors and publics operating in sub-Saharan Africa? These questions will be explored during two research weeks in Cape Town and Kampala; the network's findings will be presented at an international conference to be held in Bristol which will form the basis for a special journal issue showcasing network findings. Additional activities will include public engagement events at the 2018 Africa Writes festival (London); the creation and maintenance of a project website hosting a blog, teaching resources and a working paper for NGOs and cultural organizations working on literary citizenship in SSA; and a range of non-academic articles to be published with Africa in Words.
Rather than view its material as passive, the network will emphasise the coproduction of knowledge, developing bespoke research methods and leveraging vernacular forms of literary criticism which span the gap between material and aesthetic approaches. Where study of SSA has been hampered by a reliance on methods which mirror the top-down approach to socio-political intervention in SSA by global powers, this network will undertake a multifocal approach which places its emphasis on the everyday as the ground from which to develop theoretical insight.
Planned Impact
At the heart of this network is the aim to re-conceptualise self-fashioning by African and African descent peoples through the example of cultural magazines and the networks which arise from them. Its impetus comes from a desire to forge modes of inquiry into the socio-political and civic import of cultural engagement by African and African descent peoples which re-centres these populations as subjects with agency in their self-creation on individual and collective levels. Because of this, impact beyond the academy is a central tenant of this network.
The network will produce impact at three levels: through engagement with writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs who self-define as Africa or African descent; through engagement with educators and NGOs working in the cultural sector; and through engagement with the general public.
Writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs will benefit through co-production with network participants during the research weeks in Cape Town and Kampala. They will take a central role in driving intellectual agendas around African writing and its cultural import. They will benefit from the insights garnered by the network during these weeks, which has the potential to effect their engagement with audiences and content, as well as the exposure which participation in network activities, in person, via the website and through articles on Africa in Words, generates.
We will broaden the project's impact by hosting a panel at the 2018 Africa Writes, the Royal African Society's annual festival of African literature. This will allow the network to reach the general public and non-academic actors engaged with African cultural production, leading to the potential to influence the ways in which these parties engage with and enable the production and distribution of African literary writing through popular forms.
The Bristol conference will end with a public reading featuring several of the writers and publishers with whom the network collaborates. These readings will be captured as podcasts for the network website. Given the often localised and ephemeral nature of cultural magazines and their contents, this has the potential to impact their reach and market.
These experiences will be chronicled on a public website. This will be of interest to the general public, broadening understandings of African and African diaspora literature, culture and society. Intervening into the a priori 'image of Africa' which circulates in the global imaginary, the network will develop methods for understanding the complexity of African cultural production within the simultaneous and discrepant networks of affiliation which these publications produce. It thus has the potential to shift public opinion on Africa and its diasporas by enabling a more nuanced engagement with its heterogeneity.
The website will contain a teaching tool kit and sample teaching plans for educators working in secondary, further and higher education who wish to engage with popular forms from Africa and its diasporas. These materials will be available freely, and we will track their use through IP statistics, enabling us to target relevant constituencies via email and publicity.
Network activities will inform a short working paper, to be distributed to key stakeholders and archived on the website, targeted at cultural NGOs who work on the African continent and its diasporas. This paper will contain recommendations for how literary practice might be used to inform civic engagement and participation in social life, drawing on insights garnered during the two research weeks. The project administrative assistant will collate a list of key contacts who will be sent a copy via email.
Along with the website, participants will also publish articles on Africa in Words, a blog focused on African cultural production with a readership of 6,500. These articles will be written for general audiences and maximise the network's public impact.
The network will produce impact at three levels: through engagement with writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs who self-define as Africa or African descent; through engagement with educators and NGOs working in the cultural sector; and through engagement with the general public.
Writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs will benefit through co-production with network participants during the research weeks in Cape Town and Kampala. They will take a central role in driving intellectual agendas around African writing and its cultural import. They will benefit from the insights garnered by the network during these weeks, which has the potential to effect their engagement with audiences and content, as well as the exposure which participation in network activities, in person, via the website and through articles on Africa in Words, generates.
We will broaden the project's impact by hosting a panel at the 2018 Africa Writes, the Royal African Society's annual festival of African literature. This will allow the network to reach the general public and non-academic actors engaged with African cultural production, leading to the potential to influence the ways in which these parties engage with and enable the production and distribution of African literary writing through popular forms.
The Bristol conference will end with a public reading featuring several of the writers and publishers with whom the network collaborates. These readings will be captured as podcasts for the network website. Given the often localised and ephemeral nature of cultural magazines and their contents, this has the potential to impact their reach and market.
These experiences will be chronicled on a public website. This will be of interest to the general public, broadening understandings of African and African diaspora literature, culture and society. Intervening into the a priori 'image of Africa' which circulates in the global imaginary, the network will develop methods for understanding the complexity of African cultural production within the simultaneous and discrepant networks of affiliation which these publications produce. It thus has the potential to shift public opinion on Africa and its diasporas by enabling a more nuanced engagement with its heterogeneity.
The website will contain a teaching tool kit and sample teaching plans for educators working in secondary, further and higher education who wish to engage with popular forms from Africa and its diasporas. These materials will be available freely, and we will track their use through IP statistics, enabling us to target relevant constituencies via email and publicity.
Network activities will inform a short working paper, to be distributed to key stakeholders and archived on the website, targeted at cultural NGOs who work on the African continent and its diasporas. This paper will contain recommendations for how literary practice might be used to inform civic engagement and participation in social life, drawing on insights garnered during the two research weeks. The project administrative assistant will collate a list of key contacts who will be sent a copy via email.
Along with the website, participants will also publish articles on Africa in Words, a blog focused on African cultural production with a readership of 6,500. These articles will be written for general audiences and maximise the network's public impact.
Description | The impact from this award continue to emerge, largely because of the amount of material which was generated over the course of the project (especially through its engagement activities and associated blog series). We anticipate that impact will continue to be generated for some time to come, including policy impacts through the refinement and wider circulation of the toolkit and working paper; new collaborations between academic and non-academic partners; further funding and exploratory research. The project to date has contributed to increased audience participation for our partners (see Partners section) through the engagement events and non-academic publications that the project has produced. It had also contributed to increased public understanding of the role of small magazines and literary networks in the forging of black internationalisms over the long twentieth-century through its engagement and educational events and outputs. New collaborations have enabled cultural and social impacts to expand. |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Creative Economy |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | PGR training |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Through the project's workshops, training was provided for postgraduate research students in disseminating their research to the public through engagement events and blogs. The feedback from these, for instance the blogs written by ECRs and PGRs for the project, suggest that this mode of engagement has resulted in a change in public attitudes to African print cultures. This has led to a change in how PGR training has been run via our partner organisations. |
Description | best practices toolkit |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | We've developed a toolkit for practitioners and educators exploring how small magazines might be used both in creative and educational practice. This has been done in partnership with the independent publishers and entrepreneurs we have worked with on the research network, including about six literary initiatives across four countries. A lot of this work is ongoing, as we ended up with far more material than we had anticipated - primarily reflective testimonies from educators and practitioners, sample lesson plans, and guidance for putting small magazines in conversation with 'canonical' African literature in the classroom. At present,this material remains closed to public access (that is, it has only been circulated privately through our networks), because of the need to negotiate ownership with the non-academic contributors. The toolkit is accompanied by a working paper summarising the key observations and findings from the two roundtable/research weeks, with a list of key challenges for African literary producers and recommendations for further research. |
Description | AHRC Follow on Funding for Impact and Engagement (GCRF Highlight Call): 'Creative Writing and Translation for Peace' |
Amount | £91,880 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/S005889/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 01/2020 |
Description | Arts Management and Literary Activism (AMLA) feasibility study and scoping exercise for literary translation and creative writing training provision in sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe |
Amount | £48,642 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 07/2018 |
Title | coproduction |
Description | The project has contributed to the development of coproductive knowledge development through collaborative research undertaken by academics and practitioners. This has in turn resulted in the development of a blended method which marries research with practice-based inquiry to harness new and/or undervalued forms of knowledge production around intellectual histories, with a particular benefit for practitioners working on the African continent. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The most notable impact has been the production of knowledge which foregrounds modes of understanding and inquiry often-neglected in academic methods based in the global North and which re-centres practitioners in the global South as creators of knowledge. Most importantly, this enabled a string of new creative-critical collaborations to emerge, particular with Bakwa magazine (on the funded project 'Creative Writing and Translation for Peace'), Saraba, the Hargeysa International Book Fair (with whom the PI is co-producing workshops on academic writing and coproduction for early career scholars based in Africa to be held at the 2019 Hargeysa International Book Fair, drawing on experience for a similar workshop held with the Center for African Cultural Excellence and Writivism Festival in 2018) and Chimurenga. The insights on coproduction have further fed into the planning of a new creative writing school based in Nairobi, led by Mr Billy Kahora (Kwani Trust) and Dr Kate Haines Wallis (Exeter University). |
Description | Africa Writes |
Organisation | Royal African Society |
Department | Africa Writes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | PI Krishnan worked with CI Ouma and network members to curate a panel at the 2018 Africa Writes festival on Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa. The panel, which was delivered to a full room of ca 80 people and recorded for podcasting, sparked new collaborations between the Center for African Cultural Excellence, Bakwa and the Hargeysa Book Fair. The panel speakers were Kate Haines Wallis, Jama Musse Jama (founder of the Redsea Foundation, which runs the Hargeysa International Book Fair), Chris Ouma, Nancy Adimora (founder of AFREADA) and Dzekashu Macviban, of Bakwa. We also curated a session at the Africa Writes Bristol Pop Up in 2017 with Nigeria magazine Saraba. For the Ugandan Youth and Creative Writing Panel, PI Krishnan organised a panel delivered to an audience of 50 (and recorded for podcast) on Emerging Writing from Uganda, with Nick Makoha (one of the creative writing workshop facilitators), Maria Kakinda (one of the writers featured in the anthology) and Sumayee Lee (of Writivism and the Center for African Cultural Excellence). |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner organisation paid for speaker honoraria and managed the booking of accommodation for overseas speakers. They also provided a venue and publicity, as well as recording for the podcast. |
Impact | We continue to curate events for and with Africa Writes. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Africa in Words |
Organisation | Africa in Words |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The research team commissioned a series of blog posts for Africa in Words, an internationally-leading blog of African literature and cultural studies. Six blogs have been posted to date with a further two planned. |
Collaborator Contribution | Editing, publishing, promoting and production |
Impact | Six blogs have been posted to date: https://africainwords.com/2017/10/21/finding-affiliations-reading-communities-literary-institutions-small-magazines/ ; https://africainwords.com/2017/10/30/a-secret-history-of-the-nation-small-magazines-at-writivism-2017/ ; https://africainwords.com/2018/06/04/archiving-small-magazines-awa-digitisation-and-exhibition-in-montpellier/ ; https://africainwords.com/2018/06/27/flexible-forms-and-publics-moradewun-adejunmobi-and-stacy-hardy-on-small-magazines/ ; https://africainwords.com/2018/11/23/the-corridors-of-storytelling-small-magazines-at-africa-writes-sunday-july-1st-2018/ ; https://africainwords.com/2019/01/11/literary-networks-and-collaborations-a-nod-towards-knowledge-decolonisation/ |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Center for African Cultural Excellence |
Organisation | Center for African Cultural Excellence |
Country | Uganda |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Research team curated and executed a roundtable on 'small magazines, personal histories and black archives' at the 5th annual Writivism festival, the Center for African Cultural Excellence's flagship event held annually in Kampala. The roundtable featured approximately 20 speakers and 35 attendees and was a major feature of the festival's programming. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners helped identify African continent-based participants and speakers, organised all publicity and logistics and provided a venue and on the ground support. |
Impact | Blog posts on Africa in Words. This is a multi-disicplinary collaboration drawing on academics in literary studies, African studies and history as well as practitioners (writers, publishers, archivists). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Chimurenga |
Organisation | Chimurenga |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We organised a research day at their premises on Long Street in Cape Town, which was broadcast over internet radio through the Pan African Space Ship and in 2018 (January) invited editor Stacy Hardy to Bristol to serve as a keynote speaker for the Research Network's international conference. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of venue, speakers, radio broadcasting and publicity |
Impact | Workshop held in April 2017 at Chimurenga premises. Following the workshop, Chimurenga editor Stacy Hardy served as keynote speaker in the network conference held in Bristol in January 2018 |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Africa Writes panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A panel on Small Magazines was held at the 2018 edition of Africa Writes, to a full capacity audience. Attended by about 80 or people and subsequently distributed as a recorded podcast, the session featured a long question and answer period, which indicated an increased level of understanding and interest in small magazines and independent publishing in Africa. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Cape Town Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A four-day workshop at the University of Cape Town held in April 2017 which brought together researchers and practitioners, as well as policy-makers and funders, with an interest in small magazines, literary networks, festivals and black internationalisms. The workshop sparked a number of ongoing conversations, and fed into a follow-up workshop in Kampala, Uganda in August of that year, as well as a conference in Bristol in January 2018. These activities have led to a series of blog posts and are feeding into two planned publications (a journal special issue and edited collection), as well as a series of educational materials on teaching black internationalisms through small magazines and a brief working paper (both in draft). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | January Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | In January 2018 the network organised an international conference in Bristol, which included sessions open to the general public, targetted at early career academics (including postgraduates) and practitioners. These sessions involved about 55 people and sparked questions and discussion afterwords, which led to an increased interest in and understadning of the role of small magazines in Africa today. One session, curated by Africa in Words, led particularly to new submissions to the website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Writivism workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Four-day roundtable workshop featuring researchers, policy makers, funders and practitioners working on small magazines and black internationalisms, held as a key event at the 5th Writivism Festival held in Kampala. Events included public sessions on new African magazines and visits to schools, which sparked discussion afterwords. Audience members reported an increased understanding of the role of small magazines in African cultural life and new avenues for future events were developed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://writivism.com/academics-roundtable/ |