Our new print issue, Africa’s Hustle Republics, is here! Subscribe for less than ₦1K/$1 a week for full access.
Academic and author of The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice, Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein, tends to pay less attention to books that fail to enhance her work: ‘I would leave behind any book that denies the diverse richness of African perspectives and various forms of Blackness, that relegates Christianity to Western forms, and that tries to suffocate the poetic and its expressive reach.’
In my teenage years, I also felt compelled to read books about Black girls, books that even if I did not understand them completely, I could sense were important to my development.
The Republic is a Nigerian media-tech company dedicated to explaining our time—through deeply reported journalism on power, culture and society.
Focused consumption without interruptions.
Years of reporting at your fingertips.
Long-form journalism that matters.
This story features in our print issue, 'African Feminist Manifesto'.
Create a free account to continue reading this month and access more of our work.
About the Author
is an Assistant Professor in Black Religious Traditions and Constructive Theology and Ethics and the author of The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice. She is also the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, Theopoetics in Color: Embodied Approaches in Theological Discourse, and the author of the book in progress, The Care Book.
Nigerian novelist, poet and author of Graceland, Chris Abani, does not believe ‘Nigerian literature’ exists as a category: ‘It is a common misconception that there is a fixed category that can be read as essentially “Nigerian literature”. Nigeria has 500 nations, 500 languages and about 2,000 dialects. While culture and language can overlap, the level of diversity is such that Nigerian literature cannot be easily narrowed down.’
For the co-founder and publishing director, of Cassava Republic Press, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, it is telling that African literature is often pronounced dead in recent years, when more women and queer voices are becoming more prominent: ‘The loudest obituary writers about African literature tend to be men. These elegies seem to come from a tacit sense of personal or generational displacement rather than from the actual state of the field.’
Nigerian poet, novelist and author of Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Ben Okri, argues that Nigerian literature doesn’t always have to be about Nigeria: ‘Nigerian literature limits itself to Nigeria and then limits even the ways in which the country can be written about. What we want is a vast literature, a great literature…that speaks to all humanity.’
Comments
Sign in to comment.