From the (semi-)periphery one can see the world: African literature in the context of world-literature

• Grant number: 20/03902-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2021
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Elena Brugioni
• Grantee: Marta Maria Banasiak
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/07202-0 - Narrating global crises: ecocritical perspectives in contemporary African novel, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Starting from the theoretical proposal of world-literature developed by Warwick Research Collective, the present project seeks to develop a transnational and translinguistic reflection on the narratives coming from the divergent spaces of the African continent, with the objective of rethinking the role of African literature in the global/planetary space. The comparative analysis will focus on the representations of the multiple effects of world capitalist expansion in the work of four African writers, two of whom are anglophone - the South African J.M. Coetzee and the Somali Nurrudin Farrah, and two lusophone - the Mozambican João Paulo Borges Coelho and the Angolan Ondjaki. It is argued that by placing the work of the four writers in a context that goes beyond national and linguistic boundaries and, consequently, their placement within broader paradigms - the (semi-) peripheral and the global one, allows the search for new expressions/interpretations of African narrative which define the (semi-) periphery not only as a point of theoretical and conceptual reference but mainly as a place of enunciation. The issues addressed, in addition to the political-social situation directly linked to the condition of the post-colony (Mbembe, 2001), will also run through those related to global crises, such as the ecological and migratory crises or the exploitation of raw-materials. Thus, the analysis relies on a transdisciplinary approach based on a diverse range of the humanities, with emphasis on ecocriticism, since this is the second paradigm, which, in addition to world literature, guides new ways of thinking about the links between global literatures. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BANASIAK, MARTA. Combining the Uneven: Literatures of the Lusophone Indian Ocean in the Context of World-Literature - Proposal for a Theoretical Approach Applied to Mozambican Literature. PORTUGUESE STUDIES, v. 37, n. 2, p. 17-pg., 2021-01-01. (20/03902-9)