Institutions of African literature: introduction

“Institutions of African Literature” was the theme of the 45th annual conference and meeting of the African Literature Association, held May 15–19, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. Articles in this cluster were first presented at the conference. The conference theme selection was to serve two purposes: first, to mark the half century anniversary of continuous publication of two major critical journals, African Literature Today and Research in African Literatures; and, second, to take stock of changes in material and discursive conditions of creative and critical productions around Africa. Questions addressed at the conference include why written poetry features in many literary prizes when it is the least written about among the major genres and, in addition, whether live theater can regain vitality in the prevailing conditions. Another main topic of concern was which forms have shaped the establishments and institutions of African literature in the various locations they have occupied historically. The essays published here show that some patterns of production and consumption persist vibrantly and new preoccupations are emerging around the rise of digital technologies. The novel and the film continue to enjoy an enduring tenure in Zimbabwe because they are, as Tsitsi Dangarembga argues in her keynote, “most readily consumed by audiences and are thus the level of practice at which production of literature becomes economically sustainable.” Dependent as these tenacious modes are on state institutions that serve select interests, Dangarembga further notes, notable experiences and voices got excluded. Simon Lewis’s article, “Conning the Contours of South African Poetry, 1970–2010,” analyzes trends in 40 years of printed anthologies of poetry in South Africa and outlines therefrom patterns of canon formation in the country. The study also points out how material publishing decisions and editorial selections intersect with the surrounding and ever-changing, discursive, ideological, and socio-political environments. Josiane Banini’s “Ton pied, mon pied... Asso!: L’esth etique de l’hybridit e liinguistique dans l’ ecriture romanesque de L eonora Miano” takes on the textual manifestation of the admixture of characters’ cultural, linguistic, and individual itineraries of becoming in the set of stories often grouped together as Afropean in Francophone spheres, and as both Migritude and Afropolitan in Anglophone discourse. In these texts the impact of displacement has become a significant node of critique. One important clue to the character of this formation, Banini’s essay shows,