Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa and Its Diasporas
University of Bristol, 3-5 Woodland Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1TB
19-20 January 2018
This two-day symposium will showcase the research network’s activities and work to date. In addition to academic paper sessions, it will feature a workshop with archivists from the Bristol Public Records Office, who will introduce us to their collection of small magazines from Africa, and a session with the editors of Africa in Words, who have been partnering with the research network on a collection of blog posts and resources for researchers, practitioners and readers interested in the role of small magazines in contemporary African cultural production. Programme available below.
19 January 2018: all sessions to be held in Lecture Room 8 (LR8)
tea and coffee available from 11 am
11:15-11:30 Welcome (Madhu Krishnan and Christopher Ouma)
11:30-1 Form and Poetics
Aurélie Journo, Reading the paratext: Posture and Self-Fashioning in African « Little Magazines »
Nathan Suhr-Sytsma, Reading Lyric in the African Digital Litmag
Billy Kahora, The Shifting Ecosystems of Small Magazines: Kwani? and Digital Aesthetics
1-2 lunch in student common room, 11 Woodland Road
2-2:30 Working Session with the Bristol Records Office: On Curating an Accessible Archive
2:30-4 Self-Fashioning and the Press
Oliver Coates, The Yoruba News at War, 1939-1945
Leslie James, The Flying Newspapermen: Nigerian journalism and the creative expression of black international politics
Khwezi Mkhize, 1936: Fascism and Liberal Citizenship in South Africa
4-4:15 refreshment break
4:15-5:15 Keynote Session: Moradewun Adejunmobi, African Writing and the Forms of Publicness
5:15-6:30 wine reception
7 pm Conference Dinner at Koh Thai Tapas, 7-9 Triangle South, BS8 1EY
20 January 2018: all sessions to be held in Link Room 1
tea and coffee available from 10 am
10:15-11:45 Reading (and writing) the archive
James Gibbs, ‘Getting known’: Wole Soyinka’s increasing visibility and audibility, 1953 to 1963.
Tiferet Bassel, Inhabiting Solidarity: Alex La Guma and Lotus Magazine
Ruth Bush, The politics of AWA: la revue de la femme noire: lessons from the co-production of a digital portal and exhibition on early African women’s magazines
11:45-1 Africa in Words and Small Magazines: Blogging as Research Workshop
1-1:45 lunch in student common room, 11 Woodland Road
1:45-3:20 The view from the South
Chelsea Haith, Blind-reading and representation: editorial tensions at Type/Cast literary journal
James Currey, The New African 1962-69; Africa in General and South Africa in Particular
Katie Reid, ‘Small’ sideward archives: Ivan Vladislavić and 1980s Joburg magazines.
3:20-3:30 refreshment break
3:30-5:15 (Em)placing networks and shifting value
Doseline Kiguru, Language and Prizes: Exploring Literary and Cultural Boundaries
Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire, The American Later Life and African Afterlives of Transition Magazine
Kate Haines Wallis, Tracing Literary Networks Through Pan-African Periodicals: Reading Kwani? and Farafina
Macharia Mwangi, Nexus/Busara and the Rise of Modern Kenyan Literature
5:15-6:30 Keynote session: Stacy Hardy (Chimurenga) in conversation with Billy Kahora
6:30 Close