Cross-Cultural Transmission and Literary Reconstruction in Developing Countries

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This research, aimed at advancing our understanding of how cultural forms interact with social institutions, will examine the ways an established cultural form (the English novel) was imported into, and reconstructed within, a new social setting (Nigeria and the English- speaking West Indies). The data to be analyzed include: the texts of all Nigerian and West Indian novels written between 1950 and 1985; the backgrounds and careers of authors; the location and organization of publishers; and the socioeconomic characteristics of readers of fiction. Using content analysis, archival research, and the results of questionnaires administered to authors, editors, and other book-trade professionals, the research will develop a model of how transmitted and indigenous cultural materials interact under specific institutional conditions to construct new cultural forms. The results should be relevant cultural forms other than literature, such as artistic, religious and ideological transmissions and reconstructions.