Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa and its Diasporas

非洲及其侨民的小杂志、文学网络和自我塑造

• 批准号: AH/P006930/1
• 负责人: Madhu Krishnan
• 金额: $ 4.49万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FP006930%2F1
• 关键词: Small; Magazines; Literary; Networks; Self

This project focuses on the contemporary legacies of black internationalism (c.f. Hayes Edwards) in the construction of African and diasporic solidarity through the study of small magazines, both print and digital. Through their role as sites of intimacy and collaboration, these works give rise to the creation of networks of affiliation and corridors of storytelling which span localities, regions and transnational and diasporic contexts, functioning as active participants in the creation of black and African ideologies in the global imaginary. Small magazines and literary networks play a crucial role in everyday social and political life in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). From the late days of empire to the present day, cultural forms of expression have served as central media through which notions of national, ethnic and civic belonging have developed, while also offering an outlet for the fostering of large-scale forms of activism and for the transmission of new orthodoxies for subjectivity. This interdisciplinary network examines the circulation and production of small magazines in SSA in order to explore the ways in which these publications enable lateral forms of self-fashioning in the early twenty-first century, covering areas including citizenship, sexuality and ethnicity in order to produce an examination of affiliation, identity and civic participation in SSA today. Ranging from formal publications in receipt of state and NGO sponsorship to informal 'zines' circulated through counter-cultural networks and taking forms spanning print and digital media, these new publications are not widely known nor accessible outside of their specific localities; yet, through their vernacular and often-overlapping trajectories of distribution, these publications hold a far more central role in the fostering of everyday practices than their better-known 'high' literary counterparts. Beginning with better-distributed publications including Kwani? (Kenya), Saraba (Nigeria) and Chimurenga (South Africa) and expanding into lesser-known publications, the network will engage with a broad range of forms of social creation through informal networks of literary writing, bringing together scholars with expertise in ethnographic methods, historical study and literary criticism, along with writers, publishers and literary entrepreneurs working in Africa and its diasporas. The network addresses questions including: what forms of identification are produced, contested and authenticated in the small magazines which proliferate across SSA? How do the informal networks produced by publishers, writers and readers function with respect to formalised political and civic networks? What modes of self-fashioning emerge through the entanglements of actors and publics operating in sub-Saharan Africa? These questions will be explored during two research weeks in Cape Town and Kampala; the network's findings will be presented at an international conference to be held in Bristol which will form the basis for a special journal issue showcasing network findings. Additional activities will include public engagement events at the 2018 Africa Writes festival (London); the creation and maintenance of a project website hosting a blog, teaching resources and a working paper for NGOs and cultural organizations working on literary citizenship in SSA; and a range of non-academic articles to be published with Africa in Words.Rather than view its material as passive, the network will emphasise the coproduction of knowledge, developing bespoke research methods and leveraging vernacular forms of literary criticism which span the gap between material and aesthetic approaches. Where study of SSA has been hampered by a reliance on methods which mirror the top-down approach to socio-political intervention in SSA by global powers, this network will undertake a multifocal approach which places its emphasis on the everyday as the ground from which to develop theoretical insight.

这个项目的重点是黑人国际主义的当代遗产（c.f.海斯·爱德华兹）通过研究小型杂志，包括印刷和数字杂志，在非洲和散居团结的建设。这些作品作为亲密和协作的场所，产生了跨越地方、区域、跨国和散居背景的联系网络和讲故事走廊，在全球想象中积极参与创造黑人和非洲意识形态。小型杂志和文学网络在撒哈拉以南非洲的日常社会和政治生活中发挥着至关重要的作用。从帝国晚期到今天，文化表现形式一直是发展民族、种族和公民归属感的核心媒介，同时也为促进大规模的行动主义形式和传播新的主体性正统观念提供了一个渠道。这一跨学科网络审查了撒哈拉以南非洲地区小型杂志的发行和制作情况，以探讨这些出版物如何在世纪初期促成横向形式的自我塑造，涵盖公民身份、性和种族等领域，以审查今天撒哈拉以南非洲地区的隶属关系、身份和公民参与。这些新的出版物既有接受国家和非政府组织赞助的正式出版物，也有通过反文化网络传播的非正式“杂志”，形式跨越印刷和数字媒体，但在其特定地区之外，这些出版物并不广为人知，也无法获得;然而，通过他们的方言和经常重叠的分布轨迹，这些出版物在促进日常实践方面比其更知名的'高级'文学同行发挥了更重要的作用。从更好地分发出版物开始，包括Kwani？该网络将通过非正式的文学写作网络，将具有民族志方法、历史研究和文学批评专门知识的学者，沿着在非洲及其散居地工作的作家、出版商和文学企业家聚集在一起，与各种形式的社会创作进行接触。该网络解决的问题，包括：什么形式的身份证明是生产，有争议的，并在整个SSA激增的小杂志认证？出版商、作家和读者创造的非正式网络如何与正式的政治和公民网络相联系？在撒哈拉以南非洲活动的行为者和公众之间的纠缠中出现了什么样的自我塑造模式？在开普敦和坎帕拉的两个研究周期间将探讨这些问题;该网络的研究结果将提交在布里斯托举行的一次国际会议，该会议将成为展示该网络研究结果的一期特刊的基础。其他活动将包括2018年非洲作家节（伦敦）的公众参与活动;创建和维护一个项目网站，为非政府组织和文化组织提供博客，教学资源和工作文件，致力于SSA的文学公民身份;以及一系列非学术性的文章将与《非洲文字》一起发表。与其将其材料视为被动的，该网络将强调知识的共同生产，发展定制的研究方法，并利用跨越物质和美学方法之间差距的文学批评的本土形式。在SSA的研究一直受到阻碍的方法，反映了自上而下的方法，在SSA的全球大国的社会政治干预的依赖，这个网络将采取多焦点的方法，把它的重点放在日常的基础上，从发展理论的见解。