Current Globalising Movement
The current globalising moment has seen the boom of neo-liberal global capitalism, of Anglophone literature and a revival of “world literature” as comparative literature for the global age. Ironically, “world literature” and Anglophone and Francophone literatures have successfully questioned the hegemony of national literatures and of English and French literatures more narrowly defined, but at the same time have tended to make invisible literatures in other languages and from other parts of the world. Festivals provide mini-stagings of the world, while internet magazines and sites, as well as small publishers, seek to circumvent the stranglehold of the Anglophone on global publishing.
Iran’s official book awards: a more open ‘World’ literature
Iranian poet, literary critic and translator Alireza Abiz examines Iran's 'World Book Award' and the languages, works, and topics it considers and finds the prize to be surprisingly expansive in acknowledging different sources of cultural and literary exchange in Iran
Celebrating Online African Literature with The Brittle Paper Literary Awards
'Brittle Paper' founder Dr. Ainehi Edoro talks to Sana Goyal about how recognizing and promoting African literature online can fill in gaps left by traditional literary outlets and their gatekeepers.
Retrospective: MULOSIGE roundtable on Aamir Mufti’s Forget English!
Fatima Burney looks back at our roundtable discussion with Professor Aamir Mufti and explores the consequences of his latest book, Forget English!, for the MULOSIGE project
English is an African Language- the Language of Coexistence
Mauritanian writer Mohmed Bouya Bamba argues that English has practical advantages for interethnic and intercountry communication in Africa, so Africans should reclaim the language instead of waging a futile ideological war
English an African Language? Hay’ khona! (Nope)
In a response to recent articles in the Journal of African Cultural Studies, Wanga Gambushe (SOAS) asks whether English can be an African language from a particularly South African perspective
To Win the Nobel Prize, Write in a European Language
July Blalack argues that The Nobel Prize in literature is failing its global audience due to its near exclusive focus on literature written in European languages.