Focus Africa

With its Focus Africa, the 8th international literature festival berlin will present the latest literary, political and social developments and trends in the countries between Mediterranean and the Cape of Good Hope.

1 Talking and Writing Africa
It seems that, in Germany, the examination of Africa, in particular Africa’s literature derives from an urge for exoticism rather than from a serious, distinguished interest. Despite the fact that over the past twenty years, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded four times to African writers (Wole Soyinka, Nagib Mahfus, Nadine Gordimer, and J.M. Coetzee), modern translated African literature has struggled to be published and read beyond its own continent.

African literature encompasses both oral and written tradition. In the eighteenth century, alongside literature written in African languages, emerged a whole multitude of works written in English, French and Portuguese, as well as Afrikaans. Customarily, literature in African languages was narrative, passed along by oral tradition; performed as a combination of music, dance and song. Since the start of the 20th century, poetry, drama and particularly, novels started to appear in response to trends in European and American literature. A whole host of African languages, whose literary preservation was characterized above all by oral traditions, then rose to challenge the former colonialists’ use of the languages. The emancipation of these languages, with their ideological burdens and prospect of worldwide literary notice, represents the area of conflict within the development of a literary language. Thus, for instance, the “Négritude” of the black realm found entry into French literature. Modern literary works attempt to address colonial history and colonial wars as well as the disillusionment of postcolonial times. These accounts highlight such themes as, the disintegration of traditional moral concepts and role models within families, life in the newly formed megacities, and postcolonial areas of conflict.

Above all, a younger generation of African authors should have their say, along with representatives of the older generation – individuals such as Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nuruddin Farah, Femi Osofisan and Wole Soyinka – who have created their own styles in terms of diction and theme repertoires. A series of short stories (hitherto unpublished in Germany) to be written by young narrators such as Kopano Matlwa, Biyi Bandele-Thomas, Leila Aboulela, Gugu Ndlovu, Lisa Combrinck, Chaïbou Mahamane Kabirou and Antoine Kaburahe, has already been set in motion. Discussions with these writers will address their own personal positioning within African tradition and modernity. A volume of the best tales by young African storytellers will be published in Germany, themed “My Country Today”. Meeting the Nigerian-British publisher and former editor of the “African Writers Series”, Adewale Maja-Pearce during the Frankfurt Book Fair was an important first contact regarding this project. He plans on featuring an anthology of narratives from the younger generation of Nigerian authors in his publishing house, “The New Gong”, in Lagos (2008), and is also in touch with an extensive network of young authors.

The inclusion in the main focus of this program, of writers and illustrators from the “International Children’s and Young Adult’s Literature” program helps close the manifest gap in the public perception. Within the German-speaking realm works about African spheres of life rather than by African writers are widespread. Original children’s and young adult’s literature from Africa provides a glimpse into unknown worlds; communicating values, opening horizons and revealing the possibilities of peaceful coexistence. With that also arise the conflicts and contradictions alike, plus the prosperities and the benefits for all those involved. Thanks to African children’s and young adult’s literature, a different image of individuals in foreign societies and cultures will be conveyed.

2 Imagining Africa
Africa was and is the “continent of projections”. The repudiation of the racist images of Africa and Africans which were created by colonizers is an important motive in African literature as well as in African cinema and theatre. Self-definition through art and literature has been a significant instrument within the postcolonial building of identity and should be represented at the festival in its entire diversity, across all genres (theatre, scenic readings, dance and visual arts). It is of great importance to highlight the original and creative dimensions of these works – artists from all genres, from as many different nationalities and social contexts as possible, should have the opportunity to present their projects and their approaches to the public. The Abok – Afro-Berliner Ensemble – has therefore volunteered to collaborate with us on this endeavor. Under the leadership of Philippa Ebéné the dramatic troupe will perform urban, contemporary literature from Africa and the Afro-European Diaspora in order to bring scenic readings to the stage (for example, a scenic reading from “The Island”, by Winston Ntshona, John Kani and Athol Fugrad, and “Brixton Stories” by Biyi Bandele-Thomas).  A retrospective in the series “Speak, Memory” will, similarly, present important African writers of the past; such authors as Mongo Beti, Dambudzo Marechera, Yvonne Vera, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Mariama Bâ, Laye Camra, Aniceti Kitereza, and Sony Labou Tansi. Another important aspect of this retrospective will be the presentation of pivotal works from world literature that deal with themes of colonialism, exploitation and slave trade from “outside” the continent (such as Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Bruce Chatwin’s “The Viceroy of Ouidah”). In the same manner, new approaches to postcolonial observations have also been chosen as central themes. Hubert Fichte’s attempt to develop an “ethnopoetry” that engages intensively with the roots of Afro-American cultures and religions may provide an example of these post colonial observations, as well as the Afro-European perspectives offered by Biyi Bandele-Thomas and Marie NDiaye, among others.

3 Crossing Africa
Nowhere else in the world has there been such a high number of humans in migration and refugee movements as in Africa. Daily, their lives at stake, thousands cross over the “limits of poverty” and head towards Europe, fleeing undeveloped crisis zones in an attempt to save themselves from natural disasters and epidemics. In addition, the geopolitical order established by colonial demarcations has generated regional conflicts. African culture in the twenty-first century is a mobile culture and this nomadic existence, compared to traditional, century-old forms of living, is partly forced.

African experts from different fields will be invited to shed light on contemporary developments in all their complexity as well as on economic, social and political issues. Meanwhile, in the “Reflections” program section there will be an opportunity to discuss central themes. The genocide in Rwanda and recent developments in Darfur are prime examples of the ineptitude of both the international community and the UN in dealing with the crises in Africa. At the same time, the presence of immediate aid missions should be more deeply tied to an awareness of the traumatic repercussions of the past. Doing this would help to correct a certain lack of awareness in the public perception, which tends to ignore historical perspectives in light of present day reports of catastrophe.

Further thematic focal points within the program “Reflections” include identification of the self and other, informal economics, the local significance of African and European languages within the administration and formation of Africa, African unity, pan-Africanism and Diaspora.

Please find the authors participating in the 2008 Focus here.

Participants of the Focus section

2007: Latin American Literature

Claudia Amengual, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Ferréz, Jorge Franco, Oscar Hijuelos, Martín Kohan, Guadalupe Nettel, Elsa Osorio, Ignacio Padilla, Eduardo Antonio Parra, Edmundo Paz Soldán, Antonio José Ponte, Carmen Posadas, Cristina Rivera Garza, Juan Manuel Roca, Santiago Roncagliolo, Eduardo Sguiglia, Karla Suárez, Amir Valle

2006: Francophone Literatures

Hélé Béji, Gao Xingjian, Edouard Glissant, Yasmina Khadra, Dany Laferrière, Yanick Lahens, Henri Lopes, Daniel Maximin, Anna Moi, Khaled Najar, Jean-Luc Raharimanana, Aminata Sow Fall, Abdourahman A. Waberi

2005: California

Rae Armantrout, Wanda Coleman, Dana Gioia, Andrew Sean Greer, Robert Hass, Norman M. Klein, Nathaniel Mackey, David Mas Masumoto, Eileen Myles, Michael Palmer, Rebecca Solnit, Kevin Starr, D.J. Waldie, Steve Wasserman

2003: Greece

Katerína Angeláki-Rooke, Jorgi Jatromanolakis, Ioanna Karystiani, Menis Koumandareas, Dimosthenis Kourtovik, Nikos Panajotopoulos, Jorgos Skambardonis, Ersi Sotiropoulos, Soti Triantafillou, Charis Vlavianos

2002: Spain

Jesús Ferrero, Antonio Gamoneda, Luis García Montero, Marcos Giralt Torrente, Almudena Grandes, Julio Llamazares, Eduardo Mendoza, Carme Riera, Manuel Rivas