FICTIONS OF AFRICAN DICTATORSHIP - Cultural Representations of Postcolonial Power - Peter Lang

FICTIONS
  OF AFRICAN
DICTATORSHIP

 Cultural Representations
   of Postcolonial Power

     Edited by Charlotte Baker
         and Hannah Grayson

          Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
                                             P
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                                                via free access

race and resistance across borders
      in the long twentieth century

Fictions of African Dictatorship examines the fictional representation of the African
dictator and the performance of dictatorship across genres. The volume includes
contributions focusing on literature, theatre and film, all of which examine the
relationship between the fictional and the political. Among the questions the
contributors ask: what are the implications of reading a novel for its historical
content or accuracy? How does the dictator novel interrogate ideas of verac-
ity? How is power performed and ridiculed? How do different writers reflect on
questions of authority in the postcolony, and what are the effects on their stories
and modes of narration? This volume untangles some of the intricate workings of
dictatorial power in the postcolony, through twelve close readings of works of
fiction. It interrogates the intersections between real and literary space, exploring
censorship, political critique and creative resistance. Insights into a wide range
of lesser known texts and contexts make this volume an original and insightful
contribution to scholarship on representations of dictatorship.

Charlotte Baker is Senior Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at Lancas-
ter University. Her research focuses on Francophone and Anglophone African
literature. She is working on a monograph examining the critical engagement of
post-independence West African writers with dictatorship. She is also interested
in the potential of the arts to bring about social change, particularly for people
in sub-Saharan Africa with the genetic condition albinism, and has published
widely in this field.

Hannah Grayson is Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at the University
of Stirling. Her research focuses on crisis and recovery in Francophone African
fiction, and the relationships between subjects and space. She has conducted
AHRC-funded research on the testimonies of people who lived through the
Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and continues to work on memory and
storytelling in sub-Saharan Africa.

www.peterlang.com            Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
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Fictions of
                  African Dictatorship

 Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
Downloaded from PubFactory at 11/25/2020 07:23:14AM
                                       via free access

race and resistance across borders
  in the long twentieth century

Volume 4

Series Editors:
Tessa Roynon, University of Oxford (Executive Editor)
Elleke Boehmer, University of Oxford
Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, University of the Witwatersrand
Patricia Daley, University of Oxford
Aaron Kamugisha, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill
Minkah Makalani, University of Texas, Austin
Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, University College London
Stephen Tuck, University of Oxford

PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien

                       Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
                      Downloaded from PubFactory at 11/25/2020 07:23:14AM
                                                             via free access

FICTIONS
 OF AFRICAN
DICTATORSHIP
Cultural Representations
  of Postcolonial Power

     Edited by Charlotte Baker
         and Hannah Grayson

                                        PETER LANG
 Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien

 Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
Downloaded from PubFactory at 11/25/2020 07:23:14AM
                                       via free access

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Baker, Charlotte, 1976- editor. | Grayson, Hannah, editor.
Title: Fictions of African dictatorship : cultural representations of
  postcolonial power / Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson.
Description: New York : Peter Lang, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
  references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018009167 | ISBN 9781787076815 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: African literature--20th century--History and criticism. |
  Dictators in literature. | Dictators--Africa.
Classification: LCC PL8010 .F449 2018 | DDC 809.896--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018009167
Classification: LCC PR878.I49 D38 2017 | DDC 823/.80936--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007737

              An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of
              libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative
              designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. More
              information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be
              found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org

Cover image: Commemorative wraps (pagnes) printed on wax fabric in the 1960s depicting
Ahmed Sekou Touré. Made in England for the Guinean market. Courtesy of Thomas
Miles. The fabric exemplifies the reproduction of authoritarian imagery critiqued by Achille
Mbembe and discussed in Part I of this volume.

Cover design: © Olaf Gloeckler, Atelier Platen, Friedberg

ISBN 2297-2552 • DOI 10.3726/b11381
ISBN 978-1-78707-681-5 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78707-682-2 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-78707-683-9 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78707-684-6 (mobi)

Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

© Peter Lang AG 2018

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,
52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
oxford@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com
Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this Work.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

                               Charlotte Baker and Hannah Grayson - 9781787076815
                              Downloaded from PubFactory at 11/25/2020 07:23:14AM
                                                                     via free access