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- Convenors:
-
Uta Reuster-Jahn
(Hamburg University)
Stephanie Bosch Santana (UCLA)
Abdalla Uba Adamu (Bayero University Kano, Nigeria)
Umma Aliyu Musa (Asien-Afrika-Institut)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Language and Literature (x) Futures (y)
- Location:
- Philosophikum, S61
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 31 May, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
The use of social media in Africa is massively impacting literature on the continent. The materiality of texts on the screen together with the inherent technical properties of social media platforms, lead to new and hybrid aesthetics, formats, genres, content and networks of Afrophone literatures.
Long Abstract:
The increasing use of social media across Africa is having a massive impact on the production and consumption of literature on the continent. The Internet, and social media in particular, have undoubtedly opened up new possibilities for the production, publication, distribution, and consumption of African literature, while at the same time shifting the balance of power among actors previously involved in the traditional book chain. There is a research gap on the ways that digital and social media are affecting Afrophone literatures - in Hausa, Swahili and a number of not so widely used languages. The new materiality of texts on the screen together with the inherent technical properties of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, lead to new and hybrid aesthetics, new formats, new genres, new content and new forms of networks in the production of Afrophone literature. This is even more so, as social media offer possibilities of circumventing content regulation procedures and censorship. At the same time social media platforms create new gatekeepers. Moreover, the publication of literature in social media, with its possibilities for interaction, has the potential of changing the roles of the actors - authors, readers, publishers, booksellers, and critics - involved in Afrophone literary production. In the African context, these developments occur against the backdrop of a challenging publishing environment and industry that often lacks crucial state support.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 31 May, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
The Kano Market Literature is a genre of African romantic fiction popularized in the commercial city of Kano, northern Nigeria, for which it earned the label of ‘Kano Market Literature’. This paper discusses the trajectory of the genre from printed to social media due to Islamic religious censoring.
Paper long abstract:
The Kano Market Literature is a genre of African romantic fiction popularized in the commercial city of Kano, northern Nigeria, for which it earned the label of ‘Kano Market Literature’. Its halcyon days were from 1981 to about 2015. It was written exclusively in the Hausa language and self-printed as cheaply as possible, often in two to three multipart series to cut the cost of production. The genre was extremely popular among youth, and mainly female readers. The subject matter was diverse, but rooted mainly in romantic plotlines. The popularity and penetration of the literature among youth social spaces in northern Nigeria created concerns about literary finesse and cultural representation as well as what Kano’s Islamicate culture considered moral temptations of the stories. The constant censoring of the fiction by authorities and harangues by Muslim clerics led to a drop in the production of the fiction over the years. From mid 2010s, however, Hausa youth became aware of the ease in accessibility of the internet and its technologies including social networks and social media. The genre then became reincarnated in online forms – free from censorship of whatever kind. This paper traces the trajectory of the genre from print media to its liberation in online media, with specific focus on Facebook and other literary platforms.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation explores Twi and Ga literature from Ghana, discussing how Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are instrumental in building readership. It focuses on the reading networks that surround the literature and argues that digital technologies can promote readerships for marginalised languages.
Paper long abstract:
Digital technologies have undoubtedly democratized the publishing process, providing authors with a variety of publishing avenues. This is especially true for Afrophone literatures, enabling reading networks in countries and their diaspora. This presentation looks at Twi and Ga literature from Ghana and discusses how Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have been instrumental in circulating texts. Thus, in this presentation, I focus on the reading networks that surround the literature and the ways in which the aforementioned platforms affect readership. The presentation will show how the platforms support readers in connecting with authors, enable online reader-author collaborations that change the textual form and thus, create entirely new texts that promote the languages, particularly in a space where English literature is favored in the digital space.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the multiple entanglements between the publication of Swahili fiction in print and digital formats in Tanzania. It examines the use of social media by authors and publishers as a strategy to publish, promote and market fiction and to connect with readers and customers.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores the multiple entanglements between the publication of Swahili fiction in print and digital formats in Tanzania. Specifically, it examines the publication and book promotion of the writers' association UWARIDI and APE Network, a relatively new but successful publishing house in Tanzania. Both use the internet to publish, market and sell books in print and electronic formats. UWARIDI operates an app for the sale of e-books, while APE recently launched its first digital library, where customers can access books for a fee for a set period of time. Still, printed books are at the heart of the business on both sides. APE supports a number of UWARIDI's activities, but the relationship between the two players serves mutual interest and benefit. Both sides use social media to connect with readership and customers. Tanzania's Swahili literature industry targets a Tanzanian readership and is hardly influenced by foreign donors. This paper shows how authors and publishers actively shape the country's reading culture and book market amid fluctuating political and economic circumstances. It draws on research of online websites and social media sites, as well as field research in Tanzania, including interviews with key informants conducted in recent years.
Paper short abstract:
Social/digital media platforms preserve and propagate Hausa Proverbs as well as allow them to be used ideally in the new normal as an effective tool for self-expression and arguments in the Hausa Movie/film Mayafin Shairi (The Veil of Deceit)
Paper long abstract:
Technologically digitalized and electronically radicalized generation has turned digital/social media into a viable tool for piloting not just information but also cultural values; this new predilection has become the new normal in digital acceptance. A folkloric genre among the Hausa people which has defied modernization and has bloomed from one generation to another as a result of its role in expressing the values and beliefs of the people is the Proverb known as Karin Magana in the language. They not only serve as mirrors of the cultural norms and values of the society but, they are also employed to entertain, educate, advise, and most often to buttress points, and to give arguments universal acceptability. The dynamism in Hausa Proverbs has allowed it to fit ideally into the new normal which is social media. Using the functional approach to the study of folklore, which aims at discovering the factors that enhance the survival, contentment, and moderation of the social order through expressive literature, this paper attempts an appraisal of how Hausa proverbs are used to express views and arguments effectively in the Hausa Movie/film Mayafin Shairi (The Veil of Deceit) which is popularly viewed on different social media handles like YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook among many others. We argue that social media platforms not only help in preserving and propagating Proverbs and other similar genres but also give viewers and scholars opportunities to exchange knowledge and ideas on Afrophone literatures.