Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I suggest that reading African literatures is central to a practice of decentring European perspectives, as while fictional narratives and the tools of storytelling steer the reader through a story, they also simultaneously challenge the desire to find oneself reflected in it.

Paper long abstract:

I propose to critically reflect on the practice of reading, teaching and studying African literary texts in Western universities in the current age of identity politics and the question of representation. Mohale Mashigo's speculative fiction short story “Untitled II” closes with her protagonist, a Black South African woman who has just landed on a new planet, staring into faces which look like hers: “How is this possible? Standing around me, all with their hands up is … me. Not really me; but there are six people or things standing around with the same face as me.” Mashigo's writing articulates the shock of finally seeing oneself reflected in cultural productions. Such a literary commentary on representation also indirectly begs the question about that which is no longer in focus. This invite us to think about representation in a reversed manner, and, possibly, to transcend it: what does it mean to read literature in which oneself, as a white, European reader, is specifically not represented? How does this contribute to reading African literatures as a practice of decentring the European perspective? This line of questioning reveals how the study of African literatures has substantial contributions to make to wider societal issues beyond area studies: challenging the constraining aspects of identity politics, as well as bringing to the fore a much needed focus on the functions and forms of storytelling, fiction, and narratives, in a world of social media in which boundaries between reality and fiction are constantly blurred.