Autobiography, Memory and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa

This book provides an important critical analysis of the autobiographies of nine major leaders of national liberation movements in Africa. By examining their self-narratives, we can better understand how decolonisation unfolded and how activist-politicians sought to immortalise their roles for posterity.

Autorentext

David Ekanem Udoinwang is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria where he teaches Black and African autobiography, digital and eco-critical literatures. In 2017, he was AHP/ACLS Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

James Tar Tsaaior is a Professor of English, Media and Cultural Studies and a Senior Associate Research Fellow in the Department of English of The University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Until recently, he was Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Research Fellow and Visiting Professor in the Centre for Anglophone and American Studies, University of Potsdam, Germany.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Autobiographies, Colonisation and Decolonisation, 2. Autobiography, Self-making and National Be-Coming: From Theory to Practice, 3. Imagining a Continental Statehood: The Autobiographies of Kwame Nkrumah and Nnamdi Azikiwe, 4. Narrating Violence and Non-Violence as Roadmaps to Nationhood: Not Yet Uhuru (NYU), Strike A Blow and Die (SBD) and Zambia Shall Be Free (ZSBF), 5. Narrating Apartheid State Violence: The Autobiographies of Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, 6. '"The Negro is not Free"': Visualising a Humane Nationhood in Abrahams' Tell Freedom and Maurice Nyagumbo's With the People, 7. Life Narratives, the Female Voice and the National Liberation Experience: Ruth First's 117 Days: An Account of Confinement and Interrogation Under the South African 90-Days Detention Law, 8. Conclusions: Autobiographies, Memories and the Making of Nationhood