Teaching the African Novel (review)

Teaching African literature has proven to be a great challenge in the particular context of American academia, whether because students are not sufficiently trained in African national languages, or because they may not have acquired sufficient historical and general knowledge about the African continent. Teachers of African literature often face the questions of how to teach African literature without giving a full historical and literary survey, and how to engage in a genuine intercultural approach without lapsing into simplistic exoticism. Teaching the African Novel, edited by Gaurav Desai, addresses these questions directly and brings together a variety of rich essays written by various scholars and teachers of African literature and that focus on teaching African texts. This "companion for teaching" is an essential tool for the neophyte or the expert in teaching African literature because the collection covers a vast array of issues in African literature, proposes concrete ideas for the classroom, while it also participates in current scholarly discussions. But, unlike many others, the volume concerns a much larger geographical area than Sub-Saharan Africa and involves the entire continent. In addition, it moves beyond the theoretical framework and brings the discussion to a global and practical conversation. The essays do not provide an exhaustive historical or geographical survey of African literature, but rather they engage in concepts and practices to teach the African novel.

The collection is divided into three sections that move from a more conceptual and theoretical approach to more specific institutional and classroom contexts. The first section, titled "Theories and Methods," comprises six essays that address theoretical apparatuses to approach the African novel, identifying the various levels on which African literature operates. While Odile Casenave, in her essay "Women Writers and Gender in Sub-Saharan Novel" demonstrates how gender and sexuality shape and inform African novels today, contributors such as Tejumola Olaniyan and Nicholas Brown draw attention to the political dimensions of African Literature (Marxism, political resistance and subversion, etc.). The second section of the book, which focuses on "Regional Imperatives," and "Thematic Cartographies," gathers nine essays that tackle diverse issues from "Lusophone African Fiction" (Arenas) to the Griots (Wise), and Islam (Edwin), among many other themes. Since the volume aims at "reimagining models of organizing African literature in coherent units that speak to specific and pressing thematic concerns" (Desai 11) this section allows for a great understanding of Africa as a vast continent and a land of extremely rich and diverse literatures and cultures. Together, these articles "map ways of meaningfully engaging the north-south divide instead of foreclosing the productive dialogues that have continued to take place in the literary traditions across the continent" (11). The last section of the volume concentrates on "Pedagogical and Institutional Contexts." Its essays offer concrete suggestions for course organization, addressing concerns such as integrating African novels in broader literature survey courses, or bringing an African novel in the French-language classroom, such as Mohamad Kamara's "The Francophone African Novel in the French-Language Classroom."

Desai's edited volume encourages a more sensitive reading of African literature by considering its colonial history and its present multiculturalism at the same time. We can only agree with Simon Gikandi when he considers this book as an essential tool for teachers of African literature. It is, we might add, a must-have not only for these teachers but also for any humanities program, and language and literature departments, and it will tremendously enrich anyone's understanding of African literature.