Next Journalism [Search results for africa literature] 

Deadline: 15 June 2011
Contact: vdwaltb@unisa.ac.za

The Traveling of Stories: Children’s Literature and Reading in and of Africa

Call for Papers

1st Biennial IBBY Africa Conference

21-23 September 2011

Venue: Pigg’s Peak Hotel, Swaziland

Organised by the Children’s Literature Research Unit, University of South Africa on behalf of the IBBY Branches of Africa.

Abstracts of not more than 250 words that address particular issues regarding reading and children’s literature related to Africa and the developing world are welcomed.

The following topics serve as suggestions:

1. The travelling of stories across borders and cultures
2. Children’s literature in translation
3. Folktales and imagination
4. Writing in indigenous/colonial/minority languages
5. Colonialism and post-colonialism in children’s literature
6. Traditional folktales and the modern tale
7. Cultural relevance of children’s books
8. The distinction between African children’s and adult books
9. Oral narratives and literary research
10. Converting oral literature into written literature
11. Literature for didactic purposes
12. The African diaspora and children’s literature
13. Reading across cultures
14. Library services for children
15. Reading in the information age
16. Comparative research in children’s literature and reading
17. Depicting reality in children’s books
18. Reading preferences of African children
19. Teaching children’s literature
20. Storytelling for young people
21. Publishing for children in the 2rd World

Mail abstracts and direct enquiries to:

Prof Thomas van der Walt, CLRU, Department of Information Science, University of
South Africa, PO Box 392, 0003 Pretoria, South Africa

Fax: +27 12 4293792

e-mail: vdwaltb@unisa.ac.za

Deadline: 8 February 2011

SEXUALITY IN AFRICA MAGAZINE AND MONOGRAPHS AND THE JOURNAL OF SEXUALITY IN AFRICA: CALL FOR PAPERS

On behalf of the Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC), I would like to kindly invite you to contribute an article to the Sexuality in Africa Magazine and Monographs, and the Journal of Sexuality in Africa which are peer-reviewed.

The objective of these publications is to facilitate research on issues related to gender and sexuality, with particular focus on African society and culture, and to publish related findings. The publications also aim to contribute to the promotion of healthier and positive sexuality attitudes, practices and policies especially on the African continent.

The Sexuality in Africa Magazine & Monographs is published in both print and online editions. 20 editions of the Sexuality in Africa Magazine have so far been published and the print version is currently made available to over 4,000 readers in Africa alone. Past issues of the Sexuality in Africa magazine can be viewed at http://www.arsrc.org/resources/publications/sia.html.

FACILITATION

In view of the importance attached to this project by the funders, article contributions to the Sexuality in Africa Magazine will be facilitated according to either of the following 2 plans:

(a) Selected contributors whose abstracts have been accepted will be provided with the opportunity to complete their write up in one week spent in a conducive environment. The Centre will pay for transport, accommodation and feeding as well as provide a small honorarium, on final submission of their papers.
(b) Selected contributors whose abstracts have been accepted will be provided with a sizable honorarium on submission of their final write up at their respective locations.

THEMES

Contributions are currently invited on (but not limited to) the current themes.

�� AGE AND SEXUAL VULNERABILITY OF YOUNG WOMEN IN AFRICA (Vol. 7, Issue 1)

This issue will examine the social, cultural and economic factors that prevent young women from making healthy decisions and contribute to their vulnerability, to poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes, exposure to HIV, sexual violence and undesired pregnancy. Focus should be on:

• Identifying strategies to challenge social stigmas that prevent services from meeting their needs;
• Exploring how to bring to scale promising initiatives that address gender and economic inequalities; and
• Applying an integrated approach to HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health.

�� COMMUNICATING SEXUALITY IN AFRICA (Vol. 7, Issue 2)

While sex is often regarded as a “universal language,” this edition explores the peculiar ways by which different ethnicities and different societies communicate sexuality? What are the peculiar terms for sex and sexuality? What are the verbal signs and the non-verbal body (kinetic, vestment and olfactory) cues? What are the underlying communication principles (e.g. to communicate “it” or not to communicate “it”), and what are the taboos or special challenges? Is the so called theory of African silence on matters of sex and sexuality myth or reality? Do certain languages inhibit or promote sexual communication and the communication of sexuality. Are some sexual terms truly nonexistent in some languages? Etc.

Contributors are encouraged to distinguish between potentially confusing discursive binaries, for example between the communication of sexuality (where sexual orientation – i.e. heteronormative and queer sexualities - is a key issue), and sexual communication (where sexual orientation is already taken for granted).

We also ask for specific contributions on the following, among others:

• Verbal and non-verbal sexual communication, with focus on specific African communities
• Overt and covert sexual communications
• Public and private sex talk
• Gender and sexual communication: Communication of sexual consent and sexual dissent
• Communication across ethnic and social boundaries, including age and class.
• Sex talk from eye contact to coition, and beyond
• Queer sex communication
• Communication and sex education
• Sexual communication in literature and popular culture

GUIDELINES:

ABSTRACT

�� Contributors are requested to forward an abstract of not more than 250 words by electronic attachment to the email address indicated below. The name, contact address, phone numbers, email addresses and short personal bio of the contributor should also be submitted.

Length of Articles:

MAGAZINE AND MONOGRAPH EDITIONS
1, 500 – 2,500 words

SEXUALITY IN AFRICA JOURNAL
5,000 – 8,000 words

�� It will also be appreciated if references could, as much as possible, be from the last five years.

SUNDRY CONTRIBUTIONS

�� The journal also welcomes poems, anecdotes, pictures, cartoons and other aesthetic forms depicting sexuality in Africa situations. Appropriate credit will be given for all materials used. Please find below additional guidelines for the submission of your articles.

REFERENCING:

Either of APA or MLA format is acceptable. It will also be appreciated if current references could be included in your bibliography.

DEADLINE

It would be appreciated if your article can be received within 3-4 weeks of this invitation.

PICTURES

Pictures are also welcome as long as their sources are acknowledged.

COMPLIMENTARY COPIES

Contributors would receive two copies each of the issue containing their published articles.

All correspondence should be addressed to:

The Editor,
Sexuality in Africa Magazine
Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre.
E-mail: info@arsrc.org
Yours sincerely,
Felix-mary Okpechi
Programme Assistant
Research and Documentation
ARSRC

Deadline: 31 January 2011

1986, remains an important landmark in the history and evolution of African literature. This importance is not specifically because Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for literature as an African for the first time or because the Prize came to Africa for the very first time or because Soyinka lifted something like a barrier and gave the African writer a sense of pride, but because the drama of winning that Prize reaffirms Africa’s contributions to world literature as monumental. And this in turn marks the beginning of a new epoch in the historical development of African literature. Soyinka will remain a colossus among conscientious writers and political analyst of the African continent for as long as the world of literature shapes our sense of things, of history and culture, politics and folklife, familial and civic life, gender issues, despondency and hope, life, death and life. 2011 will mark the silver jubilee of the Nobel coming to Africa for the very first time.

Twenty five years after winning the Nobel Prize for literature Soyinka’s oeuvres still continue to garner critical, scholarly, and popular acclaim. This project will draw together scholarly contributions that consider specifically Soyinka’s post-Nobel oeuvres, those before the Nobel and their influence on contemporary African literature, and any new perspectives that might cast new critical light on them.

This special issue is not an attempt at calibrating the stature of Soyinka as a consummate artist after winning the Nobel, because some scholars and critics continue to argue that there appears to be a certain paradigm shift from the playwright’s recurrent Ogunian metaphysical evocations to a more ferocious topicality which gives expression to the African continent’s permanent state of transition, but among other things, it will reaccentuate his motto arid abiding philosophy: “Justice is the first condition of humanity”. Invariably, the goal of this project is to create a scholarly dialogue concerning Soyinka’s post-Nobel writings. The subject of this special issue is therefore, Soyinka, but the grand narrative spans beyond Soyinka. It will situate around the African continent. Contributors should endeavour to privilege this grand narrative, indicating if there are discernable contours in the graph of Soyinka’s oeuvres after the Nobel, while emphasising how the post-Nobel of Soyinka consciously calls us back to that decrepit hole in our collective worlds.

Detailed proposals/abstracts (250 words) for articles of 5-6000 words, should be sent to the guest editors as email attachment: evba25@gmail.com The deadline for submissions of proposals/abstracts is January2011. Reply for accepted proposals will be sent three weeks after. Completed essays should be sent not later than 30 April 2011. The special issue of the journal in UNISA will appear September 2011. All enquiries should be directed to the email addresses above. Please completed papers/essays should not exceed 6ooo words in order to accommodate as many critical voices as possible. Contributors can equally do reviews of Soyinka’s post-Nobel writings, at most 1000 words.

Deadline: 31 May 2011

WHIRLWINDS: Emerging Communities of Sexual Minorities in Africa will be an anthology that will examine the ways that sexual minorities are organizing themselves in new ways to create groups, networks, organizations, and movements across sub-Saharan Africa. By sexual minorities, we understand not only lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex groups but also localized endogenous sexual minorities, such hungochani, gor jigeen, dan daudu, and infinitely many others.

Scholars, writers, and activists are invited to submit abstracts for chapters that will contribute to an upcoming book project entitled WHIRLWINDS: Emerging Communities of Sexual Minorities in Africa, edited by Mark Canavera and Charles Gueboguo.

Editors’ Biographies

MARK CANAVERA is a writer, humanitarian aid worker and activist who works primarily in West Africa. His humanitarian efforts focus on youth empowerment and child and family welfare in settings impacted by conflict such as former child soldier reintegration in northern Uganda, small arms control in Senegal, girls education promotion in Burkina Faso, and child welfare system reform in Côte d’Ivoire and Niger. Mark was a founding editor of the Harvard Africa Policy Journal and served on the editorial staff of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy. He writes features and op-ed pieces on African affairs and writes for The Huffington Post, America’s most widely read online newspaper. He received Harvard University’s prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Award for Public Service in 2008 and the Best Feature Writing in 1996 from the South Carolina Press Association.

CHARLES GUEBOGUO is an African scholar and author whose has developed pioneering research around sexual identity in French-speaking West Africa. His first book, La Question homosexuelle en Afrique: le cas du Cameroun (The Issue of Homosexuality in Africa: The Case of Cameroon), published in 2006, was the first French-language book-length study of African homosexuality and the first of its kind published by an African scholar. It was followed in 2009 by Sida et homosexualité(s) en Afrique: Analyse des communications de prévention (AIDS and African homosexualities: An analysis of preventive communication strategies), a critical reflection on the lack of appropriate HIV-prevention communication strategies for sexual minorities. He recently co-edited a special edition of the Canadian Journal of African Studies, which presented cutting-edge research and perspectives on sexualities in Africa. He was the recipient of the 2007 Fraser Taylor Award of the Canadian Association of African Studies and the 2009 International Resource Network Africa Simon Nkoli Award in recognition of outstanding contributions in the study of sexuality in Africa.

Overview

WHIRLWINDS: Emerging Communities of Sexual Minorities in Africa will be an anthology that will examine the ways that sexual minorities are organizing themselves in new ways to create groups, networks, organizations, and movements across sub-Saharan Africa. By sexual minorities, we understand not only lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex groups but also localized endogenous sexual minorities, such hungochani, gor jigeen, dan daudu, and infinitely many others.

As the book will be primarily descriptive and analytic in nature, the chapter abstracts submitted should not take the form of personal narratives or descriptions of the activities of a single organization. Rather, they should provide a descriptive, critical analysis of groups, organizations, or movements. While remaining accessible to a wide readership, WHIRLWINDS will be grounded in empirical research and thorough investigation.

The book will bring together chapters about both country-level studies and transversal analyses of major themes or trends across countries.

The editors have identified the following countries as likely chapters in the book and are seeking submissions for chapter abstracts related to them:

* Cameroon
* Democratic Republic of Congo
* Nigeria
* Senegal
* Uganda
* Zimbabwe

Writers submitting chapter abstracts about the above countries should include the following in their abstracts: a basic overview of the way that groups, organizations, communities, and networks are emerging among sexual minorities in the country; a description of the methods that the writer will use to gather the relevant data (e.g., how will she or he write about the given topic with a sufficient and credible evidence base?); and key points of analysis about the current state of communities of sexual minorities in the countries. If writers would like to submit an abstract for a country not currently identified on the above list, notably in the Maghreb, she or he is welcome to do so.

Transversal themes for which the editors are seeking submissions include:

* HIV/AIDS and communities of sexual minorities
* The interplay of Western and African organizations
* The role of women’s groups and organizations in sexual minority movements
* Transgender issues
* Historical precursors to current-day movements, groups, or organizing efforts

Writers submitting thematic chapter abstracts should include the following in the abstracts: a brief presentation of the major issues to be considered in the chapter; a description of the data set (e.g., which countries, movements, or groups will be considered in the analysis) and of the methods that the writer will use to gather the relevant data; and key points of analysis that will be undertaken. If writers would like to submit a transversal theme that is not included in above list, she or he is welcome to do so.
Writer Profiles

Given the book’s analytic nature, the editors are seeking writers with strong skills in research, critical analysis, and argumentation. Writers with journalistic and activist backgrounds are welcome to submit chapter abstracts although they must clearly lay out how they will ground their analyses in rigorous research and investigation and how they will make links to the wider body of literature around sexual minorities in Africa.

Strong preference will be given to writers from African countries and research institutes although writers of any background are welcome to submit. As the book must present a common tone, writers whose abstracts are selected for the book project should expect to work closely with the editors to revise their chapters as the project progresses. At the current time, the editors cannot guarantee any payment for work related to this book.
Instructions for Submission

Chapter abstracts should be sent by May 31, 2011 to whirlwinds@rocketmail.com.

Chapter abstracts can be submitted in either English or French although French-language writers should know that the editors will seek to publish the book through an English-language press. (Both editors speak French and will work with French-language writers on translation.)

Abstracts should be no longer than one page long, and they should be accompanied by a brief biography of the author. Writers are welcome to revise former speeches and presentations for submission as chapter abstracts as long as they have not been previously published.

Potential writers should note that the language of the chapters should avoid jargon as the book will seek to present nuanced ideas in clear, straightforward language that will appeal to a broad readership beyond academia.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: whirlwinds@rocketmail.com

For submissions: whirlwinds@rocketmail.com

Deadline: 14 February 2011

Comic Relief is inviting tenders from interested parties to undertake a review of the literature on the African Diaspora based in the UK and their role in international development.

Expressions of interest should be sent to: Rupal Mistry at r.mistry@comicrelief.com no later than 14 February 2010.

Purpose and Objective

The primary objective of this consultancy is to provide Comic Relief with a detailed picture of the research undertaken and literature published to date on the African Diaspora in the UK and their role in international development in sub-Saharan Africa.

This consultancy will enable Comic Relief to build a picture of the international development activities of the African Diaspora in the UK and will feed into other elements of the Common Ground Initiative, in particular the communications and advocacy and influencing work. It is intended that this work will form the first phase of a longer study and will provide the basis for the commissioning of a series of more focused studies.

Methodology

The work will be desk based. The consultant will review research and latest evidence from academic, political and non-government sectors, synthesise and critique the findings, and highlight areas requiring further investigation. It is also suggested that the consultant hold short interviews with key informants to build up an understanding of the anecdotal evidence within the sector of the role played by the UK based African Diaspora in international development.

Areas to be explored through the literature review:

* The different ways in which the African Diaspora in the UK are organised, grouped, clustered or networked and whether or not there are any similarities in approaches to development based on typology
* The kind of development related activities African Diaspora in the UK are engaged in - thematic areas of implementation, e.g. remittance, business, service delivery (health, education etc), and the different approaches being used
* The scale of this activity – local or community based, district, national, and specific regions across the continent
* The ways in which they are working with communities in Africa – the types of relationships they build
* The level of engagement that the African Diaspora in the UK groups or individuals have with other stakeholders, communities in the UK and Africa, other NGO’s, governments, policymakers
* Examples of best international practice – in terms of relationships, activities, governance
* The level of interest, engagement and support of politicians and policymakers in relation to the “Diaspora and Development” agenda
* Any specific policy- level changes (both in the UK and in Africa) driven by the African Diaspora based in the UK
* The type of funding that UK based Diaspora entities have accessed

Deliverables

A detailed literature review report (maximum 30 pages, plus executive summary and annexes) structured as:

* Executive summary of key findings and recommendations
* Methodology
* Key Findings –in relation to areas to be explored, what is known, ongoing research and donor initiatives
* What don't we know: information and research gaps, differences of opinion/ current debates
* Implications for Comic Relief and its stakeholders
* Conclusions and recommendations – summary of findings, suggested further actions for donors, practitioners and researchers
* Appendices – List of articles and reports reviewed

The Consultant should submit the final report in both hard copy and electronic versions.

Timeframe

The consultancy will take place between March and May 2011. The draft report should be received by Comic Relief within 30 working days of the commencement of the consultancy with an additional month to receive comments and finalise the report.

Required qualifications and skills

Contractors would need to have:

* Ideally a postgraduate level qualification in relevant discipline
* An understanding of migration and international development
* Experience of working with BME communities in the UK
* Good analytical skills and attention to detail
* Ability to communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing

Comic Relief is committed to diversity in all of our contracts and tenders. The successful contractor will be expected to uphold the principles of respect and open engagement throughout their work with us.

Deadline: 15 September 2010

SCOUT BANANA, in conjunction with James Madison College and the MSU African Studies Center, invites you to submit a manuscript to

Volume III, Issue I of Articulate: Undergraduate Research Applied to Development in Africa.

Articulate is an undergraduate journal that publishes academic papers and writings on development in Africa and African issues. It is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as initiate, debates in international development, as undergraduates remain a vital, untapped force for new ideas and perspectives within the development dialogue.

Primary criteria for inclusion in the journal are quality of research, relevance, and originality. All manuscripts must have been written as an undergraduate student. For Scholarly Articulates, we ask for submissions of roughly 15-20 pages double-spaced with citations formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style, and an abstract of 200 words. We also ask that the author’s name, major, college, and university appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

* The effectiveness of foreign aid, microfinance, and social enterprise in Africa
* Intersections of gender, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality in African development
* Consequences of globalization, especially financial and trade integration
* Historical analyses and case studies of health care policies in Africa
* Politics of water and medicine in Africa
* The role of African youth in development programs and projects
* Effects of conflict and migration on health care and development

Articulate is also seeking brief reflective essays on your experiences in Africa, as well as reviews on literature relevant to Africa, development, and health care.

Reflective essays are 2-3 single-spaced pages and can take a variety of creative forms. They should explore development work from the perspective of a young person (under 30) from the Global North entering the Global South. Was it how you thought it would be? What did you like and/or dislike about it? What do you wish you had known when you were just “studying,” as opposed to working, in Africa on health-related issues? Other themes may be considered with consultation from the Editor-in-Chief.

Literature reviews are 2-3 single-spaced pages and are meant to keep Articulate’s readers abreast of current works and on-going debates pertinent to development, Africa, and health care. Reviews must provide a careful, thoughtful analysis and critique of a work’s main themes, objectives, arguments, and conclusions. They should include at least three titled sub-sections: an introduction that includes a synopsis of the work; an analysis that considers what, if any, assumptions underlie the author’s thinking and, if evidence is cited, how well it supports the work’s main objective; and a conclusion that summates your analysis and states the overall merits and/or shortcomings of the work.

Manuscripts will be accepted until Wednesday, September 15, 2010, with publication intended during November 2010. For submissions or inquiries, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at articulate@scoutbanana.org.

Deadline: 15 March 2011
Contact: d.kerr@bham.ac.uk

Call for Applications: ASAUK Writing Workshop for African Scholars

26-28 April 2011 in Nigeria

The African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK) is currently organising a writing workshop in Nigeria to assist young scholars to prepare material for publication in international journals. The ASAUK is committed to enhancing academic links between British and African institutions and to increasing representation in British journals of work by scholars based in Africa. Previous ASAUK workshops in the UK and in other parts of Africa have been extremely well received and there has been a strong demand for places. The workshop will bring the editors of three UK-based Africanist journals, namely Africa, Journal of Modern African Studies (JMAS) and Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE) to Nigeria in order to support doctoral and recently post-doctoral students as well as junior staff based in Nigerian universities in submitting articles for publication in international Africanist journals. The participating journals have asked prospective participants of the workshop to submit articles which address the journal themes outlined below. A second aim of the workshop is to bring together Nigerian and UK-based journal
editors to discuss shared interests and problems, and to explore possibilities for future co-operation.

The workshop is planned to take place in Nigeria on 26-28 April 2011, and it will be organised in collaboration with the Osun State University (UNIOSUN) at Osogbo, a peaceful city famous for its artistic community roughly 120 miles northeast of Lagos. The workshop organisers will provide accommodation and food for the duration of the workshop. Applicants may also be eligible for the reimbursement of travel costs.

The African Studies Association of the UK looks forward to hearing from you.

For more information, please see the Applicant details below or contact Mr David Kerr (d.kerr@bham.ac.uk).

Applicant Details

Eligibility: Scholars of all nationalities who have spent the past 3 years at a Nigerian university.

Deadline for receipt of applications: 15 March 2011.

In order to qualify for the workshop, scholars are invited to send in the following documents: A short CV including their name, gender, academic career and position at their current institution. A completed, full-length article (5,500-7,000 words) based on original research. Please indicate clearly whether you are addressing a theme and which journal you are targeting. If you would like to stay for the second part of the workshop, please give information about the journal you wish to represent. If you wish to apply for a reimbursement of travel costs, you must also submit an estimate of expenses (least expensive option, by road only).

Selection criteria: The primary selection criterion is the quality of the article submitted. The organisers also aim to attract scholars from institutions in the different geographical regions/ zones of Nigeria. Senior scholar are invited to apply if they feel this workshop would benefit them, but once the above criteria have been addressed, preference will be given to junior scholars.

Please send applications electronically to Mr David Kerr and Dr Insa Nolte at the University of Birmingham, email addresses: d.kerr@bham.ac.uk and m.i.nolte@bham.ac.uk.

Journal themes

Africa

Africa encourages an interdisciplinary approach, involving humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences. The journal aims to give increased attention to African production of knowledge, highlighting the work of local African thinkers and writers, emerging social and cultural trends ‘on the ground', and links between local and national levels of society. At the same time, it maintains its commitment to the theoretically informed analysis of the realities of Africa's own cultural categories. For this workshop, we would be particularly interested in papers that focus on some aspect of local intellectual or cultural production – e.g. community newspapers, local histories, posters, pamphlets, oral genres or private video entrepreneurs. For more information, please see http://www.internationalafricaninstitute.org/journal.html

JMAS

The Journal of Modern African Studies places a very high emphasis on original research studies, usually derived from fieldwork in Africa, which at the same time help to illuminate issues currently affecting Africa. We do not publish general overviews, literature reviews, purely theoretical articles, or polemics. We do whatever we can to encourage African authors, and especially scholars based in Africa and carrying out research there. The journal is however internationally refereed, and accepted papers have to meet the standards required.We range broadly across the social sciences, though with a concentration in political science, sociology, gender, economics and international relations, while insisting that papers must be sufficiently non-technical to be read with interest and understood by Africanists working in other disciplines. We do not normally publish papers that fall into the fields of history, linguistics or literary studies, unless these illuminate issues of broader current concern. We do not publish studies on the African diaspora, but would be very interested in research into the impact of the diaspora on developments within Africa. For more information, please see http://assets.cambridge.org/MOA/MOA_ifc.pdf

ROAPE

Since 1974, ROAPE has provided radical analysis of trends, issues and social processes in Africa. It pays particular attention to the political economy of inequality, exploitation and oppression, whether driven by global forces or local ones such as class, race, ethnicity and gender), and to broadly materialist interpretations of change. It sustains a critical analysis of the nature of power and the state in Africa in the context of capitalist globalisation. For more information, please see http://www.roape.org/

Dates: 3 March 2011 (announcement of regional winners), May 2011 (announcement of overall winners)

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, internationally recognised for its role in celebrating ground-breaking works from both new and established writers, has today revealed the literary icons of tomorrow in the South East Asia and Pacific regional shortlist for the 2011 Prize.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation and now in its 25th year, has selected both household names and other emerging stars for the shortlist for Best Book and Best First Book awards. The winners from Africa will go on to compete against writers from across the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Writers' Prize's final programme to be held at Sydney Writers' Festival from 16-22 May.

Africa Best Book:

• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
• Men of the South by Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa)
• The Unseen Leopard by Bridget Pitt (South Africa)
• Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
• Blood at Bay by Sue Rabie (South Africa)
• Banquet at Brabazan by Patricia Schonstein (South Africa)

• Happiness is a Four Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
• Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke (Nigeria)
• The Fossil Artist by Graeme Friedman (South Africa)
• Colour Blind by Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria)
• Voice of America by E. C. Osondu (Nigeria)
• Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce (South Africa)

The regional winners of the Best Book and Best First Book prizes will be announced on the 3rd March, with the final programme commencing on the 16th May at Sydney Writers' Festival in Australia. This will bring together the finalists from the four different regions of the Commonwealth, and the two overall winners will be announced on the 21st May.

Commonwealth Foundation Director, Dr. Mark Collins, said:

"The Commonwealth Writers' Prize aims to reward the best of Commonwealth fiction written in English and underlines our commitment to promoting cultural exchange and diversity. This year the range of subjects, the breadth of genres and the diversity of writers will bring the very best of Commonwealth literature to new audiences. The support of the Macquarie Group Foundation has seen the Prize gain in international standing and expand its reach. This year we're delighted to be holding our final award programme in Sydney, the home of Macquarie, at Sydney Writers' Festival."

David Clarke, Chairman of the Macquarie Group Foundation, the main supporter of the Prize, added:

"The Macquarie Group Foundation's continuing support of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in its 25th year is the cornerstone of Macquarie's arts philanthropy. The Prize plays a valuable role in recognising and rewarding diverse literary talents and, in so doing, connects global communities."

Dates: 14 - 19 March 2011

Twenty-one prominent writers from a dozen different countries, will converge on Durban for a thought-provoking week of literary dialogue and exchange of ideas at the Time of the Writer international writers festival from 14 to 19 March. Hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of Kwa-Zulu Natal) and with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, this 14th edition of the festival, presents a packed programme of both day and evening activities. 'Freedom of Expression' will feature as an underlying thread within the festival and audiences can expect to hear the opinions of leading writers on creative processes which inform their writing as well as on the enabling or constraining forces of political, social and environmental contexts within which they write.

The festival's Opening Night Keynote Address will be delivered by the recently retired Constitutional Court judge, esteemed writer and cultural activist, Justice Albie Sachs. The award-winning author of a number of books, including Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter and Justice in South Africa, Sachs was instrumental in the process of writing the constitution of South Africa and is therefore eminently qualified to speak on the festival theme of Freedom of Expression.

Evening Activities

Following the opening night at which all writers present brief introductions, double-bill readings and panel discussions will take place nightly at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, preceded by book launches and live music.

Tuesday 15 March will feature British-born American Raj Patel food activist and author of internationally-acclaimed Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, and his most recent offering, The Value of Nothing. Patel has been active in South African affairs and was a visiting scholar at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2009. Joining him in a discussion entitled Ugly/ Beautiful, Stuffed and Starved will be South African leading cultural commentator and author of the award-winning Ugly/Beautiful: African and Diaspora Aesthetics, Sarah Nuttall, with her reflections on contemporary society.

Also shining a spotlight on contemporary South Africa on the same night is author and journalist Lauren Beukes, whose novel Zoo City, has been described as "intelligent and witty urban writing for the 21st century." Popular Durban-based author of The Lotus People (which won the 2001 Sanlam Literary Award for an unpublished novel), Aziz Hassim, joins Beukes in a discussion entitled Life in the Inner City.

Leading intellectual and award-winning writer Njabulo Ndebele, author of 'Fools' and other Stories, The Cry of Winnie Mandela and others, will, together with provocative post-colonial thinker and academic Achille Mbembe, tackle the heady topic of A Promise Delivered or a Nation Betrayed: Literature as South Africa’s Conscience. Cameroon- born Mbembe is a profound voice in contesting clichéd Western perspectives of Africa.

Ndebele and Mbembe appear on Wednesday 16 March, the same evening that a foregrounding of African culture will take place in the presentations by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe) and Ellen Banda-Aaku (Zambia). Gappah’s debut collection of heartfelt short stories, An Elegy for Easterly poignantly describe the strained everyday living of Zimbabwe's people, and this award-winning book has already been translated into six languages. Primarily a children’s writer, Ellen Banda-Aaku’s first novel, Patchwork - an emotive tale of a young girl's journey towards coming to terms with her identity - won the 2010 Penguin Prize for African writing.

French writer Marie Darrieussecq’s best selling debut novel Truismes (Pig Tales) - a postmodern tale about the gradual transformation of a woman into a sow - explores the human state in the most bizarre and fantastical of ways. Matching her for a session titled 'Painting the Psyche' on Thursday 17 March is award-winning artist Ondjaki from Angola, whose evocative work as a poet, documentarian, prose-writer and actor posits him a versatile talent.

Writing from the currently tumultuous context of Egypt, Sahar El Mougy, in a feminist perspective, articulates the conflict between the values of the west and traditional gender roles in the Middle East. In a hot topic session (Thursday), El Mougy will pair up with Durban-born Azad Essa in a discussion entitled Writing Revolution to unpack the role of writers in the scenarios unfolding across the region. Currently working for Al-Jazeera in Qatar, Essa’s provocative 2010 book Zuma's Bastard, offers a fresh perspective around South African race politics and religion.

Two highly accomplished immigrants who have made their mark on the UK literary scene and world-wide, will take to the stage on Friday 18th March. Originally from the Caribbean island of St.Kitts and author of numerous award-winning books, Caryl Phillips, whose extensive writing oeuvre ranges from non-fiction and fiction to theatre, radio and television documentaries teams up with prolific Nigerian novelist and playwright, Biyi Bandele, in unpacking Roots and Routes.

Also on 18 March the genre of the 'crime thrillers' brings together Sifiso Mzobe and Diale Tlholwe, in a panel titled Muti Noir. Exploring the life of a young car hijacker in KwaMashu, Mzobe's Young Blood offers a glimpse into the emotional landscape of someone deemed by society, a 'criminal'. Recipient of the 2010 South African Literary Award and described by South African established thriller-writer, Deon Meyer as "superb", Tlholwe's Ancient Rites, within the frame of a detective story, navigates the contrasting worlds of the real and the spirit; the urban and the rural.

Prolific Senegalese writer Boubacar Boris Diop and German writer and filmmaker Torsten Schulz will discuss The Pen as a Weapon against War on the closing night of the Time of the Writer. Diop’s work of fiction, Murambi, the Book of Bones, deals powerfully with the issue of memory around the Rwandan genocide, while Schulz’s novel Boxhagener Square, which won numerous awards and was made into a film, is set in the context of post-war Germany.

Chris van Wyk and Etienne van Heerden will culminate this year’s festival with a discussion on Re-Inventing Memory Through Literature. Van Wyk has an extraordinary knack for telling heartwarming stories of often comical personal experiences against the backdrop of critical periods in South African history. Van Heerden, with his work published in over sixty anthologies in South Africa and overseas, together with an acclaimed string of novels, poetry and essays, is one of the huge icons within Afrikaans literature.

Tickets are R25 for the evening sessions, R10 for students on presentation of a student card. Tickets can be booked through Computicket Tel: 083 915 8000 or 011 340 8000, or purchased at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from 18h30.

Day Activities

A broad range of day activities in the form of free seminars, workshops, including a full-day Publishing Forum on 17 March, book launches, school visits, and a prison writing programme, take place to promote a culture of reading, writing and creative expression and broaden access to the participating writers.

Find the full programme of activities and paticipant biographies on our website www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or contact the Centre for Creative Arts for more information on 031 260 2506/1816.

The 14th Time of the Writer festival is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), the Department of Arts and Culture, the City of Durban, the French Institute of South Africa, Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS), National Arts Council, Goethe-Institut of South Africa, Adams Campus Books, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Deadline: 1 June 2011

The Africa Centre, together with artist in residency programmes in Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Finland, Netherlands, Turkey and the United States of America have partnered to launch a new Artist in Residency Programme (AIR). The programme has been conceived to support artists from Africa who are provocative, innovative, relevant and highly engaged with both social issues and their art forms.

AIR manifests through existing artist-in-residency partnerships around the world that are prepared to select an artist from a short list provided by the Africa Centre, created from a Continental search, for one of their 2011 or 2012 residencies. The costs of the residency and roundtrip airfare are included in each residency award made as part of this programme.

Each of the seven residencies on offer have different durations, structures and requirements. We are taking applications between 1 April and 1 June 2011. If you have any queries please email robinj@africacentre.net

Please ensure that the Residency you are applying for caters for your means of artistic expression.

• Bundanon Trust – Australia: Professional Artists from all disciplines.
• Sacatar – Brazil: Artists from all disciplines, particularly interested in choreographers and performers.
• Zoma Contemporary Art Centre – Ethiopia: The Architectural Residency: mid-career and established artists with building experience. The other residencies cater for artists across all disciplines and level of experience.
• KulttuuriKauppila – Finland: Professional visual artists focused on environmental issues or sculptors focused on anything.
• Thamgidi Foundation – Netherlands: Artists from all artistic disciplines will be considered.
• Caravansarai – Turkey: Performing Arts, Music, Literature, New Media and Film Making, other disciplines will also be considered.
• 18th Street – United States of America: Visual and Performing Artists - must have at least 5 years of exhibition and/or professional experience (no students).

1. Online Application Form: Click here to apply online
2. E-mail Application: If you would rather use e-mail, download the application form and then send your application directly to our project manager Robin at robinj@africacentre.net. Please do not send attachments larger than 5MB. Please be sure to add your full name and contact details in the email message field.

If your attachment is larger than 5MB, you can upload it using www.yousendit.com. This is a free service that will allow you to upload your file directly to us. To upload a file, fill in the fields under the green text, "Send a File". Please be sure to add your full name and contact details in the YouSendIt message field. The email address for delivery is: robinj@africacentre.net
3. Submitting via Post: If you cannot use any of the above methods, you are always welcome to post your application directly to us. Click here to download the application form. Be sure to include an e-mail address and phone number where we can contact you.

Postal Address:

THE PROJECT MANAGER:ARTIST IN RESIDENCY PROGRAMME
C/O THE AFRICA CENTRE, 1ST FLOOR, 44 LONG STREET
CAPE TOWN, 8000, SOUTH AFRICA

AIR APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 June 2011

Shortlist and Award Process

The Africa Centre will select three candidates for each of the 7 residency awards on offer from the applications received. These shortlisted candidates will be forwarded to our various Residency Partners; it is from these lists that they will select the 7 artists to be granted the Artist in Residency Awards.

The Africa Centre will announce the recipients of the Artist in Residency programme on the 1 July 2011. If you have any questions, please direct them to Robin Jutzen at the email address above or on +27 21 422 0468.

Download application form >>

More information about the participating residency programmes here.

Here are 25 writing contests, careers, calls for submissions, and other opportunities for African writers with submissions or applications due on the 31st of March, 2011:

• Call for African American Poets: Enter the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award -03/31/2011

• Call for Papers: Co-operative Development in Africa: Prospects and Challenges -03/31/2011

  Journalists of Color Invited to Apply for The 2011 Society for Features Journalism Diversity Fellowship (Arizona) -03/31/2011

• The SA Writers' College 2011 Annual Short Story Award For Emerging Writers in South Africa -03/31/2011

• Call for Books: The 2011 Nigerian Studies Association Book Award -03/31/2011

• Call for Submissions: Anthology of Middle Eastern/ Muslim Short Fiction -03/31/2011

• Apply for the Speculative Literature Foundation Older Writers Grant -03/31/2011

• Job Opening: Humanities Editor for Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (Kenya) -03/31/2011

• Call for Submissions: January 25 (Revolution) Anthology -03/31/2011

• 2011 BN Poetry Award for Ugandan Women -03/31/2011

• Call for Submissions - Sentinel Nigeria: Online Magazine of Contemporary Nigerian Writing -03/31/2011

• World Petroleum Congress Prize for Young Authors -03/31/2011

• The R25,000 EU Literary Award 2011 for Unpublished Work of Fiction (South Africa) -03/31/2011

• Third Annual South African Wine Writers Award -03/31/2011

• Apply for The Foreign Correspondents’ Scholarship Programme in Finland (eligible African countries: Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia) -03/31/2011

• Anthony Sampson Foundation Award for a Writing/ Reporting Project Relevant to South Africa -03/31/2011

• Forum of Women of the Mediterranean Short Story Competition -03/31/2011
  


• Win a Publication Contract: Whispers Publishing 2011 Explore Our World Fiction Contest (length: 15,000-30,000) -03/31/2011

• Siemens Africa Profile Awards for Excellence in Science and Technology Journalism -03/31/2011
  


• Excellence in Journalism Awards - Tanzania Officially Launched -03/31/2011

• The $1,300 Mahdiya/ Aga Khan Museum International Essay Writing Contest -03/31/2011

• Job Opening: Copy/ Sub Editor for Film Event Publishing (South Africa) -03/31/2011

• Call for Entries: 2011 Association of Nigerian Authors Literary Prizes -03/31/2011
  


• Call for Entries: Nigeria Prize for Literature 2011 -03/31/2011

• The Beverly Nambozo Poetry Award 2011 (Uganda) Now Open for Submissions -03/31/2011
  

Deadline: 1 December 2010

African Humanities Program
in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda
2010-2011

INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS

Eligibility criteria
• The proposed project must be in the humanities.
• It must propose a written scholarly product such as a dissertation or a monograph.
• Research and writing under terms of the fellowship award must be undertaken in Africa. AHP fellowships may not be used for travel outside the continent.
• Dissertation applicants must be nationals of a country in sub-Saharan Africa, residing and working in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, or Uganda, pursuing a doctorate in one of those countries. They must have begun to write the dissertation before applying and must be able to complete the dissertation during the fellowship year. Applicants pursuing doctorates at a university in South Africa are not eligible.
• Postdoctoral applicants must be nationals of a country in sub-Saharan Africa, residing and working in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda. At the time of the submission, applicants must have defended the dissertation and must be no more than five years past the date of receiving the Ph.D. degree. Postdoctoral applicants may propose either a combination of research and writing, or writing only.

Fellowship awards
• The stipend for Dissertation-Completion Fellowships is $9,000.
• The stipend for Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowships is $16,000.
• The Residential Allowance is $5,000, and will be paid directly to the selected institute for advanced study hosting the AHP fellowship recipient. A list of residential sites currently available can be downloaded from the ACLS website at www.acls.org/programs/ahp or may be requested from ahp@acls.org . Residencies must be undertaken outside of the country in which the applicant maintains institutional affiliation and must last for a continuous period of not less than two months. No additional support in the form of residential allowance is available to support work at an applicant’s home institution.

Selection criteria
• The intrinsic interest and substantive merit of the work proposed
• The clarity of the intellectual agenda
• The record of achievement of postdoctoral scholars and the promise of Ph.D. candidates
• The contribution the work is likely to make to scholarship in the region and internationally
• The feasibility of the workplan

Preparing the application
All applicants should begin preparation early! Applications must be received by the African Humanities Program at the American Council of Learned Societies in New York no later than December 1, 2010 .

All applications must be typed (no handwriting, please). ACLS encourages the submission of applications via email in either Word (.doc or .docx files) or Acrobat (.pdf files). ACLS cannot application materials submitted in other file formats. Application forms may be downloaded in either Word or Acrobat. Application forms downloaded in Word may be typed on a computer, saved in a Word or Acrobat file and submitted via email attachment to ahp@acls.org . Applicants are asked to observe specifications for font and line-spacing and to maintain the page and space limits represented in the original application form. All applications must be signed and dated, or will be considered incomplete. Applications sent electronically must be named using the following file name format: Surname, Given Name(s).doc/docx/pdf.

Application forms downloaded in Acrobat or received via Air Mail may be printed, then typed on a typewriter and returned to ACLS via Air Mail or courier service. Applicants are asked to send their materials via Air Mail or courier service only if they are unable to do so via email; it is not necessary to send applications both electronically and on paper.

Application Elements
An application form consists of the following numbered elements, which should be submitted in the order specified here and on the application form. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

I. Applicant information – cover sheet

II. Personal history: education, research, teaching, and service (as applicable )

III. List of applicant’s publications [Maximum one page, 11 pt. type]

IV. Intellectual autobiography [Maximum one page, single spaced, 11 pt. type]
A description of the applicant’s academic career, detailing the ideas and experiences that have shaped and motivated the applicant’s intellectual work and plans for the future. The autobiography should conclude with a separate paragraph answering the question: “What do I see myself doing five years from now?”

V. Application essay [Maximum two pages, single spaced, 11 pt. type]

1. Main Thesis: The main argument or problematic guiding the proposed research and
writing.
2. Body: The research problem in more detail and a justification of the research focus and approach. What is already known about the problem and what more needs to be known?
3. Literature and sources: The proposed topic placed in the context of existing literature and as well as potential new sources. What will be the criteria for determining which sources are relevant? How will the project extend, modify, or challenge existing scholarship?
4. Methods: A detailed description of the methods to be used. How will they be deployed to address the main thesis or argument of the project?
5. Significance: An explanation of the importance of the proposed work to central issues in the discipline, to the African humanities, and to humanities scholarship in general.
6. Workplan: The concluding section of the essay, specifying a plan of work with a timeline for the research and/or writing during the fellowship period . How much has the applicant already accomplished on the project and how much remains to be done? What steps are anticipated during the fellowship period? What is the expected result? The workplan must specify the desired start and end dates for the fellowship period, ensuring that they fall within the period of the fellowship and form a period of work no less than 10 months in duration.

Letters of recommendation should arrive with applications at ACLS by the deadline, December 1, 2010. Applicants should send the forms to recommenders early, so that there is enough time to complete them. While applicants are responsible for making sure that the completed application has two appropriate recommendations, they must not delay sending all other parts of the application by the deadline, regardless of whether recommenders have sent their materials or not.

(Late letters of recommendation should be forwarded by the applicant to ACLS as soon as possible, in no case more than one month past the deadline.)

Submitting the application
Applicants are asked to follow these instructions carefully. Failure to do so may render an application late, incomplete, or otherwise ineligible for inclusion in the fellowship competition.

1. Applications may be submitted electronically (via email attachment) or on paper (via Air Mail or courier service) to the AHP/ACLS office in New York.

2. ACLS can accept only files sent in Word (.doc or .docx) or Acrobat (.pdf) formats. No other file formats are acceptable. Electronic submission is encouraged, with letters of recommendation and the applicant’s signature scanned as .pdf files. Electronic applications must be saved using a file name in the following format: Surname, Given Name(s).doc/docx/pdf.

3. Applications submitted electronically should be sent to ahp@acls.org, with all application materials included as attachments to one single email. If the files are too large to send in one email, applicants must create a series of smaller numbered files following the same file name format and send them in separate emails, making sure to note the total number of files transmitted.

The subject line of the email should include the applicant’s surname and the phrase “AHP application.” The body of the email should indicate the number of files attached. Application materials should be submitted only once, unless ACLS requests that and applicant resubmit. “Updated” or “revised” versions of the application will not be accepted once an application has been submitted.

4. Applications sent by Air Mail or courier service should be addressed to:

African Humanities Program
American Council of Learned Societies
633 Third Avenue, 8th floor
New York, NY 10017-6795, USA

5. IMPORTANT: Whether an application is submitted electronically or on paper, all applicants must send a separate email to ahp@acls.org requesting confirmation that the application file has been received and can be opened. Those who do not receive a reply within ten days confirming receipt should resend the confirmation request. Applicants should not resubmit application materials unless requested to do so.

Position Title: Senior Writer and Publications Manager

Salary Range: Commensurate with experience

Location: Washington, D.C.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Writer and Publications Manager works across departments and with staff throughout Africa to position AWF as the premier African conservation organization through a series of publications. The Senior Writer and Publications Manager will lead the planning and content development of AWF’s core publications, which include a quarterly 16-page Africa Geographic magazine supplement, quarterly Wildlife News member newsletter, quarterly Heartland News partner newsletter, and the Annual Report. This position is based in Washington, D.C. with occasional travel to Africa field offices.

KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve as Editor of AWF’s core publications, which include a quarterly 16-page Africa Geographic magazine supplement, quarterly Wildlife News member newsletter, quarterly Heartland News partner newsletter, and the Annual Report.
• Oversee the production process for AWF’s suite of publications from inception and story development to design and printing, in collaboration with other departments.
• Manage a minimum of a 16-month comprehensive editorial calendar to ensure advance topic/issue cultivation and planning.
• Write and edit copy for the majority of the publications, with internal and external layout and design support.
• Select supporting photography and cultivate compelling graphics for all stories/features.
• Carefully position all publication content (photos, copy, graphics, etc.) based on target audience.
• Facilitate story development and writing through other AWF staff and qualified contributors.
• Ensure a consistent message and written style across AWF’s various publications, altering copy and design to appeal to select key audiences.
• Write and edit content for AWF’s monthly electronic newsletter, AWF Monthly Insite, in conjunction with the Online Marketing and Communications Officer.
• Contribute occasionally to AWF.org news headlines, AWF.org content, blogs, press releases, social media outlets, and other content.
• Work on occasion with the Director of Marketing on the development of key marketing collateral (fact sheets, brochures, and other promotional literature) to achieve a consistent high quality message.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

• Regularly monitor relevant field updates from AWF activities in the Heartlands.
• Lead the effort to make AWF publications available in electronic formats through new platforms (i.e. iPad/tablet and mobile devices).
• Monitor key media outlets that cover relevant news topics. Proactively identify relevant opportunities and subject areas for AWF story angles. Distribute weekly news clippings to foster story ideas.
• Assist staff in understanding communication/editorial standards and processes.
• Keep department informed of publications industry trends and activities.
• Recruit, train, and supervise Editorial Intern(s).

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree with major coursework in journalism, publications management, marketing, communications/media relations, and graphic design preferred.
• At least 3-5 years relevant working experience in the field of journalism, publications, marketing, membership, or communications preferred, corporate or nonprofit.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to relate to people from various geographic and economic backgrounds.
• Superior writing, editing, and grammatical skills. Solid grasp of AP Stylebook, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.
• Familiarity with publications practices and related tools and software.
• Must be flexible, culturally sensitive, and exude a “team” attitude.
• Familiarity with graphic design, web design, photo editing, and use of online databases.
• Works well independently and in a team.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office software required.
• Detail-oriented and highly organized.
• Ability to multi-task, handle multiple priorities, and work effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment.
• Ability to organize and present issues in a clear, concise, and logical manner.
• Desire and ability to leverage new technology to enhance personal and group productivity.
• Knowledge and interest in electronic development and distribution of print content (i.e. iPad, mobile, etc.).
• Keen interest or experience in wildlife/land conservation and/or sustainable development in Africa preferred, BUT NOT required.

To be considered for this opportunity, please send your resume, a written statement linking your passions and experience to this opportunity and AWF's mission, and three writing samples to jobs@awf.org.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: jobs@awf.org

To submit: jobs@awf.org

Website: http://www.awf.org

Deadline: 18 March 2011

Department: FACULTY OF HUMANITIES – SCHOOL OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES

Position: Associate Professor / Senior Lecturer - African Languages

Description:

The School of Literature and Language Studies at Wits seeks to make an appointment at Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer-level in African Languages.

Requirements: A PhD in African languages and teaching experience in some or all of the following areas: African-language literature, linguistics, sociolinguistics, translation and popular culture in Africa; a substantial and successful research and/or creative writing record in African languages; a substantial record of peer-reviewed publications; experience in postgraduate supervision; evidence of ability to contribute to the work of the School.

Associate Professor will lead a regeneration of the discipline and should therefore be someone with leadership capacity, a vigorous vocational vision for the teaching of African languages and literature and a keen interest in encouraging research in the field.

Senior Lecturer will support the head of discipline in realising the vision of the discipline and should therefore be someone with leadership potential, a vested interest in African Languages and literature and strong interest in encouraging research in the field.

Closing Date: 2011/03/18

For more information, Contact:

Dr Innocentia Mhlambi
Telephone: 0117174257
Email: Innocentia.Mhlambi@wits.ac.za

To apply:

Submit a letter of application, a full curriculum vitae, certified copies of qualifications and identity document as well as the names and contact details (including e-mail) of three referees to Molly Orr, Humanities Human Resources Offices, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050

E-mail: Molly.Orr@wits.ac.za

Dates: 22 - 26 July 21011

REDSEA-ONLINE Cultural Foundation, in collaboration with other Somaliland cultural organizations, is eager to announce the Fourth Hargeysa International Book Fair (HIBF) which will take place from 22 to 26 July 2011 in Hargeysa.

HIBF is the main cultural event in Somaliland and one of the largest public celebrations of books in East Africa. Every July, HIBF brings writers, poets, artists and thinkers from Somaliland and from all over the world to share and discuss their art and literary productions with the audience. The main aim of the festival is to promote a culture of reading and writing in the country, by producing and publishing high quality Somali literature and translating international classical literature, (including fiction, poetry and drama) into Somali. We aim to enable young people to access a range of cultural heritages; our intention is to stimulate the revival of all forms of art and human expression, including painting, poetry reciting, story-telling, drama composition and of course, writing. The Book Fair is linked to its sister London's Somali Week Festival which takes place in 22-26 October.

HIBF targets not only to young audience, but to a wider sectors of the society, and it aims to help foster cultural understanding, tolerance, democracy, and an appreciation of the diversity of Somali culture and literature. In the past few years, our festivals raised the profile of reading and writing and also the integration in Somaliland of youth from different regions around the country. The main aim of the book fair in fact is to promote critically thinking culture and creative writing, to facilitate the habit of reading, to display books, from both local and writers abroad, to encourage members in the public to browse, read, engage with authors, be inspired to young people, and wider society.

Each year a theme, associated with and relevant to the issues surrounding youth and citizenship, is selected. The overall cultural programme this year will revolve around the theme of “Collective Memory.” Somaliland will be celebrating its 20 years of independence and hence the theme will touch upon events and processes that have shaped Somalilanders’ collective memories of the country. Our aim is to reflect on but also contribute to the creation of a national collective memory, through the arts. The project, this year, aims to produce its own culturally rooted literature on this theme by publishing different books, and to write a monologue drama on Somaliland's recent history: Topics such as the peace negotiation process, de-militarization, democracy and the growth of political parties, will be touched upon. Furthermore, the diversity of individual’s experiences of the new nation-state will also be captured through discussions, testimonies and different artistic genres, thus contributing to the creation of a collective memory.

The theme: Collective Memory

Contemporary usage of the term collective memory is traceable to Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) and to his student Maurice Halbwachs (1877 – 1945). Distinct from individual memory, collective memory is shared, passed on and also constructed by a group or modern society to shape their national identity. Parts of the collective memory for a nation can be represented in a physical monument, commemorative symbols, rituals, story-telling or media production, including literary creating, fiction and non fiction production, oral poetry and so on. Both “history” and “collective memory” are publicly available social facts. The difference is, while the classical history is something “dead” and confined to the past, the collective memory is something “alive” and it can be viewed as real or current history hidden in the people’s memories, experiences, testimonies, and human stories. Whilst history can explain the actors and times (who and when) of an event, it cannot capture the original emotion caused by the event. Preserving and archiving collective memory will afford people an opportunity to revisit the event and prolong its presence. We want people of different ages, different backgrounds, writers, thinkers and youth to focus on a common and shared collective memory that creates the foundation of the nation and of a national identity.

The format

The basic idea of the Book Fair is to celebrate and promote the culture of reading and writing, to create a platform where authors and other artists meet their readers and the general audience. We intend to create and facilitate an atmosphere of dialogue where ideas circulate and constructive and educational debates take place. There will be book launching events, readers clubs work presentations, meeting with authors, creative writing lessons, joyful and relaxing moments with Somali lyricists, video-screening, and poetry reciting. There will also be other parallel cultural events, covering other art genres, such as a photo exhibition and an art exhibit showcasing talented young painters in Somaliland. The overall programme will be carefully crafted to stimulate and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds.

CORE EVENTS

• A high profile debate and discussion forum, organized and attended also by young people, is one of the main events of the book fair. These series of debates cut across generations, and each year youth delegations from different regions across the country gather to create a unique forum through which audience and authors meet to exchange thoughts and opinions.

• Another highlight of the cultural program is the presentation of the yearly Sheeko iyo Shaahid literary award, reserved for young short story writers. Whilst this competition is aimed at young people, we have opened it to anyone under the age of 40. We believe some older writers never had the opportunity to develop their literary skills, as the country was at war for 15 years. This year we expect even more participation, based on the trends set in the past three years. Books containing the winning stories of the past years have been published and the event has been created and followed by many young people. The 4th edition of the under-40s short story writers will be launched and an award will be presented to the authors of last year’s Sheeko iyo Shaahid competition. Volume three of the series, comprising the winning stories from last year’s competition, will be distributed to the participants of the 2011 competition, the winners of the previous competitions and all the participants of the 2010 competition.

• HIBF-2011 will introduce the “moving library” tour, which will commence a week prior to the Festival. A bus carrying books and representatives of 9 regional Readers Clubs will tour all major cities in the country prior to the festival (members of these clubs work throughout the year presenting books to local communities). In every city there will be an event in which the readers clubs and the other youth organizations will promote the books, and encourage participants and local citizens to embrace reading as a hobby. There will be “darandoorri” (reading together) sessions in which selected national and international renowned literature will be read by young people e.g., some members of the readers clubs will read excerpts of George Orwell's “Animal Farm” translated by late Mohamed Yusuf Arten and re-published by Ponte Invisibile as well as other books by authors participating on the tour. Books will be distributed to the cities and villages along the routes of this tour, and lyrical composition, specifically commissioned for event, will be performed in every city. After the tour, the regional youth and readers clubs representatives will go to Hargeysa, and showcase their work at the book fair. They will also be asked to make their work relevant to the theme of collective memory.

• Short courses: writing and photography. Due to a lack of adequate training available to young journalists and the new members of the reading clubs we intend to organise short writing courses for those struggling with the language. Our aim is engage a small group of 18 young writers and reporters (1 member from each of the Reading clubs, 5 from Somaliland press and the 12 winners of the Sheeko iyo Shaahid) to provide language, grammar and creative writing workshops. As our idea is to promote different forms of arts among the young people, and to create artistic skills, we identified this year the necessity to promote also skill in photography. Thus, an intensive photography course for 7-10 young people will be also be organized before the book fair. The course attendees will volunteer as photographers of the book fair.

• Book launching. A number of new books published specifically within this year's book festival will be launched and world-renowned authors will be invited. We will also invite and encourage the launch of other new books authored by local writers. Over four days sessions, books will be on display and people will have an opportunity to read, review and purchase books from the publishers/books sellers/authors who may want to take their literary production in the book fair. The books launched throughout the festival will touch on various aspects relating to the theme of collective memory. Exploring experiences both within Somaliland and across the Diaspora, the books will investigate a range of topics including historic events, socio-economic changes, citizenship, identity and modernity and tradition. The programme of the events will include all books that will be launched during the HIBF. If you know about a book suitable to be launched or you are author of one, please contact to the organizers before 1 April 2011 so I can be included into the programme.

• Video screenings. Last year’s video documentation will be screened. The video shows how young people in Somaliland think on about the theme of citizenship. They explained with their own words and definitions.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• Opening and closing events with music and poetry reciting. To enhance the books fair's festive and educational atmosphere, poets and lyricists will be invited to entertain the audience in a great festive yet educational event on the opening and closing days. There will be a stage event both in opening and closing day.

• Commemorating Madar: a young and talented painter. Madar Osman was young artist and a teacher, who only last year demonstrated a unique talent. Unfortunately Madar died in a car accident soon after the Hargeysa International Book Fair and Mooge Festival of 2010. This year we will showcase his art production and some of his most interesting works will be displayed during the book fair.

• The Science Awareness Day. The Science Awareness Day is significantly important to Somaliland's development in the long terms. Somaliland needs to move shift its emphasis on manufacturing nation rather than the notion of relying on other nations' gift aids. With the motto "Science for Sustainable Development', the Day hopes to mobilise the energy and resources of the diaspora community to effectively contribute to development of Somaliland.

• Photo exhibition: Somaliland faces. Professional photographers and photojournalists will be invited to display their photographs of the people and the land.

PRE AND POST LITERARY PRODUCTION

A number of books will be published and/or translated into Somali before the Hargeysa International Book Fair, and they will be delivered to Hargeysa in time in order to be launched during the book fair. These include books specifically related to the theme of the year and commissioned by the organizers (see in the programme of events the list of books being published this year).

After the book fair, several materials will be published, including:

o Proceedings book on the Book Fair, including all the papers presented
o Educational material for the Creative Writing course.
o Volume four of Sheeko iyo Shaahid winning stories collection. This competition is a flagship asset for our cultural program, and is intended to inspire the youth to get involved in critical thinking and in composing, storytelling, preserving and participating in Somali culture and arts.
o Audio-visual: A DVD Documentary Film containing the Moving Library Tour, the drama and lyrics produced for the reading promotion, and the major events of the HIBF-2011.

All materials produced during and for the Book Fair, including the documentary film and printed literature, will be presented in our sister Somali Week Festival 2011 in October and then in several other European countries including Denmark (November 2011), The Netherlands (December 2011) and January 2012 (Italy).

Guest of honour country

As in the past years, HIBF will host a guest country by inviting writers and publishers of that country. Literature from and on that country will be displayed during the book fair. For this year’s festival, we are exploring the best option among a set of guest honour countries.

Keynote speakers, guest authors and artists

HIBF-2011 will feature prominent national and international authors, artists and speakers, including Somaliland based authors, diaspora based authors as well as internationally celebrated authors who will present their literature. The invited keynote speakers will be announced soon. In the meantime, the organizers invite all authors and publishers who may want to present their literature to contact them before 1 April 2011. Please send your inquiry to jama@redsea-online.com.

Venue: Guriga Shaqaalaha, Hargeysa, Somaliland.

Event dates: July 22 - 26, 2011

Event hours: 09:00 A.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Deadline: 25 February 2011

Position: AFRICAN LITERATURE LECTURER

Description:

The Faculty of Humanities invites applications for the post of Lecturer in African Literature in the School of Literature and Language Studies. The successful candidate will join a dynamic group of academics in an internationally renowned unit. Candidates should be committed to excellence in teaching, research, and postgraduate supervision.

Requirements: PhD, teaching experience, and demonstrable research agenda; any area of serious specialisation in the field of Anglophone African literature and its diasporas.

Applicants should include a non-returnable research sample, either a journal article or a book/thesis chapter.

Enquiries: Professor Bheki Peterson, e-mail: Bhekizizwe.Peterson@wits.ac.za

Closing Date: 2011/02/25

For more information, contact:

PUMLA NGCOBO
Telephone: 0117171433
Email: Pumla.Ngcobo@wits.ac.za

To apply:

TO APPLY FOR THE ABOVE POSITION: Submit a letter of application, a full curriculum vitae, research sample, certified copies of qualifications and identity document as well as the names and contact details (including e-mail) of three referees to Mrs Pumla Ngcobo, Humanities Human Resources Office, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050.

E-mail: Pumla.Ngcobo@wits.ac.za

Deadline: 15 October 2010

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Call for Review Articles

The Impact of Colonial Legacies on Ethnic Violence in Africa

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) is currently seeking authors to write a review on the current state of the literature about the impact of colonial legacies on ethnic violence in Africa. Possible review topics include questions such as:

1. How did colonial bureaucracies differ in their impact on inter-ethnic relationships?

2. Has colonialism altered long-term state-society relationships in Africa?

3. To what extent is the current economic and political development of African countries a direct outcome of colonial legacies?

4. Which, if any, aspect of colonialism – such as institutional design, economic or cultural policies – can be said to have increased the risk of ethnic violence in particular?

The review is intended for publication in SEN, vol. 11, no. 1 (2011). The deadline for submission of finished review articles is 15 October 2010. As articles will be peer reviewed before editing and publication, early submission is greatly appreciated.

This call for submission is part of SEN’s initiative to broaden the scope of reviews carried in the journal. SEN invites scholars to submit review articles of 3,000-4,000 words, covering between three and five volumes related to a specific topic. The aim is to provide an overview of the present state of the literature concerning important issues covered by the journal.

Reviewers are free to choose the titles they think most suitable to the topic and the aims of the journal, though only reviews covering volumes published within the last ten years will be considered for publication. Please forward suggestions for reviews along with any questions or queries to the SEN book review editors at sen.reviews@lse.ac.uk.

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) is an interdisciplinary journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN). SEN is fully peer-reviewed and publishes three volumes per year on the themes of ethnicity, nationalism, and identity, and welcomes submissions from scholars at various stages of their academic careers, including post-docs and graduate students.

All papers must be submitted on-line via the manuscript centre: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sena

Deadline: 30 November 2011

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies publishes interdisciplinary and cross-cultural articles, interviews, and creative writings on the literatures, the histories, the politics, and the arts whose focus, locales, or subjects involve Britain and other European countries and their former colonies, the now decolonized, independent nations in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, and also Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Something New out of Twenty-First-Century Africa?

A call for essays for a special issue of The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies announces a special issue on new writing from Africa, to be guest-edited by Simon Lewis (College of Charleston) and Lindsey Green-Simms (American University), and published in spring 2013. The editors are looking for articles that address the ways in which the economic, political, and technological changes of the early 21st century have affected the modes of writing on the African continent.

While this theme may be broadly interpreted, the editors are especially interested in articles that engage the following types of questions:

* How is 21st-century African writing reconfiguring the debates about tradition vs. modernity?
* How are new media and communication technologies affecting literary expression and readerships?
* Has the internet created space for the vernacular, the original, and the local?
* How are new geopolitical formations shaping literary production and distribution?
* How are new political alignments within the Global South affecting the production of African literature?
* Are new strands of nationalism and/or pan-Africanism emerging, or is African literature more profoundly marked by cosmopolitanism, and narratives of migration and/or entrapment?
* Does it make sense any more to think of African writing as postcolonial?
* How are new trends in environmentalism and new biotechnologies affecting understanding of (human) nature, sustainability, and individual and collective right-living?
* What is the relationship between the African novel and modes of popular culture such as Nollywood, hip-hop, or self-help manuals?

Please send substantial, completed essays of 5,000 to 8,000 words to Lindsey Green-Simms and Simon Lewis at lewiss@cofc.edu before November 30th, 2011. Essays must be written in English, using MLA format for style and citations. In order to facilitate blind review, please do not include your name or affiliation in the body of the essay, but provide a separate cover-sheet with that information.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: lewiss@cofc.edu

For submissions: lewiss@cofc.edu

Website: http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/litphi/jcps/jcps.htm

Deadline: 30 November 2011

"Something New out of Twenty-First-Century Africa?"

A call for essays for a special issue of the Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies announces a special issue on new writing from Africa, to be guest-edited by Simon Lewis (College of Charleston) and Lindsey Green-Simms (American University), and published in spring 2013. The editors are looking for articles that address the ways in which the economic, political, and technological changes of the early 21st century have affected the modes of writing on the African continent.

While this theme may be broadly interpreted, the editors are especially interested in articles that engage the following types of questions:

-How is 21st-century African writing reconfiguring the debates about tradition vs. modernity?

-How are new media and communication technologies affecting literary expression and readerships?

-Has the internet created space for the vernacular, the original, and the local?

-How are new geopolitical formations shaping literary production and distribution?

- How are new political alignments within the Global South affecting the production of African literature?

-Are new strands of nationalism and/or pan-Africanism emerging, or is African literature more profoundly marked by cosmopolitanism, and narratives of migration and/or entrapment?

-Does it make sense any more to think of African writing as postcolonial?

-How are new trends in environmentalism and new biotechnologies affecting understanding of (human) nature, sustainability, and individual and collective right-living?

-What is the relationship between the African novel and modes of popular culture such as Nollywood, hip-hop, or self-help manuals?

Please send substantial, completed essays of 5,000 to 8,000 words to Lindsey Green-Simms and Simon Lewis at lewiss@cofc.edu before November 30th, 2011. Essays must be written in English, using MLA format for style and citations. In order to facilitate blind review, please do not include your name or affiliation in the body of the essay, but provide a separate cover-sheet with that information.

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies publishes interdisciplinary and cross-cultural articles, interviews, and creative writings on the literatures, the histories, the politics, and the arts whose focus, locales, or subjects involve Britain and other European countries and their former colonies, the now decolonized, independent nations in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, and also Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: lewiss@cofc.edu

For submissions: lewiss@cofc.edu

Website: http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/litphi/jcps/jcps.htm

We are inviting academic editorial contributors to a new reference work: Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia.

The four volumes include:

* Volume 1: Middle East
* Volume 2: Africa
* Volume 3: East Asia and Southeast Asia
* Volume 4: West, Central, and South Asia

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures-how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The Cultural Sociology encyclopedia takes a step forward toward presenting concise information with historical and contemporary coverage of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, as four volumes of area studies illuminate the powerful influence of culture on society.

Each title comprises approximately 200 articles organized chronologically and alphabetically, addressing such academic disciplines as sociology, political science, women’s studies, business, history, religion, law, health, education, economics, and geography. It is the intent of the encyclopedia to convey what daily life was/is like for people in these regions. Each article ranges from 600 to 3,000 words. We are now making new assignments due December 1, 2010.

This comprehensive project will be published by SAGE Reference in 2012 and will be marketed to academic and public libraries as a print and digital product available to students via the library’s electronic services. The General Editor, who will be reviewing each submission to the project, is Dr. Orlando Patterson at Harvard University.

If you are interested in contributing to this cutting-edge reference, it is a unique opportunity to contribute to the contemporary literature, redefining sociological issues in today’s terms. Moreover, it can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. SAGE Publications offers an honorarium ranging from SAGE book credits for smaller articles up to a free set of the printed product or access to the online product for contributions totaling 10,000 words or more.

The list of available articles is already prepared, and as a next step we will e-mail you the Article List (Excel file) from which you can select topics that best fit your expertise and interests. Additionally, Style and Submission Guidelines will be provided that detail article specifications.

If you would like to contribute to building a truly outstanding reference with the Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia, please contact me by the e-mail information below. Please provide a brief summary of your academic/publishing credentials specific to the region.

For inquiries, and to ask for a list of topics, get in touch with:

Lisbeth Rogers
Author Manager
Golson Media
culturalsociology@golsonmedia.com