Imorou, Abdoulaye
Abdoulaye Imorou, born on 10.11.1976, holds a PhD in French and comparative literature from the University of Cergy-Pontoise(France). He is currently a Lecturer at the University of Ghana and an Associate Research Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His work focuses on the status of Francophone African literature, the globalization of literary criticism, identity theories and literary representations of conflicts.
Research project
Globalization of the Francophone African Literature and Writings of Violence
Globalization of Francophone African Literature and the Writings of Violence. This study aims to analyze how the globalization of Francophone African literature informs the literary treatment of the violence that hits the continent and its diaspora. There are at least two approaches to Francophone African literature. The first, which used to be dominant, insists on the paradigm of Africanness and on the writer’s commitment to defend African values and to oppose Western violence. The second defends the idea of a subjective, transcultural and global Francophone African literature. At first marginalized, this approach is becoming prominent. It redefines the status of African literature in the world literary field. It also renews literary representations of the continent, including, the writings of violence. The objective of the study is to propose a theory of these new orientations in African literature. Therefore, the research question is as follows: how the globalization of Francophone African literature is inviting to rethink the approach of Francophone African works dealing with the issue of violence. In response to this, the study will mobilize the sociology of literary fields and the sociology of reception. The first one mentioned will allow a better understanding of the strategies and postures through which the advocates of the globalizing approach seek to impose their visions of Francophone African literature. The second will help to analyze how their representations of violence negotiate with the reader’s horizon of expectation.
University of Ghana
Legon Department of French
PO BOX LG, 207
Accra
Ghana