African Literature and the CIA

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-108-72554-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 75 Seiten, Format (B × H): 127 mm x 178 mm, Gewicht: 100 g

Reihe: Elements in Publishing and Book Culture

During the period of decolonisation in Africa, the CIA subsidised a number of African authors, editors and publishers as part of its anti-communist covert propaganda strategy. Managed by two front organisations, the Congress of Cultural Freedom and the Farfield Foundation, its Africa programme stretched across the continent, with hubs in Ibadan, Kampala, Nairobi, Cape Town and Johannesburg. This Element unravels the hidden networks and associations underpinning African literary publishing in the 1960s; it investigates the success of the CIA in disrupting and infiltrating African literary magazines and publishing firms, and determines the extent to which new circuits of cultural and literary power emerged. Based on new archival evidence relating to the Transcription Centre, The Classic and The New African, it includes case studies of Wole Soyinka, Nat Nakasa and Bessie Head, which assess how their literary careers were influenced by these transnational literary institutions, and their response to these interventions.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Davis, Caroline

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Nachrichtendienste, Geheimdienste
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Medienethik
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gewalt und Diskriminierung: Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Sozialisation, Soziale Interaktion, Sozialer Wandel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. African literary publishing during decolonisation; 3. Wole Soyinka, the transcription centre, and the CIA; 4. Nat Nakasa, The Classic, and the cultural Cold War; 5. 'The displaced outsider': the publishing networks of Bessie Head; 6. Conclusion.