At an African studies conference 2023, we called for a panel on African Storytelling where we queried the past, present and future of African narratives. That panel spurred deliberations on narratives and narrations, raising questions about the nature, structure and future of African storytelling. specifically: Is African storytelling universal or culturally specific? In what unique ways are African stories told? What do African stories hold about African identity, hopes and futures? Building on these, this panel proposes to further explore how stories and storytelling inform and promote cultural/national/regional backgrounds, privileges, identities, positioning and belongings. How do stories indicate multifaceted subjectivities that transcend tribal, gender, social or religious divides to include racial categories like African, Afro-Brazilian, Afropean, etc.? Our panel invites contributions on storytelling from different parts of the continent, told through various art forms, exploring how they inform historical, cultural, political, economic, religious and social formations. This panel wishes to understanding how African storytelling differs from or coincides with storytelling from other places. How are stories and storytelling expressions of cultural identities, belongings or exclusions? How did story(telling) shape past realities and how does it impact the present and inform the future? How do trends and developments, such as AI, shape and impact African storytelling? As contributions will be considered for inclusion in a proposed Routledge Handbook of African Storytelling, our panel encourages contributions from various regions/countries of the continent and the diaspora. We call for proposals that are situated within or transcend disciplinary, cultural, regional, national, continental boundaries, which will serve as a guide to emerging practitioners and researchers.
Abstracts chosen for inclusion in a proposed Routledge Handbook will be submitted as a working group session. Abstracts not chosen for the Routledge Handbook will be submitted as a panel session.
Email contact would be most preferred
Primary email: ezinne.ezepue@unn.edu.ng
Alternative/secondary email: emichaelia@yahoo.com
250-word abstracts, author contacts, affiliations should be submitted by March 10, 2025.
Please note: Only strong abstracts which do not duplicate current contributions will be considered for inclusion in the proposed Routledge Handbook of African Storytelling. For the book, we are particularly interested in studies of storytelling focused on African countries and their storytelling heritage, particularly the largely underrepresented in scholarship.
African Storytelling: Recalling Traditions, Bridging Boundaries & Exploring Futures – DEADLINE EXTENDED
