African Realisms and Related Forms

University of Southampton, Avenue Campus, room 1097

Saturday 28 October

9:00
Arrival and Coffee
9:30 – 10:30
Teacherly texts (chair: Ranka
Ruth Wenske, The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev:
Hannah Fagan, University of Oxford: ‘The District Commissioner:
Siobhan Dooley, University of St Andrew’s:
‘Pedagogical Realism: Metafictional Self-Reflexivity in Adichie’s “The Headstrong Historian”
Negotiating the Historical Archive in Contemporary African Historical Fiction’
‘Constructions of Mandela/s through (African) Realism and Other Forms
10:30-10:45
Break
10-45 – 11:30

Keynote: ‘Augmented Realism – Fiction as Historical Archive’

Brendon Nicholls, University of Leeds (chair: Lynda)

11:30 – 11:45
Break
11:45 – 12: 45
Realism as praxis (chair: Jack)
Sreya Malika Datta, University of Leicester: ‘Realism, Community and Decolonial Temporality in Veronique Tadjo’s In the Company of Men
Isaac Tibasiima, Makerere University: ‘Performing the Future Now: School Song Competition as a Critique of Current Reality and Projection of the Future in Uganda’
Mapule Mohulatsi, University of Cape Town: ‘Colonial, Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Recipe Writing in Cape Town
12:45 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
Kenya’s canons (chair: Grace)
Michael Andindilile, University of Dar es Salaam: ‘Betwixt Realism and Fabulism: The Praxis of Ngugi’s Problematical Form in his Gikuyu Novels’
Kate Wallis, University of Exeter: ‘Writing Nairobi’s (Literary) Histories: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s Dust and Kwani Trust
Kay Miller, University of Southampton: ‘Realism vs Modernism: Modes of Writing and Representation of Women in Kenyan Historical Novels’
15:00 – 15:20
Break
15:20 – 16:00
Cosmological distinctions (chair: Brendon)

Megan Fourqurean, University of Leeds: ‘Literary Realism in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater’

 

Nelson Mlambo, University of Namibia: ‘Writing Pandemics, Affect and Multiple Worlds of Being in Sifiso Nyathi’s The Other Presence’

16:00 – 16:20
Break
16:20 – 17:20
Relating forms 1: Grace Musila and Billy Kahora in conversation

Sunday 29 October

9:00
Arrival and Coffee
9:30 – 10:30
Realism, Irrealism, Affect (chair: Sreya)

Stephen Morton, University of Southampton: ‘Allegories of Afro-Capitalist Realism in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born

 

Ranka Primorac, University of Southampton: ‘Ezeulu’s Goatskin Bag: Achebe and Irrealism’

 

Bafana Radebe, University of Johannesburg: ‘African Realisms, Narrativity and Affect: the Case of Three African Texts’

10:30-10:15
Break
10:30 – 11:30
Forms of the real (chair: Ruth)

Jack Rondeau, University of Leeds: ‘Exilic Realism: The Condition of Exile in Dambudzo Marechera’s Fiction’

 

Thomas Waller, University of Nottingham: ‘Literary Accumulation in Portuguese-speaking Southern Africa

 

Stefan Helgesson, Stockholm University: ‘Time and the Real: Registers of Realism in Contemporary African Historical Fiction

11:30-11:45
Break
11:45 – 12:45
The textual worlds of South-Eastern Africa (chair: Siobhan)

Zamda Geuza, University of Exeter: ‘Feminist Agendas and African Realisms: Reading Elieshi Lama’s Parched Earth

 

Isabella Villanova, University of Vienna: ‘Affect and Realism in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and Bisi Adjapon’s Daughter in Exile

 

Lynda Spencer, Rhodes University: ‘Gender and Sexuality in Goretti Kyomuhendo’s Whispers from Vera’

12:45 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
Genre, gender (chair: Zamda)

Wambua Muindi, University of Southern Somalia: ‘What does the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize win and the 2023 Caine Prize Shortlist mean for Southeastern African Literature?’

 

Laya Soleymanzadeh, University of Alberta: ‘Portrayal of Women and Sexuality in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift and Gravel Heart

 

Lily Saint, Wesleyan University: ‘The African Historical Novel as a Model for Speculative History’

15:00 – 15:30
Break
15:30 – 16:30
Relating forms 2: Ranka Primorac and Novuyo Rosa Tshuma in conversation