Convivial Worlds: Writing Relation from Africa

This book explores everyday forms of conviviality in fiction and life writing from Eastern and Southern Africa, highlighting the significance of repertoires of repair in a world broken by relations of power. It demonstrates how conviviality emerges as an enabling ethical practice, critique, and survival strategy, and as embodied lived experience.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 30 July 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This captivating book delves into the realm of fiction and life writing from Eastern and Southern Africa, unveiling the everyday expressions of conviviality. It centers its attention on the ordinary moments of recognition, hospitality, humor, and kindness that shape our lives, emphasizing the profound significance of repertoires of repair in a world fractured by power relations. Through meticulous close readings, the book excavates ideas of world-making, personhood, and the potential for alternative social imaginaries from African perspectives. It highlights fleeting and enduring endeavors to forge solidarity across local and translocal contexts, particularly in the face of injustice such as Apartheid, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and xenophobia. By focusing on modes of address that foster reciprocity in these challenging situations, the book showcases how conviviality emerges as an empowering ethical practice, a critical lens, and a survival strategy. It also reveals conviviality as an embodied lived experience, intertwining with the literary texts to shed light on its multifaceted nature. This volume holds immense appeal to scholars and researchers in Literary and Cultural Studies, particularly Postcolonial Literature, African Studies, and Indian Ocean Studies. Its insights will deepen our understanding of the complexities of human relationships and offer valuable perspectives on the pursuit of a more inclusive and harmonious world.

Weight: 304g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367554163