Beyond Isolation: Centering West African Arabophone Literature in African & Global Contexts

• Speaker: Jibril Gabid, PhD Candidate, UW-Madison Department of African Cultural Studies
• Moderator: Erica Ayisi, PBS Indigenous Affairs Multimedia Reporter

Talk Description:

The twenty-first century is witnessing a naḥḍah (renaissance) of Arabic scholarship, emerging in the wake of the intellectual crisis produced by colonialism and its policies on Islamic and Arabic education. What distinguishes this period is an epistemic shift that has given rise to new textual genres and a new audience “equipped with new sensibilities, expectations, and worldly interests.” Yet, despite these significant developments, West African Arabic literature continues to be either neglected or studied in relative isolation, largely due to the persistent exclusion of Arabic from the broader critical discourse on sub-Saharan Africa. Such exclusion, I argue, amounts to the erasure of an entire literary tradition and its aesthetic values. This presentation seeks to reposition West African Arabophone literature within both the African literary studies and the wider field of global modern Arabic literature.

What to expect:

• Networking & Refreshments (African food)
• Presentation
• Panel discussion
• Audience Q&A

Africa Talks Community Lectures is co-organized with the UW African Studies Program, the lectures serve as a forum academic researchers to interact with the public about topics focused on Africa and the African diaspora, igniting intellectual discussions, celebrating cultures, and connecting hypothesis to lived experiences.