<jc93@columbia.edu>


Dear interested readers,

I do not pretend to know all of the details of how the
"Africa's best books" list was finally assembled. (see
the full list:
http://zibf.org/wordfiles/ABBFinalList.htm)  The
"official" publicity certainly needs some improvement
(ie. typos, choice of language to list the titles,
etc.)  I also wonder why some well known works are not
included in this list.

However, I have the strong impression that the project
was largely ignored by most "Africanists" in North
America....despite the efforts of some of us to
publicize it ...including the need for more nominations
for books written in African languages.  The final
results may in part suggest a failure by the world
community of Africa specialists to embrace the idea as
serious enough to warrant their participation (taking
the time to nominate books). The distribution of, and
knowledge about, African authors' works outside of
Africa is appalling!!!  It seems to me that the "best
books" project is in part aimed at trying to address
this problem.

Another aspect of this issue is that of the
crisis-ridden African publishing industry.  Some of the
causes are poor marketing, lack of capital, and
management problems within the publishing industry.
Like many other sectors of Africa's economy, the
African book business is suffering
tremendously....under the weight of structural
adjustment and other policies of the IMF and The World
Bank, and particularly, the policies of multi-national
publishing companies based in the UK, France, and
Germany. In the current circumstances, it is not
surprising that there are obstacles to distribution
within and between countries on the continent...and
that translations across language barriers are also
severely hampered.

Such problems are largely ignored by those who claim to
study Africa in North America. Where does the IMF and
World Bank reside? Almost all of the major works
examining the publishing industry and libraries in
Africa that are published outside of Africa come from
the UK...the home of Heinemann, Longman, and Macmillan.
Some are critical of the way things are, some are not.
In any case, most of these publications never make it
beyond the library science or reference collection of
an elite research library here in the US. Most readers
do not even know they exist.

My experience as an Africana librarian over the last 8
years (and a student of African history and culture
since 1978) has convinced me that "Africanists" in
North America have failed, are continuing to fail to
promote the study of Africa as much as they could both
within academia and beyond.  This means that they are
also contributing to the poor marketing of Africa's
books...whether they are written in African or European
languages...whether they are published by European or
African companies.

There is a pervasive perception by many in the book
business that there is little or no market potential
for African literature and social science.....only a
tiny market of research libraries is ever imagined. The
African-American, general reading public is largely
ignored or stereotyped, for example. As for the market
composed of the so-called educated reading public, only
the popularized versions of some aspect of the
historical encounter (or conflict?) between Europeans
and Africans seems to get any support from booksellers
and the media in North America. Or, once in awhile an
African's work or an Africa-related book will get
attention when it reflects the latest fashionable
stylistic or theoretical approach in academia.  Or,
it's the latest disaster or crisis in Africa in the
current news media....written by Western or
Western-trained journalists.  But in general the market
and the interest in Africa and African peoples are
deemed to be very small.  Where did this market
perception come from? Why does it exist?

I would argue that part of the problem clearly stems
from the fact that ignorance, disinterest, and
prejudice with regard to the study of Africa and
towards African people continues to pervade our
society...one only has to look at secondary school
curricula, courses actually taught (not just listed in
the catalog) at colleges and universities, the pattern
of faculty hires and tenured appointments, the
acquisition and staff budgets for Africana in academic
and public libraries, the types of books about Africa
that make it to the bookstore chains, news media
coverage of Africa, and US foreign policy towards
Africa.

I applaud the objectives of the people involved in
"Africa's Best Books" because at least they are trying
to make an impact beyond their own personal egos and
ivory towers....beyond the tiny "Africanist" enclaves.
...beyond the current circumstances which obstruct the
development of African literature and the production of
knowledge for and about Africa.

Hopefully, this is only the first of a series of
efforts.  Let there be many lists of "Africa's best
books" !!!

Humanities & Social
Sciences Online

Copyright © 1995-2006 - Contact Us
RSS | Validate: XHTML | CSS