This collection of essays provides an imaginative international perspective on ways to incorporate black British writing and culture in the study of English literature, and presents theoretically sophisticated and practical strategies for doing so. It offers a pedagogical, pragmatic and ideological introduction to the field for those without background, and an integrated body of current and stimulating essays for those who are already knowledgeable. Contributors to this volume include scholars and writers from Britain and the U.S. Following on recent developments in African American literature, postcolonial studies and race studies, the contributors invite readers to imagine an enhanced and inclusive British canon through varied essays providing historical information, critical analysis, cultural perspective, and extensive annotated bibliographies for further study.

Autorentext

LAURI RAMEY is Director of the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, and Associate Professor of African American Literature and Culture and Creative Writing, at California State University, Los Angeles, USA.

VICTORIA ARANA is Professor of English at Howard University, Washington DC, USA.

Inhalt

Introduction; R.V.Arana & L.Ramey Narrating the Africanist Presence in the Early Modern Survey of English Literature; A.Kelly Sea Change: Historicizing the Scholarly Study of Black British Writing; R.V.Arana The Politics of Teaching Black and British; M.H.Lima The Evolution of Black London; J.Bryan Identity and Belonging in Contemporary Black British Writing; C.Weedon Transformations Within the Black British Novel; K.G.Sesay From Angry Dogs to Urban Griots: Contemporary Black British Writers, and the Case of Ben Okri; J.Chui Okpala The Black Man and the Dark Lady: The Imaginery African in Early Modern and Modern British Writers; A.J.Sumers A Black Briton's View of Black British Literature and Scholarship; T.Walters