How have African writers addressed the issue of war and its impact across the continent?

How have African writers addressed the issue of war and its impact across the continent?

Since the second half of the twentieth century, no single phenomenon has marred the image and development of Africa more than senseless fratricidal wars which rapidly followed the political independence of nations. This issue ofAfrican Literature Today is devoted to studies of how African writers, as historical witnesses, have handled the recreation of war as a cataclysmic phenomenon in various locations on the continent. The contributors explore the subject from a variety of perspectives: panoramic, regional, national and through comparative studies. War has enriched contemporary African literature, but at what price to human lives, peace and the environment?

ERNESTEMENYONU is Professor of the Department of Africana Studies University of Michigan-Flint. The contributors include: CHIMALUM NWANKWO, CHRISTINE MATZKE, CLEMENT A. OKAFOR, INIBONG I. UKO, OIKE MACHIKO, SOPHIE OGWUDE, MAURICE TAONEZVI VAMBE, ZOE NORRIDGE and ISIDORE DIALA.

Nigeria: HEBN

Editorial article. War in African literature: literary harvests, human tragedies - Ernest N. Emenyonu
The muted index of war in African literature & society - Chimalum Nwankwo
'Life in the camp of the enemy': Alemseged Tesfai's theatre of war - Christine Matzke
Sacrifice & contestation of identity in Chukwuemeka Ike'sSunset at Dawn - Clement Okafor
Of war & madness: a symbolic transmutation of the Nigeria-Biafra war in select stories fromThe Insider:Stories of War & Peace from Nigeria - Iniobong I. Uko
Becoming a feminist writer: representation of the subaltern in Buchi Emecheta'sDestination Biafra - Oike Machiko
Politics & human rights in non-fiction prison literature - Sophia O. Ogwude
Problems of representing the Zimbabwean war of liberation in Mutasa'sThe Contract, Samupinda'sPawns & Vera'sThe Stone Virgins - Maurice Taonezvi Vambe
The need to go further? Dedication & distance in the war narratives of Alexandra Fuller & Alexander Kanengoni - Zoe Norridge
History, memoir & a soldier's conscience: Philip Efiong'sNigeria & Biafra: My Story - Isidore Diala
Of the versification of pain: Nigerian civil war poetry - Ogaga Okuyade
Reviews - James Gibbs