This book constructs a platform for the critical exploration of African literatures written in
a variety of African and European languages and goes beyond the mainstream in African literary
and cultural studies by engaging multiple hermeneutic approaches to narratives performance
and visual arts. Putting emphasis on comparing cultural productions in at least two linguistic
expressions the book foregrounds the analytical strategies employed by the contributors to
delve into the epistemologies of African social cultural and political life as critical
assessments of the novel short stories music drama film poetry social media festivals
and academic institutions become paramount. The contributions underscore the necessity to
respond to trends and transformations that African literary genres and media have seen across
time and space with interest in how these changes have been enriched by the different languages
of expression. Going beyond regional and linguistic boxes in which African literatures music
and film have often been encapsulated the chapters in this book present a critical assessment
of the ideological aesthetic thematic and linguistic models that illustrate similarities
but also differences that can be made visible through comparative approaches and which
underscore the innovative potential to put African narratives lyrics and discourses conveyed
in more than one language in conversation with one another. Contents Crossings and Comparisons
in African Literatures and Cultures: Introduction ............. 1 SUSANNE GEHRMANN AND PEPETUAL
MFORBE CHIANGONG African Language Literatures in Dialogue When the Emperor Travelled the
Continent. On the Cosmopolis of Islamic Literature and its Adaptation into African Languages
................................ 13 CLARISSA VIERKE (UNIVERSITÄT BAYREUTH) Rhetorical
Strategies of Humour in West African Epics: Crossing Languages Genres and Media
..................................................................... 37 ANNE M. CAROVANI
(UNIVERSITÄT GREIFSWALD) Cross-Readings of Europhone African Literature The Representation of
History in Poetic Space. Strategies of Polyphony in Contemporary African Novels: Boubacar Boris
Diop's Murambi and Mia Couto's Vinte e Zinco
..................................................................................... 61 LUCIA
WEIß (FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN) Narrating Lives and Negotiating Space in Prison. A Comparative
Analysis of Calixthe Beyala's Tu t'appelleras Tanga and Petina Gappah's The Book of Memory
.................................................................. 83 ISABEL SCHRÖDER
(HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN) African Child Soldier Narratives in Children's Literature. A
Cross-Regional and Cross-Language Comparison .................................................
103 CHARLOTT SCHÖNWETTER (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN) Political Practice and Irate Satire
in Cameroonian Drama: A Cross-language Exploration of What God has Put Asunder by Victor Epie
'Ngome and La chèvre du sous-préfet by Charles Soh ............................ 121 PEPETUAL
MFORBE CHIANGONG (HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN) Critical Humanisms on the Margins of African
Literary Canons: Bakary Diallo and Richard Rive
................................................................................ 141 CULLEN
GOLDBLATT (PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY) Crossing the Languages of African Music Inclusive
Rapport: Nation Language and Identity in Nige
