African literary writings

Memories, narratives and elaboration of collective trauma

Abstract

This proposal aims to bring together works about the subject “War Memories in African Literary Experiences/Experiments” and how collective trauma has been elaborated through writing. Evoking notions such as narrative, trajectories and memory, we believe it is possible to observe how the processes of recall and elaboration have been constructed through literary writing. What do these narratives mobilize from their collective landscapes? How do they tell narratives about the confrontations and the consequences of the civil war? How are the trajectories of these writers, their countries and their cultural repertoires outlined in these narratives? Finally, how are memories mobilized in their writings? What spaces of remembrance are mobilized in the assembly of their writings? The memory of trauma is a way to recover the understanding of the history and socio-anthropological conditions of each society in the fragility of individual tracks. In this dossier, we propose to bring together reflections that create a dialogue between the fields of human, social and literary sciences fostering a reflection about these experiences in African literatures.