August 30, 2017
Table of Contents:

Celebrating Buchi Emecheta: A Special Issue of Pambazuka News

Buchi Emecheta is revered as one of the most important African female writers of the  twentieth century. Writing at a time when African literature was dominated by men,  Emeheta wrote more than 16 books, including Second-Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price  (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Head Above Water (1986),  Gwendolen (1989) and The New Tribe (2000).

Her themes are wide-ranging, including personal hardship, marriage and family,  motherhood, education, death, migration, racism, the changing roles of women in Nigerian  society, the Nigerian civil war and colonialism.

In January 2018, on the first anniversary of the passing of Buchi Emecheta, Pambazuka  News will publish a special collection of articles on the legacy of this eminent Nigerian-born  writer, considering her reflections on and representations of both the personal and political  elements which shaped the experiences of Africa and its diaspora.

The objectives of the proposed Special Issue are:

(i) to celebrate Buchi Emecheta's life and work

(ii) to critically appreciate her messages to Africa and the world and

(iii) to reflect upon the challenge that her example offers for our times.


 

Sub-themes
Pambazuka News welcomes a broad array of articles on Buchi Emecheta, including poems,  scholarly, creative and creative non-fiction submissions.

Sub-themes to consider (but not limited to) are:
  • The African world through Emecheta's eyes: Pasts, presents, futures
  • Emecheta and 'motherhood': Race, gender and class
  • Emecheta and Black thought: Continuity and change in a globalizing world
  • Emecheta: intellectuals and political struggles in post-independence Nigeria
  • Writing and reading: Emecheta in the Cyber Age
  • Form, style and aesthetics in Emecheta's writing
  • Perspectives on identity and sexuality
  • Womanist literature, patriarchy and transformation of the African world
  • A Black woman in the African diaspora
  • Personal encounters and tributes
Submission Guidelines
Word limit: Articles should not be more than 3,000 words long, although we will accept
longer articles if subject treatment requires it.

Authors should list references including endnotes fully at the end of their articles. Kindly
use the Harvard referencing style.

Each article should end with a 150-word biography of the author including their email
address.

Articles should be submitted as a Word document attachment.

Relevant images to illustrate an article may be sent as jpeg attachments. Any other graphics  may be placed within the relevant sections of the article with captions (and
credits/permissions).

Deadline and publication date
The deadline for submission of articles is 1 October 2017.
Publication date is 25 January 2018.

Enquiries in the first instance should be to the guest editors (see their emails below).

For further enquiries about this special issue contact the Pambazuka News Editors:
editor@pambazuka.org

Guest editors
The guest editors for this special publication of Pambazuka News on Buchi Emecheta are:
Louisa Uchum Egbunike: louisa.egbunike@hotmail.com
Kadija (George) Sesay: kadijageorge@gmail.com



Assistant Professor of African and Afro-American Studies and Politics, Brandeis University

Description: 

The Department of Politics and the Department of African and Afro-American Studies (AAAS) at Brandeis University invite applications for  a  full-time, joint, tenure-track position at the assistant professor level in African-American Politics. The successful candidate's term will begin in the Fall of 2018.

We seek applicants whose research and teaching interests focus on African-American politics with an ability to engage in the experiences of other peoples of African descent and other communities of color. We encourage applicants with teaching and research interests in, for example, one or more of the following areas: campaigns and elections, political behavior, state and local politics, judicial and criminal justice politics and policies, including incarceration related issues, immigration, and public/social policy.

We prefer candidates with  a  Ph.D. in Political Science or  a  Ph.D. in African-American Studies with extensive and broad training in political science. Candidates must show evidence of teaching excellence to qualify for consideration. The course load is 2/2: one course in AAAS and one course in the Politics Department every semester. Candidates will have the opportunity to teach at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Service expectations will be shared equally between both departments. Qualified applicants should submit  a  cover letter, curriculum vitae,  a  statement of research and teaching interests that includes potential course offerings,  a  chapter or article length writing sample, and three letters of reference electronically at:  https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/9495  First consideration will be given to applications received by  October 16, 2017 . Questions about the position can be directed to: Carina Ray (Interim Chair, AAAS;  cer15@brandeis.edu ) or Daniel Kryder (Politics;  kryder@brandeis.edu ), Co-Chairs, Search Committee on African- American Politics.

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building  a  culturally diverse intellectual community, and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities. Diversity in its student body, staff and faculty is important to Brandeis' primary mission of providing  a  quality education. The search committee is therefore particularly interested in candidates who, through their creative endeavors, teaching and/or service experiences, will increase Brandeis' reputation for academic excellence and better prepare its students for  a  pluralistic society.

Carina Ray
Interim Chair and Associate Professor
Department of African and Afro-American Studies
Brandeis University



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