Article title: Marxism and African literary studies today
Author: Alexander Fyfe
Journal: African Identities
Citation Details: Volume 18, Numbers. 1–2, pages 1–17
DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2020.1773234
When the above article was first published online, the following sentence was written incorrectly: “Writing that ‘The modern history of the Maasai – the seminomadic ethnic group whose tribes inhabit areas of southern Tanzania and northern Kenya – is in many ways one of alienation from their lands,’ Muhia describes how the encroachment of colonial and postcolonial capitalism has dramatically reduced the Maasai’s rangelands in size and has thus had a detrimental effect upon their cattle-herding practices.”
The corrected sentence should be as follows: “Writing that ‘The modern history of the Maasai – the seminomadic ethnic group whose tribes inhabit areas of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania – is in many ways one of alienation from their lands,’ Muhia describes how the encroachment of colonial and postcolonial capitalism has dramatically reduced the Maasai’s rangelands in size and has thus had a detrimental effect upon their cattle-herding practices.”
The following paragraph was also omitted: “The relations between realism and contemporary African science fiction are the subject of Peter Maurits’ essay, in which he connects recent debates over the role of the genre in African literatures with the critical history of realism in the field of African literary studies. Focusing particularly on the writings of Onoge, he identifies an influential positive evaluation of African realism (in terms that owe much to both Brecht and to Lukács) that stresses its ability to reveal the realities of colonialism. The legacy of this favoring of realism, he suggests, is evidenced in the public and academic debate around African science fiction and, crucially, is registered in important works in the genre ‘both as formal and intradiegetic tension and as realist method.’ Maurits identifies two tendencies that index the negotiation of realism in contemporary African science fiction. The first is what he calls ‘data voices,’ the incorporation of data into science fiction which, in the case of Lauren Beukes’ Moxyland (2009), is part of ‘an at times nearly obsessive engagement with the problem of capturing and recognizing reality.’ The second tendency involves an attempt by writers of science fiction to use the genre to lay bare the totality of the capitalist world-system, a feature that is central to Lukács’ own understanding of realism. Maurits identifies this tendency in works by Carlos dos Santos, Pepetela, Ekari Mbvundula, and Abdourahman.” Waberi.
This article is available both online and in print. The online version has been corrected.