Narratives of Resistance and African Literature: Articulating Dissent, Disobedience and Pluriversal Futures

Special issue of English Academy Review (Taylor and Francis)

Link: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/narratives-of-resistan...

Special Issue Editor(s)

Goutam Karmakar, University of Hyderabad, India
goutamkarmakar@uohyd.ac.in

Niyi Akingbe, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa
niyiakingbe@gmail.com

Payel Pal, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, India
payel.pal@lnmiit.ac.in

African literature has consistently functioned as a critical component in deconstructing colonial influences, capitalist and developmental agendas, authoritarian rule, sexism, biopolitical and necropolitical practices, and socio-cultural erasure, as well as environmental, ontological, and epistemic violence. African writers, through oral tradition and various literary genres, exhibit resistance from ethical, symbolic, aesthetic, and quotidian viewpoints, contesting established norms and exploring new possibilities. This aligns with the concept of a ‘world in which many worlds fit’, emphasising the necessity to acknowledge and embrace diverse voices that can transcend and decolonise the colonial-capitalistic canon and epistemology. Resistance, in this context, fosters a reevaluation of social existence by comprehending ‘radical co-presence’. Such an approach entails recognising and emphasising the myriad overlooked experiences of people in Africa that have been marginalised, both as contributors and as individuals, during the colonial and postwar periods. Resistance in African literature is inherently pluriversal, signifying the emergence of fundamentally varied modes of knowledge and existence that have endured the ongoing effects of neocolonialism. Pluriversality denotes the persistent existence of diverse epistemologies and lifestyles among impoverished, marginalised, and racially oppressed communities, as depicted in African literary narratives, alongside their various knowledge systems and environments that challenge the autonomy of any cognitive framework claiming universal relevance or an overarching understanding of ‘objective’ rationality.

The special issue concerns how African writers conceptualise resistance both within and outside of armed conflict and explicit opposition; the role of narratives as instruments of resistance through various forms, genres, and experimental approaches; the influence of socio-cultural, neocolonial, and historical contexts on contemporary African writings; the manifestations of resistance through dissent, disobedience, and quotidian practices; the interplay between resistance and strategies of coexistence and vitality; and, crucially, the contribution of African literature to the expanding discourses of equity, diversity, and resilience within Global South literature. This special issue considers African literature as vehicles for transformative learning and activism, aiming to emphasise elements of prospective thought that remain unincorporated into anticipatory thinking, situational development, and educational processes: the future as an impulse for collective action, a means of redressing various injustices, and a method for safeguarding plurality and cultural identity. It is essential to highlight the diverse viewpoints on the future that are linked to the past while adopting a decolonial approach to future practices. The special issue aims to highlight the necessity of altering perspectives to relinquish any singular present and embrace the inherent plurality and constructed essence of both present and future realities through the framework of unifying pluralism to envision healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous communities, thus necessitating a renewed commitment to the welfare of all individuals as illustrated in African literary narratives. 

Taking these viewpoints as points of intervention, the special issue invites submissions on areas that include but are not limited to:

●    Insurgencies, militancy and African literary mediums

●    African literature and everyday, affective, and imaginative practices of resistance

●    Aesthetic strategies of resistance in African literature

●    Bodies as sites of resistance

●    Women and gender issues and modes of resistance

●    Subaltern resistance and radical imaginations 

●    Carceral Narratives, violence and acts of resistance

●    Environmental activism and resistance

●    Anti-colonial and postcolonial modes of resistance and African literature

●    Speculative, Afrofuturist, and dystopian African narratives 

●    Diaspora, identity and transnational resistance

●    African Graphic narratives and acts of resistance

●   Narratives of resistance and envisioning decolonial futures  

Submission Instructions

Abstracts should be 500 words (excluding bibliography and 100-word bionote) and sent as a single MS Word file to special issue editors Goutam Karmakar (goutamkarmakar@uohyd.ac.in), Niyi Akingbe (niyiakingbe@gmail.com), and Payel Pal (payel.pal@lnmiit.ac.in) no later than March 31, 2026. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the special issue editors. A decision on the submission of the abstract will be communicated by the guest editors by April 15, 2026. Submission of full manuscripts is due by July 31, 2026.

Articles should be no more than 6,000 words, including the abstract, keywords, main body of the article, figures, endnotes, and references. All completed articles must be submitted to the journal’s online submission portal for external review.