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impression that to catch up with the new message of fluid borders and identities the battleground has to change from a sense of history in which one's presence is diminished by the inability to connect with others to a recognition of the world as inextricably linked. For many of the new writers, the concept of ancestral rootedness means being at home in a global world, an expanded universe that, for those represented in this volume, spans many countries, including Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Britain, France, and the United States. Their writing embodies a desire to portray global culture through the particularities of African life. In the cultural interzones of the new literature, the world is richer creatively to the extent that the African experience is richly expressed. The correlation, in effect, serves as a new paradigm for looking at familiar realities with new eyes and for dealing, implicitly or overtly, with the continent's continuing crises of war, migration, ethnic rivalry, and racial, gender, and sexual differences within a larger, global context.
As it transitions into the twenty-first century from two distinct phases of infancy and maturity, African literature stands in the present moment at an important threshold. Whatever the dimensions of the new writing turn out to be, this era of innovation will likely earn the respect of readers, critics and writers alike. Emerging African Voices invokes confidence in that possibility by helping to initiate a critical intervention into the new arena.
Tuzyline Jita Allan,
Professor of English,
Baruch College
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a series of personal and intellectual encounters. I am grateful to the following individuals, who helped shape this book through their comments, efforts, and encouragement: Stephen Dobbs, David Bourchier, Anne Pauwels, Sim Er Ling, Bonnie Thomas, Michael Barr, Garry Rodan, Janet Salaff, Mark Peel, and Barbara Caine. Toni Tan, director of Cambria Press, played an enormous part in getting this book to where it is. I am also indebted to each and every one of my interviewees, who were so incredibly generous with their time.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the department of Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia for hosting my doctoral candidature, from which this book emerges, as well as the School of Historical Studies at Monash University, where it was eventually completed. Research for this book was conducted at the SEAMEO Regional Language Centre in Singapore, the Lee Kong Chian National Library of Singapore, and the National University of Singapore Library, and I would like to express my gratitude to the staff at these institutions for their assistance.