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Research in African Literatures, founded
in 1970 as a semi-annual publication and expanded in 1980 to a quarterly
publication, is the central scholarly forum for discussion of modern African
literature, oral traditions and folklore, poetry, and literary criticism.
Contributors have included Albert Gerard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, Gerald
Moore, Donatus I. Nwoga, Romanus Egudu, Dennis Brutus, Wilson Harris, and
Ezekiel Mphahlele. Scholars such as William Bascom, Daniel J. Crowley, Alan
Dundes, Richard M. Dorson, Roger D. Abrahams, and John F. Szwed have led an
examination of the African roots of American folklore. Also provided are
accounts of research in progress, university literature programs, and reports
from libraries and archives. Special issues focus on particular topics of
interest, such as the concept of national literature, Soviet scholarship on
African literatures, Black South African literature since 1976, African song,
West African popular culture, and African folklore in the New World.
RAL also provides lists of theses and
dissertations, conference reports, and book reviews. |
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RAL is an official publication of the
African Literature Association and the African Literatures Division of the
Modern Language Association. It was edited by Bernth Lindfors, Professor of
English, of The University of Texas at Austin through Vol. 20, No. 4, Winter
1989, and was published by the University of Texas Press. The final issue under
Lindfors's direction is a complete index of the journal to date. With Vol. 21,
No. 1, Spring 1990, the editorship was assumed by Richard Bjornson at Ohio
State University, and
RAL is now published by Indiana University
Press. |
