The term “globalization” can be seen as “a double-edged sword” with positive and negative effects on a society’s traditional cultural practices.  While heralding the triumph of modernity over tradition, it tends to threaten local values.

The 33rd Annual Conference of the African Literature Association addressed globalization from the perspective of African and African-heritage writers. The papers selected for this anthology provide a representative overview of globalization’s cultural dynamics as explored by our keynote speakers and by scholars of African literature attending the conference from around the world.

The interview with the late South African poet and activist Dennis Brutus serves as a point of departure in the discussion of the social, linguistic, economic, and political changes that globalization has brought to Africa.  Cultural alterations as perceived by Africans and African descendants are examined within colonial and postcolonial contexts in sections that address cultural conflict, the politics of language, gender, feminism, cultural hybridity, and immigrant identity.

The conference keynote speakers--author Syl Cheney-Coker of Sierra Leone, Guinean novelist Tierno Monénembo, Ivorian writer Régina Yaou, and Afro-Dominican performance artist Josefina Báez--describe the positive and negative attributes of globalization; however, each, in his or her own way, appreciates how it brings cultures into contact, producing many kinds of cultural and ethnic blending as well as infinite possibilities for mutual enrichment.

ABOUT THE EDITORS
SANDRA DIXON is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at West Virginia University. She is the coordinator of the Basic Portuguese Program and teaches courses on Spanish American and Brazilian literature.

JANICE SPLETH is Professor of French and African Literature at West Virginia University.  

CATEGORY
Literature, Literary Criticism, Cultural Studies/AFRICA