This book argues that Gabonese writer Sylvie Ntsame utilizes her novels to question certain patriarchal traditions and practices in African society (such as polygyny) that, in certain contexts, tend to silence the voice of the female. Through engaging with feminist theories, among other theoretical frameworks, the author demonstrates how, in some of Ntsame’s novels, the black female body is an object of voyeurism that reduces the women to eroticized, exoticized Others. The author further argues that Ntsame counters the dystopia of racism with a depiction of idealized love through an interracial relationship, presented against the backdrop of stereotypes and myths that stifle such relationships. Ntsame does this by going back to her cultural roots, and calling for understanding between peoples of diverse ethnicities and cultures. The book makes valuable contributions to the study of Gabonese women’s writing in particular, and African women’s writing in general.

Women Writers of Gabon: Literature and Herstory demonstrates how the invisibility of women (historically, politically, cross-culturally, etc.) has led to the omission of Gabon’s literature from the African canon, but it also discusses in depth the unique elements of Gabonese women’s writing that show it is worthy of critical recognition and that prove why Gabonese women writers must be considered a major force in African literature. This book is the only book-length critical study of Gabonese literature that exists in English and although there are titles in French that provide analyses of the works of Gabonese women writers, no one work is comprehensive nor is the history of women’s writing in Gabon considered in the such a manner. Throughout the various chapters, the book explores, among other things, contributions that are unique to Gabonese women writers such as: definitions of African feminisms as they pertain to Gabonese society, the rewriting of oral histories, rituals, and traditions of the Fang ethnic group, one of the first introductions of same-sex couples in African Francophone literature, discussions on the impact of witchcraft on development, and the appropriating of the epic poetry known as the mvet by women writers. The chapters explore works by all major voices in Gabonese women’s writing including Angèle Rawiri, Justine Mintsa, Sylvie Ntsame, Honorine Ngou, and Chantal Magalie Mbazoo-Kassa and the book concludes with brief introductions of a younger generation of Gabonese women writers such as Edna Merey-Apinda, Alice Endamne, Nadia Origo, Miryl Eteno, and Elisabeth Aworet among others.

Countering the perception that the humanities are unessential, this volume contends that their well-being has not only academic but also cultural, political, and existential ramifications. Our technologically-driven world possesses the means of its own destruction, while economic and financial policies undermine the very existence of our democracy. At the same time, the postmodern and post-human age fundamentally challenges our ability and legitimacy to conceive future ideals. It is within this context that the humanities provide essential paths through which the teaching and knowledge of other academic fields such as STEM and economics must be re-envisioned. In short, the humanities must be brought back to the center of academic life. The political and pedagogical implications of this interdisciplinary study thus entail a renewed critique to rethink the relation between higher education, society, and the world at large (politically, economically, scientifically, and technologically) and the importance of the humanities within it.At the heart of this reconsideration, the humanities’ and humanity’s fate and future become one.

This volume is a clear reflection of the realities and dynamics of language teaching in Iranian classrooms and the new trends within the Iranian EFL community over the last decade. It covers a variety of recent topics within the context of English language teaching in Iran, such as assessment and testing, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), task-based methodology, and vocabulary learning, among others. The book offers readers insights into what is actually going on in language classrooms in Iran and the most effective methods, techniques and strategies to employ in promoting learning in a foreign language context.

Dagara Verbal Art examines verbal art among the Dagara people of West Africa. It provides invaluable primary material for research, and does a close analysis of folktale narration, proverb usage, riddling, chanting of dirges and popular songs by male and female praise singers, and xylophone music performance as forms of verbal art. Folktales are characterized by wit, humor, and satire, and songs within tales are a mise-en-abyme, a story within a story that entertains but also enhances the narration through the participation of the audience in the performance. Moreover, Dagara tales are didactic and moralizing as a way of controlling the behavior of individuals in society. Riddling entertains but also helps to develop the cognitive abilities of children, and demands critical and logical thinking on the part of the participating audience. Proverbs were collected in context and analyzed closely for their meaning. The study also examines closely the art of speech-making, and concludes that a good locutor knows what figures of speech to use in order to enhance communication with the audience. This study concludes that an authentic theory of Dagara--and for that matter, generally African--folklore must be grounded on a thorough knowledge of the traditions, rites and rituals, and the socio-political structures that have held the society together in its historical experience. Dagara Verbal Art is an important resource for areas such as African studies, African literature and folklore, folklore in general, anthropology, culture studies, ethnomusicology, ethnic studies, and gender studies, among others.

Focusing on the literary representation of performance practices in anglophone, francophone, and hispanophone Caribbean literature, Jeannine Murray-Román shows how a shared regional aesthetic emerges from the descriptions of music, dance, and oral storytelling events. Because the historical circumstances that led to the development of performance traditions supersede the geopolitical and linguistic divisions of colonialism, the literary uses of these traditions resonate across the linguistic boundaries of the region. The author thus identifies the aesthetic that emerges from the act of writing about live arts and moving bodies as a practice that is grounded in the historically, geographically, and culturally specific features of the Caribbean itself. Working with twentieth- and twenty-first-century sources ranging from theatrical works and novels to blogs, Murray-Román examines the ways in which writers such as Jacques Stephen Alexis, Zoé Valdés, Rosario Ferré, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Marlon James experiment with textually compensating for the loss of the corporeality of live relationship in performance traditions. Through their exploration of the interaction of literature and performance, she argues, Caribbean writers themselves offer a mode of bridging the disjunction between cultural and philosophical approaches within Caribbean studies.