Daughters of Africa

Daughters of Africa : An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present ("The Daughters of Africa : An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Origin from Ancient Egypt to the Present") is a collection of oral and written texts by more than 200 women from Africa or the African diaspora .

Emergence

Daughters of Africa was edited and introduced by Margaret Busby , a Ghanaian- born author and journalist now living in the UK . She compared the composition of the tape with the attempt to " catch a flowing river in a calabash ".

It was published in 1992 in London by Jonathan Cape (on behalf of Candida Lacey, who is now the editor of Myriad Editions ). In New York it was published by Pantheon Books .

Daughters of Africa is seen as a pioneering piece of work that combines a variety of genres - from fictional texts to essays , poetry , drama , memoirs, and children's texts - with a length of more than 1000 pages.

Arranged chronologically, it contains translations from African languages as well as from Dutch , French , German , Portuguese , Russian and Spanish alongside works originally in English .

The title of the anthology was taken from a text by Maria W. Stewart (1803-1880) from 1831, the first African-American woman to give public lectures calling for the abolition of slavery and the promotion of women's rights. The famous quote goes:

“O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! awake! arise! no longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties. "

“You daughters of Africa, wake up! Rise! Do not sleep or slumber any longer! Show who you are! Make it clear to the world that you are gifted with noble and outstanding abilities. "

- Maria W. Stewart

reception

Daughters of Africa received very positive reviews. In a review for the Afro-British newspaper The Weekly Journal , Evie Arup wrote: “ Daughters of Africa is first class literature. Never before has the work of women of African descent from around the world been compiled in one volume. The size of this collection is overwhelming. (…) This book should be compulsory reading for every literary student and should be in every school library, and as a modification of the well-known saying, 'Every house should have one.' "The reviewer of The Independent wrote:" This book seems to be primarily only about literature , but ultimately it is also an homage to language as such: its power to formulate opinions, as well as its power as a means of expression. "According to the Library Journal , the anthology is" an invaluable basis for engaging with writers African Descent, ” while The Washington Post Book World calls it a“ great starting point for any reader who wants to participate in the collective adventure of discovering the silent, forgotten, and underrated voices of black women. ”Lorna Sage appeared in the Independent on Sunday ”to the conclusion:“ Daughters of Africa has a paradoxical universality . ”The critic of the“ Black Enterprise "Wrote:" This anthology is a landmark (...). Busby's novel anthology is an impressive illustration of how extensive and varied the literature of black women is. ”It has been described as groundbreaking . as one of the most important collections of Diaspora authors and as "the ultimate guide to the literature of the 'Daughters of Africa'".

Daughters-of-africa was included in Sacred Fire: “QRB” 100 Essential Black Books . ("QBR" was an earlier quarterly literary magazine that was later included in the Black Issues Book Review ). There was:

“ Daughters of Africa is a monumental achievement because it is the largest international anthology of spoken and written literature by women of African descent ever undertaken. (...) The success of this collection is that it clearly illustrates why all women of African descent are connected by showing how closely the barriers, the gaps of cultural indifference and the discouraging problems of racial or sexual discrimination they face, hang together with each other. The collection represents the full breadth of their individual and collective achievements. The merit of Daughters of Africa lies in its magnificent display of the wealth and greatness of a spiritual source from which we have all received inspiration and to which we all strive for strength to draw from it. In summary it is an overwhelming literary masterpiece. "

The anthology was on the Royal African Society's list of “ 50 books by African women everyone should read ” and was named one of the “ 7 non-fiction books African feminists should read ” by the award-winning blog Ms Afropolitan , es appears regularly on recommended reading lists, and in the words of Kinna Likimani, "It remains the ultimate guide for women writers of African descent."

In November 2017 the quarterly literary newspaper Wasafiri published a special report on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the first edition of Daughters of Africa , with an interview by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey with Margaret Busby, an article by Candida Lacey and contributions by Edwige-Renee Dro, Angela Barry , Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nadifa Mohamed , Phillippa Yaa de Villiers and Ayòbámi Adébáyò on the influence the anthology had on them.

The Kenyan literary scholar Tom Odhiambo from the University of Nairobi listed a long list of names from "Daughters of Africa" and referred to them as the matriarchs of African literature :

“They were pioneers in African writing, not just telling stories about their families, communities and countries, they inscribed themselves in African literary history and historiography. They demanded space for female writing and storytelling and, in a certain sense, they claimed for women the decisive role in the creation and transmission of many African social narratives . They did so knowing that storytelling has traditionally been a female domain. "

New Daughters of Africa

In December 2017 it was announced that Myriad Editions had commissioned Margaret Busby with the conception of a follow-up volume under the title New Daughters of Africa . In March 2019, the release of carried New Daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent (dt .: The new daughters of Africa: an international anthology of literature of women of African descent ) in which another 200 authors are presented. It contains texts from the 19th century to the present day, but focuses primarily on women writers who gained their prominence in the years following the publication of Daughters of Africa . Among them are not only many well-known names, but according to the assessment of the literary critic Joy Sigaud also a number of important future authors.

In connection with the new anthology, the Myriad Editions publishing house in collaboration with SOAS University of London has launched the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award, which is to be given to female African students and includes the right to live in the International Students House in London .

The international criticism also received the second volume very positively.

New Daughters of Africa was nominated for the NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Literary Work category in 2020 , along with books Petina Gappah , Ta-Nehisi Coates , Jacqueline Woodson and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton , who ultimately received the award.

Authors

More than 200 women writers are featured in Daughters of Africa (here is a selection):

Contributions to New Daughters of Africa included :

expenditure

Margaret Busby (Ed.): Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present . First edition, London: Jonathan Cape, 1992, ISBN 978-0224035927 , 1089 pages
- London: Vintage Books , Paperback, 1993, ISBN 978-0099224211
- New York: Pantheon Books, 1992, ISBN 978-0679416340
- New York: Ballantine / One World Books , Paperback, 1994, ISBN 978-0345382689
Margaret Busby (Ed.): New Daughters of Africa , Myriad Editions, Oxford, 2019, ISBN 978-0-06-291298-5

Web links

Aubrey: Daughters of Africa. In: Goodreads , July 17, 2015.
Margaret Busby: Granddaughters of Africa. In: Commonwealth Writers , March 19, 2015.
Kinna Likimani: Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby. In: Kinna Reads , September 24, 2010.
Meserette Kentake: Five Inspirational Poems for Black Women. In: Kentake Page , March 6, 2016.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Tonya Bolden: "Book Review: Two Types of Revelation - Daughters of Africa ". In: Black Enterprise , March 1993, p. 12.

^ "Introduction", Daughters of Africa , pp. Xxix.

↑ ^a ^b "Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby," Kinna Reads, September 24, 2010.

^ ^A ^b Candida Lacey: Daughters of Africa - Twenty-five years later. In: Wasafiri , 32 (4), November 2017, pp. 7-8. doi: 10.1080 / 02690055.2017.1350365 .

↑ Margaret Busby: Granddaughters of Africa. In: Commonwealth Writers , March 19, 2015.

^ Margaret Busby profile. In: African Writing in Britain .

↑ https://www.bocaslitfest.com/author/margaret-busby-obe/

↑ Daughters of Africa. In: Goodreads .

↑ 50 Books by African Women that Everyone Should Read. In: What's_On Africa , Royal African Society, June 30, 2014.

↑ Meserette Kentake: Daughters of Africa. In: Kentake Page , December 17, 2013.

^ Maria W. Stewart (ed. By Marilyn Richardson), Religion And The Pure Principles of Morality, The Sure Foundation On Which We Must Build. In: America's First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches , Indiana University Press , 1987, p. 30.

^ Evie Arup: Books: Daughters of Africa. In: The Weekly Journal (Volume 29), November 12, 1992, p. 15.

↑ Patricia Lee: BOOK REVIEW / Canon to the right of them, canon to the left ... In: The Independent , December 12, 1992.

^ ^A ^b Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent and from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present. In: Barnes & Noble .

^ New in paperback. In: The Washington Post , February 6, 1994.

↑ Shereen Ali: Sharing Our Voices. ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Trinidad and Tobago Guardian , April 29, 2015. @1@ 2

↑ Lorna Sage: Deep roots in an impossible homeland. In: The Sunday Review , Independent on Sunday , Jan 3, 1993, p. 21.

^ Margaret Busby profile. In: The Guardian .

^ Carol Boyce Davies: Women and Literature in the African Diaspora. In: Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, Ian Skoggard (eds): Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, Volume 1 , Springer Science and Business Media Inc., 2005, p. 384.

↑ Sharmilla Beezmohun: Twenty-Five most influential books. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Wasafiri , 2009. @1@ 2

↑ Max Rodriguez: Sacred Fire: "QBR" 100 Essential Black Books. University of Michigan, 1999.

↑ 50 Books by African Women That Everyone Should Read. In: What's On Africa , RAS, June 30, 2014.

↑ 7 non-fiction books African feminists should read. In: Ms Afropolitan , September 27, 2015.

^ Sandra E. Gibbs: National African American Read-In. Supplemental List for Young Adults and Adults, Recommended by Black Caucus Members.

↑ Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah: The feminist books did inspired us - Part 1. In: This Is Africa , February 24, 2015.

^ Thinking of Travel: Armchair and Otherwise. In: BlackPast.org , August 2, 2012.

↑ Yinka Sunmonu, Bookshelf: A Cultural Collection. In: The Voice , December 26, 2015.

^ Women's Classic Literature Event Questionnaire. In: A Canon Of One's Own , March 18, 2016.

^ Daughters of Africa Anniversary. In: Wasafiri , Volume 92: Winter 2017.

↑ Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (2017): An Interview with Margaret Busby. In: Wasafiri , 32: 4, pp. 2–6, DOI: 10.1080 / 02690055.2017.1350364 .

↑ Edwige-Renée Dro, Angela Barry, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nadifa Mohamed, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers & Ayobami Adebayo: Encounters with Daughters of Africa from around the world. In: Wasafiri , 32 (4), pp. 11-12. doi: 10.1080 / 02690055.2017.1350367 .

↑ ^a ^b Tom Odhiambo, "'New Daughters of Africa' is a must read for aspiring young women writers" , Daily Nation , January 18, 2020.

↑ Natasha Onwuemezi, "Busby to compile anthology of African women writers" , The Bookseller , December 15, 2017th

↑ John Gulliver, "Africa's 'new daughters' celebrated in a new anthology" , Camden New Journal , March 15 of 2019.

↑ Ladee Hubbard, "Power to define yourself: The diaspora of female black voices" , TLS , May 10 of 2019.

↑ Joy Sigaud, "New Daughters of Africa" , Editions Lifestyle Black History Month Magazine & Newsletter , June 30, 2020th

^ "Publisher Myriad and SOAS to launch The Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award" , SOAS, February 15, 2019.

↑ Natasha Onwuemezi, "SOAS partners with Myriad to launch bursary scheme for African women writers" , The Bookseller , February 15 of 2019.

↑ "Myriad And SOAS Launch £ 20,000 Bursary For Black Women" , The Voice , February 21, 2019 (archived).

^ "Scholarships | The Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award" , SOAS.

↑ Sally Hayden, "New Daughters of Africa review: vast and nuanced collection - Anthology edited by Margaret Busby covers themes of racism, feminism and migration" , Irish Times , March 16, 2020th

↑ Imani Perry, "New Daughters of Africa - a new anthology of a groundbreaking book" , Financial Times , March 29 of 2019.

↑ Otosirieze Obi-Young, "Margaret Busby's New Daughters of Africa Anthology, Petina Gappah, Lupita Nyong'o's Sulwe Nominated for 51st NAACP Image Awards" , Brittle Paper , January 10, 2020th

↑ NAACP Winners 2020: The Complete List . February 22, 2020.