The Book in Africa: Critical Debates, Edited by Caroline Davis and David Johnson

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Book in Africa: Critical Debates ed. by Caroline Davis And David Johnson Aditi Paul The Book in Africa: Critical Debates EDITED BY CAROLINE DAVIS AND DAVID JOHNSON Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xii + 280 pp. ISBN 9781137401618 cloth. In 2012 at the Institute of English Studies, London University, "The Book in Africa Symposium" was held. Some of the presentations made in that symposium coupled with new case studies from across Africa on the manuscript tradition led to the publication of The Book in Africa: Critical Debates. In addition, this book is part of Palgrave Macmillan's series titled New Directions in Book History that is exploring, [End Page 251] documenting, and reassessing the neglected global history of print, script, and post-print cultures from antiquity to the twenty-first century. The Book in Africa is an invaluable overview of the marginalized body of African scholarship that has been a by-product of European missionaries, colonial administrators, and traders. The book is divided into three sections and each chapter interconnects sociohistorical circumstances and literary scholarship: (1) the printing of oral manuscripts in different African contexts, (2) the relationship between the book and African politics and economics, and (3) the production, circulation, and reception of literary texts in Africa. In the first section, Archie L. Dick examines reading culture from 1780 to 1840 in the Cape of Good Hope. He notes that the circulation of copied texts was widespread among the Cape inhabitants. Whether it was newspapers, religious scriptures, political propaganda leaflets, or schoolbooks, reading materials before the advent of the printing press were copied texts and reflected religious, social, class, and language divides. The author then claims that in the early 19th century, when print capitalism emerged, the motive for reading and circulating printed text changed to economic gains. Fawzi Abdulrazak charts the advent of the printing press in Morocco. He analyzes four phases of the government involvement in publishing: (1) 1865–71, when printing, finance and marketing, and quality control was under government jurisdiction; (2) 1871–97, when the government abandoned direct supervision but used printing for propaganda purposes and private citizens bore the responsibility; (3) 1897–1908, when publishers sponsored books for both charitable and profitable purposes and the government assumed the role of censor; and (4) 1908–12, when the government applied stringent controls over printing and exploited it for political drives. Likewise, Alessandro Gori, in his chapter, explores different phases in Ethiopian history that shaped Islamic printing. He argues that due to the intervention of the Emperor, print culture in Ethiopia had slower progress as compared with the countries wherein printing under Christian missionaries was flourishing. Shamil Jeppie captures the oral, written, and print tradition in Timbuktu. He discusses Ahmad Bul'araf, who turned Timbuktu into a repository of books through his collection of manuscripts. In the second section, David Johnson challenges Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined community and questions the possibility of print culture contributing to postcolonial South African nation-building. He argues that despite the reality reflected and realization among citizens, print literature lacked ideological influence on nation-building and, therefore, had a negligible impact. Carol Davis traces the history of the African print culture of a British publisher: Longmans. Davis argues that Longmans circulated linguistic, historical, and anthropological knowledge about Africa through London-based publications and the African education system, while indigenizing staff and publications and allowing governments, African authors, and educational institutions to establish alliances with Longmans. But what remains a mystery is the failure to keep Longmans publishing ventures and profits in Africa on record. Davis concludes by stating that the fragmentary remnants of Longmans' commercial business in Africa is unbelievable and could be a conscious veil over the company's history with reasons unknown. On the other hand, Giacomo Macola and Jack Hogan's chapter discusses Lozi thinkers and how they used books as tools for propagating Lozi ethnicism. The authors argue that while histories and ethnographies of Lozi were [End Page 252] reflected in vernacular ethnographic works, upon the advent of electronic material, the trend drifted away from postcolonial literature. Elizabeth Le Roux explores Witwatersrand University Press (WUP) and narrates how sociopolitical, economic, and ideational factors exert pressure...