The Literature of Contemporary Sierra Leone

<b>What are Sierra Leonean and diaspora authors writing about today? What genres are they working in? What are future possibilities and directions of travel?</b><br><br><br>The ethnically and linguistically diverse nation of Sierra Leone boasts a rich cultural legacy and in the first decades of the twenty-first century has built an internationally recognized literary canon despite the ravages caused by a brutal civil war and then the Ebola and Covid pandemics. While acknowledging the country's literary and creative heritage dating back to the mid-twentieth century this book interrogates a number of prominent themes and critical perspectives on Sierra Leone's contemporary literature.<br><br>Drawing from body studies post-colonial theory spatial theory trauma theory ecocriticism history and cultural studies scholars and writers from West Africa and the United States tease out the beginnings ecology and dynamism of a bona fide national literature. They do so through a careful examination of such themes as social oppression and class distinction dystopia ethnocentricity homophobia misogyny and gender disparities anthropocentrism self-discovery social transformation identity social degradation genocide and trauma while also theorizing constructs such as home migration displacement community and return. Throughout contributors argue for a better appreciation of a vibrant national literature by Sierra Leoneans themselves as well as its place in and contribution to world literature more generally.