TO WRITE THE AFRICA WORLD, translated by Drew Burk

324pp., paperback, First English Language Edition, Cambridge, 2023

First published in 2017 in French as Écrire l'Afrique Monde.

Companion volume to The Politics of Time.

In October 2016, thirty intellectuals and artists from Africa, its diasporas, and beyond gathered together in Dakar and Saint-Louis, Senegal, to reflect on the present and future of Africa.This book brings together the material presented at the 2016 Ateliers de la pensée (Workshops of Thought) in Dakar.

“Questions to do with the world and its relationship with Africa have never been more urgent, and Africa is the richest and most indispensable source and location for thinking about these issues. To Write the Africa World is a rich and powerful contribution to the debate.” Fred Moten, New York University

Contributions include:

"Thinking about the World from the Vantage Point of Africa: Questions for today and tomorrow" by Achille Mbembe

"(European?) Universalism Put to the Test by Indigenous Histories" by Mamadou Diouf

"Migrant Writers: Builders of a balanced globalisation of Africa/ Europe" by Benaouda Lebdai

"Reinventing African Modernity" by Blondin Cissé

"What is a Postcolonial Author?" by Lydie Moudileno

"Esteem for Self: Creating one's own sense/carving out one's own path" by Séverine Kodjo-Grandvaux

"Demographic Challenges and Technological Mutations: Does a good-paying job have a future in Africa?" by Ndongo Samba Sylla

"Writing about the Humanities from the Vantage Point of Africa" by Felwine Sarr.

Achille Mbembe is a Research Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Felwine Sarr is Professor of Romance Studies at Duke University.