ENVIRONMENTAL ENTANGLEMENTS, African literature's ecological imaginary

220pp., paperback, First SA Edition, Wits University Press, Johannesburg, 2026

ISBN: 9781776149957

Originally published in the UK in 2025.

Kirk Sides traces the history of ecological thought in African literature from the start of the twentieth century to today.

Focusing on literary and filmic texts, from writers such as Thomas Mofolo and Sol Plaatje in the early twentieth century, to contemporary science and speculative fiction producers like Nnedi Okorafor and Wanuri Kahiu, he argues that African literatures display a history of ecological awareness that predates the moment of mid-twentieth century decolonisation and present an opportunity to delink notions such as environmentalism, ecology and ecocriticism from postcoloniality.

Kirk B Sides is Assistant Professor of English and Affiliate Professor of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a Research Affiliate of the Wits Center for Diversity Studies at the University of the Witswatersrand.