Research Guide to African Literatures

The following is a selected list of resources for starting research in African Literatures. For further assistance, contact Elizabeth Peterson, Literature Librarian, at emp@uoregon.edu.

Note: items with the are available only to University of Oregon faculty, staff, and students, or to users working in the library.

Starting Your Research

These sources are good for quick identification and background on people, movements, and literary works.

African Literature and Its Times KNIGHT REFERENCE PL8010 .M65 2000: Provides detailed information for 50 major titles in African literature. Each entry provides an introduction, plot synopsis, biographical and historical context for the work, detailed description, and list of further readings.
The Companion to African Literatures KNIGHT REFERENCE PR 9340 .C65 2000: A guide to African literature written in or translated into English. Entries include authors, titles of works, and major themes. Also includes entries for selected African language literatures, emphasizing works available to English readers.
Encyclopedia of African Literature KNIGHT REFERENCE PL 8010 .E63 2003: Provides almost 700 entries on the major historical and cultural issues concerning African literature. Includes both established and emerging writers, giving brief informative entries about their life and works.
A New Reader's Guide to African Literature KNIGHT PN 849 .A35Z44 1983: Lists 3,091 works by black African authors south of the Sahara writing in English, French, and Portuguese. Fiction, critical materials, critical works, children's books, and anthologies are included.

Finding Articles & Literary Criticism

MLA International Bibliography: The essential index for critical materials about all literatures (except classical Greek and Roman), languages, folklore, and film. The database provides access to over 1.3 million entries gleaned from essay collections, dissertations, books, and over 6,000 journals. Covers 1926-present. (Does not include book reviews.) Guide to using the MLA International Bibliography.
African Studies Abstracts KNIGHT Z3503.A36 1997-2002: Provides extensive coverage of periodical articles and edited works on Africa in the social sciences and humanities.
Black African Literature in English : A Guide to Information Sources KNIGHT PR9340 .L547 1967; PR9340 .L548 1979; PR9340 .L549 1989; PR9340 .L55 1995; PR9340 .L573 2000.: Each installment indexes review articles, biographical materials, and newspaper coverage with literary value, as well as scholarly books and articles.
Index Africanus KNIGHT Z3501 .A73: Indexes articles on African topics, in all topics. Arranged by region, then by country, then by topic, with "literature" as one of the topics. General articles on African literature are at the front of the book.
International African Bibliography KNIGHT Z3503 .I5: Indexes books and articles on African topics, in all topics. Covers 1971-present.

Finding Books

UO Library Catalog: Identify books by topic, title or author; identify journals and magazines owned by the UO Library. To find journal articles on your topic, use the databases and indexes listed in the section above. Once you have a citation, you can check the library catalog by doing a title search on the name of the journal to see if we have it here.
Summit Union Catalog: The Summit Union Catalog contains records for the collections of academic libraries in the Pacific Northwest. UO students, faculty and staff can borrow books not owned by the UO Library by selecting the Request Item option. Summit borrowing works only for books. To request a journal article from another library, you will need to fill out an interlibrary loan form.
The African Book World & Press: A Directory KNIGHT Z857 .A1A37: Provides information on the African book world and print media, including libraries, publishers, booksellers, research institutions, newspapers, trade associations, and news agencies.
Bibliography of African Literatures KNIGHT Z6514.C7 A38 1996: Indexes anthologies and books of African literature, including secondary sources about authors' works. Arranged primarily by language (African, Arabic, Western languages), with the first section devoted to bibliographies, anthologies, and critical works about African literature. The second part presents a selection of African authors and their works (citations only.)

Finding Stories and Poems

The catalog does not, generally speaking, contain records for individual stories or poems inside collections. This is not always true; in some cases (particularly for more recent works), a book's Table of Contents is included in its item record. This means that you can do a keyword search for a story or poem title and find the collection it is in.

Short Story Index KNIGHT REFERENCE Z 5917 .S5 C62: Lists stories in collections. Covers story collections from 1900-1990s.; To read contemporary short stories and poetry by Australian authors, browse the magazines with call numbers starting with AP 7.
Columbia Granger's Indexes KNIGHT REFERENCE PN 1022: Use this series of indexes to find out where a poem was published in a collection or anthology. See the online guide to using them for more information.
Essay and General Literature Index: Specializes in pointing to essays and book chapters in all kinds of anthologies. The online version begins with material from 1985; the print version is at KNIGHT REFERENCE AI 3 .E75

People & Organizations

African Writers KNIGHT REFERENCE PL 8010 .A453 1997: Covers 65 major African authors, both black and white. Gives biographical information and criticism of the works, and provides selected bibliography of primary and secondary texts. Includes a fairly substantial introductory essay on trends and themes in African literature.
Modern Black Writers KNIGHT REFERENCE PN 841 .M58 2000: This book covers almost 200 black writers (not solely African writers) who have emerged between 1980 and 2000, as well as providing updated entries and analyses of early writers. It includes major writers of genre fiction, such as science fiction and mystery novels.
Postcolonial African Writers KNIGHT REFERENCE PL 8010 .P585 1998: Covers 60 African authors, both black and white, who engage with postcolonial concerns. Most are Anglophone or Francophone. With summaries of each author's life and works, critical reception, and a bibliography of primary and secondary works. Includes a substantial introductory essay on African literary writing and criticism.
South African Writers (Dictionary of Literary Biography) KNIGHT REFERENCE PR 9350 .2 .S68 2000b: The Dictionary of Literary Biography provides in-depth biographical and critical information about authors, including photographs and primary resources where possible. This volume covers 37 authors, both white and black. Includes an introductory essay on South African literature.
Twentieth-Century Caribbean and Black African Writers (3 separate vols) (Dictionary of Literary Biography) KNIGHT REFERENCE PR 9205 .A52 T88 1992; PR 9205 .A52 T89 1993; PR 9205 .A52 T893 1995: These three volumes cover 104 authors, providing a list of the author's works, a substantial essay covering his/her life and work, and a list of further readings for each one. A brief introduction to Caribbean and black African literature opens each volume.

Web Resources

African and Caribbean Literature in French: From Howard University Libraries, part of a symposium on Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures. A brief introductory essay and comprehensive list of resources.
African Literature on the Internet: Stanford University's extensive list of key Web resources, including a list of "Africa's 100 Best Books" sponsored by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
African and Caribbean Literatures: The New York Public Library's guide to resources, mostly in print.
Literatures Other Than English (Africa): From Voice of the Shuttle, a clearinghouse for online humanities research resources maintained by UC Santa Barbara. Provides links to worthwhile Web sites on African literature.

Maintained by: Elizabeth Peterson, emp@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 05/21/2007