Abdoulaye Imorou is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of French at the University of Ghana. He earned his PhD in Francophone Literature from the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France in 2009. From 2013 to 2016, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the French Section at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He is also a fellow of the 2020-2024 cohort of the Pilot African Postgraduate Academy (PAPA), organized by the Point Sud Research Institute in Bamako, Mali, in collaboration with Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Abdoulaye Imorou’s research focuses on developing a global approach to African Francophone literature, structured around three main areas:
- Expanding the Literary Canon: He challenges the traditional African literary canon by including often-overlooked texts such as those from pop culture, AI-generated literature, and even Facebook posts.
- Exploring New Trends in Literary Criticism: Abdoulaye Imorou advocates for moving beyond established literary theories, criticisms, and methods, promoting innovative approaches to African literature. This includes applying Pierre Bayard’s interventionist criticism to African texts.
- Literary Representations of Africa’s Place in the World: He examines how expanding the literary canon and adopting new critical approaches enable a more nuanced understanding of Africa’s role and place in the global context.
MIASA Project: Afro-fantasy. La déconstruction « magique » des grands récits
Nnedi Okorafor, Tomi Adeyemi, and Namina Forna are three authors of African descent based in the United States. With Who Fears Death, Children of Blood and Bone, and The Gilded Ones, they have made significant contributions to the genre of Afro-fantasy. This branch of fantasy draws upon African mythologies and folklores. A distinctive feature of these authors’ works is the portrayal of Black heroines who wield magic. Because of this, these works are frequently analyzed through a feminist lens. This study aims to show that while these feminist interpretations are relevant, they also limit the scope of the works. To achieve this, it draws on the theory of grand narratives as developed by Jean-François Lyotard and Marc Angenot. The study reveals that these works go beyond simply presenting a positive portrayal of Black women; they challenge the very origins of the systems of racial and gender discrimination by deconstructing the grand narratives that legitimize them.
Selected publications
Edited books
Burnautzk, S, Imorou, A & Ruhe, C. (eds). (2024) [Forthcoming]. Le Labyrinthe littéraire de Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. Brill.
Imorou, A. (ed). (2014). La littérature africaine francophone. Mesures d’une présence au monde. Éditions universitaires de Dijon.
Peer-reviewed papers
Imorou, A. (2024). Comment parler d’Achille Mbembe sans l’avoir lu ?. Afroglobe, 2(1), 19-37.
Imorou, A. (2023). Les anthologies, témoins de leurs temps. À propos de la dimension mondiale de la littérature africaine. Alternatives francophones, 3(2), 17-27. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/af/index.php/af/article/view/29462.
Non peer-reviewed papers
Imorou, A. (2020). Il faut rendre à Daba ce qui appartient à Pénélope. Comment Homère a plagié Fatou Diome. Chez Gangoueus. http://gangoueus.blogspot.com/2020/01/il-faut-rendre-daba-ce-qui-appartient.html.
Imorou, A. (2016). Vers une critique africaine globale. Africultures. http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php?nav=article&no=13567.
