Book History in the African World: The State of the Discipline

Abstract

African print culture has not been widely studied from a historical perspective. Many studies focus on the present, without interrogating the historical developments that led to the present situation. We do find information available on what has been published over time, but little attention has been paid to the material forms of texts, their distribution, marketing, readership, or impact. Much earlier work is also largely descriptive. It is only recently—in the past ten years or so—that theoretical models of book history have begun to influence studies in this field. This essay is the first attempt to organize book historical studies in an African context. While this survey cannot be considered comprehensive, given the scope of the continent and its research, it presents a sampling of the most significant work and highlights trends.

De Burger-Leeskring: a Brief History of South Africa’s First Commercial Book Club and its Effect on Afrikaans Literature

“…In South Africa printing was introduced by the colonial government (during the late 1790s) before mission presses were established (from the 1820s) 21 . The Dutch colonial administration prevented the importation of a printing press until the very last years of its control; the British administration that followed immediately censored the products of the printing press.…”

Introduction: Print Culture in Southern Africa

“…They are, thus, evidence-based histories that uncover previously unacknowledged or unheard voices and that counter the anecdotal nature of much research on African publishing and print culture. 4 This work has its origins in the British Academy project 'Print Culture and Publishing in South Africa in the 20th Century' (2012-16), based at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Pretoria and led by the guest editors of this volume. This project promoted research into the emergence and constitution of reading publics in the country, the trans-regional networks of print, and the impact of the transnational book trade.…”