Schools and schooling as a source of African literary and cultural creativity

The fictional and factual depiction of schooling, the coming of age or the peculiar experience of boarding house life as a major social leveller has with only some few exceptions been conspicuously ignored in African literature studies. This volume explores the significance of colonial and post-colonial schools and schooling in various Anglophone African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South-Africa) as an essential trigger of literary, musical and cultural creativity: The contributors assess the depiction of schools and their social environment in the novels and (autobiographical) writings of renowned writers such as Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, Buchi Emecheta, Dambudzo Marechera, Ngugi wa Thiongo and Wole Soyinka, examine the lasting impact of mission schools and boarding houses on the development of particular cultural codes or genres, and last but not least report on some current literary activities in African primary and secondary schools.