African Literature and the CIA
Networks of Authorship and Publishing

During the period of decolonisation in Africa, the CIA covertly subsidised a number of African authors, editors and publishers as part of its anti-communist propaganda strategy. Managed by two front organisations, the Congress of Cultural Freedom and the Farfield Foundation, its Africa programme stretched across the continent. This Element unravels the hidden networks and associations underpinning African literary publishing in the 1960s; it evaluates the success of the CIA in secretly infiltrating and influencing African literary magazines and publishing firms, and examines the extent to which new circuits of cultural and literary power emerged. Based on new archival evidence relating to the Transcription Centre, The Classic and The New African, it includes case studies of Wole Soyinka, Nat Nakasa and Bessie Head, which assess how the authors' careers were affected by these transnational networks and also reveal how they challenged, subverted, and resisted external influence and control.

Reviews & endorsements

'[A] fascinating and extremely rich study of the soft-power dynamics that animated much of African publishing life at the turning point of decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s.' Raphael Thierry, Publishing Research Quarterly

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Product details

• Date Published: January 2021
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781108725545
• length: 75 pages

• dimensions: 177 x 126 x 6 mm
• weight: 0.12kg
• availability: Available