Challenging hierarchies: Issues and themes in colonial and postcolonial African literature

Looking over the titles of the selections in this anthology, we are reassured that the title we have chosen for the book, Challenging Hierarchies, remains an apt one. For example, the title of Micere Mugo's second selection, "The South End of a North South Writers' Dialogue," speaks eloquently to the notion of hierarchies and the attempts of African writers to call them into question. Not only does much contemporary African literature offer resistance to the hierarchical relationship usually evoked by the "North-South" pairing, it also raises similar doubts about typical understandings of "Western vs. Third-World," and colonizer vs. colonized," among others. A special focus of this collection is the challenging of hierarchies that have relegated African women and African women writers to a subordinate position.