French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Mabanckou, A. A. Waberi, Dictionary of African Cultures
Francophone and Oral Literatures
Review published in Acta Fabula, critical dossier "African Studies: New Approaches, New Challenges" (November 2020, vol. 21, no. 10): Irena Wyss, (En)jeux d’un dictionnaire.
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Dictionary of African Cultures
Alain Mabanckou, Abdourahman A. Waberi
Publication date: 30/10/2019
Publisher: Fayard
ISBN: 9782213706047
No. of pages: 334 p.
A. Mabanckou and A. Waberi's love song to the African continent takes the form of an eclectic ABC book that is alternately informative, playful, funny, and serious—ranging from Abacost to Zembla, via Dictatorship, Fanon, Mbappé, Obama, and Présence africaine.
An unorthodox, meandering compendium, this book offers a portrait—or more precisely, a mythography—that allows readers to see and feel the pulse of Africa. It is a vast continent whose cultural power is unfolding right before our eyes. Once marginalized and even mocked, the voice and significance of the Continent in global affairs are now undeniable. Africa is poised to establish its own distinct mark, style, and way of being in the world and in relation to the rest of it.
In this dictionary, which is by turns informative, playful, funny, and serious, Alain Mabanckou and Abdourahman Waberi voice a song of love for Africa, for its past and present inhabitants, for its exceptional resources, and for its striking globalization.
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A finalist for the Man Booker International Prize and winner of the 2006 Prix Renaudot for Memoirs of a Porcupine, Alain Mabanckou is the author of several bestselling novels translated worldwide, including Broken Glass, Black Bazar, The Lights of Pointe-Noire, and The Storks Are Immortal. He has also published highly acclaimed essays (Lettre à Jimmy, Le Sanglot de l’homme noir, The World Is My Language). In 2016, he was appointed to the Collège de France as Chair of Artistic Creation. For some fifteen years, he has resided in Los Angeles, where he is a professor of Francophone literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Abdourahman A. Waberi was born in 1965 in Djibouti. A novelist, poet, and essayist, winner of the 1996 Grand Prix littéraire de l’Afrique noire, and a former resident of the French Academy in Rome (Villa Medici), he has taught Francophone literatures and creative writing at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) since 2012 and is a regular contributor to Le Monde. He is the author of several award-winning works, such as the pan-African novel Passage to the United States of Africa. His work has been translated into a dozen languages.
Conceived as an unorthodox and meandering compendium, this volume moves gracefully between serious inquiry and playful observation. Alain Mabanckou and Abdourahman A. Waberi assemble an eclectic ABC book that spans diverse entries, from historical figures and political concepts to cultural icons. Rather than offering a traditional academic reference work, the authors compose a vibrant mythography that celebrates the continent's past, present, and striking globalization, highlighting a cultural power whose global significance is increasingly undeniable.
This publication serves as a valuable resource for readers interested in contemporary Francophone studies, postcolonial literature, and modern cultural geography. By mapping the contours of a vast and dynamic continent, the book helps students and scholars engage with questions of identity, diaspora, and global influence. Both authors bring their extensive literary background as acclaimed novelists and academics to this affectionate portrait, making it accessible to anyone wishing to understand Africa's distinctive imprint on the contemporary world stage.