Language, culture and society in postcolonial Angola: introduction

Abstract: This short article introduces the collected essays in this special issue of the Journal of the British Academy. It examines the contexts for the recent expansion of academic research and publication on postcolonial Angola, and the relative lack of scholars based in Angola involved in this production. It contextualises the political, economic and social frameworks which are associated with this situation as a way of understanding the distinctiveness of the collection. Finally, it considers the context of the production of the present edition, during the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of the structural frameworks which both condition and illuminate the collected essays.

Keywords: Angola, literature, gender, knowledge production, postcoloniality, civil war, Covid-19 pandemic.

Article posted to Journal of the British Academy, volume 10, supplementary issue 6, Language, Culture and Society in Postcolonial Angola.