Call for paper
"Socio-cultural Imaginary and Representations in African proverbs
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Description :
The majority of works about African proverbs often deal with data collection, transcription and translation-interpretation. The main objective is to apprehend Man as a whole and explore the distinctive features of ethnic groups in order to better know and understand peoples through their know-how and knowledge. As such, Mwamba Cabakulu (1993,12) believes that if in Europe, proverbs are regarded as a “set literary language” in a kind of standstill, in Africa, on the contrary, the use of proverbs in the discourse expresses the maturity and wisdom of the speaker.
In African universe, proverbs play a significant role in the daily life of every villager. In this view, Achebe asserts that “Among the Ibos the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten” (1958, p.5). Consequently, conversation becomes an art which one can flavor with proverbs, the very ingredients of oral literature. It is then through the use of language that one can make the difference between the fool and the wise man. The use of proverbs is a prerogative the aged, the spirits, the ancestors and the divines. As such, their language is a code which the initiated people can decipher to produce meaning.
Proverbs are an inexhaustible source of oral tradition where every man can drink in order to enrich his language. Moreover, proverbs are frequently summoned to fertilize written literature, the speeches of the religious and political leaders. This clearly shows the topicality and the growing interest in the use of proverbs. It is also what motivates our concern about the problematic of imaginary and representations in proverbs.
Many scholars from different domains give a paramount importance to the binomial “imaginary-representations” in their works. These notions are analyzed according to the specificity of the fields. For Osiris (2016), in the Ancient Greek, when philosophers wanted to evoke the imaginary, they referred to the general opinion in order to show African collective consciousness: believes, opinion, images, worldview and other prejudges which permits Man to portray social realities. In this way, we can distinguish personal opinion from collective or universal one as one would talk about personal, collective and universal imaginary.
Furthermore, the concept of “representation” is an image. “This representation is not in the mind a replica of an external reality which is perfectly completed but a restructuring, a true mental construction of the object conceived as inseparable from the symbolic activity of the subject which contributes to its own integration in the social field” (Moscovi, 1972, pp.305-306). The act of representation is then an activity of the mind through which the individual refers to an object. Known as images which have a set of significations, social representations are also systems of references which permit to apprehend our social reality, our environment and give a meaning to whatever befalls on us. They enable us to classify the different events in defined social categories. In the view of Julien M’Bambi “The individual is a party concerned in the social dynamics through the game of representation, identification, interiorization and actualization of cultural models and their functions” (2003, p.110).
Oral literature is an important part of African tradition which is enacted according to a code proper to every society and every language with reference to a cultural background. It reinforces the identity specific to a culture or a community but it also raises universal concerns through various and extended knowledge. The proverbs that we assimilate to the appellations “sententious utterance”, “opinions” or “short forms” include (common saying, sentences, maxims, precepts, slogans, adages, aphorisms, phrases or proverbial locutions , etc.). They also include popular saying in the form of simple sentences which are very easy to memorize. They are transmitted from generation to generation through oral tradition.
The current project of book is entitled “Socio-cultural Imaginary and representations in African proverbs”. It intends to examine the way literature and art convey African worldview through the use of proverbs.
Here, the proverb is the present, the past and the future time of every social event. It respects some circumstances of diverse enunciations. For this reason, Jacques Chevrier asserts that: “If the proverb cannot be learnt as an isolated linguistic fact, it is because the proverb is by definition an “open” speech that is to say a speech which comprises a multitude of situations to which it is supposed to be applied” (2005; p.346). The proverb as a neuter element and available utterance becomes meaningful in a determined discourse. This can be possible thanks to the intention of the speaker and his affinity with a culture. As such, proverbs are the key ingredients of African culture. They are like the “backbone of thought” that the speaker uses in his words. They can both play rhetoric and didactic role. Regarding this significance of proverbs in the words of Africans, Jean Louis Joubert (1992) argues: “The proverb is the horse of the word. When the word is lost, it is thanks to the proverb that one finds it again”. In this perspective, the proverb is perceived as the very vehicle of African collective consciousness. It is the carrier of representations of the world, images and mental models more or less complex of the individuals who contribute to its production. To what extent can we say that proverbs represent the collective imaginary of African people? What are the social and cultural representations which derive from this study of proverbs? What explains the overuse of proverbs in African literature? How can African imaginary and social representations contribute to the development of African society? The aim of this book is to scrutinize these questions. Therefore, all the proposed papers must be line with one of the following topics:
- Proverbs and collective imaginary
- Proverbs and social representations
- Proverbial semantic and social imaginary
- Proverbs as factors of emergence and development of African society
- Proverbs, between ancient and modern speech
Note: Papers that deal with other subjects about proverbs are also welcomed. All potential contributors must e-mail the title of their contribution, an abstract of 300 words and 6 key words written English or French to lefaras@yahoo.com, samsiapaul@yahoo.fr before 30 October 2019. The volume of a paper ranges from 10 to 15 pages.
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Scientific Committee :
Professor Adama COULIBALY, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor BLEDE Logbo, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor Bienvenu KOUDJO, University of Abomey-Calavi (Bénin)
Professor Daouda COULIBALY, University Alassane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor DJIMAN Kasimi, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor LOUIS Obou, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor Mamadou KANDJI, University Chieck Anta Diop (Sénégal)
Professor Pascal Okri TOSSOU, University of Abomey-Calavi (Bénin)
Professor Pierre MEDEHOUEGNON, University of Abomey-Calavi (Bénin)
Professor TOUOUI Bi Irié Ernest, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Professor Clément DILI PALAÏ Clément, University of Maroua (Cameroun)
Professor Nol Alembong, University of Buea (Cameroun)
Professor Gabriel KUITCHE FONKOU, University of Dschang (Cameroun)
Professor Cécile Dolisane Ebosse, University of Yaoundé1 (Cameroun)
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Editorial Board :
Dr SILUE Lèfara (MC), University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Dr SAMASIA Paul, Chargé de cours, University of Yaoundé1 (Cameroun)
Dr COULIBALY Moussa (MC), University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire
Dr EYENGA ONANA Pierre Suzanne (MC), University of Yaoundé1 (Cameroun)
Dr Idrissa Soyiba TRAORE (MC), University of Bamako (Mali)
Dr. KOUA Mea, University Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
Dr GOURE Bi Boli Dit Lama, I N.P H.B, Yamoussoukro (Côte d’Ivoire)
Dr Coulibaly Aboubacar Sidiki, University of Bamako (Mali)
Dr SORO Adama, University Alassane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire)
Dr AMOI Evrard, University Péléforo Gon Coulibaly (Côte d’Ivoire)
Project Managers
Dr SILUE Lèfara, Senior Lecturer, University Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire) and Dr SAMASIA Paul, Lecturer, University of Yaoundé 1 (Cameroun)
Indicative Schedule
Deadline for receipt of items on a Word document or RTF: le 31 December 2019
Deadline for authors’ replies: 15 January 2020
Correction of articles and final dispatching: le 15 March 2020
Date of publication of the book: 30 September 2020
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Indicative References :
-Cauvi Jean: L’image, la langue et la pensée, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1980.
-Clément Dili Palaï, Oralité africaine. Enjeux contemporains d’une métamorphose, Yaoundé, Editions CLE, 2015.
-Dominique Zahan, La dialectique du verbe chez les Bambara, Paris, Mouton, 1963.
-Leguy Cécile : Le proverbe chez les Bwa du Mali, Paris, Karthala, 2001.
-Mwamba Cabakulu, Dictionnaire des proverbes africains, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1993.
-Nazaire Diatta: Proverbes Joola de Casamance, Paris, Karthala, 1998.
-Tououi Bi Irié E., Proverbes gouro saillier, humour et sagesse en Côte d’Ivoire, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2014.