Stedsfrie lesninger

The Nigerian-American blogger and professor of literature Ainehi Edoro from Marquette University (WI, USA) visited Oslo on Wednesday May 24th for a keynote speech and workshop. TrAP invited Edoro to talk about the tendency in the field of literature to exotify African fiction, by first searching out the geographical references and it's complementary expectations, before valuating a text's literary intrinsic values.

To Edoro this is to reduce the literary value of a writer's work, for the benefit of anthropological classification. TrAP wished to bring focus to how a culture relative reading of a work of art may get in the way for an understanding of the work's content. The consequence often is for this work not to get its proper assessment in the domain of art history. Ainehi Edoro emphasizes the alternative, and her comment piece on this topic in the Guardian got widespread acknowledgment.

Edoro's partner of conversation this Wednesday was the Norwegian and South-African musician Nosizwe. She first held a blind-reading session, as a warm-up to Edoro's keynote. Here, participants got an opportunity to encounter extracts of texts and to suggest its sources, before the author was announced. The session was open to a small group of 15 pre-registered participants. After Edoro's keynote in the auditorium at Kunstnernes Hus at 12am she and Nosizwe had a conversation that was open for questions. Finally, Edoro led a workshop in reading technique, on basis of the topic she raises. This session was also closed, with a pre-registered group of 15 people.

Ainehi Edoro is an Assistant Professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee where she teaches global Anglophone literatures. She holds a doctorate from Duke University. She is the founder and editor of Brittle Paper, an African literary blog. As editor, Edoro presents a wide range of contributors to open up the discussion on the African within international literature. Edoro is born in Nigeria and lives in Chicago.

The event took place at Kunstnernes Hus and was organised by TrAP, with Solum publishing house as collaboration partner for the blind reading session.

KUNSTNERNES HUS May 24th, 2017
10.00 Blind reading session in Atelier Felix
12.00 Ainehi Edoro: How not to talk about African fiction
14.00 Ainehi Edoro: Workshop in reading techniques in Atelier Felix

Norwegian press coverage:
Morgenbladet, June 30, 2017
Dagsavisen, May 23, 2017
Samora, December, 2017