Guardians and thieves: The process in negotiating an identity for African literary criticism

The present article examines the rhetoric of English language African liter ary criticism used in the 1970's and 1980's, in particular the literary fig ure (guardians, larceners, hunters, preys, etc.) which it has created, tran sformed or projected in order to identify critics in terms of their race an d/or their class origins, their political commitment, their social conscien ce as well as their critical positions on cultural nationalist discourses. What is also notable in their respective discourses is the lack of continue d institutional support in Africa or the tensions inherent in defining thei r place in foreign literary institutions. These questions point to ethical and aesthetic concerns in African literary criticism related to their attem pts at extending the terms of future debates and at underlining the need fo r coalition-building across disciplines and communities. The scope is twofo ld: negotiate more resistant cultural strategies and transform social and e conomic relations of inequality.