Antoinette Tidjani Alou is a Jamaican-Nigerien academic, film-maker and writer, whose work focuses on the constructions of Sahelian identity in written and oral literature, as well as women in Sahelian identities. She published a novel On m'appelle Nina in 2016 and a collection of poems with a memoir Tina shot me between the eyes and other stories in 2017. She is a lecturer in Comparative Literature and in 2016 was appointed Coordinator of the Arts and Culture Department at Abdou Moumouni University in Niger.
Antoinette Tidjani Alou | |
---|---|
Born | Jamaica |
Citizenship | Niger |
Occupation(s) | Writer and academic |
Known for | Research into women's writing of the Sahel |
Academic background | |
Education | University of the West Indies Bordeaux Montaigne University |
Thesis | Le premier théâtre claudélien : naissance du drame et drame de la naissance (1991) |
Doctoral advisor | Jack Corzani |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Abdou Moumouni University |
Early life and education
editAntoinette Tidjani Alou was born in Jamaica and her secondary education took place at Convent of Mercy Academy 'Aplaha' in Kingston.[1] She studied at the University of the West Indies in Kingston where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. She continued her studies and was awarded a doctorate at the University Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3.[2] She defended her thesis in 1991 on the dramatic works of Paul Claudel.[3]
Teaching and research
editTidjani Alou began teaching French and comparative literature at Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey in 1994.[2] She is a lecturer in Comparative Literature and in 2016 was appointed Coordinator of the Arts and Culture Department.[4] Her research focuses on the constructions of Sahelian identity in written and oral literature, as well as the political constructions of identity.[2] She is also an expert on depictions of the mytho-historical figure of Sarraounia.[5][6]
In 2006, she was appointed president of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA), a position she held for eight years.[7][2] She has worked on the Women Writing Africa Project and is a member of the research group Literature, Gender and Development: Nigerien Visions and Perspectives.[8][9]
Literary career
editBetween her childhood in Jamaica, her university education in France, and her professional life in Niger, Tidjani Alou has adapted to different cultures.[10] She published her first novel, On m'appelle Nina in 2016 with Présence Africaine. This autofiction retraces the journey of a woman, Vilhelminma, who leaves Jamaica to settle for love in Niger.[11] The character finds herself confronted with a society that refuses to open up to her, considers her as a foreigner - a “white black”.[12] She also deals with the variations of pain, trauma and bereavement, as the character has to deal with the death of her 16-year-old child.[13] It drew comparisons with the works of Maryse Conde.[14]
The following year, she published Tina shot me between the eyes and other stories, a collection of poems and a memoir, with the Senegalese publisher Amalion.[15] In it she explores how the self is shaped and transformed by our relationships.[10] She is also a freelance translator and screenwriter. She collaborated with the Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno in 2010 to write for the film Toutes voiles dehors.[16]
Selected publications
editCreative writing
editAcademic works
edit- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani. "Myths of a New World in Édouard Glissant's novels La Lézarde and Le Quatrième siècle." Tydskrif vir letterkunde 44.2 (2007): 163-187.[19]
- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani. "Niger and Sarraounia: One Hundred Years of Forgetting Female Leadership." Research in African Literatures, vol. 40 no. 1, 2009, p. 42-56. [20]
- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani, Arinpe Gbekelolu Adejumo, and Asonzeh Ukah. Africans and the politics of popular culture. Vol. 42. University Rochester Press, 2009.[21]
- Tidjani Alou, Antoinette. "Ancestors from the East, Spirits from the West. Surviving and Reconfiguring the Exogenous Violence of Global Encounters in the Sahel." Journal des africanistes 80-1/2 (2010): 75-92.[22]
- Tidjani-Alou, Antoinette. “‘Back to Africa, Miss Mattie?’: Autobiographical Notes from Global Africa on Apprehending Texts and Subtexts of Popular Culture.” The Global South, vol. 5, no. 2, 2011, pp. 139–53.[23]
- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani, and Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan. Epistemology, fieldwork, and anthropology. Springer, 2016.[24]
- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani. "Reel Resistance: the Cinema of Jean-Marie Teno." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 57.2 (2020): 113-114.[25]
- Alou, Antoinette Tidjani. "Sarraounia, love, and the postcolony." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 59.3 (2022): 27-34.[26]
References
edit- ^ Chin, Audrey (2021-08-23). "Writers I Read: In Conversation with Antoinette Tidjani Alou". audreychin. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ a b c d "Pr Antoinette Tidjani pour la promotion des arts et la culture à L'UAMD". Nigerinter (in French). 12 May 2016. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Tidjani Alou, Antoinette (1991-01-01). Le premier théâtre claudélien : naissance du drame et drame de la naissance (These de doctorat thesis). Bordeaux 3.
- ^ Essakni, Mounia (2021-04-27). "Littérature / On m'appelle Nina / Un journal intime dans l'anonymat / Antoinette Tidjani Alou". Africa By Art. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "A Talk with Antoinette Tidjani Alou, Nigerian Fiction Writer and Poet". ruafrica.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Falola, Toyin; Agwuele, Augustine (2009). Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture. University Rochester Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-58046-331-7.
- ^ "Littérature orale: Un colloque pour sa valorisation | FratMat". www.fratmat.info. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "Personnes | Africultures : Tidjani Alou Antoinette". Africultures (in French). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "TIDJANI ALOU, Antoinette | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ a b Olatoun Gabi-Williams, Antoinette Tidjani Alou: "Tina shot me between the eyes and other stories" [PDF], sur bordersliteratureonline.net, 2018
- ^ Teno, Jean-Marie (2017-05-02). "On m'appelle Nina, De Antoinette Tijani Alou". Africultures (in French). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "Lu pour vous : On m'appelle Nina d'Antoinette Tidjani Alou : le beau regard incisif d'une femme qui se reste et se construit". Nigerinter (in French). 18 May 2017. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Balicki, Joshua. "Nigerien author Antoinette Tidjani Alou to read at Prairie Lights". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Koffi, -Tessio Marie H. (2017-07-01). "On m'appelle Nina, Antoinette Tidjani Alou". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 54 (2): 168–169. doi:10.17159/tvl.v.54i2.2975 (inactive 1 November 2024). hdl:10520/EJC-99645c04f.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ "Vignettes on our lives and dreams". The Mail & Guardian. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "Africiné - Toutes voiles dehors (Secret Faces) [in development]". Africiné (in French). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Tidjani Alou, Antoinette (2017). On m'appelle Nina : autofiction. Paris. ISBN 978-2-7087-0898-3. OCLC 1002301590.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Tidjani Alou, Antoinette (2017). Tina shot me between the eyes : and other stories. Dakar, Senegal. ISBN 978-2-35926-072-4. OCLC 1005196498.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Alou, A. T. (2007-09-27). "Myths of a New World in Édouard Glissant's novels La Lézarde and Le Quatrième siècle". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 44 (2): 163–187. doi:10.4314/tvl.v44i2.29798. ISSN 2309-9070.
- ^ Alou, Antoinette Tidjani (2009). "Niger and Sarraounia: One Hundred Years of Forgetting Female Leadership". Research in African Literatures. 40 (1): 42–56. doi:10.2979/RAL.2009.40.1.42. ISSN 1527-2044. S2CID 145389844.
- ^ Falola, Toyin; Agwuele, Augustine (2009). Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture. University Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-58046-331-7.
- ^ Tidjani Alou, Antoinette (2010-06-01). "Ancestors from the East, Spirits from the West. Surviving and Reconfiguring the Exogenous Violence of Global Encounters in the Sahel". Journal des africanistes (80–1/2): 75–92. doi:10.4000/africanistes.2323. ISSN 0399-0346.
- ^ Tidjani-Alou, Antoinette (2011). ""Back to Africa, Miss Mattie?": Autobiographical Notes from Global Africa on Apprehending Texts and Subtexts of Popular Culture". The Global South. 5 (2): 139–153. doi:10.2979/globalsouth.5.2.139. ISSN 1932-8648. JSTOR 10.2979/globalsouth.5.2.139. S2CID 145311496.
- ^ Alou, Antoinette Tidjani; Sardan, Jean-Pierre Olivier de (2016-04-30). Epistemology, Fieldwork, and Anthropology. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-47788-0.
- ^ Alou, Antoinette Tidjani (2020). "Reel Resistance: the Cinema of Jean-Marie Teno". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 57 (2): 113–114. doi:10.17159/tl.v57i2.8549. ISSN 0041-476X. S2CID 229490353.
- ^ Alou, Antoinette Tidjani (2022). "Sarraounia, love, and the postcolony". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 59 (3): 27–34. doi:10.17159/tl.v59i3.14321. ISSN 0041-476X. S2CID 252374868.
External links
edit- PROFESSOR ANTOINETTE TIDJANI ALOU: VOICE OF NIGERIEN WOMEN (profile/interview)
- Women from the Nigerien Sahel (Library of Congress talk)
- Writers I Read: In Conversation with Antoinette Tidjani Alou (interview)
- ENTRE LES LIGNES - Niger: Antoinette Tidjani Alou, écrivaine (reading excerpt in French)
- EPISODE 97 WOMAN OF THE MONTH - ANTOINETTE TIDJANI ALOU (podcast)