Examining humor and four of its archetypes in twentieth century African literature

Adwoa A. Opoku-Agyemang teaches at Ashesi University.

"Typologies of Humor in African Literatures makes an original and insightful contribution to African literary studies. It’s the sort of book that makes one wonder why it hadn’t been written earlier, and it is both timely—in its rejection of African literature’s monochromatically ‘urgent’ or somber affect—and promises to remain relevant for years to come.”
–—Jeanne-Marie Jackson, Johns Hopkins University
 — Jeanne-Marie Jackson

“This is an important book as the first substantive work that theorizes the place of humor in colonial and contemporary Africa, through the tropes of the trickster, mimic, deviant, and interpreter. The importance of this book lies in the fact that it addresses an under-theorized aspect of African literature and cultural studies–humor studies. The author fills this academic void by engaging with various genres of literary texts across many languages, time periods and geographical focuses.”
—Shola Adenekan, Ghent University
 — Shola Adenekan