Postmonolingual Paradigm or Monological Multilingualism? Reading Literary Multilingualism in African Writing

This Forum, appearing in each issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism , aims to continue the conversation started in the very first issue, where we collected articles that assessed and debated the field of Literary Multilingualism Studies. The Forum is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future: position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for contributions, particularly from marginalized perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas. In this Forum, Moradewun Adejunmobi challenges the oft-assumed link between literary multilingualism on the one hand, and a sociopolitical preference for linguistic diversity on the other. Taking three Yoruba writers as a case study, she demonstrates that some writers present a monolingual challenge to the multilingual postcolonial world to which they are responding. We would like to take Adejunmobi’s approach as the occasion to invite contributions on potential other challenges to the notion of a postmonolingual paradigm. — Juliette Taylor-Batty and Till Dembeck, Forum Moderators