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The African Publisher: The Cultural Politics of Indigenous Publishing in Benin and Côte D’Ivoire

Athens, Ohio: Ohio University, Doctoral Thesis (1996), 260 pp.
"This PhD thesis, “theoretically informed by Giroux's concepts of border and critical pedagogy”, examines how indigenous publishers manage to give a voice to cultures in an environment characterized by conflicting interests mediated by the State. It aims to provide an understanding of “the intersection of social structure and human agency in the process.” To shed light on publishers' cultural practices, the author investigated their publishing output and their interaction with the wider cultural environment. He conducted interviews with editors and private sector publishers, sought the publishers’ views on state intervention (and domination) in publishing, as well as interviewing government officials and writers. The author found that indigenous publishers are conscious of their cultural role, but that they need more professionalism, that there is a need for both national and regional cooperation, and a sharper understanding of indigenous publisher’s role “of giving a voice to the voiceless majority – and their various identities – through the written word.” The author argues that the exclusive use of French in education and publishing complicates their task, and partially explains how indigenous knowledge is neglected, and how the cultures of the underprivileged are marginalized." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 363)