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ACTIVISM, AMERICAN Civil War, 1861-1865, ACTIVISM in literature, AFRICAN American journalists, AFRICAN American women, and AFRICAN American intellectuals

During the American Civil War, black women increasingly published opinion pieces in the form of letters, short essays, and, in one case, serialised fiction in the African Methodist Episcopal newspaper, The Christian Recorder. This article argues that, collectively, these women's voices contributed to a developing black intellectualism of the early nineteenth century, setting the precedent for black feminist thinking of the Reconstruction period and beyond. Through their public literary activism, these women challenged the boundaries of the gendered and racialised spaces of the public and private spheres. Through a series of case studies published in the Christian Recorder from 1861 to 1866, this article reflects on the ways in which these women developed a conscious writing self which should be understood as literary activism. These women wrote under the most difficult of circumstances in a period of conflict, yet they persisted in having their voices heard. Collectively, they wrote about the importance of action, the influence of women on the African American nation, and the vital influence of women's role in education for racial uplift. This article thus places the literary activism of these women front and centre and highlights the power of their words for subsequent generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ACTIVISM in literature and FRENCH-speaking Caribbean

The article presents the text of an address delivered as the inaugural William Mailer/Gabriel Coulthard Distinguished Lecture at the University of the West Indies on April 12, 2017. It looks at the question of literature and activism with quotations from several Francophone Caribbean writers including Edwidge Danticat and Velma Pollard. It also discusses the meaning of literacy activism according to Rosebud Ben-Oni, Jason Koo, and Amy King.

SOUTH African fiction (English), SOUTH African literature -- History & criticism, FICTION -- History & criticism, ACTIVISM in literature, and THEMES in literature

The Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer's 1966 novel, The Late Bourgeois World was written in response to the demise of an underground organization of the early 1960s in South Africa, the African Resistance Movement (ARM). It tells the story of Max van den Sandt, whose political career is a failure and who chooses suicide, leaving his ex-wife Elizabeth mulling over their life together. In due course, Elizabeth has to discover her own future as an activist. The novel's treatment of the subject was modeled by Albert Camus's L'Etranger and its achievement is to create an austere, detached mode of address which demonstrates how, in South Africa's version of what Ernst Fischer called "the late bourgeois world," sabotage would come to be seen as an existential solution. The essay draws on historical and archival sources, including court records and censorship archives, to explore Gordimer's rewriting of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LGBTQ+ rights, ACTIVISM in literature, and INTERNATIONAL cooperation

The article presents a commentary on the book "Queer Wars" by Dennis Altman and Jonathan Symons. Topics discussed include how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBT(QI)) might engage with international polarization in global affairs on LGBT(QI) rights, and public debate an activism in the field.

ANTISLAVERY movements in literature, SLAVE trade in literature, RACISM in literature, SENTIMENTALISM in literature, SLAVERY in literature, and ACTIVISM in literature

ACTIVISM in literature, NINETEEN sixty-eight, A.D., PATERNALISM in literature, VIOLENCE in literature, and AUTONOMY (Psychology) in literature

The article offers literary criticism of the novel "True Grit," by Charles Portis. Topics include the role of activism in the U.S. political context of the book's 1968 publication, the role of paternalism and social institutions in the situation of the character Mattie in the novel, and the notion of self-determination in the novel's account of Mattie. The portrayal of violence against Mattie in the novel is noted.