Author Archives

Nara has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Sussex, where she studied the intellectual production in Lagos-Nigeria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Trained as a historian at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro-Brazil, she also has an MA in African Studies from El Colegio de Mexico, in Mexico City. She is currently living in sunny Rio.
Contact Nara through her personal blog http://naraimprota.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @naraimprota

• Curating an image of Lagos

  By Nara Improta on 3 February , 2014 • ( 4 )

  

  As early as 1886, Lagosian intellectuals were engaged in changing racist and stereotyped ideas of Africa and Africans. They made a conscious effort in showing an intellectual and vibrant city, interconnected to Europe and the Americas. In my thesis Producing… Read More ›

• African Studies Classics: Lagosian Print Culture and Gilroy’s Black Atlantic

  By Nara Improta on 24 September , 2013 • ( 3 )

  

  This is the first post of ‘African Study Classics’: a series about how intellectuals used key African history, anthropology, sociology and literature books in their own work. We are inviting writers (academics or not) to tell us about a book… Read More ›

• 20 years of Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic

  By Nara Improta on 15 April , 2013 • ( 12 )

  

  Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1993. This year, Gilroy’s Black Atlantic completed twenty years of its publication. This book has been used by many scholars in history, anthropology, literature and sociology, and… Read More ›

• South Sudan: There is a Country – coming in April

  By Nara Improta on 19 March , 2013 • ( 0 )

  

• CFP: Francophone African Writers and Anthropology (March 15)

  By Nara Improta on 4 March , 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  “Francophone African Writers and Anthropology” a panel at the 2014 MLA Convention in Chicago, co-sponsored by the African Literature division and the 20th century French Literature division. The engagement of French-speaking African writers with anthropology in the 20th-century is a noticeably widespread… Read More ›

• Preserving for whom? Discussions on the conservation of archives

  By Nara Improta on 28 February , 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  The survival of print culture has been in the newspapers recently. Usually restricted to a readership of academics, ways to preserve and make various forms of print culture accessible to the public has become a topic of interest of a wider group…. Read More ›

• CFA: MOREMI initiative for women’s leadership in Africa (15 March 2013)

  By Nara Improta on 15 February , 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – 2013 MILEAD FELLOWSHIP. Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa (Moremi Initiative) is pleased to announce its annual call for applications for the 2013 Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellows Program. The MILEAD Fellows Program is a long-term leadership development… Read More ›

• CFP: European Conference on African Studies (ECAS 2013)

  By Nara Improta on 17 December , 2012 • ( 0 )

  The fifth European Conference on African Studies (ECAS 2013) will take place at the ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal, from 26 to 28 June 2013. It will be organized by Centro de Estudos Africanos – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Centre for African… Read More ›

• CFP: Saharan Crossroads: Views from the Desert-Edge

  By Nara Improta on 27 October , 2012 • ( 0 )

  An AIMS-WARA Conference, in collaboration with the CRASC 22-24 Juin 2013 – Ghardaïa, Algeria This conference is part of a series of activities organized by the West African Research Association (WARA) and the American Institute of Maghribi Studies (AIMS) aimed… Read More ›

• Blog: Bookshy Books

  By Nara Improta on 26 October , 2012 • ( 1 )

  Hi folks, just to let you know, browsing around I found this blog: http://bookshybooks.blogspot.co.uk/ It is very interesting! I think it is worth to have a look. XxN

• Books for Reviews

  By Nara Improta on 27 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  Itinerario, the journal of European expansion and global interaction (part of Cambridge University Press journals), is currently seeking reviewers for the titles listed below. If you are interested/willing to review these titles, reviews of 800-1000 words would be due to our office by… Read More ›

• CFP: African Literature Today: writing Africa in the short story

  By Nara Improta on 25 September , 2012 • ( 1 )

  Submissions should reach the Editor on or before January 31, 2013. The Editor, African Literature Today, invites articles for ALT 31: WRITING AFRICA IN THE SHORT STORY, described below: Arguably, the African novel came alive through Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart… Read More ›

• CFA: The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme

  By Nara Improta on 23 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme – call for applications Grant Date: 2012-11-02 The Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library is now accepting grant applications for the next round of funding. Detailed information on the timetable, criteria, eligibility and procedures for… Read More ›

• CFP: Religious Diversity in Africa and Asia: Discourses and Realities

  By Nara Improta on 21 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  Chapters on “Religious Diversity in Africa and Asia: Discourses and Realities”–an edited volume of collected essays in the BANDUNG 55 book series RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN AFRICA AND ASIA: Discourses and realities

• Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets

  By Nara Improta on 19 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  The submission period is currently open until Nov. 15. It costs nothing to enter! To read how to submit to the prize, click here or follow the guidelines below

• CFP: The “Soul” of W.E.B. DuBois: Fifty Years Later –NeMLA CFP

  By Nara Improta on 19 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  Location:    Massachusetts, United States Call for Papers Date:    30 Sept 2012 (!) The year 2013 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of W.E.B. DuBois’ death. As the premier historian, sociologist, and civil rights activist of the twentieth century, DuBois certainly left… Read More ›

• CFP: 2013 North Eastern Workshop on Southern Africa

  By Nara Improta on 19 September , 2012 • ( 0 )

  This is the second call for papers and discussants for the eleventh North Eastern Workshop on Southern Africa (NEWSA).  We encourage scholars from all disciplines who are currently working on southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South… Read More ›

• The country Africa that we imagine in Brazil

  By Nara Improta on 22 August , 2012 • ( 10 )

  Read this post in Portuguese in África em Palavras  Since I am spending some time in my beloved country (Brazil), I had decided to post about some Africa-related event in Brazil. As you know, Brazil was on the other side… Read More ›

• CFP: Journal of African Cinemas – Special Issue

  By Nara Improta on 11 August , 2012 • ( 0 )

  Theme: “Everyday Violence(s) and Visualities in Africa” Special Issue, Journal of African Cinemas Due Date for Abstracts:  1 October 2012 Submission of Full Paper:  1 April 2013

• African Communication Research: The Image of Women in African Media.

  By Nara Improta on 9 August , 2012 • ( 1 )

  This really interesting journal hit one of my favourites topics regarding gender issues: the image of women in the media. Here it goes the table of contents for those who share similar preferences 😉 African Communication Research 4(3): The Image… Read More ›