MEDI1TV Afrique : #Chronique_culture du 04/02/2025 - 04/02/2025
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00:00Welcome to Medea TV and Zoom in this cultural chronicle on African literature,
00:15a literature that is booming, that is taking off in the world,
00:19and that today has proven itself with many global distinctions.
00:25And to tell us about this literature, I have the pleasure of having with me Hanan Saidi.
00:30She is a university professor at the University of Qadiriyad,
00:34and she is also co-founder of the Festival du Livre Africain de Marrakech.
00:41Hanan Saidi, thank you very much for accepting our invitation.
00:44My very first question, a festival that has just ended, which is in its third edition.
00:50I think you have certainly had it for a long time, because this literature is still unknown today.
00:57Thank you. Indeed, we are convinced that the flame still has a long way to go,
01:08not only because African literature is unknown,
01:15but above all because it is literature that is imposed on us at the continental level,
01:23but also at the global level by their great vitality,
01:29by their dynamism, by their creativity, but also by their diversity, their richness.
01:36Literature that embraces both local issues,
01:41that is to say, that evokes our problems at the level of the African continent,
01:45the problems that we live in within our countries,
01:50as well as issues of international character and, I would say, planetary issues.
01:57Hanan Saidi, you are a specialist in African literature.
02:02You know it, you love it, you pass it on.
02:06We saw how you pass this passion on to your students and students, who were very numerous here at the Flame.
02:14How do you judge it today, this African literature?
02:18Like all literature, or maybe the case of African literature is a little different.
02:29There are issues, there are problems that arise.
02:31For example, the issue of distribution and publishing, which is at the level of the continent,
02:39and which hinders knowledge and discovery, but also access to books,
02:47which remains expensive since it always goes through the big publishing houses in Europe.
02:53But beyond all these problems that it encounters, it is a literature that is called,
02:59or I would say that it has all the chances to prosper, to win the world,
03:05because these are literatures, as I said earlier,
03:08that evoke questions and raise great questions that go from the scale of the human being
03:19to take into consideration the problems that are ours, namely the great mutations of the world.
03:26The world is in motion, we see it well.
03:29We are experiencing crises, both political, social, but also ethical,
03:35and an environmental crisis above all, which threatens all forms of life.
03:40And African literature, like all the literature in the world,
03:44is very much stuck to these realities that it transposes in a way that is, I would say,
03:52quite intelligent, but also quite sensitive, to be a place of awareness.
03:58So, Ahana Saidi, we are in the 21st century, you teach literature,
04:04we had the chance to study literature, we read African literature.
04:10Do you have the impression that the themes are evolving,
04:14or is this literature still recreating itself, thinking about its pain,
04:22opening up even more to taboo themes?
04:25This literature today, from the 21st century, we are still a quarter of a century from the 21st century,
04:33this literature, has it evolved? Have these themes evolved?
04:38Certainly, there is an evolution in terms of themes.
04:43And at the same time, there are, I would say, themes that remain quite constant.
04:49If at the very beginning, the literature of the African continent
04:54carried out a form of struggle and fight in favor of emancipation,
05:00to be able to overcome, in a way, colonization.
05:05Well, today, the fight is no longer the same, but it is still a struggle in favor of freedom,
05:15of dignity, and against other forms of domination and hegemony.
05:20Globalization, we can say today, is just another form of colonialism,
05:28or what we called, after the independence, neocolonialism.
05:31But at the same time, this literature, while remaining attached to universal themes,
05:38such as freedom, emancipation, dignity, rights, women,
05:43it also tries, in a way, to listen to the great challenges facing humanity and the planet,
05:58and to the living in general today.
06:00For example, the issue of ecology.
06:02It is true that it was present in the first writings, but today, in an even more prevalent way.
06:08Other issues, such as social relations, the issue of solidarity.
06:17So, to yesterday's themes, such as the denunciation of dictatorships,
06:23the denunciation of colonial domination,
06:27we are witnessing today the emergence of new themes that are taking hold of the world.
06:35One last question, Hanane Saidi.
06:39Very briefly, you.
06:41Before being a teacher, you are a reader.
06:44What makes you live when you hold a book in your hands,
06:48whether it is a novel, fiction, essays, philosophy, history,
06:54what makes you live as a reader?
06:58As a reader, since I was young, reading has been a form of escape.
07:07It was a form of flight.
07:10It didn't mean that I had something to run away from.
07:13But reading allows you to travel, while remaining well-rested on your couch.
07:22There is also the question of character identification.
07:25There is also the question of the transmission of certain values.
07:28I have learned values such as courage, the passion I have for freedom,
07:36and many other values through the characters that have inspired me personally.
07:44But besides that, I don't only read fiction as my academic function as a teacher-researcher.
07:52I also read a lot of essays.
07:54And I realized that teaching literature and helping young people today to understand their place
08:02in a world that is experiencing a multiple crisis,
08:07by reading essays, my reading has helped me to better understand the world,
08:13the dark side as well as the positive side of the world.
08:17Hanan Saidi, thank you very much for accepting our invitation.
08:20I would like to remind you that you are a teacher-researcher at the University of Kadi Ayad
08:26and that you are also co-founder of the African Book Festival here in Marrakech.
08:32Thank you again for accepting our invitation.
08:34And thank you, dear viewers, for your loyalty.
08:37Stay with us.
08:38The information continues on our different channels,
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08:44and of course on our digital media, medianews.com.