Fiction as Memory: The Great War in Africa – GWAA

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Fiction as Memory: The Great War in Africa – There Came a Time 3…

As mentioned by James Ogude in the ‘Preface’ of Fiction as Memory: The Great War in Africa – There Came a Time 3…, the ‘value of this edited volume by Sérgio Neto and Anne Samson rests on the fact that it seeks to revisit the place of memory in reconstituting alternative meanings and histories from those that are given to us or simply elided’. The 19 chapters, plus an introduction, afterword, and a valuable list of novels and short stories on the First World War in Africa, offer a broader perspective on a subject often neglected. Discussing how fictional literature can (or cannot) answer questions about History and Memory, the book also includes other forms of expression, such as the periodical press, video games, and music. The book considers a wide range of war scenarios, while also giving voice to then-colonised populations and the dynamic role of memory in a continent European powers considered a backwater: from South Africa to Angola and Mozambique, and from Nigeria and Tanzania to Cape Verde. A wide range of themes are also considered alongside memory, such as identity, social standing and agency.

Preface – James Ogude
Introduction: Fiction as Memory – Anne Samson
Media Echoes of Territoriality in the Great War and Nigeria’s Amalgamation Transition  – Philip Adémọ́lá Oláyokú
When the Future Generations Read the History… An Essay on Cape Verde Poetry and the First World War – Sérgio Neto 
The First World War in Portugal and the Longue Durée of Colonial Mnemonic Regime – Sílvia Correira 
Angolan Literature – Francisco Soares
António de Cértima and War Literature in Mozambique
– José Luís Lima Garcia 
By the Light of the Memory Lamp – Sérgio Neto 
Mosquito, A Hero’s Journey in Africa During World War One
– Paulo Cunha 
Raising The African Queen – Anne Samson
Remembering the South African Native Labour Corps in Fiction
– Simon Keable-Elliott 
Writing Distinguished Conduct: A Novel Backstory
– Melvin E. Page
Danes at War in East Africa: The Case of the Blockade Runner SS Kronberg – Bjarne Bendtsen 
Rudolph de Haas: A German Soldier’s Literary Reflections on the East African Campaign – Brian Smith 
German Literature and Colonialism – Alex Capus 
Gaming and the Great War – Joe Jechenthal 
A Historical Perspective of the Impact of War Songs and War Games on West African Soldiers’ Morale during the Great War (1914-1919
– Mohammadtaofeek, Suliyat Olajumoke & Aasa Stephen Seyi 
At All Costs – Peter Terry (posthumous, 10.4.2026) 
Placing South African Novels on the 1914–1918 War in Context
– Anne Samson 
Afterword: The end of the journey? – Sérgio Neto