ERC advanced grant to African Studies project - ASCL collaborates in Almeda: African Literary Metadata

The project Almeda: African Literary Metadata, convened by Professor Ashleigh Harris of Uppsala University, has received an ERC grant. The European Research Council has awarded this advanced grant for a period of five years. Ursula Oberst of the ASCL Library will take part in it and contribute to Almeda with her metadata expertise. 

The project will produce new metadata about African literature. Most of the available metadata on contemporary literature is based on published books, while African literature also includes informal literary forms, such as word poetry, street theatre and a variety of online forms. The goal of the project is to make African literature better findable by creating and linking metadata.

‘This project is an attempt to respond to the problem that a large part of African literary culture is easily lost. In addition, the project will explore how the Western world’s contemporary understanding of the concept of “literature” has developed alongside colonialism,’ says Harris.

Read more about the ALMEDA project.