This special issue introduces “Chinese African Literaturology: The New Quality Idea,” a pioneering theoretical framework developed by Professor Zhu Zhenwu that challenges Western epistemological hegemony in African literary studies. The introduction examines how this paradigm shift from Eurocentric perspectives toward multipolar knowledge production fundamentally remaps world literature. This intellectual project demonstrates how Chinese scholars can develop independent theoretical frameworks rooted in non-Western intellectual traditions while engaging African literature through sustained fieldwork, cultural contextualization, and collaborative practice. By foregrounding African agency and Chinese perspectives as co-equal partners in knowledge production, this framework contributes to genuinely pluralistic world literature studies that honor cultural specificity, foster civilizational dialogue, and challenge the center-periphery dynamics that have historically marginalized Global South literatures. The issue marks a significant moment in comparative literature’s evolution toward epistemological decolonization and equitable intercultural exchange.

Prof. Zhu Zhenwu, a prominent translator and scholar of world literature in China, has captured great attention and accolades among his peers for introducing his concepts of “non-mainstream literature,” “four major diasporas,” and “Africanness” based on his perceptions about mutual learning between civilizations and the significance of cultural diversity. In his recent studies, he has made amazing yet timely significant stride in pioneering a new field of literary studies with his theory on what has been termed as the “Chinese African Literaturology: The New Quality Idea,” namely, the Chinese studies of African literature. So far, his groundbreaking work and his grand vision for this field have garnered enthusiastic response and widespread support from numerous scholars of world literature. The reason lies in their shared commitment to incorporating the adumbrated and marginalized African literature into the new system of world literature and redrawing the landscape of world literature studies. This article tries to clarify the definition of Prof. Zhu’s theory of “Chinese African Literaturology: the New Quality Idea”.

Prof. Zhu Zhenwu, a pioneering scholar in Chinese comparative literature, has redefined global literary studies through his transformative research philosophy, which challenges Eurocentric paradigms while fostering transcultural reciprocity. Central to his work is the construction of Chinese African literaturology: the New Quality Idea, a theoretical framework that integrates four core pillars: (1) Africanness, emphasizing African literature’s role in reclaiming cultural sovereignty and resisting colonial narratives; (2) Four Major Diasporas, to address intra-continental hybridity and post-return alienation among African intellectuals; (3) Balanced Absorption, advocating balanced engagement between global and local literary traditions; and (4) Coexistence and Symbiosis of Cultures, envisioning literature as a catalyst for intercultural harmony. Zhu’s scholarship transcends adversarial binaries in postcolonial theory. Prioritizing “problem consciousness” over abstract universalism, Zhu’s work reimagines world literature as a networked ecosystem of pluralistic co-creation, displacing hierarchical oppositions with transcultural solidarity. His scholarship not only deconstructs entrenched asymmetries but also charts a transformative path for global humanities, one where marginalized narratives and mainstream discourses coexist as interdependent forces of civilizational renewal.

As a leading scholar in contemporary Chinese translation practice and theoretical research, Prof. Zhu Zhenwu is distinguished by his profound erudition that bridges Chinese and Western scholarship. A prolific translator with mature theoretical insights, he has forged a unique academic paradigm through synthesizing ancient and modern wisdom while transcending disciplinary boundaries. His scholarly endeavors, based on a strong sense of cultural confidence and cultural consciousness, are nourished by traditional Chinese learning. This intellectual foundation enables his translation research to embody both deep-rooted indigenous convictions and profound humanistic concerns for world culture. A probe into his academic trajectory from translation practice to theoretical construction, the present paper aims at exploring his translation philosophy unique of its own. It is believed that his distinctive conceptual frameworks of translation studies can also reveal the developmental trends of contemporary translation studies.

From the perspective of Chinese African literature, with the core concepts of the “Four Major Diasporas” and theories related to “Africanness,” the famous writer Doris Lessing is more of an African writer than a British writer. The characterisation, narrative setting and thematic implications of novels such as her masterpiece The Grass Is Singing are closely focused on Africa, making them typical African literary works. The multiple literary imaginations of Africa in the work reflect the spiritual sustenance and meaning of life of African colonisers, and the characteristics of the era and regional characteristics are reflected in the novel’s author, characters and value identification. This typical African and diasporic nature is an important reason why Lessing’s novels are among the classics of world literature.

African Literature Studies (Ten-Volume Series) represents a significant achievement in the discourse innovation and critical practices of Chinese African Literaturology. With an expansive scope, large scale, and novel perspectives, it stands as a pioneering work in China’s comprehensive exploration of African literature. Rooted in the theoretical foundation of Chinese African Literaturology and viewed through the lens of Chinese scholars, this series redefines African writers and their literary creations and significantly broadens and deepens the horizons of African literary studies, filling a substantial gap in global research. By doing so, it contributes Chinese wisdom and strength to the construction of a more open, inclusive, and diverse world literary landscape.

This article examines the poetics of reincarnation and identity erasure in the Emirati al-Shaʿalī’s 2020 novel The Living, the Living. It argues that new forms of colonization reappear in the twenty-first century, including the transfer of the protagonist Yaḥyā’s memory by a British center into the body of Joseph, a British veteran. The center claims to promote “peace” and prevent “terrorism,” but Yaḥyā’s role is revealed to be that of a spy reporting on Arab students and other immigrants in the UK. The protagonist repeatedly rebels against the roles assigned by the center by returning to his identity as an Emirati, a decolonial act demonstrating his determination to cling to his roots, memories, and history. Al-Shaʿalī’s novel thus challenges neo-imperialist strategies of recolonizing the Other by featuring a diverse protagonist who rewrites, redefines, and ultimately deconstructs Western forms of power embodied by the British center and the emergence of highly advanced technology that may violate the human body. Therefore, the center’s goal to “copy” the memories of an Arab and “paste” them onto the body of a British veteran is an unethical practice that exposes the dangers of science. Nevertheless, al-Shaʿalī’s novel, as a piece of postcolonial science fiction, subverts scientific and technological discourses to reveal the horrific reality of neo-imperialism that targets the minds in the Global South.

This essay reconceives Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah through the lens of affective infrastructure theory—defined as the assemblages of material and immaterial systems that generate, channel, and regulate emotional intensities. Departing from identity-based and postcolonial readings, it argues that the novel’s portrayal of migration, belonging, and racialization is shaped by everyday infrastructures—hair salons, internet cafés, public transit, immigration offices—that scaffold diasporic life and mediate embodied feeling. Grounded in close textual analysis and infrastructural humanities, the essay traces Ifemelu’s encounters with these sites: how salon rituals encode Black hair politics and self-valuation; how digital platforms forge diasporic intimacy amid precarity; how bureaucratic delays inscribe slow, cumulative racialization. These case studies reveal how logistical systems generate affective economies of hope, estrangement, and endurance. Further, the essay contends that Americanah’s formal structure—letters, blog entries, internal monologues, visa delays—functions as narrative infrastructure, dramatizing the contingencies of global Black mobility while critiquing the systems that produce racialized precarity. By defining affective infrastructure and tracing its operation in Americanah, this study reframes the novel as an anatomy of the material, emotional, and bureaucratic undercurrents that shape transnational Black life, offering new directions for migration studies, Black Atlantic scholarship, and the cultural politics of infrastructure.

Walter Scott was a renowned writer with a strong legal background. This paper aims to explore the legal expertise evident in his literary works and the unique value of his narrative regarding law in his series of novels. The author argues that Scott demonstrates exceptional artistic talent in his depiction of historical events and legal concepts, clearly indicating that he is a literary genius influenced by the field of law. Scott’s historical novels are closely intertwined with legal themes, using a legal perspective to examine history while also scrutinizing legal matters through the lens of historical accuracy. The depiction of legal events in Scott’s works serves not only as a crucial structural element but also enhances the portrayal of characters. By examining Scott’s literary works through the framework of legal literary criticism, readers can gain a deeper understanding of his creative tendencies and the rich legal ideas embedded within his writings.

This paper examines how, through specific categories of experience, memory and imagination, people interpret and mentally visualise physical environments. It brings together depictions of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, as found in Latvian periodicals printed from the 1940s to the 1990s by Latvian visitors. The study explores perceptions and representations of the city associated with an unfamiliar urban area by an observer who consciously or unconsciously selects, prioritises, and interprets the significance of the observed. By employing thematic analysis as a methodology, the research identifies patterns and themes that uncover a multi-layered image of the city showcasing its unique architecture, historical landmarks, and vibrant cultural scene within its cultural and historical context. The portrayal of Yerevan in Latvian printed media during the Soviet era, influenced by censorship and propaganda, was characterised by stereotypes and framed through monumentalism and advancement, making it somewhat monolithic. Although visitors’ experiences and perceptions were seemingly subjective and individualised, in reality, being so-called “socialist experiences”, they were meant to represent the interests of the Soviet power and a unified Soviet worldview. However, the homogeneous model of Yerevan gradually transformed as a greater number of articles highlighted previously overlooked or fragmented aspects and cultural markers related to the most important archetypes of national identity, including its spiritual heritage and sacred architecture. Thus, the “foreign” (communist) metatext was gradually deconstructed and replaced by “one’s own” (national) metatext which testifies to the city’s capacity for introspection and renewal through intellectual experience. The sensory experiences of the city (colours, shapes, sounds, smells, etc.) have consistently been vividly depicted, showcasing it as a distinctive and multifaceted cultural environment.

Set in Singapore and weaving together the lives of three women, Sharlene Teo’s debut novel Ponti (2021) critiques the patriarchal construction of female bodies within the frameworks of beauty and consumption. Drawing from concepts in l’écriture du corps (writing the body) and revisionist mythmaking, this article explores the novel’s sustained criticism of gendered body policing through three metaphorical elements: the spectacle, referring to the embedded filmic text within the novel that serves as metafictional commentary on the myth of femalehood; the specter, embodying the hyperliteral erasure of women in the public sphere; and the stomach, symbolizing the regulation of women’s eating habits and the perpetuation of an ideal physicality which result in disordered consumption. This analysis reveals how the body as a locus of power is subjected to control and, albeit not without complications, functions simultaneously as a vehicle for resistance. In seeking to unpack modes of resistance writing achieved through representations of consumption and the female body, this study positions three metaphorical constructs as categories of analysis for reading contemporary writings of the body in feminist literature.