- Transition Magazine
"Transition Magazine" is a magazine which was published from 1961 to 1976 and revived in 1991, founded by
Rajat Neogy (1938–1995), aUganda n ofIndia n ancestry.History
In 1961, at the age of twenty-two, Neogy founded "Transition Magazine: An International Review" in
Kampala ,Uganda . Transition was designed to be the literary organ ofEast African writers and intellectuals. Transition quickly became Africa's leading intellectual magazine, publishing such diverse figures as Tanzanian presidentJulius Nyerere , South African novelistNadine Gordimer (Nobel laureate), Nigerian novelistChinua Achebe , and Americans James Baldwin andPaul Theroux .In 1968, the Ugandan government jailed Neogy for sedition; the magazine had criticized President
Milton Obote 's proposed constitutional reforms. After Neogy's release, Transition was revived inGhana in 1971. Nobel laureateWole Soyinka took over as editor in 1973. During Soyinka's tenure, Transition became still more contentious: the cover of one issue sported a cartoon image of Ugandan dictatorIdi Amin , with "Karasi!" ("Finish Him!") written across his face. Transition continued to make a name - as well as enemies - for itself until its demise in 1976.Today
Henry Louis Gates, Jr , a student of Soyinka's at Cambridge University and a frequent contributor to the Ghanaian Transition, brought the magazine back to life in 1991. Now based in the United States, Transition bills itself as "an international review of politics, culture, and ethnicity fromBeijing toBujumbura ." Gates is philosophical about the magazine's expanded purview: "Africa is thoroughly in the world and the world is in Africa", he observes. "Transition reflects the centrality of both to each other"."Transition Magazine" is currently edited by Gates and
Kwame Anthony Appiah , with Soyinka Chairman of the Editorial Board. Transition was published quarterly bySoft Skull Press inNew York , and is now published byIndiana University Press . Beginning with the first issue of 2008, it announced it would appear three times each year in a 176-page format.External links
* [http://www.transitionmagazine.com Transition Magazine]
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