BASE DE DATOS DE LITERATURA AFRICANA PUBLICADA EN ESPAÑA

La base de datos BDAFRICA nace al detectar la necesidad de un repositorio que incluya los autores africanos publicados en castellano en España que permita, por ende, realizar estudios cuantitativos y cualitativos del impacto de la literatura africana en nuestro país con la precisión deseable. Esto supone una carencia tanto para investigaciones académicas como para el sector editorial a la hora de analizar tendencias de selección y recepción en el mercado.

Ante esta situación, el objetivo primordial del trabajo que aquí presentamos es diseñar e implementar una base de datos, basada en MySQL, delimitada por unos parámetros muy concretos, que recoja todas las obras de autores africanos publicadas en España entre 1972 (año en que España se unió al sistema ISBN) y 2019.

De este modo, la finalidad de esta investigación es doble: por un lado, pretendemos facilitar la tarea de jóvenes investigadores que se enfrentan por primera vez a estudios de literatura poscolonial en España y no tienen acceso a un repositorio estructurado compilado a tal efecto; por otro lado, la base de datos permitirá por primera vez hacer un tratamiento estadístico de la evolución que ha sufrido la publicación de obras de autores africanos en España en estos 47 años.

Esta base de datos está registrada en la Biblioteca Nacional con el ISSN 2659-7888.

Editado en Málaga por María Remedios Fernández Ruiz

DATABASE OF AFRICAN LITERATURE PUBLISHED IN SPAIN

Inherent features of African postcolonial literature have hampered reception quantification, which is even more often neglected in countries with limited experience of African decolonization processes. We have evidenced  the absence of a repository or database that compiles the publications of Postcolonial African writing in Spain, thus precluding comprehensive quantitative or qualitative studies on the impact of these works. This is a significant obstacle for both academic research and the book market, which up to now has been unable to analyse market selection and reception trends.

To cater for this need, we have designed and implemented a relational database, based on MySQL and set up using specific and accurate parameters, that includes all the literary works penned by African writers and published in Spain and in Spanish from 1972 (when Spain first joined the ISBN system) to 2019. After determining a number of specific design criteria and compilation protocols, the methodology has been divided into four steps: data collection, storage, statistical processing and online dissemination. Thus, the database BDAFRICA achieves a twofold objective: firstly, it provides researchers with unbiased data as a framework for their studies, and secondly, it offers unprecedented statistics on the evolution of the publication of African literature in Spain over the last 47 years.

This has been exemplified through the Spanish case, where there was no quantitative data available to report on current reception trends. Hence, by compiling and exploiting the BDAFRICA database, a relevant specialized bibliographical research tool, we have provided an unparalleled study that covers 47 years of African literature reception in Spain (1972–2019).

Quantitative information that is subject to a descriptive analysis has been selected from BDAFRICA. The results provide clear evidence of the sustained increase in the production of African fiction books and offer academia unparalleled data, thereby opening the door to manifold research lines.