''Transition Magazine'' was established in 1961 by

Rajat Neogy Rajat Neogy (December 17, 1939 – December 3, 1995),Paul Theroux ''The Independent'', 15 January 1996, a Ugandan of Indian Bengali ancestry, was a writer, poet and publisher. In Kampala in 1961, at the age of 22, he founded '' Transition Magazine' ...

as ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''. It was published from 1961 to 1976 in various countries on the African continent, and since 1991 in the United States. In recent years it has been published between twice and four times per year by Indiana University Press, since 2013 on behalf of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

History

Upon his 1961 return to

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda, from studies in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 22-year-old

established ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''.Julius Sigei and Ciugu Mwagiru
"Humble magazine that nurtured Africa’s thinkers"
'' Daily Nation'', 1 December 2012. Unbeknownst and much to the dismay of Neogy, the magazine was partially funded by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an anti-communist advocacy group tied to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. ''Transition'' served as a major literary platform of East African writers and intellectuals during the Cold War.Origins of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, 1949-50
/ref> In 1962,

Christopher Okigbo Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo (16 August 1932 – 1967) was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as an outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet an ...

was appointed as editor of a West African edition. In 1968, the Ugandan government jailed Neogy for sedition; the magazine had criticized President

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to ...

's proposed constitutional reforms. After Neogy's release, the magazine began publication in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

from 1971. Nigerian writer

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

became editor in 1973, but in 1976 the magazine was forced to cease publication for financial reasons.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

, previously a frequent contributor to ''Transition'' when published in Ghana, revived the magazine in 1991. Under his leadership, ''Transition'' evolved into "an international magazine about race and culture, with an emphasis on the African diaspora". It is not clear when the journal was first published in the US, but since the Hutchins Center was established in 2013, it has supported publication of the journal. the editor is Alejandro de la Fuente. Soyinka is chair of the editorial board, and Gates and Kwame Anthony Appiah are named as the publishers. All back issues are available via JSTOR, with issue descriptions available from Issue 102 (2010) on the Hutchins website.

Former editors

Former editors include: *

* Henry Finder * Michael C. Vazquez * F. Abiola Irele * Laurie Calhoun * Tommie Shelby * Glenda Carpio * Vincent Brown

References

External links

* {{African American press, state=collapsed Magazines established in 1961 Magazines published in Africa Political magazines published in the United States African-American magazines Harvard University Literary magazines published in the United States 1961 establishments in Uganda Mass media in Kampala Triannual magazines published in the United States Magazines published in Boston CIA activities in Africa Congress for Cultural Freedom

History

Former editors

See also

References

External links