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Philosophische FakultätMESH

Kenneth Nsah, PhD (pen name: Nsah Mala)

Kenneth Nsah, PhD, better known by his nom de plume Nsah Mala, has joined the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) as the Hub Coordinator of the newly created UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Global Coalition thematic hub for Planetary Wellbeing, co-hosted by GSSC and MESH in association with the European University for Wellbeing (EUniWell) and the University of Cologne’s Global Responsibility Division. Nsah is an award-winning poet, writer, children’s author, communicator-journalist, consultant, futurist and foresight practitioner, editor and translator, and interdisciplinary scholar. He hails from Mbessa Kingdom in Anglophone Cameroon and writes fluently in English and French and sometimes in his indigenous Mbessa language. A graduate of École Normale Supérieure de Yaoundé and the Universities of Yaoundé 1 (Cameroon), Perpignan Via Domitia (France), St Andrews (UK), and Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Kenneth obtained a PhD in Comparative Literature and Environmental Humanities from Aarhus University (Denmark) in 2022. His doctoral thesis was entitled “Can Literature Save the Congo Basin? Postcolonial Ecocriticism and Environmental Literary Activism.” His thesis has won two prizes so far, including the prestigious 2022 Prix de thèses francophones en Prospective (Prize for Francophone Theses in Foresight and Futures Studies) from Fondation 2100 (France) and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF). Kenneth is a 2023 Next Generation Foresight Practitioner (NGFP) Fellow (Judges’ Choice) at the School of International Futures (SOIF) in the UK, with a foresight project on Congo Basin Climate Futures, and Co-PI in a research project on ‘Wetland Time’ funded by the British Academy.

In addition to numerous poetry collections, poems and stories in magazines and anthologies, Nsah is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes on issues such as marginality, migration, postcolonial ecocriticism, environmental literary activism/artivism, climate and environment, biodiversity conservation, theatre and sustainability. He has given guest lectures and invited talks and presented papers in numerous universities, institutions and conferences across the globe. After a short postdoctoral research position at Radboud University (Netherlands), Nsah held a postdoctoral teaching and research fellowship (ATER) position at the University of Lille (France) before moving to the University of Cologne in 2024.

Contact: knsah[at]uni-koeln.de 
Office: GSSC

 

Selected List of Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

  • Nsah, K. T. /Nsah Mala (2023). “Vanishing Insects & Dying Earth: Reflecting on Insects & Soil in Mbessa (Cameroon).” GeoSemantics, eds. Azucena Castro and Estefanía Bournot, ASAP/Journal.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2023). “Conserving Africa’s Eden? Green Colonialism, Neoliberal Capitalism, and Sustainable Development in Congo Basin Literature.” Humanities 12(3): 38;
  • Nsah, K. T. (2023). “Our Children Will Fight for the Climate: How Congo-Basin Writers Prophesied the Global Youth Climate Movement.” Electronic Green Journal 48(2023).  
  • Nsah, K. T., Malung, L. and Ngunyam, N. (2022): “The Slow Integration of Sustainability into Contemporary Theatre and Performance Practices in Cameroon”. Peripeti Journal, 37(2022): 58-71.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2022). “The Ecopolitics of Water Pollution and Urbanization in Congo-Basin Theatre.” Orbis Litterarum, 77, 314– 332.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2021). “The Return of Bush Fallers: Cameroon Anglophone Fiction Responds to Clandestine Immigration.” Postcolonial Text, 16:1(2021): 1-24.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2020). “Of Dogs, Horses and Buffalos in Cameroon: Companion Animals in Cameroonian Fiction.” In Reading Cats and Dogs: Companion Animals in World Literature, eds. F. Besson et al. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020, pp. 169-188.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2019). “The Screaming Forest: An Ecocritical Assessment of Le Cri de la foret.” Ecological In(ter)ventions in the Francophone World, eds. Anne-Rachel Hermetet & Stephanie Posthumus, Ecozon@, 10:2(2019): 58-75.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2018). “’No Forest, No Water. No Forest, No Animals’: An Ecocritical Reading of Ekpe Inyang’s The Hill Barbers.” Ecozon@, 9:1(2018): 94-110.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2017). “Triple Marginality in Cameroon Anglophone Literature.” In Rewriting Pasts, Imagining Futures: Critical Explorations of Contemporary African Fiction and Theatre, eds. Victor Gomia and Gilbert Ndi.  Colorado: Spears Media Press, 2017, pp. 96-110.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2015). “Eco-Cultural Sensitivity in John Nkengasong’s Njogobi Festival and Nol Alembong’s Forest Echoes.” Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture (JELLiC), 4:1(2015): 37-58.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2015). “Black Prophesies on White Soils and Ears: A Reading of Joyce Ashuntantang’s ‘The Clairvoyant.’” Modern Research Studies, 2:3(2015): 502-514.

Other Publications (Public-Facing Articles, Book Reviews, Op-Eds)

  • Nsah, K. (2023). “African Union: Climate Action Offers Organisation Unique Chance for Revival.” The Conversation, France.
  • Nsah, K. (2023). “L’action climatique peut-elle redorer l’image de l’Union africaine ?” The Conversation, France.
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “There is no such thing as African literature.” Weekendavisen (in Danish translation)
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “La situation linguistique et littéraire du Cameroun, l’Afrique en miniature.” FranskNYT, No. 282, octobre 2022, pp. 22-23
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “The role of English and local languages in communication and public diplomacy about the Congo Basin.” Pan African Visions.
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “La littérature du bassin du Congo offre des piste pour faire face à la crise climatique.” The Conversation, Africa.
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “Literature from the Congo Basin Offers Ways to Address the Climate Crisis.” The Conversation, Africa.
  • Nsah, K. (2022). “Mbessa: The Cameroonian Language that Refused to Be Swallowed by Kom.” Lingoblog Denmark (www.lingoblog.dk)
  • Nsah, K. (2021). “COP26: As Congo Basin Communities and Projects Await Blue Funds.” ERA Environnement, Comoros/France.
  • Nsah, K. (2020). “The Virality of Letters: the Covid-19 Literary Archive Keeps Growing.” Corona Times, South Africa.
  • Nsah, K. (2020). “Alleged corruption in academic appointments highlights Cameroon's PhD Glut.” Times Higher Education, UK.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2020). John Charles Ryan, Plants in Contemporary Poetry: Ecocriticism and The Botanical Imagination, New York and London: Routledge, 2018, 256 p. Book Review. Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, 43:1(2020): 197-200.
  • Nsah, K. (2019). “Comment expliquer la timide mobilisation de la jeunesse africaine pour le climat ?” The Conversation, France.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2017). Noel B. Salazar and Nina Glick Schiller (eds.), Regimes of Mobility: Imaginaries and Relationalities of Power, London: Routledge, 2014, 151 pp. Book Review. Modern Research Studies, 4:3(2017): 437-439.
  • Nsah, K. T. (2017). Keith Somerville, Ivory: Power and Poaching in Africa. London: C. Hurst & Co Publishers, 2016, 325 pp. Book Review. African Studies Quarterly, 17:3(2017): 119-121.


Creative Writing and Translation

Poetry Collections

  • Nsah Mala (2019). Les Pleurs du mal (Spears Media Press) – FR Poetry
  • Nsah Mala (2024/2017). Constimocrazy: Malafricanising Democracy (Vita Books/Pski’s Porch) – EN Poetry
  • Nsah Mala (2016). If You Must Fall Bush (Langaa RPCIG) – EN Poetry
  • Nsah Mala (2015). Bites of Insanity (Langaa RPCIG) – EN Poetry
  • Nsah Mala (2012). Chaining Freedom (Miraclaire Publishing LLC) – EN Poetry
  • Nsah Mala & Bizo Chirasha (2020). Corpses of Unity – Cadavres de l’unité (Vita Books) – EN & FR Poetry

Picture Books for Children (and Self Translations)

  • Nsah Mala (2022). Explore Animal Sounds with Little Nain (NMI-Education)
  • Nsah Mala (2022/2020). Andolo, the Talented Boy with Albinism (Vita Books/Akoma Mba)
  • Nsah Mala (2020). Andolo, l’albinos talentueux (Akoma Mba), written in English as Andolo, the Talented Albino and self-translated into French
  • Nsah Mala (2020). Little Gabriel Starts to Read (Spears Books), written in French as Le petit Gabriel commence à lire (Éds. Stellamaris, 2020) and self-translated into English

Translated Literary Books by Other Authors    

  • Nsah Mala (2022). The Forest Must Scream (Spears Books), translated from French (Le Cri de la forêt) into English – an environmental play
  • Nsah Mala (2020). Un Combattant du Coronavirus (Yeehoo Press), translated from English (Be a Coronavirus Fighter) into French – a free-to-download picture book