2021-2022 Catalog

EWL 365 Reading Contemporary Africa

This course introduces students to a variety of Francophone and Anglophone African narratives, focusing on novels by contemporary Africa-based and diasporic authors such as Ahmadou Kourouma, Ken Bugul, Véronique Tadjo, Ben Okri, Uzodinma Iweala, and Diana Evans.  This class will explore these writings in a number of contexts, including the transition from oral to written storytelling, the tension between African and European languages, the political and social landscapes of contemporary Africa, and the legacy of colonial history.  This class will examine oral narrative traditions to trace their influences on works of imaginative fiction.  Discussions of the novels themselves will focus on a series of key themes, including: childhood, gender, language, migration, conflict, historical representation, political economy, and national identity. 

Credits

3

Cross Listed Courses

Same as FREN 365

Prerequisite

WRIT 102 or WRIT 201 and one previous EWL course