Lecture (LEC)

• IUB GenEd A&H credit
• IUB GenEd World Culture credit
• COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inq
• COLL (CASE) Global Civ & Cultr

• IUB GenEd World Culture credit
• IUB GenEd A&H credit
• COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit
• COLL (CASE) Global Civ & Culture credit

This course is designed to introduce students to primary, foundational texts of African literature, traditional as well as contemporary, in such genres as the novel, poetry, autobiography, and drama. While looking at the broad historical conditions of African literatures and cultures, including educational and bureaucratic influences, students will also engage with topical issues such as identity politics, questions about language, audience, the nature of art, and new directions in African writing. In this multi-genre, multi-period course, we will look at the traditional forms generally grouped under oral literature from different regions of the continent, and how the continent¿s experience of European languages has both shaped and been shaped by the literatures. There will also be a handful of critical writings and manifestoes about African politics and culture, especially at the crucial periods of decolonization (early 1950s) and its nadir in the late 1970s. Some of these will be used first to frame the entire course, and others as critical introductions to each thematic and/or topical issue developed in specific texts. Search tags: African literature, new writing and social media, communication and digital culture, poetic styles, politics