Module Identifier |
EN34320 |
Module Title |
POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH |
Academic Year |
2006/2007 |
Co-ordinator |
Professor Timothy S Woods |
Semester |
Intended for use in future years |
Next year offered |
N/A |
Next semester offered |
N/A |
Course delivery |
Seminars / Tutorials | 20 Hours. Seminar. 10 x 2 hrs |
Assessment |
Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
Semester Assessment | Continuous Assessment: 2 essays (2,500 words each) | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. Where this involves re-submission of work, a new topic must be selected. | |
|
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, student should typically be able to:
1. critically review and appraise the main issue in debates about African Literature;
2. relate the principal theories and practices of African postcolonial theory to the set texts;
3. describe and analyse the broad stylistic concerns of African literary forms;
4. demonstrate an understanding of the development of South African literature in its historical and political contexts;
5. exercise critical judgement on the range of literary material chosen for study;
6. engage in coherent oral discussion of the texts and background material;
7. discuss and illustrate the subject in a well-structured and argued manner.
Brief description
This option will introduce students to African literatures written in English, in the context of recent debates in postcolonial theory. It will focus upon writing and national identity, colonialism and memory and the representations of racism in African writing. Section A will concentrate on East and West African writing, and Section B will scrutinise South African writing, and the politics of apartheid and its aftermath.
Content
Section A - EAST AND WEST AFRICA: "LEARNING ME YOUR LANGUAGE"
Seminar 1: Africa and Colonialism
-
Introduction: Africa and its (post)colonial history
Seminars 2 & 3: Theorising Colonialism: Language and National Identity
-
Text: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Petals of Blood
Seminar 4: Chinua Achebe - "Man of Two Worlds"
-
Text: Chinua Achebe, No Longer at Ease
Seminar 5: African Women Writing
-
Text: Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
Section B - SOUTH AFRICA: "AFRIKA MAYIBUYE"
Seminar 6: Sophiatown and "District Six": Township Renaissance and Resistance
-
Text: Alex La Guma, The Time of the Butcherbird
Seminar 7: Post-Sharpeville Protest
-
Text: Mbulelo Mzamane (ed.), Hungry Flames and Other Black South African Short Stories
Seminar 8: 1970s: Black Consciousness and the Soweto Era
-
Text: Adam Schwartzman (ed.), Ten South African Poets
Seminar 9. Where Do Whites Fit In?
-
Text: Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter
Seminar 10: Post-Apartheid Narratives?
-
Text: Mandla Langa, The Memory of Stones
Reading Lists
Books
** Should Be Purchased
Adam Schwartzman (ed.) (1999) Ten South African Poets
Carcanet
Alex La Guma (1986) The Time of the Butcherbird
Heinemann
Chinua Achebe (1990) No Longer at Ease
Heinemann
Mandla Langa (2000) The Memory of Stones
David Philip Publishers
Mbulelo Mzamane (ed.) (1986) Hungry Flames and Other Black South African Short Stories
Longman
Nadine Gordimer (2000) Burger's Daughter
Bloomsbury
Ngugi wa Thiong'o (2002) Petals of Blood
Penguin
Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988) Nervous Conditions
The Women's Press
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6