ENGL 306 - Memory and History in African Literature

Institution:

Trinity College

Subject:

Description:

Through the close reading of eight works by African writers-encompassing a variety of forms and genres, touching on traditional Africa as well as contemporary ideas-the course will explore the variety of styles, forms, and themes in African writing. The course will examine narrative strategies, aesthetic choices, and the broader historical forces and cultural experiences informing the work of African writers. A good deal of the class will be devoted to exploring each writer's engagement with a facet of Africa's historical or post-colonial experience, and how each author seeks to reshape historical experience in fiction, drama, or memoir. We shall also investigate writers' use of memory, their integration of folktale in their narrative, and their experimentation with the wider resources of orature. We will pay attention to the tension between the individual and community, how each text defines private and public spheres, and how each writer responds to the Euro-American canon. Through the texts, we will explore such broad subjects as the roots and impact of slavery; fault lines in indigenous African societies; the colonial subjugation of Africa; the emergence of neo-colonial nation-states in Africa; post-colonial anxieties and disillusionment, and the evolution of gender relations. For the English major, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature written after 1800, or a course emphasizing cultural context 1.00 units, Lecture

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.Trincoll.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 297-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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