FR 580SEM - African and Caribbean Literature

This course covers works by modern writers from Africa, the greater Caribbean, and their interconnecting diasporas and transnational contexts. A close look at storytelling traditions, aesthetic conventions, philosophical movements, and socio-political transformations helps students understand the ways in which texts of varied genres are created. Students also compare works in order to tease out the differences and similarities in literature across African and Caribbean cultures. They also relate them to movements and concepts like exotisme, la tradition orale, négritude, décolonisation, créolisation, rituel, littérature-monde. By the end of the course students can articulate what it means to discuss terms like Africa,Caribbean,diaspora, and transnational, and how the contact of world cultures shape their contours. They also gain a more thorough comprehension of the thought, lived experience, and artistic expression that lead to the writing of African and Caribbean literature.

Credits: 3