African Novels: The Bildungsroman and Other Stories of Education and Development

Catalog description

How does formal and informal education shape selves and communities in contemporary Africa? What does it mean for writers to be forced to learn the language and literature of conquerors and colonizers? What happens to local traditions and knowledge in the face of colonialism and globalization? Does migrating across borders teach you something about home? We will have time to consider just a small sample of brilliant works, but we will range as broadly across the continent as we can, including novels, short stories, music, and a few films from Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Mozambique. You will be expected to delve deeply into one local context in your semester-long research project.