01  T 7, 8   LIV   67215  BUSIA   LSH-B205

02   TTH4  CAC   73127  GLISERMAN  HH-A6

01-ReMembering Africa

This course focuses on the ways in which Africa is remembered, as legacy and metaphor, in late twentieth century Black literature and culture. With reference to a wide range of cultural texts such as Quilts, Paintings and Collages, Sculpture, Music and Cookery Books, this course will focus on the literature of Black Women of Africa and her Diaspora. We will explore the ways in which women cultural workers in the latter half of the century incorporate a range of non-verbal references and cues into the ways they negotiate history and memory in their fictional works.  Juxtaposing works such as Toni Morrison's Beloved with the Sculpture of Alsion Saar and Luba memory Boards, or Assia Djebar’s Fantasia with postcards of the Colonial Harem and the paintings of Delacroix, we will look at the multiple ways in which contemporary novels try to re-inscribe the stories of forgotten people and teach us to appreciate the alternative histories of the communities and nations within which their fictions are set.

Primary Texts will be selected from:

Yvette Christanse, Unconfessed

Maryse Conde, Segu

Assia Djebar, Fantasia

Sandra Jackson-Opoku, The River Where Blood Is Born

J. Nozipo Maraire, Zenzele: A Letter for my Daughter

Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Ntozake Shange,  If I Can Cook/You Know God Can

Course Requirements

Reading the Required Texts and Active Participation in Class and Group Discussion

Two Short Papers Responsive Papers and Group Presentations

One Final Project or Research Paper

02-This course will investigate two African American novels—Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Nella Larsen’s Passing.  We will be reading critical and theoretical essays that focus on the novels themselves and their historical-cultural contexts. We will be investigating a method of reading literature using computer software, as a way of developing an evidence-based method of reading. Both novels, for example, are concerned with the nature of identity—e.g., in terms of race and gender—so one question we will consider is how is identity semantically woven into the text. Working with both texts will allow us to see how differently they are constructed as we examine the depiction of the city, the body, affects, relationships dynamics and the like.

The course work will involve informal weekly writing, and several longer (5-8 page) formal papers, and regular presentations.