ENGL 231 - Introduction to African Literature

Credits: (3)
College Curriculum: COLL 200
Domain (Anchored): ALV
Domain (Reaching Out): CSI

This course is an introductory survey of literature from the continent of Africa. We will read selected texts (fiction, drama, and poetry) produced by African authors in the modern age, particularly from the 20th century till date. Texts to be studied are written in English or translated into English from other languages. The course will examine how the texts have attempted to capture a wide range of themes across the continent from pre-colonial era to the present. Of particular concern will be the attitude of the selected texts to various issues (colonialism, ethnicity, race, religion, culture conflict, politics, gender, class, modernity, and neo-colonialism etc.) and how the issues tend to overlap or differ at various historical moments in the texts under investigation. Theoretical and critical writings will be read alongside literary texts.