Comparative Literature 205 - TWENTIETH CENT LIT OF AFRICA

A study of the major writers of modern Africa with emphasis on several key questions: in what contexts did modern African literature emerge? Is the term "African literature" a useful category? How do African writers challenge Western representations of Africa? How do they articulate the crisis of independence and postcoloniality? How do women writers reshape our understanding of gender and the politics of resistance? Texts may include Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Ng?g? wa Thiong'o's The River Between, Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, Chimanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, Ndebele Njabulo's The Cry of Winnie Mandela, and Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy. We also watch films such as White King, Red Rubber, Black Death,Tsotsi and District 9.