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West Africa is endowed with interesting, rich and complex literary and cultural entanglements. This seminar will examine the long, complex, and engaging narratives of political, social and cultural encounters that have shaped past and contemporary West African literature. In doing so, the course will explore early literary traditions by examining how such literature has transformed across time. The course will further examine how this literary transformation highlights the cultural changes that this region of Africa has experienced. What kind of literary genres and aesthetics of writing are produced from cultural changes? How do these affect the enactment and understanding of identity? What narratological approaches are relevant for the analysis of such literature? The class will not limit itself to the critique of identity as far as politics, culture and history are concerned, but will also engage gender dynamics and sexuality which have engendered complex theoretical debates in West Africa literary discourses. To be able to deal neatly with these issues, the course will employ narrative strategies, specifically time and space, to discuss cultural productions from Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali etc in order to explore performance tradition, the novel, drama, poetry, and short stories emanating from this region of Africa. |
