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Academic Year 2000/2001

Topics in Francophone Lit and Culture: Film, Novel, and Popular Culture in Contemporary West Africa
FREN 284 FA

This course will begin a brief introduction to the historical and cultural context in which the contemporary West African literary and cinematographics movements were born: colonization and independence, the Negritude movement, the anthropological films of Jean Rouch. We will then study the works of several West African writers and directors from the 1950s to the present. Our study will be guided by six major themes--the traditional oral culture of the griot,; cultural alienation, social and political criticism, women, a return to the origins, the new generation--and will involve various kinds of "texts": novels, films, documentaries, interviews, music, and so on.

MAJOR READINGS

Djibril Tamsir Niane, SOUNDJATA OU L'EPOPEE MANDINGUE
Cheikh Amidou Kane, L'AVENTURE AMBIGUE
Camara Laye, L'ENFANT NOIR
Sembene Ousmane, XALA
Ahmadou Kourouma, LES SOLEILS DES INDEPENDANCES
Mariama Ba, UNE SI LONGUE LETTRE
Aminata Sow Fall, L'APPEL DES ARENES
Films: Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, AFRIQUE SUR SEINE; Sembene Ousmane, XALA; Safi Faye, MOSSANE; Henri Duparc, BAL POUSSIERE; Adama Drabo, TAAFE FANGA: Souleymane Cisse, YEELEN; Djibril Diop Mambety, TOUKI BOUKI; Dani Kouyate, KEITA! L'HERITAGE DU GRIOT.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

To be announced.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is taught in French. All reading, written assignments and class discussions will be in French. Students should have completed FREN223, FREN224 or another upper level course before enrolling in this one.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

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