Course info

In this course, selected literary texts (such as novels, short stories, plays, poetry and critical essays) from the 20^th and 21^st centuries and across different regions on the African continent and the African Diaspora )e.g. (Brazil) will be read, discussed and analyzed through the lens of postcolonial theory, including questions of language, writing back/rewriting, and hybrid aesthetics. Students will acquire an overview on important developments in postcolonial African literatures; they will be enabled to discuss texts critically, to identify postcolonial aesthetics and political agendas at different crucial moments of literary history. This class will be taught conjointly by Félix Ayoh'Omidire (University of Ile-Ife & currently guest professor at IAAW) and Susanne Gehrmann, thus combing approaches from an African and a European scholar’s perspective and bringing different regional foci into the classroom. Professor Omidire’s expertise in Anglophone Nigerian and Lusophone literatures will thus be combined with Gehrmann’s focus on francophone West and Central African literatures. Southern Africa and Eastern African literatures will also be touched upon. Original texts in Portuguese, French, Yoruba or Swahili shall be provided in English or German translation.  In order to include more authors and oeuvres, the technique of cross-readings of different texts by students in groups may be used. Active class participation and the submission of two short essays during the semester is required.