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Access
Students with a disability have a right to an equal opportunity
to participate and benefit from programs offered at OSU.
Students who choose to exercise these rights have a
responsibility to initiate and participate in the accommodation
process. Students have a responsibility to identify themselves
as needing accommodation in a timely fashion.
Course Description
Throughout the semester, we will not only study the aesthetic particularities of African
Literature, we will also discuss important themes in African studies such as class, gender,
religion, tradition, modernity, colonization, decolonization, nation, and nationality, etc.,
in pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial African thought. We will also determine, in a
historical perspective, the discursive practices in African thought from pre-colonial
Africa to the present.
Course Objectives
This course attempts to introduce students to the study of African Literature. At the end
of this class students will be familiar with the main genres of African Literature and with
important themes that have dominated African thought. They will also develop an
informed appreciation of different manifestations of being and different understandings
of the world in African societies such as Malinke, Wolof, Igbo, etc.
Instructional Method
Students will be asked to do oral and written exercices in class and at home
Students will be required to make presentations
We may have both pop quizzes and scheduled tests
You will receive a deduction in grade for any late work.
Need Help? I am always ready and eager to meet with you during my office hours
or by appointment. Do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Academic Integrity
The OSU Student Code of Conduct, chapter 3335-25 identifies prohibited types of
behavior, please read and familiarize yourself with this section. This is your
responsibility as an OSU.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about what is or is not plagiarism. I'm
always happy to help students who make a good-faith effort to do things right.
Attendance
- After the first unexcused absence, each subsequent absence will result in
lowering your final papers grade by half a letter grade.
~An excused absence is an absence justified by a doctors note
Evaluation
I- Participation 15%
4/5- A
3/5- B
2/5- C
II-Presentation : 10%
II - Paper 1: 35%
Paper 2 : 40%
Note
Course Schedule
Week 1:
Tuesday August 22: No class, I will be at a conference
Thursday August 24: Film, The Heritage of the Griot
Week 2:
Tuesday August 29: Sundiata 1
Thursday August 31: Sundiata 2
II-Literature and History: The Colonial Encounter and the Invention of Africa
Week 3:
Tuesday September 5: Lost Civilizations: Africa
Thursday September 7: Things Fall Apart1-74
Week 4:
Tuesday September 12: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart 75-125
Thursday September 14: Things Fall Apart 126-156
III-Womens voices
Week 5:
Tuesday September 19: Things Fall Apart 156-End
Week 6:
Tuesday September 26: The Joys of Motherhood, Chapter 1-6
Week 7:
Tuesday, October 3: The Joys of Motherhood, Chapter 11-13
Week 8:
Tuesday, October 10: The Joys of Motherhood, Chapter 15-18
Thursday, October 12: Autumn break
Week 9:
Tuesday, October 17: Film Camp de Thiaroye
Week 10
Tuesday, October 24, Gods Bits of Wood
Thursday, October 26: Gods Bits of Wood
Week 11:
Tuesday, October 31: Gods Bits of Wood
Week 12:
Tuesday, November 7: Film
Thursday, November 9: Ambiguous Adventure
Week 13:
Tuesday, November 14: Ambiguous Adventure
Week 14:
Tuesday, November 21: Ambiguous Adventure
Week 15:
Tuesday, November 28: Presentations
Week 16
Last Day of Class
Djibril Tamsir Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, Pearson; Revised Edition edition
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 50th anniversary edition, Anchor Books
Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Ambiguous Adventure, Heinemann
Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood Pearson; Revised edition (September 4,
2008)
Sembene Ousmane, Gods Bits of Wood, Pearson