RLFR 111(F) Introduction to Francophone Studies (Same as Africana Studies 111) (D)
The Francophone world, stretching across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean and the Americas, has often been described as a family joined by a shared language and condition born of colonial history. Through fiction and film, this course will examine how writers and filmmakers from the Francophone world have approached the idea of their family both literally and metaphorically, using the idea of family to explore questions of identity, origins, colonialism, resistance, nationhood and interconnectedness in a global community. This course invites students to enter into critical engagement with cultural constructions of difference, colonial and post-colonial constructions of subjectivity, culturally contested imaginations and treatment of gender and race, and the very idea of the Francophone itself. Authors we will read include: Jean-Marie Adiaffi (Côte d'Ivoire), Henri Lopes (Congo), Driss Chraibi (Morocco), Dany Laferriere (Haiti), Maryse Conde (Guadeloupe), Aime Cesaire (Martinique), Assia Djebar (Algeria), and Linda Lê (Vietnam). Films studied include Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène), Kéita ! L'héritage du griot (Dani Kouyaté), La vie sur terre (Abderrahman Sissoko) and Rue Case-Nègres (Euzhan Palcy). Conducted in French.
Format: seminar. Requirements: active class participation, reading journal, two short papers, an oral presentation, and a final paper.
Prerequisites: French 105 or above or results of the College Placement Examination, or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 20 (expected: 20).
Hour: PIEPRZAK