The Global African Novel

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines works from Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Somalia, Ghana, Zanzibar, and South Africa that have made a significant impact on the history of the novel both in Africa and far beyond it, across the world. We will address issues specific to each work’s cultural and historical context as well as consider how each text speaks to debates about the relationships among literature and history in contemporary postcolonial societies. Some questions we will ask: How do writers from across the African continent engage with global processes of writing, publishing, and reading? How do they address issues of race, class, gender, and sexual identity? How do they comment on environmental damage, climate change, so-called “natural” disasters such as oil spills, as well as processes of migration, asylum, and revolution? Writers include Amos Tutuola, Nurrudin Farah, Chris Abani, Helon Habila, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bessie Head, J. M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, among others. We will read nonfictional writings by historians, cultural theorists, and literary critics from across the world to help us situate the novels. Some other issues we will consider: how do African novels interact with or challenge some of the features of European and US-based literature? Is there such a thing as "the" Global African novel, and how might definitions of the novel change when we look at different forms of African writing? Requirements include 3 short papers, quizzes, and class participation.