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For many of the writers and visual artists whose work we will consider, “Africa” is less a daily reality than a contested idea (with an ambivalent history) which mediates the gulf between vernacular and statist cultural forms. It is an idea in constant need of testing and refreshment against the threats to African peoples and their cultures posed by neo-imperialism and the ongoing, rampant privatization of social and natural resources on the continent. We will consider a number of contemporary texts in the contexts of imperial history and globalization reflecting, in particular, on the relationships between “global” and “local” genres and themes. While pursuing a careful close analysis of each prescribed text, we will also consider African verbal and visual practices comparatively and in relation to such critical topics as: the language of African literatures; orality, orature and textual authority; the adaptation and transformation of “oral” genres within “written” traditions; “race”, visibility and the gendered body; historicism and the structure of time; transnational audiences and the Pan-African ideal; popular cultures and the commercialization of African art. Among the writers and visual artists whose work we will consider may be Abani, Achebe, Adichie, Coetzee, Ekwensi, Head, Ngugi, Olagun, Saro-Wiwa, Sembène, Soyinka, Sumegne. Critical readings may include texts by Irele, Jeyifo, Julien, Oyěwùmí and Quayson among others.
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