Module description
n the postcolonial era, Africa has been one of the most dynamic and creative continents. It has produced giants of world literature in four major world languages (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese), some of the most famous thinkers and cineasts, and its rhythms gave birth to the sounds of ""world music"". Yet outside the review pages of a few select world newspapers, Africa is still problematised as a place of war, disease, and in need of ""aid"".
This module will allow students from across the Faculty to consider the range of African artistic production in postcolonial and global contexts. We study but are not limited to visual arts, dance, film, literature, music, and philosophy. Artistic productions from among Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, and Creolophone contexts are considered, in a deliberate attempt to break down an understanding of postcolonial Africa as shaped by colonial languages and realities. Ranging from philosophy and music produced in Guinea-Bissau, through Senegalese art and literature, to the thought of Ngugi and writers and artists from Nigeria, this module offers a refreshingly different perspective on Africa and Africans, beyond the stereotypes of the Aid industry and the Securitization discourse of the international community.
The module is a collaborative effort devised by colleagues from across the Faculty who conduct research in and on Africa. Convened by the department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, it will be taught by a range of staff from different departments, including English, German, History, and SPLAS. For this reason the pattern of teaching and class outline will vary from year to year according to patterns of colleagues’ periods of research leave where research is conducted in Africa. There will be 6 core classes taught every year, as follows:
- Philosophy, Culture, and Postcoloniality.
- Inaugurating Independence: First Generation African Writing.
- Musics of Risings: African music and pushback against neocolonialism.
- Narratives of Conflict.
- ""World Music"" and the Globalization of African Culture.
- African film heritage: West Africa Through the Cineaste’s Lens
In addition, there will be 4 classes taught from among the following topics year on year:
- Aftermaths of Independence: Nkrumah and Film.
- African Modernism.
- Narrating the Nation.
- Generic Experimentation.
- Philosophy and African Studies.
- Witnessing Genocide: Rwanda and Darfur in Photography and writing.
- Decolonising dance.
- The Creole Arts: African Islands and their Cultural Identities.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/splas/modules/level5/5aascf01.aspx
Assessment details
Coursework
1 x piece of creative writing (poem, short story), artwork, photograph or composition on the subject (15%), 1 x short study (1000 words) of a work of African Art (e.g. poem, painting, photograph, film) (15%),1 x 2000 words final coursework essay (70%)
Teaching pattern
Two hours per week