African Cultural Studies 204: Language & Globalization

African migrants’ experience is not only reflected in the history of their movement across diverse spaces on the globe; it is also shaped by language, an important component of their identities. This course invites you to explore language as a symbolic and mobile resource with which Africans engage and construct their movements, identities, and interactions across global spaces. We will explore scholarly works on language, mobility, and globalization and connect the narratives as depicted by these scholars with selected works of 21st-century African writers. We will also examine the theme of travel and return, and the process by which African migrants use language as a tool to construct their experiences of migration, globalization, diaspora, linguistic imperialism, sociolinguistic and cultural identifications. Building on your understanding of the course content, you will develop a research project through effective use of library resources, oral presentation of your work, and writing multiple drafts of your paper following the academic writing conventions in the humanities.