African 202: Africa in Postcolonial African Film and Literature

This course explores the depiction of postcolonial African realities through selected films and literature of African writers and filmmakers. African literature and film are more than a response to the colonial library—which is a collection of thought and ideas from the perspective of the West mixed with negative tropes about the continent; they are also a depiction of postcolonial realities, a form of activism and critique of power and excess of postcolonial African leaders. Beyond colonial novels written by African writers, which seek to show that precolonial African realities before their encounter with the West as having history, law, and order, postcolonial African novels turn towards a critique and representation of postcolonial African realities that are contentious, compelling, and complex. In this course, we will move from Dakar, Abuja, and Bamako to Nairobi as we explore the literary and cinematic representation of politics, socio-economic realities, gender, religion, activism, and culture in Africa following her independence.This course will help students see the connection between Africa’s past, present, and possibilities for the future in light of the historical arc.

Films

Xala Dir. Ousmane Sembene(1975),

Bamako Dir Abraham Sissako(2006),

October 1 Dir Kunle Afolayan (2014)

Primary Texts

A Man of the People— Chinua Achebe Portsmouth (NH): Heinemann, 1966 (Novel)

Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thongi (Novel) ISBN: 0525041958

Website

African cartoon. Com created by Tejumola Olaniyan