African 202: Satire in Africa

Cartoon picturesFall 2019

Tejumola Olaniyan
Katrina Daly Thompson
3 credits
TR 2:30-3:45pm

Fulfills Humanities, Elementary

The course is a lively introduction to satire as a popular art form in Africa. We will study definitions of satire, explore its key features, catalysts, functions, and politics, and interrogate some of the reasons for its popularity. We will select satires from a variety of art forms including verbal (literature, journalistic writing), visual (political cartoons and comics), musical, and audio-visual (movies, tv shows, and comic routines). A few of the artists we will study include Nadine Gordimer, Trevor Noah, Wainana Binyavanga, Doaa El Adl, Zapiro, Celeste Wamiru, Gado, Fela Kuti.