African 302: Arabic Literature And Cinema

This course is an introduction to the most significant topics of contemporary Arabic literature and cinema: the legacy of colonialism, repressive nature of post-independence regimes, nationalism, religion and secularism, gender dynamics, representation of cultural otherness, and the Arab Springs. Course materials will be drawn from a variety of cultural forms including literature, film, music, and performance; and scholarship, exploring social, cultural, and political contexts in which texts and films are produced. That said, I would be cautious about understanding this course as a comprehensive “survey” of Arabic literature and cinema: it is more accurately a “sampling.” And because these texts and films, and their cultures are fairly unfamiliar, we will move slowly through them, taking time to reflect on our own process of reading.

We will read texts of Fatima Mernissi, Tayeb Salih, Ghassan Kanafani, and Mona Prince. And we will watch movies of Moufida Tlatli, Annemarie Jacir, Abderrahmane Sissako and Jehane Noujaim.