African 406: In Search of the African Storyteller: Theory, Method and Practice

This course looks to expand upon the introductory level class “The African Storyteller”. The focus will be entirely on African oral narrative traditions, beginning with readings on theory and method.  Each student will be responsible for choosing a collection of narratives from a specific African cultural group and will use these as the material for most of their analytical assignments. The course format will combine lectures, class discussion and workshop/collection-type activities.  Readings and performance videos will comprise the core secondary sources.