FRENCH 220: Rethinking Francophonie in the 21st Century

Course Description

This course is a critical examination of literature from the Francophone world of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will travel through time and space with a selection of novels, poems, epics, memoirs, essays, manifestos and short stories. In this historical and cultural journey through Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, Vietnam and Mauritius, our objective will be to provide a reassessment, of what "Francophonie" means in the 21st century. While exploring francophone societies we will examine several canonical texts together with more recent works and consider their engagement with the historical and political contexts in which they were produced. Topics discussed in the course will include: race and representation, national and cultural identity, immigration and nationalism, transnationalism and diaspora, littérature-monde, language politics, postcolonialism and universalism. Readings will include the works of: Aimé Césaire, Lyonnel Trouillot, Edouard Glissant, Boubacar Boris Diop, Alain Mabanckou, Kim Thúy, Ananda Devi, Fatou Diome, Simone Swartz-Bart, Abdelkader Khatibi, among others. Taught in French.