Contents

Courses

The Modern, Post-Modern and Postcolonial in African Studies 7.5 ECTS credits (History)
In this course students analyse the cultural and ideological meanings of the concepts: modern, post-modern and postcolonial, and how these notions are used to explain events and developments in the study of Africa. The course focuses on links between modern and post-modern in today´s post-colonial context in African Studies. Students also analyse the ethnocentric underpinnings of the concepts and evaluates their relevance in understanding contemporary Africa.

The Contemporary African Novel 7.5 ECTS credits (English)
In this course students analyse the modern African novel from a theoretical perspective. Students study representative works, as well as literary theory and research methodology. A number of texts are read from the viewpoint of different modern and postmodern schools of literary theory. Besides being introduced to theoretical texts, students will study a number of critical articles dealing directly with the texts studied on the course.

African Poetry and Drama 7.5 ECTS (English)
The explores modern African poetry and drama from a cultural and theoretical perspective. Students study representative works and literary theory. The literary works are studied from a variety of modern and postmodern theoretical perspectives, with special emphasis on Postcolonialism, New Historicism, and Poststructuralism. Besides being introduced to theoretical texts, students will also study a number of critical articles dealing directly with the poetry and drama studied on the course.

Scholarly Writing in Literary Theory and Criticism 7.5 ECTS (English)
This course consists of advanced studies in the literary research process, which includes a critical reading of previous degree theses, scholarly articles and dissertations. The students also study common rules and conventions of how to refer to primary and secondary sources in the form of quotations and paraphrases, as well as how to write notes and document sources. During the course the students perform a number of analytical writing assignments as well as limited literary research project which is presented in the form of an argumentative essay.

Masters Thesis 15 ECTS credits (English)
The programme ends with an individual thesis project which enables students to reach the goals of the programme. Students deepen their knowledge within an area of African Literature or culture from a postcolonial perspective by independently planning and carrying out a well-defined research task which contributes new knowledge to the field. The work is carried out as a writing process where students present and discuss their work with the supervisor and with their fellow students. The work is presented in the form of a scholarly essay which follows appropriate literature praxis for attribution of sources.

Optional Course I: Exile in African Literature 7,5 hp (Comparative Literature)
This course explores various ways in which the experience of exile has been defined and depicted in literary texts by African writers. Depictions of exile are related to their historical and cultural contexts. Students also read and discuss theoretical and critical articles dealing with exilic experience and related concepts. A variety of modern, post-modern and postcolonial theoretical perspectives are applied to the literary texts studied in the course. Students will write a paper, in which they examine the theme of exile or related concepts in an independent analysis of a text of their choice.

Optional Course II: Francophone Postcolonial Theory 7,5 hp (French)
The course explores French colonialism in Africa by studying texts that have criticized and questioned French colonial policy within the African context. Students analyse francophone theoretical and literary texts that many postcolonial critics refer to in order to question and highlight differences as well as similarities between francophonie and postcolonial studies. After having finished the course the students should be able to explain the main arguments in French postcolonial theory and situate the texts on the syllabus in their political, theoretical and literary context. Parting from the texts included in the course, they should also be able to discuss certain concepts that dominate the contemporary debate concerning postcolonial society such as assimilation, multiculturalism, Négritude, creolization process, and globalization.

Optional Course III: History and Independence in French African Literature and Culture 7,5 hp (French)
This course consists of advanced studies of culture and society in French speaking African regions. The course is structured thematically around the question as to how history and independence is represented and dealt with in a number of representative texts and films. Parting from literary texts, non-fiction and film from North Africa, West- and Central Africa as well as the Francophone regions in the Indian Ocean, we will analyze and discuss the relationship to the colonial heritage and to the construction of national identity through a theoretical and cultural perspective.