Module overview
The stereotype of Africa as a predominantly ‘natural’ space ignores the existence of large and cosmopolitan urban environments on the continent. Yet today, the sprawling conurbations of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg (as well as Africa’s other towns and cities) are the sites of vibrant and diverse cultural and literary productions. This module examines how literary and cultural texts from and about Africa’s cities imagine and embody love and death. In doing so, they ask and answer complex questions related to citizenship and survival in the modern world.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- understand key debates related to African city lives and city writings.
- construct original arguments related to the thinking and imagination of others;
- analyse fictional methods of constructing social space;
- compare contemporary urban texts and contexts; and
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:write confidently and clearly in response to complex texts and debates;
- develop reading strategies appropriate to Africa’s texts and genres.
- research unfamiliar texts and contexts;
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the range and complexity of Africa’s city texts;
- the social contexts and historical backgrounds of the primary texts on the module;
- how notions of ‘Africa’ may be related to notions of ‘modernity’.
- a selection of African urban histories and the discursive formations they have generated, and
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- respond with understanding and tact to non-European cultural standpoints.
- engage in cross-cultural dialogue, and
- formulate reasoned arguments and opinions;
- deploy a clear and legible writing style;
Syllabus
The module will introduce you to a range of canonical and popular narrative texts and genres related to cities in all the regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Classroom discussions of how these literary and filmic texts frame and construct the concepts of love and death will be organised around five key areas of literary and theoretical debate, to do with space, modernity, nation, gender and resistance.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
- Lectures
- Seminars involving group work, plenary debate, short written exercises and individual presentations
- Private study (including library research accessing and evaluating appropriate online resources)
- Guidance and feedback sessions on assignments
- Essay writing
This module includes a Learning Support Hour. This is a flexible weekly contact hour, designed to support and respond to the particular cohort taking the module from year to year. This hour will include (but not be limited to) activities such as language, theory and research skills classes; group work supervisions; assignment preparation and essay writing guidance; assignment consultations; feedback and feed-forward sessions.
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Independent Study | 114 |
Teaching | 36 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Mbembe, Achille (2001). On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press,.
Primorac, Ranka (ed) (2010). African City Textualities. London: Routledge.
Mtobwa, Ben (1971). Dar es Salaam by Night.
Paton, Alan (1948). Cry Beloved Country.
Robinson, Jenny (2006). Ordinary Cities. London: Routledge.
Soyinka, Wole (1972). The Interpreters.
wa Ngugi, Mukoma (2009). Nairobi Heat.
Banda-Aaku, Ellen (2011). Patchwork.
Abani, Chris (2004). Graceland.
Vera, Yvonne (1998). Butterfly Burning.
Nuttall, Sarah (2009). Entanglement. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Mabanckou, Alain (2003). African Psycho.
Geschiere, Peter, et al (eds) (2008). Modernity in Africa. Oxford: James Currey.
Appiah, Anthony (2006). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. London: Penguin.
Aidoo, Ama Ata (1991). Changes: A Love Story.
Lefebvre, Henry (1996). Writings on Cities. Oxford: Blackwell.
Barber, Karin (2007). The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, Charles (2004). Modern Social Imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press.
Newell, Stephanie (ed) (2002). Readings in African Popular Fiction. Oxford: James Currey.
Mpe, Pashwane (2001). Welcome to our Hillbrow.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
The first essay will ask you to write about a specific aspect of the narrative construction of space in a single novel on the module. The second essay will be on a topic asking you to compare two novels on the module.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Essay | 60% |
Essay | 40% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Essay | 60% |
Essay | 40% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Repeat of module | 40% |
Repeat of module | 60% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External