FRENCH 218 Négritude, Independences, Women’s Issues:
Francophone Literature in Context

This course seeks to understand the key concerns of writers during the Négritude movement in order to address important questions that became crucial during the ensuing period of the various independence movements.  We will discuss issues which arose at this time and continue to be of interest concerning the role of women in these movements and thereafter in the newly independent nation.  The impact of colonialism and independence on different indigenous societal institutions, polygamy in particular, will be central to the later readings. Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, or 209, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score,.

We will begin with a novel from a period of militant Négritude: Ferdinand Oyono’s Une vie de boy, a text that presents a caricature of colonial life.  With the film Rue cases-nègre, which is set in Martinique, we will discuss, amongst other issues, the role of education in the assimilationist project of colonial administrations.  Included at this point will be some important poems and essays that express the central arguments and concerns of the Négritude period.  Frantz Fanon’s seminal essay Peau noire, masques blancs examines the social and psychological consequences of colonialism.  Far from being a simplistic criticism of colonial practices, this text sharply takes to task the “natives”’ as well.  In reading Fanon, we will also examine his treatment of Black women and question, in particular, his analysis of the early Martinican novel by Mayotte Capécia, Je suis Martiniquaise.  We will further introduce debates concerning women which arose during the period of independences: what were the choices that women could make?  How had the colonial administration affected older societal institutions which impacted women?  These and other questions will be addressed through the reading of Une si longue lettre and Ombre sultane, both texts which deal with these questions, and specifically polygamy, in Islamic societies.  Some critical articles will be read in this context.

Assignments will include two short (two-page) papers, one presentation, and a final paper.

Texts:

Oyono, Ferdinand.  Une vie de boy
Fanon, Frantz.  Peau noire, masques blancs
Capécia, Mayotte.  Je suis martiniquaise
Bâ, Mariama.  Une si longue lettre
Djebar, Assia.  Ombre sultane