FRENCH 330 French and Francophone Studies:

Questions of Identity in Post-Colonial Writing

The course examines various texts from the post-independent Francophone world to understand pressing concerns in different postcolonial regions. Close attention will be paid to narrative techniques while studying questions concerning the relationship with the metropolis and the functioning of language (s). Texts by Driss Chraïbi, Maryse Condé, Axel Gauvin, Assia Djebar.

A newly independent nation faces a range of challenges, some of which are common to various areas of the postcolonial world, and others which are unique to the country in question. We will read texts that deal with urgent issues in their specific contexts while we glean from the readings some general problems in the postcolonial world. The relationship of each of these regions to the metropolis (France) is radically different: for example, while Mauritius was more recently a British colony, Guadeloupe remains a département. The functioning of this relationship within the text will be studied. The esthetic and political effect of an actual or implied presence of other languages (e.g. Arabic or Creole) within the French text will be central to our discussions of language as a marker of ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Discussions will foreground the narrative techniques exploited in positing these questions. In the first two weeks we will focus on a historical understanding of the birth of "Francophone" literature. The connection between Francophone and French intellectuals especially during the Négritude movement will be central to our study of this period. Throughout the course, we will reflect on the consequences of categorizations and terminology such as "postcolonial" and "Francophone".

Assignments:
Two presentations, one mid-term written assignment, one final paper

Texts:
Chraïbi, Driss. Une enquête au pays
Condé, Maryse. Traversée de la mangrove
Gauvin, Axel. Faims d'enfance
Djebar, Assia. L'Amour, la Fantasia
Bernabé et al. Eloge de la créolité (selections)
Dadié, Bernard. Un nègre à Paris (selections)
Khatibi, Abdelkébir. Maghreb pluriel (selections)
Fanon, Frantz. Peau noire, masques blancs (selections)
Poésie et articles de la Négritude