Francophone Identities in A Global World – An Introduction to Francophone Literature & Culture
Instructor: Clémentine Fauré-Bellaïche Office: Shiffman 112 Office Hours: Mondays 2:00 – 4:00pm Class Hours: Mon, Wed & Thurs. Tel: 781 736 3205 email: [email protected]
Course description: This course is an introduction to Francophone literature and film, in all the temporal and spatial diversity of their expressions: we will study writers and film directors from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, Vietnam and Québec. Through their works, we will explore the colonial period and their struggles, as well as the post-colonial experience and the contemporary exiles and transnational migrations. This course is conceived to better apprehend the plural and hybrid richness of Francophone culture in our times of globalization and constant circulation – and more generally, to comprehend the global fact itself.
The course will thus not only introduce to great Francophone writers and directors, such as Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe), Driss Chraïbi (Morocco), Amadou Kourouma (Ivory Coast), Kim Lefèvre (Vietnam), Alain Mabanckou (Congo), and Wajdi Mouawad (Lebanon & Québec). It will also retrace the evolution of the Francophone world, throughout wars, political struggles, migrations, exiles, and transcultural trajectories, from the colonial period to the contemporary era. Along the way, we will pursue a reflection on the notion of Francophonie, by reading some foundational theoretical texts of the field, from Frantz Fanon to Jean-Paul Sartre and Édouard Glissant.
Required materials:
Books: Driss Chraïbi, La Civilisation, ma mère ! (1972) Maryse Condé, Desirada (1997) Alain Mabanckou, Bleu, blanc, rouge (1998) Amadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé (2000)
Films (on Latte): La Bataille d’Alger, Gillo Pontecorvo (1966) La Noire de…, Ousmane Sembène (1966) Rue Cases-Nègres, Euzhan Palcy (1983) Un Été à la Goulette, Férid Boughedir (1996) Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2007) Divines, Houda Benyamina (2016)
Course requirements: Attendance and participation Attendance in class is mandatory. Please complete the required readings before the date listed on the syllabus, bring a hard copy of the assigned text, and be prepared to participate in class discussion. No laptops will be allowed in class unless by special permission.
Papers: Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with reasonable margins and font-size. Pages should be numbered. Please proofread carefully.
Grading: Participation (including attendance): 20% One oral presentation dedicated to a historical topic: 35% Two short papers (about 4 pages) and one final paper (4 to 6 pages): 45%
Writing Intensive Requirement: This course satisfies the writing intensive requirement. That is why a crucial emphasis is put on writing. Each paper (except the final paper) goes through a deep process of revision centered on improving your written expression in French and your rhetorical skills: first draft - correction - revision - second and final draft. After the first draft has been corrected, I usually meet with you to go over the corrections. We also go over the main aspects of what constitutes the “art of persuading” – how to compose an argumentation, how to introduce and conclude, how those moments are strategic ones in a demonstration, how exempla are crucial instruments to the main goal of the paper – to convince the reader that your thesis is right.
Four-Credit Course (with three hours of class-time per week): Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Academic Integrity: You are expected to be familiar with the University’s policies on academic integrity such as detailed on the following webpage: http://lts.brandeis.edu/teachlearn/support/academic-integrity/index.html Any ideas that are not entirely your own must be documented; all references must be fully cited. You can consult the MLA Handbook or another standard guide on appropriate footnote or endnote format. Please ask for guidance if you are unsure of proper attribution.
Students with Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me at the beginning of the semester.
Learning goals: - explore a rich and diverse array of great writers and directors – the Francophone “classics,” as well as very contemporary young authors whose global trajectories resonate with our own experience. - learn about the history of the Francophone world, from the colonial period to decolonization and the contemporary era. - refine one’s skills in literary and film analysis, in order to apprehend how aesthetic works both respond to their social and political context and complicate and problematize it. - reflect on the transcultural, transnational and hybrid processes of identity formation in a globalized world.
Program:
Introduction – Francophonie, Post-Francophonie, Francosphère?
August 30: Presentation of the course & introduction
Francophonie & The Legacies of Colonialism
August 31: “Lettres noires : des ténèbres à la lumière” Video: Alain Mabanckou’s inaugural lecture at the collège de France
September 6: The négritude movement Essay: Aimé Césaire, Discours sur le colonialisme (1950)
September 7: The négritude movement Poetry (extracts): Aimé Césaire, Cahiers d’un retour au pays natal (1939)
September 11: The négritude movement Essay (extracts): Frantz Fanon, Peau noire, masques blancs (1952) September 13: Article: Jean-Paul Sartre, “Orphée noir” (1948)
September 14 Film: La Noire de…, Ousmane Sembène (1966)
September 18 Novel (extracts): Ferdinand Oyono, Une vie de boy (1956)
September 20 Novel (extracts): Ferdinand Oyono, Une vie de boy
September 25 Film: Rue Cases-Nègres, Euzhan Palcy (1983)
Post-Independence Disenchantments
September 27 Novel: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé (2000)
September 28 Novel: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé
October 2 Novel: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé
October 3 Novel: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé
October 4 Novel: Ahmadou Kourouma, Allah n’est pas obligé
Independences in the Maghreb
October 9 Film: La Bataille d’Alger, Gillo Pontecorvo (1966)
October 11 Novel: Driss Chraibi, La Civilisation, ma mère ! (1972)
October 12 Novel: Driss Chraibi, La Civilisation, ma mère ! October 16 Novel: Driss Chraibi, La Civilisation, ma mère ! [1st draft of the first paper due]
October 18 Novel: Driss Chraibi, La Civilisation, ma mère !
October 19 Film: Un été à la Goulette, Férid Boughedir (1996)
Métissages, Bricolages – Identities in a Post-Colonial World
October 23 Novel (extracts): Maryse Condé, Desirada (1997)
October 25 Novel (extracts): Maryse Condé, Desirada
October 26 Article: Édouard Glissant, “Poétique de la relation” (1990)
[2nd draft of the first paper due]
October 30 Novel (extracts): Raphaël Confiant, Madame St-Clair, reine de Harlem (2015)
November 1 Novel (extracts): Raphaël Confiant, Madame Saint-Clair, reine de Harlem
November 2 Article: Françoise Lionnet, “Logiques métisses: Cultural Appropriation & Postcolonial Representation”
November 6 Novel (extracts): Kim Lefèvre, Métisse blanche (1989)
November 8 Novel (extracts): Kim Lefèvre, Métisse blanche
November 9 Film: Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2007)
Migrations & Exiles - Living in a Global World
November 13 Novel: Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge (1998) [1st draft of the second paper due]
November 15 Novel: Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge
November 16 Novel: Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge
November 20 Novel: Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge
November 27 Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge
November 29 Alain Mabanckou, Bleu blanc rouge [2nd draft of the second paper due]
November 30 Film: Divines, Houda Benyamina (2016)
December 4 Play: Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies (2003)
December 6 Play: Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies
December 7 Film: Incendies, Denis Villeneuve (2010) Conclusion
[Dec ember 20 : Final paper due]