Dramaturgies contemporaines d’Afrique et de Caraïbe

This course traces the history and creation of modern and contemporary drama written by Francophone Caribbean and African playwrights. It examines the growing part played nowadays by Black Theater, which remained absent or invisible for a long time on the French and European stages. Through subversive theatrical works which challenge Western aesthetical canons, Francophone drama offers an analytical site for the study of colonial histories, and postcolonial alternatives. It questions racial and gender hierarchies, and current global issues such as exile and migration, and economical inequalities. Textual analysis will be combined with a staging approach, using screening of videos of the staged performances, and attending plays in the Avignon Theater Festival as well as meeting with Caribbean and African contemporary playwrights, directors, and actors who will come and interact with the students in the classroom.

Readings include women and men playwrights such as Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe), Gerty Dambury (Guadeloupe), Guy Régis Jr (Haiti), Koffi Kwahulé (Ivory Coast), José Pliya (Benin).