Qu’est-ce que la pensée francophone ? : Entre théorie critique, musées, performances, arts visuels et féminismes
*** This seminar is only open to graduate students ***
This course is a comparative study of intellectual, literary, cultural, and historical developments that have evolved in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb, and the South Pacific, and that have shaped and invigorated Francophone thought. The course analyzes the genesis of an interdisciplinary field of studies, namely Francophone studies, and its constant evolution at the intersection of the Early Modern period, postcolonial critique, post-imperialism and decoloniality. Focusing on fascinating overlooked and seminal works, films, visual and performing arts, and engaging with diverse theoretical approaches, students bolster their understanding of the entanglements of the 20th and 21st centuries, while mastering critical theory in a francophone and postcolonial mode. Issues explored include:
. Transatlantic slavery
. Archives, critical fabulations, counter narratives, cannibalistic translations
. Négritudes, Antillanité, Créolie, Créolité, Coolitude, Relation, Tout-Monde
. The Harkis and the Algerian War
. Racial ecologies from the margins; nuclear imperialism; environmental and health crises
. Critical afro-feminisms
. Migrations
. Knots of memory and museum futures
. Restitution of African cultural heritage: repatriation, repossession, reparation, art as diaspora
Course material may include works by Gilbert Aubry, Aimé Césaire, Ina Césaire, Patrick Chamoiseau, Léon-Gontran Damas, Ananda Devi, Assia Djebar, Déwé Gorodé, Fabienne Kanor, Dalila Kerchouche, and Léopold Sédar Senghor; artistic works by Bintou Dembélé, Patricia Kaersenhout and Lēnablou; films by Mati Diop and Abderrahmane Sissako; theories and poecepts by Kamau Brathwaite, Suzanne Césaire, Maryse Condé, Frantz Fanon, Édouard Glissant, Saidiya Hartman, Achille Mbembe, Jane and Paulette Nardal, Felwine Sarr, Bénédicte Savoy, and Khal Torabully.
The course will feature small group work, class discussions, and lectures. Cross-pollinating theory and practice will be a particular characteristic of the course, and students will have the opportunity to discuss remotely or in person with a writer and/or an artist.