Back
| Semester | spring semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Julia Tischler (julia.tischler@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Since its “invention” as an academic discipline, African History has been struggling with a challenging source corpus. While there are few written sources available for periods before the late nineteenth century, records from the colonial period are notoriously biased, often representing outsiders’ perspectives marred by racist prejudice. In this course, we explore the genre of African fiction – fictional texts produced by African authors – as an alternative way to approach the African past. To what extent do such works yield more direct insights into the lives of Africans in the nineteenth and twentieth century? What can “fiction” reveal about the past that “history”, with its scientific protocol, cannot? Can we even draw a clear line between “history” and “fiction”? To answer these questions, we concentrate on novels written by African authors, predominantly women, that could be classified as “historical novels” and/or deal with particular historical moments. The works of Namwali Serpell (The Old Drift), Nadine Gordimer (Burgher’s Daughter), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun), Tsitsi Dangarembga (Nervous Conditions), Chinua Achebe (No Longer at Ease), and Unity Dow (Juggling Truths), among others, will allow us to explore the gendered experiences of colonialism, war, education, and independence politics. While we will discuss all of these novels together in class, each participant is required to conduct further research on one novel of his/her choice. I strongly recommend you start reading the novels mentioned above, as this course involves substantial reading! |
| Bibliography | J. M. Coetzee. 1988. “The Novel Today”, Upstream 6:1, 2-5. Margaret Lenta. 2005. “Fiction and history: Unity Dow's Juggling Truths and Tsitsi Dangaremgba's Nervous Conditions”, The English Academy Review, 22:1, 43-54. |
| Comments | Please note that there will be two double sessions (14:15 - 17:45): 16 April, 23 April. Aufgrund der nicht absehbaren Infektionslage wird diese Lehrveranstaltung in digitaler Form geplant. |
| Admission requirements | Studierende der Masterstudienfächer Geschichte und Osteuropäische Geschichte und des Masterstudiengangs Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive. African Studies. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Friday | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz - |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 05.03.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 12.03.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 19.03.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 26.03.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 02.04.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Ostern |
| Friday 09.04.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 16.04.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 23.04.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 30.04.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 07.05.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 14.05.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Auffahrt |
| Friday 21.05.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 28.05.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Friday 04.06.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History) Modul: Research Skills (Master's degree program: African Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |