AFRO4301: The African Immigrant Story

This course traces the origin of the African novel as a storytelling form to the angst of displacement and the paradox of exilic experience. Beginning with an introduction to the novel as a literary genre, the course will place particular emphasis on digital literature as a literary subgenre that transcends the boundaries of the print, as well as examine the ways in which interactive virtual narratives and digital storytelling challenge the very basic premise on which the novel is built. How have interactive virtual fictions and creative non-fictions changed the process of writing and the definition of "legitimate" literature, of which the novel is a characteristic product? How do interactive fictions help to raise fundamental questions about what literature is, as well as shed light on classical literary techniques and strategies such as narrative perspectives, questions of genre, reader-response and intertextuality? How does digital storytelling as a vector of the global imaginary serve as an especially appropriate tool for coping with the pangs of being uprooted from familiar ground? We will examine the ways in which individuals endeavor to articulate their identity and sense of belonging in unhomely and occasionally untimely situations. How do transnational online communities help mitigate experiences of exclusion, as well as shape individuals’ perspectives on citizenship and social membership?

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