Fulfills Comm B, Humanities, Elementary
For many years, African languages and narratives have gained attention in the media, especially the African languages from the previously colonized African nations. Focusing on British Broadcasting Corporation for and about Africa (BBC
Fulfills Comm B, Humanities, Elementary
For many years, African languages and narratives have gained attention in the media, especially the African languages from the previously colonized African nations. Focusing on British Broadcasting Corporation for and about Africa (BBC Africa) and other related media agencies, this course explores the use, representation, and positioning of African languages in the age of global connectivity. How are contemporary Africans engaging their own narratives in the media? What role does language choice play in narratives about African lives, identities, politics, and epistemology of African knowledge? With a transdisciplinary reading list, we will analyze multimodal representation of African languages, knowledge, sociocultural experience, and transformations in the media space. We will also explore how Africans engage different linguistic resources including African and colonial languages to make sense of their own realities especially in the “postcolonial” homeland and racialized diasporic societies. Students will conduct a research project using library resources, give an oral presentation of research, and write multiple drafts of a research paper involving instructor and peer feedback.