Universität Wien
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143059 PS PS Ecocriticism in African Literature: From Petrofiction to Climate Fiction (2025S)

Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 13.03. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 20.03. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 27.03. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 03.04. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 10.04. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 08.05. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 15.05. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 22.05. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 05.06. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 12.06. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06
  • Thursday 26.06. 15:00 - 17:00 Inst. f. Afrikawissenschaften, Seminarraum 2 UniCampus Hof 5 2M-O1-06

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Course description:
Our planet is in crisis and writers, performers, and poets have turned to the page to grasp the imminent threat of climate catastrophe on the human and non-human world. Their imaginary makes tangible what our common future may hold in the face of rising sea levels, mass extinction, and the Earth becoming increasingly uninhabitable. Environmentalism and ecocriticism in African literature has had complicated beginnings. In colonial writing, the African continent was portrayed as being in a state of pure nature to be tamed and subdued, yet the socio-historical conditions of the African people and their relationships with their natural environment were ignored. Nonetheless, African writers have increasingly been engaging with environmentalism and addressing the impact of climate crisis and ecological collapse on humans and non-humans alike.

In this course we will look at short stories, novels, plays, and poems which focus on environmental degradation, the role of oil in human civilization (what Amitav Ghosh calls petrofiction), the entanglements of colonialism and resource extraction, non-human agency and different ways of being in and with the non-human world. In this course we will engage with African environmental literary criticism in order to see in what way African literature offers crucial contributions to the discourse on the planetary climate emergencies and the futures of existence in the Anthropocene.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance and participation in discussions and group work (including online coursework) (30%)
Oral presentation/ acting as expert (20%)
Portfolio (consisting of critical analysis (term paper), blog post or creative writing task; 50%)
Each individual task must be positive in order to pass this course.
You may miss a maximum of two classes without a doctor's notice

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Students must fulfil and pass each of the 3 course requirements (portfolio, regular attendance and participation, oral presentation) and score at least 60 points altogether in order to pass this course.

Grading scale:
1: 100-90 points
2: 89-80 points
3: 79-70 points
4: 69-60 points
5: 59-0 points
The course requirements will be discussed in detail during the first session.

Examination topics

This is an interactive course with continuous assessment ("prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung").
In addition to handing in a written portfolio, students are expected to read all set texts and actively participate in class throughout the semester as well as hand in tasks and assignments on time. Each individual task must be positive in order to pass this course.
There will be no written exam.

Reading list

Preliminary reading list:
Imbolo Mbue, How Beautiful We Were (2021; novel)
Nadia Ahidjo’s “Before the Rains Came” (2021; in Disruption: New Short Fiction From Africa)
Alithnayn Abdulkareem, “Static” (2021; in Disruption: New Short Fiction From Africa)
Innocent Ilo, “Before We Die Unwritten” (2021; in Disruption: New Short Fiction From Africa)
Empatheatre, Lalela uLwandle (Listen to the Sea) (2021; radio play)
Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller (2005; novel)
Daniel Clarke, Daniel Snaddon, and James Clarke, Kariba (2023; graphic novel/comic)
Ben Okri, Every Leaf a Hallelujah (2021; children's book)

Association in the course directory

PAL 1
PAL 2

Last modified: Tu 21.01.2025 12:45