B.A. African Literary and Cultural Studies (minor subject)

At the University of Tübingen we now offer African Literary and Cultural Studies as a BA Minor / Nebenfach degree. The course is designed to enable students to gain a solid grounding in the basic concepts of African Literary and Cultural Studies and in salient issues from the recent social and political history of the African continent.

Over six (6) semesters, students of African Literary and Cultural Studies (BA Minor) will be trained in literary and cultural approaches that consist of a cocktail of African traditional knowledges, canonical literatures, cultural studies approaches and popular culture approaches. Linguistically, this programme covers Francophone and Anglophone African literary and cultural production; geographically, it addresses canonical and popular literature across Africa; and, conceptually, it moves beyond the limits of postcolonial literature that is tied to the state by subsuming Indian Ocean world literature among other transnational and transcontinental African literary and cultural forms. 

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes of the BA Minor African Literary and Cultural Studies programme are summarised below. Students will:

• Gain expertise in critiquing African and diasporic literary texts belonging to different traditions.
• Be able to locate the texts they will encounter in broader contexts, both African diasporic and global contexts.
• Be given the opportunity to gain great familiarity with the main areas of African and diasporic literary and cultural studies, particularly the pre-colonial, colonial and Postcolonial epochs.
• Acquire significant cultural diversity and intercultural communication skills.

We are well equipped to support students of African Literary and Cultural Studies (BA Minor / Nebenfach).  We have put measures in place to enable students to reach out to and get in contact with the lecturers quickly and easily. This fosters a very supportive learning environment. Additionally, our courses are research oriented, in their content as well as in their approaches and discussions, which means students are encouraged from the very beginning of their studies to engage with both primary (creative) and secondary (critical / theoretical) literature. 

Contemporary geopolitical developments have placed Africa at the centre of current policy considerations of the European Union. These policy developments have led to a concomitant increase in interest within the higher education systems of many EU member states with the revamping of educational agendas relating to contemporary Africa, socio-cultural and political realities. Taking cognisance of these current developments, the programme covers the field of Literary and Cultural Studies on the African continent, offering a selection of foci, in particular a choice between the Anglophone and Francophone domains (elements from the Lusophone domain may be offered in addition if available).

Although African Literary and Cultural Studies is technically one of the "smaller subjects" at the University in terms of its position and the number of its employees and students, it is nonetheless a large subject due to its wide content and reach. In addition to exposing students to introductory training in interdisciplinary aspects of African and African Diasporic Literary and Cultural Studies, the programme enables students to achieve excellence in the following sub-areas:

• Literary studies, which divides itself into the study of older and contemporary literature.
• Linguistics, which concerns itself with basic knowledge of at least one African language (KiSwahili or Wolof)
• Cultural studies, which take on general knowledge regarding history, society, politics, economy, and culture 

Please write to us anytime on africanliteraturespam prevention@es.uni-tuebingen.de for advice on Module / course selection.