SLL4060F : French & Francophone Literatures 1: Theories, Identities, Relations

Convener: Associate Professor M Arnold

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for an honours programme.

Course outline: This course - entirely taught in French - interrogates the complexities of postcolonial cultural and literary identities by focussing on several critical texts by Francophone African thinkers and selective works of ‘Global South’ literature written in French. Contemporary fiction by authors from the continent and the Indian Ocean will be discussed and read through the lens of notions such as 'Afropolitanism' (Mbembe 2005, 2010) and 'Afrotopia' (Sarr 2016) as well as associated concepts and ideas (‘Relation’, ‘Littérature-monde’, ‘postcolonie’). Both political and poetic, these theoretical and creative works question conventional forms of belonging. They encourage the deconstruction of various ‘grand’ narratives and paradigms (modernism, nationalism, nativism, globalisation…) and call for the imagination of a new relational anthropology where circulation, plurality, and syncretism become key features. By engaging with the intersections between theory and literature, the course therefore addresses several challenges of thinking and writing (from) Africa and the ‘Global South’. It will be explored to what extent the discussed authors make a significant contribution to contemporary debates – in the Francophone world and beyond – about questions such as collective and individual identity, history-memory, place-space, local-global.

Assessment: Two essays (25% each), Class examination (25%), Oral presentation (25%)

SLL4061S : French & Francophone Literatures 2: Narratives, Debates, Politics

Convener: Dr K Plaiche

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for an honours programme.

Course outline: This course - entirely taught in French - offers a detailed study of selected aspects of contemporary literatures in French, written by authors both from France and the Francophone 'Global South'. It interrogates literary production which adresses major issues pertaining to society, politics and identity in both national, international and transnational settings. Discussed topics in the works of these writers may include (determined by staff availibility): the location of the individual within the collective (nation, culture, class, 'race'…); democracy and globalisation; capitalism and consumerism; violence and power relations; migration and diaspora; space, place and the environment; history, memory, testimony and life writing; gender and sexuality. Selective critical and theoretical approaches may range from traditional literary concepts (e.g. poetics & aesthetics, theories of fiction, discourse analysis, sociocriticism) to more contemporary perspectives (e.g. ethics, geocriticism, ecocriticism/ecopoetics) as well as interdisciplinary frameworks (e.g. feminism, postcolonialism, anthropology, psychoanalysis, trauma studies).

Assessment: Two essays (25% each), Class examination (25%), Oral presentation (25%)

SLL4063F : Theory & Practice of Translation 

Convener: Dr R De Oliveira

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for an honours programme.

Course outline: This course provides an understanding of the discipline of translation studies: its history and main theories, from Nida (20th century) to Venuti (21st century). At the end of the semester, students are aware of the problems of understanding and interpretation raised by translation practice and, thus, able to develop analytical, practical, evaluative and aesthetic skills that will serve to address these issues both in the applied and theoretical context.

Assessment: Theoretical and practical translation assignments to be completed by the due date (100%)

SLL4072S : French & Francophone Cultures & Arts: Between Text & Image

Convener: Associate Professor M Arnold

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for an honours programme.

Course outline: The course - taught entirely in French - focuses on the study of forms of visual representation in cultural and artistic productions of French and Francophone authors. It draws on concepts from cultural and adaptation studies to explore the vibrant and expanding field of graphic literature (bande dessinée), but also the increased critical relevance of various forms of visual regimes (e.g. photography, the moving image, cinema). The course will lead to a critical understanding of the material and symbolic processes, the creative tensions, and the interpretational scope that can be observed in the intersectionality between text and image.What happens when a novel is 'augmented' with images? When a canonical text is 'updated' into a modern graphic narrative? How are regimes of representation and "language" affected in these processes? Both conventional modes (intertextuality, illustration, adaptation) and more complex processes (intermediality, inspiration, interpretation, transposition) will be used to address these questions. The in-depth study of several fictional and graphic works (e.g. by Flaubert, Le Clézio, Saint-Exupéry, Claudel, Alagbé, Larcenet, Baudoin, Sfar…) will reveal the discursive and representational processes at stake in these intertextual/-medial relations, but also its potential political and ethical implications (around 'readability' and 'visibility'). Through the discussion to what extent these visual representations contribute to a productive reassessment of traditional artistic hierarchies, French and Francophones literatures and arts will eventually appear as part of a multifaceted “continuum” of creative expression.

Assessment: Two essays (25% each), Class examination (25%), Oral presentation (25%)

SLL5065Q/R : Training, Conception and Management

(Not offered in 2025)

Convener: K Schmid

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for a master's programme.

Course outline: This course is designed to equip students not only to teach Français langue étrangère at an advanced level but importantly to train others how to do so. In South Africa there is a dearth of trained teachers of French yet an increasing demand from the business world and other role players for training courses in French. The ability not only to teach Français langue étrangère but also to train others in that discipline is vital if this need is to be met and interaction with the French- speaking world is to be facilitated.