Disasters and the Environment in Francophone American Literature (Caribbean, Louisiana, Quebec) 3304-1DZXW-KL-35
This course offers a critical analysis of literary representations of disasters in Francophone American literature, particularly in the Caribbean, Quebec and Louisiana. What do hurricanes, earthquakes, colonization, environmental devastation and the disappearance of native peoples have in common? All of them, to varying degrees, are forms of disaster - sudden or slow, visible or invisible - that affect bodies and landscapes.
Drawing on a corpus of novels and poems from areas marked by colonial history, social inequality and environmental vulnerability, the course will explore the connections between disaster, landscape, identity and memory. From natural events such as earthquakes and hurricanes to more structural phenomena such as deforestation, pollution, extractivism, and linguistic and cultural erasure, the texts examined bear witness to the complexity of worlds in crisis and the forms of resistance they evoke.
The course will discuss the works of Haitian authors (Dany Laferrière), the literature of Quebec's native peoples (Naomi Fontaine) and Louisiana poetry written in French (Jean Arceneaux, Zachary Richard, “Feux Follets” literary journal).
The course's methodological approach is based on a decolonial ecocriticism that draws attention to forms of environmental injustice specific to post- and neocolonial contexts, crossed with a sociocritical reading that places the works within their historical, political and social frameworks.
Francophone American literatures will thus be seen as spaces of poetic invention, aesthetic experimentation and symbolic appropriation of wounded territories. Through this approach, the course aims to highlight voices that are often marginalized in global narratives about the Anthropocene, and to think of disasters not as isolated events, but as symptoms of a broader disorder: colonial, ecological and ontological.
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
The student has knowledge of the culture of France and French-speaking countries (K_W12); has a systematized knowledge of the basic processes taking place in the areas of language, literature and Francophone culture (K_W04); is able to use various sources and methods, traditional and modern, to search, analyze, evaluate, select and use information necessary for participation in classes (K_U01); is able to recognize different types of cultural products (language, literature, art) and to carry out their critical analysis and interpretation using typical methods (K_U05); knows how to cooperate in a group, solve problems in discussion and initiate solutions appropriate to the situation (K_K02); is interested in contemporary processes and phenomena occurring in cultural life and literature of Francophone countries (K_K09). Sociocritically, the class will focus on developing the ability to analyze literary texts taking into account the socio-political conditions prevailing in a given francophone area. Thus, the poetics and aesthetics of the texts discussed will be strongly correlated with learning about the historical and social background from which a given work grows.
Assessment criteria
Assessment methods and criteria:
- participation in discussion
- oral presentation
- 2 tests
- oral exam
- attendance and activity in class (more than two absences will result in an additional question on the test)
Detailed conditions for passing the course will be presented at the first class.
Didactic methods:
- individual and group work
- guided discussion
- analysis and interpretation of literary texts
Bibliography
Works:
- Fontaine, Naomi, "Manikanetish", Montréal, Mémoire d'encrier, 2017.
- Laferrière, Dany, "Tout bouge autour de moi", Paris, Grasset, 2010.
- Selected poems from Francophone Louisiana (20th- 21st centuries).
A detailed program and list of works to be analyzed, including theoretical sources, will be presented at the first class.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: