HISTORY OF FRANCOPHONES CULTURE

The course, with a historical-socio-anthropological and generally cultural slant, is intended for students in the 3rd year of the “Literary-cultural” and “International Politics” curricula of the three-year CdS “Languages, Civilizations and Language Sciences” (but is also usable by those in the 2nd year).
It is particularly aimed at students in the French track (literature and/or French language three-year degree), but can also be usefully taken by students with different language backgrounds who are interested in issues related to colonization and postcolonial cultures. It can also be usefully taken as a free-choice area subject by students of postcolonial literatures (Anglophone or Spanish-speaking) in the LLEAP master's degree.

The course aims to introduce students to the cultures of French-speaking countries. The examination - exemplified in the texts - of issues essential to those cultures, from a historical, linguistic and anthropological point of view, will be addressed.

For Bachelor of Arts students in French Studies: fair knowledge of the French language, especially of written literary language (level B2) (for others: fair ability to understand written French text: level B1).

It is difficult to draw up an accurate portrait of the literary Francophonie today, so much has been said about the term and so many disputes have arisen. It is possible, however, to sketch its history and trace some reliable lines of development. Beyond its definition and conceptualisation, the traditional Francophonie covers precise geographical areas - from Quebec to Belgium, from Switzerland to Martinique - with an abundance of literary productions. We will examine the various challenges to the term, from Michel Le Bris's proposals to Alain Mabankou's and Achille Mbembe's tribunes. We want to reconsider the francophonie in the era of postcolonial studies and world literature, and see how it no longer defines peoples considered to be 'literary destitute' (Casanova).

Referral texts

- Aimé Césaire, Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, 1956
- Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco, 1992
- Mariama Bâ, Une si longue lettre, 1979
- Agota Kristof, Le grand cahier, 1986
- Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies, 2006
- Sony Labou Tansi, La vie et demie, 1979

Secondary literature

- Ferroudja Allouache, Archéologie du texte littéraire dit “francophone”. 1921-1970, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2018.
- Henri Frédéric Amiel, « Du mouvement littéraire dans la Suisse romane et de son avenir » [1849], Essais critiques, Paris, Sandre, 2006.
- Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1996.
- Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, Raphaël Confiant, Éloge de la créolité, Paris, Gallimard, 1989.
- Jean Bernabé, « La Créolité, vingt ans après », Caliban, n°31, 2012, URL :
https://journals.openedition.org/caliban/353
- Pascale Casanova, La République mondiale des Lettres, Paris, Seuil, 1999.
- Christiane Chaulet-Achour, Les francophonies littéraires, Paris, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, 2016.
- Yves Clavaron, Francophonie, postcolonialisme et mondialisation, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2018.
- Dominique Combe, Littératures francophones. Questions, débats et polémiques, Paris, PUF, 2010.
- Jérôme David, Spectres de Goethe. Les métamorphoses de la “littérature mondiale”, Paris, Les Prairies ordinaires, 2012.
- Michel Le Bris, Jean Rouaud et Eva Almassy, Pour une littérature-monde, Paris, Gallimard, 2007.
- Fabien Pillet, Multiculturalisme et littérature. Mises en récit de la diversité ethnoculturelle, Genève, MétisPresses, 2021.

The verification of learning will take place through an oral examination, in Italian.

It will test the student's ability to independently formulate a description/interpretation of the proposed passages, emphasizing the most significant textual aspects of the themes addressed, as well as the ability to then freely extend these acquisitions to the three novels of his choice.

The examination - oral only - is basically divided into two parts:

(a) one or more general questions based on the prezen;

(b) questions on one or more of the three novels chosen as integral readings, the content and even essential formal features of which must be shown to be known (i.e., what was explained in class, or observations based on at least one of the in-depth critical excerpts, from among those provided by the lecturer)

Lectures in Italian; however, anthological passages will be read and analyzed in the original French.

Italian

Students who have French as one of the two three-year languages must take part of the examination in French (preferably starting with the subject of their choice). Students who do not have French in their syllabus may take the exam in Italian.
Students will still be able to take the exam by presenting the syllabus displayed on the web: more precisely, the updated syllabus to be found, at the end of the year, in the teacher's personal notices.
Non-attending students may take the examination by presenting the syllabus on the web, supplemented by some readings that will be indicated to them; they are therefore requested to contact the lecturer in advance.

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