First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-20)
Topic
Seeing Africa
Instructors
Yuan Chih Yen
Meeting Info
University Hall 418: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Topic: Seeing Africa
African photography is gaining ground. In the spring of 2023, Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh's surreal, vibrant works adorned bus shelters here in Chicago (as well as New York, Boston, and Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire). This writing-intensive course explores how contemporary African photographers such as Dawit L. Petros, David Goldblatt and Mimi Cherono Ng'ok - all of whom recently had solo exhibitions at major Chicago art museums - have used the medium for self-expression, social change, and entrepreneurship. Along the way, we will read Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma's genre-defying A Stranger's Pose (2018), which traces his travels around the northern and western parts of Africa through a series of written and photographic vignettes, as well as cultural criticism by Nigerian-American writer-photographer Teju Cole and Kenyan political analyst Nanjala Nyabola. Taken together, these photographic and literary works ask: what does it mean to see and read Africa, and how do photographic images and writing differently shape our ideas about identity, borders and mobility? As we engage with these artistic works, we will also be constantly asking: what does it mean to respond critically and to write effectively? You will thus learn and practise strategies for posing effective questions (about the readings and your peers' writing) and developing compelling arguments using convincing evidence, all the while cultivating your distinct scholarly voice.
Evaluation Method
Participation, three short papers of equal weight, peer review, and writing conferences with instructor.
Class Materials (Required)
Emmanuel Iduma. A Stranger's Pose. Cassava Republic, 2018. 9781911115496
Class Attributes
WCAS Writing Seminar