| Main themes |
The content of the seminar depends on the evolution of current research methods and of their epistemological foundations, the students' interests and dissertation subjects and research carried out by the teacher ; seminar topics can thus vary from year to year.
Students are required to participate actively in discussions on current research in Dutch-speaking literature, on the basis of presentations (study days, conferences, seminars) or scientific articles in the field.
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| Aims |
At the end of this course, students will be able to :
- elaborate and carry out a personal research project;
- work within a group in research ;
- acquire the knowledge and interdisciplinary skills ( methodologies, conceptual and epistemological foundations ) that underpin a research question
- present a coherent research project according to a defined methodological framework, possibly in conjunction with the dissertation and/or another research activity in the student's course
- demonstrate the ability to consider a theoretical issue in a well-argumented manner
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| Teaching methods |
Some theoretical sessions will summarize the basic principles of scientific research: formulation of an original research question, learning to carry out research in an autonomous manner, providing a relevant bibliography and a clear work structure, a.o.
Student research is guided individually or integrated in research groups. Students are asked to present the results of their research to the class. They try to find and formulate in a scientific way answers to a given research question. A critical discussion follows and enables the students to integrate further comments before the final written essay.
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| Content |
The research seminar approaches topics in Dutch or Comparative Literature through conferences, reading of scholarly texts, presentations and discussions.
This year the course will focus on? the representation of the Congo in Flemish (post)colonial literary texts. As Congolese history has fascinated and been denounced by a large number of English- and Dutch-speaking authors, we will adopt a comparative approach. This module will be organized in close collaboration with English Literatures LGERM 2826. Some creative texts in French by Belgo-Congolese writers (Bofane a.o.) will be included so as to counter some of the representations in Dutch and English.
After a historical, anthropological and sociological contextualization of the Congolese situation, the memory and present, of a nation, this course will examine how writers like Conrad, Doyle, Casement and Twain, a.o. attacked Leopold II's brutal exploitation of the country. Conversely, it will deal with the first Flemish texts about the Congo (Buysse a.o.), fictional discourses (Walschap, van Aken) of the colonial and postcolonial period (Geeraerts, Claus); paying close attention to how these texts have been read in the Belgian context.
The second part of this course will deal with the works of contemporary authors writing about the Congo in English (Naipaul, Kingsolver, Bennett, Proctor) and Dutch (Joris, Van Reybrouck, Mortier). We will explore several critical approaches to these texts and question how they relate to colonial history, exile, interculturality and political instability. Last but not least, we will discuss the processes of (de)defictionalization (short story, novel, graphic novel, reportage, non fiction, testimony) and ideologization at the core of these texts.
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| Bibliography |
Selectie primaire literatuur
Gerard Walschap, Oproer in Congo (1953)
Jef Geeraerts, Gangreen I. Black Venus (1968)
Hugo Claus, Het leven en de werken van Leopold II (1970)
Lieve Joris, Terug naar Congo (1992)
David van Reybrouck, Congo, een geschiedenis (2010) + Missie (2007)
Erwin Mortier, Afscheid van Congo. Terug met Jef Geeraerts naar de evenaar (2010)
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