This biannual learning unit is not being organized in 2018-2019 !
A good proficiency in Dutch (advanced level, B2 + of the Common European reference framework)
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.
At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to : | |
1 | At the end of this course, students will be able to :
- elaborate and carry out a personal research project; |
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
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.
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.
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)/