Module description
This module inquires into a range of narrative arts produced within London by the African diasporic community. It will explore how these arts have historically, and continue to, assert an African vitalism that defies the cultural negation passed down through colonial and neocolonial orders. Drawing on Black British cultural theorists such as Stuart Hall and Kobena Mercer, African critics and philosophers such as GraceMusila and Achille Mbembe, and decolonizing theorists such as Suhraiya Jivraj, Sandeep Bakshi and Silvia Posocco, the module examines the inter-constituting nature of aesthetics and politics and how Africanheritage arts work to revolutionize perception-local and global-by making African people seen, heard, and counted within this metropolis, the seat of the original British empire. We will trace an aesthetic and philosophical trajectory that moves from the Marxist-Fanonian political philosophy of the Black radical tradition to the less self-conscious, but no less transformative, practices of contemporary local artists. And in all of these forms, we will examine crucial intersections (of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability) that shape how Africanness is conceived here in the UK. A representative list of primary works may include the following: Fela Kuti's afrobeats listened to with new UK Jazz artists such as The Soothsayers and Kokoroko; Bobby Joseph and Joseph Samuels' graphic novel Scotland Yardie, Destiny Ekaragha's British Nigerian Nollywood spin Gone Too Far!; Brian Chikwava's novel Harare North; the commercial art of artists such as Dorcas Magbadelo and Kingsley Nebechi; London street art, which we will view on a trip to Brick Lane; Michaela Coel's TV series I May Destroy You; and Amapiano DJs in London such as Fistoz. No prior knowledge of African literature or popular culture is required.
Assessment details
Presentation (15%) and 3000 word essay (85%)
Educational aims & objectives
As we examine London popular arts by artists that self-identify as African by heritage—including popular music, video-film, graphic novel, street art, popular art, and TV—we will consider how these both negotiate and challenge Euro-American aesthetic standards and, as such, assert alternative cultures of taste. In thinking through the relationship of radicality to democracy, we will be considering the categories of ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ and what each is able to achieve; asking about how form affects the accessibility of texts, particularly the printed text in relation to audio-visual and kinetic modes of expression; and probing into how the nature of publishing—by multinational partners or local commercial entities—affects the type and degree of radicality that is possible. We will also be looking for how this popular material challenges our methodologies.
Learning outcomes
- a critical understanding of the Black radical tradition in relation to aesthetic theory, African narrative history, and contemporary African narrative arts
- the ability to evaluate culturally different texts on their own critical and aesthetic terms
- the skilful deployment of theoretical and philosophical concepts to evaluate written literature, graphic narrative, and film
- the capacity to present a well-organized, technically clear, and engaging oral presentation
Teaching pattern
1 x 2 hour seminar, weekly
Suggested reading list
- Bobby Joseph and Joseph Samuels, Scotland Yardie
- Destiny Ekaragha, dir., Gone Too Far!
- Brian Chikwava, Harare North
- Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You