France and the World: "Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur? Cotonou, 1935"

Vincent Debaene, Columbia University
Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur? Cotonou, 1935
Synopsis

This talk will nuance the commonly held narrative that the emergence of Francophone African literature during the French colonial period was a reaction to Western views of Africa in general, and to the discourse of colonial anthropology in particular. The analysis of two cases studies will complicate the idea that these writings are mere responses to European discourses and shed light on the complexity of early Francophone writers' engagement with anthropological knowledge. (Presentation in French. Discussion in French and English)

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