Post-Grant Reports

Title

Sabbatical Leave Report

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

10-30-2019

Disciplines

Africana Studies | French and Francophone Language and Literature

Abstract

My main current research focus is my book project on monoculture in Francophone African Literatures and Cultures. The principal objective of the book is to analyze the ravages of monoculture (understood as the reign of a unique plant, or a unique civilization at the expense of others) in Africa and the ways that African people resist all forms of monoculture. In order to achieve my goal, there is a need for a solid theoretical framework. The texts in my corpus are analyzed through the lenses of ecocriticism. Ecocriticism is the study of the interdependence between nature and culture. Knowing that the field of ecocriticism has its roots in the West and mostly in the Anglo-Saxon world, it is critical to find adequate tools (concepts) to study particular African realities. The project builds on some common concepts in the field of ecocriticism, but also puts forward new notions such as eco-Ubuntu (an ecological and philosophical bantu perception that highlights the interconnection among elements of nature) and African pastoralism (preference of the countryside in relations to the city in African literature) that help to better grasp the relationships between Africans and their “environment.”

Comments

This research was conducted as part of a sabbatical leave in 2018.

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