This course introduces students to contemporary African literature. The course focuses on how African writers use literature to counter imperial legacies of invasion, settlement, and cultural destruction. To develop their historical and cultural understanding of African peoples, students will apply postcolonial reading strategies to works of various genres, tackling issues such as race, gender, language, and nationalism. Students study works by writers as diverse as Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Ben Okri, Bessie Head, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Wole Soyinka.