African American Studies W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Comet"
History of African-American Fiction
Although storytelling is a universal human activity, the term "African fiction" refers to a
European genre of storytelling—comprised of secular novels and short stories—that
Africans have adopted and adapted to represent continental African realities in the wake
of 19th- and 20th century European colonialism and post-colonialism.
Decolonization - reframe and reconstruct the curricula and research that preserve the
Europe-centered, colonial lens
● Opposite: Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a
worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it
over non-Western civilizations.
Key words: The Guardian series, discovery, slave money, slave trade, money through
involvement, investment and complicity in slavery
W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Comet” - April 20 Session 1
Concept of progress - W.E.B. DU BOIS The Comet
● Focus on western sources
● Ethnographic approach but not historic approach
● Toppling monuments, decolonizing city centers, bristle e.g., drawing attention to
who we remember and how we remember them
● White woman and how she is depicted
● Intersectionality definition prominent through black feminism
● “She looked at him - your people are not my people”
- What it takes for them to overcome their inhibition, literary way of happening
- What is it that brings about this utopian moment
→ decolonizing (notion of) progress - how?
● sociologically speaking → literary speaking
● creating memory
● no access to sociology
● way of teaching of a people who were prevented to learn to read and write
History of African-American Fiction
Although storytelling is a universal human activity, the term "African fiction" refers to a
European genre of storytelling—comprised of secular novels and short stories—that
Africans have adopted and adapted to represent continental African realities in the wake
of 19th- and 20th century European colonialism and post-colonialism.
Decolonization - reframe and reconstruct the curricula and research that preserve the
Europe-centered, colonial lens
● Opposite: Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a
worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it
over non-Western civilizations.
Key words: The Guardian series, discovery, slave money, slave trade, money through
involvement, investment and complicity in slavery
W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Comet” - April 20 Session 1
Concept of progress - W.E.B. DU BOIS The Comet
● Focus on western sources
● Ethnographic approach but not historic approach
● Toppling monuments, decolonizing city centers, bristle e.g., drawing attention to
who we remember and how we remember them
● White woman and how she is depicted
● Intersectionality definition prominent through black feminism
● “She looked at him - your people are not my people”
- What it takes for them to overcome their inhibition, literary way of happening
- What is it that brings about this utopian moment
→ decolonizing (notion of) progress - how?
● sociologically speaking → literary speaking
● creating memory
● no access to sociology
● way of teaching of a people who were prevented to learn to read and write
