Welch, Nancy S.2016-03-072016-03-072005http://hdl.handle.net/11603/2442From the faculty nominator, Florence Martin: Nancy is a budding intellectual in her second year at Goucher College and about to embark on two adventures: one that will take her to Paris for a semester, and a second one in Dakar. Her mind, like her, is adventurous. For this assignment in a 300 level class on Francophone African Literature (a comparative essay on the topic: one is not born African, one becomes African), she took interesting sideways to approach the topic and ended up on a new, exciting path. Hence, in her study of ‘African’ identity in three contemporary texts by African authors, Nancy focused on the dynamics of identity rather than on its labeling process. Her comparison of the various roles played by language, for instance, in which she clearly articulates its bridging and separating functions, serves as a springing board for novelists to construct representations of African subjects in becoming. In her reading of such diverse texts as Cameroonian Ferdinand Oyono’s Une Vie de boy (1956), Algerian Malika Mokeddem’s Les Hommes qui marchent (1990), and Franco-Senegalese Alain Gomis’ L’Afrance (2001), she successfully brings together notions of sociology and literary criticism. Her sociological approach to the text contextualizes her argument, yet she deftly avoids the pitfall of reading a novel as a sociological document. Instead, she crafts a nuanced reading of political works of narrative imagination in which each author has re-imagined the roles of language, education, and the image and function of woman.My goal in writing this piece was to craft a cohesive essay combining conventional analysis of literature with sociological theory and insight in my response to the prompt, "Is one born African, or does one become African?" To give more depth to this essay, I wanted to leave certain questions unanswered and leave the reader with questions of his/her own. Having read a number of French novels set in and exposing the conditions in colonial and post-colonial West Africa, and having identified expressions of social, economic, political and personal injustice and unrest in this context, I began to piece together the "African" identity (social, political, economic, personal, etc.) as it evolved during these turbulent times. With my growing knowledge of sociological theories and perspectives, I laid a theoretical foundation for the essay that treated identity as a constantly evolving and transforming entity. As you will see, I attempted to develop this by using the colonnial/post-colonial context as a springboard for expressing the various influences that provide the catalyst for this transformation. Of all of the essays I have written in french, I am particularly proud of this essay because I was able to incorporate my interest and knowledge in sociology into my exploration of french culture and language.13 p.en-USCollection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.Research -- Periodicals.Humanities -- Research -- Periodicals.Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals.Text