African Literatures and Cultures
The subject area "African Literatures and Cultures" deals with the history and present of literature, oral-performative narrative art, theatre and film in Africa and the African diaspora. While African literature has long been studied primarily from an ethnological perspective, at Humboldt-Universität it is placed in the context of modern literary and cultural studies. This also means that postcolonial African literatures in the former colonial languages are being integrated into African Studies for the first time. The teaching of literary theories and methods enables reflected access to texts.
The following focal points are represented in teaching by members of the Department of African Studies and supervised as theses:
Anglophone Literatures of West, East and South Africa:
Prof. Dr Susanne Gehrmann, Laurel Braddock (review of theses from summer semester 2025)
Francophone Literatures of Central and West Africa:
Prof. Dr Susanne Gehrmann
Swahili literature: Dr Lutz Diegner
Hausa literature and film: Dr Yusuf Baba Gar
Cinema and film: Prof. Dr Susanne Gehrmann
Anglo- and Francophone diaspora studies, African feminisms: Prof. Dr Polo Moji
(Acceptance of supervisions until 30 March 2025)