Wandering in Sudan (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Arabic Literature of the African Sahara
Columbia University Faculty House
Professor Xavier Luffin
Thursday, March 27
Dinner at 6:00 pm and talk at 7:00 pm
Drawing from studies of Arabic literature from Mali to Eritrea, this talk will explore the multiple social, cultural and political dimensions of Arabic literature on the African periphery, as a language of narration and an object of conscious and unconscious cultural representations for authors and readers alike.
Professor Xavier Luffin teaches Arabic Language and Literature at Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). He has translated a dozen of books (novels, short-stories, drama), mainly from Arabic into French. His research focuses on the cultural relations between Africa and the Arab world. In his most recent publication, he analyzes the representation of Africa and the Africans in the Contemporary Arabic Literature (Les fils d’Antara. Représentations de l’Afrique et des Africains dans la littérature arabe contemporaine, Bruxelles, Safran, 2012 [in French]). He is currently working on two projects: the Representation of the African-Americans in the Contemporary Arabic Literature, and a survey of the Contemporary Arabic Literature in Saharan Africa.
