School of Literature, Language and Media

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African Literature

Our Department of African Literature offers a distinctive space for the study of African and diasporic literary and cultural traditions. We approach literature as a living and contested field encompassing oral forms, popular culture, theory, and experimental writing through which questions of history, power, memory, language, and imagination are critically explored.

The Department is shaped by its location in southern Africa while remaining deeply engaged with Black
intellectual traditions across the continent and the diaspora. Our undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes foster careful reading, conceptual depth, and original research, preparing students to
contribute to scholarly, cultural, and public conversations in Africa and globally

Why Study African Literature at Wits?

We are the only department of its kind in South Africa and is internationally recognised for its contribution to African literary and cultural studies.

Located in Johannesburg, the department is situated within a city shaped by histories of migration,
struggle, cultural production, and intellectual exchange. This location informs the department’s
commitment to historically grounded, socially engaged, and globally relevant scholarship.

The department has trained generations of scholars, writers, editors, and cultural practitioners working
across Africa and internationally. Its staff and postgraduate researchers are actively engaged in shaping
debates in African literary studies, Black intellectual traditions, cultural studies, and decolonial thought.

Studying African Literature at Wits means joining a community that values intellectual seriousness,
interdisciplinary openness, and the careful work of thinking with and through African texts.

Undergraduate study

To complete a major, students take two courses in first year, two in second year, and four in third year (total of 144 credits).

African Literature courses are also open to exchange and study abroad students. You may register for one or more courses at the 1000, 2000, or 3000 level, depending on your background. Courses are worth 18 credits each, equivalent to approx. 9 ECTS or 4.5 US credits.

For eligibility, credit conversion, and deadlines, see the Study Abroad & Exchange section of the Faculty of Humanities. Click here to see how you can study abroad.

First Year (1000-Level)

Your journey begins with a foundation in African literary and cultural studies. You
will take two core courses:

  • AFRT1002A Oral Literature and Performance in Africa introduces you to the interplay of orality,
    performance, and textuality.
  • AFRT1001A African Fiction: An Introduction immerses you in modern African writing and its
    experiments with form, genre, and historical imagination.

Together, these courses ground you in key debates, critical skills, and the creative breadth of the field.

Second Year (2000-Level)

Building on this foundation, you move into courses that sharpen your
engagement with theory and context:

  • AFRT2001A Gender and Writing in Africa explores feminist and gender-based literary traditions and
    their critical cousins.
  • AFRT2002A Performing Power in Post-Independence Africa examines how literature and culture
    dramatise power, resistance, and the imagination of the nation.

This level consolidates your skills in close reading, comparative analysis, and conceptual framing, while
encouraging interdisciplinary thinking.

Third Year (3000-Level)

In your final year, you specialise and extend your study through four advanced
modules:

  • AFRT3003A Literatures of the Black Diaspora situates African writing within global Black intellectual
    traditions.
  • AFRT3006A Love in Africa explores intimacy, affect, and queer theory in African cultural production.
  • AFRT3001A Contemporary Trends in African Literature focuses on emerging traditions, genres, and
    theories.
  • AFRT3002A East African Fiction brings a regional lens to shifting political and cultural landscapes.

A rotating course, AFRT3004A Popular Media in Africa, is also occasionally offered, introducing students to the analysis of popular culture and everyday expression.

By the end of your major, you will have moved from foundational study of oral and written traditions to
advanced, comparative, and transdisciplinary engagements with African and diasporic literatures. 

Postgraduate Programmes

BA Hons African Literature
MA African Literature by Coursework and Research Report
MA African Literature by dissertation
PhD African Literature
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