Global Literature Online Book Group: Session Seven with the Committee on African Studies

 

Online book discussion for educators and the general public on Purple Hibiscus (2003) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with the Committee on African Studies at Harvard.   From the outside, fifteen-year-old Kambili has the perfect life. She lives in a beautiful house, has a caring family, and attends an exclusive missionary school. She's completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less than perfect in her wealthy Nigerian home. Although her papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home. He looms over his family's every move, severely punishes Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, if they're not the best in their classes, and hits their mama if she disagrees with him. Home is silent and suffocating.  But everything changes once Kambili and Jaja visit Aunty Ifeoma outside the city. For the first time they experience freedom from their papa. Jaja learns to garden and work with his hands, and Kambili secretly falls in love with a young, charismatic priest. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, tension within the family escalates. And shy Kambili must find the strength to keep her family together after her mother commits a desperate act. Purple Hibiscus is a stunning debut that captures the fragile beauty of a young woman's awakening at a time when both country and family are on the cusp of change.  

 

Session Format

The online session will include a combination of presentation and discussion. It will be conducted in an Adobe Connect virtual classroom space and can be accessed from any computer equipped with the latest version of Flash. An external headset and webcam is encouraged but not required for participation. Drop-in orientations to the virtual classroom space will be provided. The session will include a chance to discuss the novel with fellow educators and talk live with scholars of African literature and history.  

 

Register for this program.

 

 

Pre-Reading

Participants are required to complete read the novel before the session.  The sessions is free, but the book is not provided. Purple Hibiscus is available via online book sellers and library systems.  

Presenters  

Akua Sarr is currently Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and Director, Academic Advising Center, both at Boston College. Originally from New York City, Akua earned a Bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College, and an MA and PhD in African Languages & Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A former Fulbright Scholar, Akua has published two books: The Histories, Languages and Cultures of West Africa: Interdisciplinary Essays (2006) and Black Women Writers' Contributions to Contemporary Feminist Discourse (2003). Her research interests include West African literature and film, African retentions in the Americas, and representations of Africa in contemporary African-American literature. Kristen Roupenian is a PhD Candidate in the Department of English at Harvard University, studying Global Anglophone literature, with an emphasis on contemporary African fiction. Kristen is currently working on a dissertation titled "Dodging the Language Question: English, Politics, and the Life of a Kenyan Literary Magazine," which is based in part on research she conducted in Nairobi in the summer of 2009. She taught a Junior Tutorial at Harvard, titled “How to Write about Africa,” which included teaching about Purple Hibiscus. Kristen received her BA in English from Barnard College in 2003. Prior to beginning her graduate work, she spent two years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bukhalalire, Kenya. 

 

This event is part of an ongoing global literature online book group. A partnership of international study centers on Harvard's campus, this online reading series for K-12 educators explores literature from five global regions: Africa, Latin America, Russia, the Middle East, and the Islamic World. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to discuss works of global literature with experts and authors in monthly, online conversations.  See more information about the full program.

Contact: Elise Noel
Sponsors: Harvard Committee on African Studies, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard, Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies Outreach Center