Spring 2027

Introduction to African Literature

Introduction to African Literature surveys African literary traditions and provides an introduction to literary analysis.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 8

Past student reviews · Matthew Brown

One student noted that reading all the assigned books was necessary to gain much from the class, though they acknowledged it could be a lot of work.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Recognize works of narrative fiction and poetry from different geographic and historical contexts in Africa.

  • Relate examples of narrative fiction and poetry to the contexts from which they arise and to which they respond.

  • Interpret the meanings that are embedded in various examples of narrative fiction and poetry from Africa.

  • Identify relevant research sources to augment interpretations of African narrative fiction and poetry.

  • Compare and explain the meanings of narrative fiction and poetry from Africa in different forms, registers, and modalities (e.g. presentations, discussion posts, essays, etc.).

  • Apply outcomes from various steps in the writing process toward compiling effective final drafts.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
AFRICAN 201 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JOHN NIMIS is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LUIS MADUREIRA is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW BROWN is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SAMUEL ENGLAND is recorded teaching in Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Luis Madureira

Past students described the course as involving two papers, one presentation, and weekly discussion posts, with an instructor who made an effort to learn student names.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.66 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.92 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.76 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=81 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Matthew Brown

One student noted that reading all the assigned books was necessary to gain much from the class, though they acknowledged it could be a lot of work.

Past student reviews · Samuel England

A recent student found the assigned material inaccessible and niche, stating they spent significant time on the class but did not learn anything substantial about the African diaspora.

Topics

  • African literary traditions
  • Narrative fiction and poetry

Skills

  • Literary analysis
  • Research source identification

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.16 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "8ebdd09b771d0a4cb3daff65330be4bccbfa0c105cbb91479f0c17d79086e9b6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}