World Literature
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
Unit Plan
K-U-D
Key Learning and Unit Essential Question(s)
Key Learning(s):
Students consider the beauty and craftsmanship of the works, as well as the effects of the African
and Middle Eastern colonial experience – and the subsequent challenges of the postcolonial era.
They consider religious, generational and cultural conflicts, effects of modernization, political
struggle, and other themes common to many literary works. At the same time, students
recognize that not all literary works make explicit political or cultural statements and that all
works must be approached on their own terms. In order to enrich their understanding, students
investigate the historical background of selected works, as well as author biographies.
Unit Essential Question(s):
How does the literature in this unit offer insight into African and Middle Eastern cultural
conflicts?
Standards/GLEs
ELACC9-10RL1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
ELACC9-10RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it
sets a formal or informal tone).
ELACC9-10RL6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work
of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
ELACC9-10RI5: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and
refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or
chapter).
ELACC9-10RI8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false
statements and fallacious reasoning.
ELACC9-10W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization,
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing
types are defined in standards 1-3.)
ELACC9-10W5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a
specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of
Language standards 1–3 up to and including grades 9–10.)
ELACC9-10W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other
information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
ELACC9-10W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
ELACC9-10SL6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of
formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9–10 Language standards 1 and 3 for
specific expectations.)
World Literature
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
Unit Plan
ELACC9-10L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances in word meanings.
ELACC9-10L6: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and
phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness
level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or
phrase important to comprehension or expression.
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KNOW
history of the rise of
Islam and its subsequent
influences on Persia and
Arabia
art, culture, people and
society of the Muslim
world
principle of monotheism
understand tales, myths,
legends, epics, songs,
and proverbs
understand elements of
lyric poetry
African Diaspora
history of West Africa
(rise and fall of empires
and city-states, spread of
Islam, slave trade and
colonization.
art, culture, people, and
society of African
countries
cultural values of nonAmericans
grammar, usage and
mechanics conventions
appropriate to grade
level
vocabulary terms and
literary devices
standards of writing
(e.g., MLA format,
research)
Western perspectives on
Africa and the Middle
East
UNDERSTAND
The beauty and craftsmanship
of the works, as well as the
effects of the African and
Middle Eastern colonial
experience – and the
subsequent challenges of the
postcolonial era. Religious,
generational and cultural
conflicts, effects of
modernization, political
struggle, and other themes are
common to many literary
works. Not all literary works
make explicit political or
cultural statements and that all
works must be approached on
their own terms; historical
background of selected works,
as well as author biographies.
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DO
Read a variety of
literary works from
Africa and the Middle
East, particularly from
the postcolonial period.
Consider the challenges
of translation, including
the different
connotations that
various cultures attach
to given words.
Through analysis of
literary works, explore
the changing social
structures of Middle
Eastern and African
societies.
Explore various literary
devices in plot
development such as
suspense,
foreshadowing,
symbolism, and
extended metaphor.
Trace the development
of an idea or argument
in a work of literary
nonfiction.
Offer insightful
inferences regarding the
themes of the text.
Create a clear, original,
specific thesis
statement.
Organize concrete
evidence and supporting
textual details to support
World Literature
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
Unit Plan
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a thesis statement.
Use precise language,
avoiding casual
language cliches.
Write appropriate
transitions to organize
paragraphs.
Analyze how literary
devices convey theme.
Launch:
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Vocabulary Terms:
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antagonist
colonialism
denouement
extended metaphor
foreshadowing
irony
mysticism
- paradox
- persona
- point of view
- postcolonialism
- rhetoric
- satire
Formative Assessments:
Summative Assessments:
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Appropriate vocabulary, comprehension, or review quizzes
Multiple Choice Exam with short answer/essay options
Resources: The Language of Literature: World Literature (McDougal Littell brown text)
Modern World Literature (Nextext Anthology)
SCRIPTURE
TALES
ANECDOTES
MYTH
from The Koran
(Ancient Middle East)
from The Thousand and One Nights
(India/Persia)
- “The Second Voyage of Sinbad
the Sailor”
Tales of Anansi the Spider
Ashanti (West Africa)
- “All Stories are Anasi’s”
- “Anansi Plays Dead”
from the Gulistan
Sadi (Persia)
“How the World Was Created from a Drop of Milk” Fulani (West Africa)
World Literature
LEGEND
SONGS
NONFICTION
POETRY
ESSAY
MEMOIR
FICTION
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
Unit Plan
“The First Bard Among the Soninke”
Soninke (West Africa)
Praise Songs for Orishas
Yoruba (West Africa)
- “Obatala”
- “Shango”
- “Oshun”
West African Proverbs
Various (West Africa)
from the Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyam (Persia)
“Birdsong from Inside the Egg”
Rumi (Persia)
“The Grasses”
“And We Shall be Steeped”
Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senegal)
“Prayer to Masks”
“Letter to a Poet”
“Black Woman”
“After the Deluge”
Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)
“Your Logic Frightens Me, Mandela”
“The Snow Flakes Sail Gently Down”
Gabriel Okara (Nigeria)
“You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed”
“Song of War”
Kofi Awoonor (Ghana)
“The Sea Eats the Land at Home”
“At the Gates”
“On African Writing”
Jack Mapanje (Malawi)
“Of Three of Four in a Room”
Yehuda Amichai (Israel)
“Jerusalem”
“An Arab Shepherd Is Searching for His Goat on Mt. Zion”
“Identity Card”
Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine)
“On Wishes”
“I Conquer the World with Words”
Nizar Qabbani (Syria)
“Equation”
“Language”
“Fragments from Notes”
The Epic of Gilgamesh
(ancient poem - Mesopotamia)
The Conference of the Birds: A Sufi Allegory
Farid al Din Attar or Attar of
Nishapur (Iran)
from A Portrait of Egypt
Mary Anne Weaver (Egypt)
from The Dark Child
Camara Laye (Guinea)
“The Guest”
Albert Camus (Algeria)
“Amnesty”
Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)
“The Ultimate Safari”
“Half a Day”
Naguib Mafouz (Egypt)
“The Answer is No”
“The Conjurer Made Off with the Dish”
“The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses”
Bessie Head (Botswana)
“The Voter”
Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
“Taken”
Steven Chimombo (Malawi)
“There Is No Exile”
Assia Djebar (Algeria)
“The Butcher”
Ari Siletz (Iran)
“The Slave Fort”
Ghassan Kanafani (Palestine)
“From Behind the Veil”
Dhu’l Nun Ayyoub (Iraq)
“At the Time of the Jasmine”
Alifa Rifaat (Egypt)
“Three Quatrains”
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (Pakistan)
“Elegy”
World Literature
NOVELS
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
“Prison Meeting”
“Be Near Me”
My Name is Red
Things Fall Apart
The Joys of Motherhood
Cry, the Beloved Country
Waiting for the Barbarians or Life and
Times of Michael K
The Thief and the Dogs
So Long a Letter
Martha Quest
Beirut Blues
The River Between
Unit Plan
Orham Pamuk (Turkey)
Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Buchi Emecheta (Nigeria)
Alan Paton (South Africa)
J.M. Coetzee (South Africa)
Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Mariama Ba (Senegal)
Doris Lessing (U.K.)
Hanan al-Shakyh (Lebanon)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya)
Additional Resources:
SHORT STORIES
 The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales
 Tales from a Troubled Land
 We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Mozambique Stories
Bessie Head (Botswana)
Alan Paton (South Africa)
Luis Bernardo Honwana
(Mozambique)
Yehuda Amichai (Israel)
 The World Is a Room and Other Stories
POETRY
 Poems of Black Africa (selections)
Wole Soyinka, ed.
 The Butterfly’s Burden
Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine)
 Open Closed Open: Poems (selections)
Yehuda Amichai (Israel)
 The Illuminated Rumi (selections)
Jalal Al-Din Rumi, Michael Green, and Coleman Barks,
trans. (Iran)
DRAMA
South Africa
 “Master Harold”…and the Boys
Athol Fugard
 Woza Albert!
Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema, and Barney Simon
Nigeria
 Death and the King’s Horseman: A Play
Wole Soyinka
 King Baabu
Wole Soyinka
 The Lion and the Jewel
Wole Soyinka
INFORMATIONAL TEXTS
Iran
 Ethics of the Aristocrats and Other Satirical Works (Nezam al-Din Obeyd-e Zakani)
South Africa
 Living in Hope and History: Notes From Our Century (Nadime Gordimer)
 Autobiography: Out of Africa (Isak Dinesen)
 Autobiography: Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (Nelson
Mandela)
 Speech: Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1993 (Nelson Mandela)
World Literature
Africa and the Middle East (4 weeks)
ART, MUSIC, AND MEDIA
Art
Africa
 Gabon, mask for the Okuyi Society (late 19th century)
 Burkina Faso, hawk mask (no date)
 Nigeria, House of the Head Shrine: Equestrian, Yoruba (19th-20th century)
 Ivory Coast, leopard stool (20th century)
 Mali, standing female figure (19th-20th century)
 Congo, power figure (19th-20th century)
 Yinka Shonibare MBE, Earth (2010)
 Yinka Shonibare MBE, Air (2010)
 Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fire (2010)
 Yinka Shonibare MBE, Water (2010)
Middle East
 Turkey, dish (2nd half of the 16th century)
 Syria, Qur’an manuscript (late 9th-early10th century)
 Iran, antique Kurdish rug (no date)
 Shirin Neshat, Untitled, (1996)
 Shirin Neshat, Soliloquy Series (Figure in Front of Steps) (1999)
WEB
 Internet African History Sourcebook
 African Postcolonial Literature in English
 African National Congress
 Africa South of the Sahara
 WashingtonPost.com: African Lives
 Art and Life in Africa Project
 Reading Women Writers and African Literatures
 Teaching the Middle East: A Resource for Educators
 Conversations with History
 Women in Africa: Tradition and Change
 Al-Mizan: Sciences and Arts in the Islamic World
 PBS Resources – VIDEOS!!
 PBS Activity Packs
Unit Plan