Amber Bal

Amber Bal is a scholar of twentieth and twenty-first century Francophone and Wolophone literature and film. Her research explores the representation of urban and rural environments in twentieth-century African literature, film, and archival documents with a particular interest in how different forms of agrarian change are thematized therein.

Her current book project introduces rurality to discussions about twentieth-century African literature, offering a new perspective on colonialism and independence in which the working countryside is a central character and mischief-maker. Other areas of interest include classical reception, nineteenth and twentieth century French anthropology, African language new media and visual culture.