FREN285W

This course surveys the literature and films produced by African men and women describing, examining, or challenging power structures and dominant discourses that characterize gender roles and representation. The questions the course will seek to address are among others: How do African feminisms deal with issues of female subjecthood and agency in local contexts where culture, politics, social institutions and language are established within dominant male narratives? How to begin to understand gender dynamics and sexuality in particular African works? How do African feminist discourses negotiate the constraints and structures of feminist internationalism while maintaining a specific African inflection? Taught in English.

Even Years

Spring Semester