WGS-225 From Prophetess to Poetess: African Women Since 1800
In this course we will explore the history of women in Africa from 1800 to the present. The course takes a deliberately large swath of time, in order to give students an idea of the changing status of women in Africa between the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial periods. The principal objectives of this class are twofold. First, to introduce students to the rich history of African women from an African rather than a European perspective. Second, and perhaps more importantly, to critically reflect on the ways in which historians, archeologists, and other scholars have written the history of African women. We will look at primary sources, as well as historical monographs, film, fiction, music, and graphic novels to rethink many of our assumptions about the history of the continent. While historical monographs can detail the lives of some characters, they are limited by their sources, by what little has been catalogued and archived. In order to fill in the gaps, we will be searching for answers in graphic novels such as Trevor Getz's Abina and the Important Men, and in movies, such as Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene's Moolade.