African Women in History

This course explores the history of women in Africa. It takes an historical approach to looking at the lives, experiences, stories, and changing roles of women across Africa. It situates women's history against the backdrop of gender relations in various contexts in Africa. The course focuses heavily on the writings of African women, such as memoirs, novels, and political treatises. This is a discussion-oriented seminar, interspersed with lectures on salient topics. The weekly meetings will be devoted to discussion of the readings listed in the syllabus. Each class meeting three or more members of the seminar will provide ten-minute summaries of the readings and lead the ensuing discussion. Students in charge of leading discussion should come prepared with plenty of provocative questions.