Women and Gender in Africa

Catalog description

In this course we will explore scholarship on women and gender in Africa in a historical context. As a social construction, gender is negotiated and renegotiated throughout time and space. From the colonial era to today, women's experiences have not only been shaped by their environments, but they have been responsible for shaping their political, economic and social environments. Examining gendered histories is important because it explores gendered understandings of rights and responsibilities in society, as well examines how gender, including femininity and masculinity, is not static. As internal and external forces necessitate, i.e. imperialism, gender roles within families and in communities change. Themes such as power, gerontocracies, law, motherhood, manhood, feminism and others will be covered in this course.