Women, Gender and Sexuality in African History

Catalog description

What can we learn about the history of Africa by studying it through the prism of gender and sexuality? How have African women shaped the societies they lived in? This course explores 2 the rich experiences of African women across time and space, foregrounding their relationships to power and authority, systems of oppression, spirituality, knowledge production, community-building, commerce, intimacy, and labor. Beyond that, students also become familiar with the way ideas and practices of gender and sexuality have been constructed and contested across the continent. Case studies will cover indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial African societies, from the sixteenth century through the present.