Black Feminist Theory (380-0-1)
Topic
Black Feminisms in a Francophone Context. From Wor
Instructors
Silyane Larcher
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 212: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
What is the meaning of "Black Feminism" out of its US experience and initial theorization? How did women of African descent in continental France, the Caribbean (Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique), the Indian Ocean (La Réunion, Mayotte and the Comoros) and Africa (Senegal, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo), whose cultures and political experiences were - at least partly - impacted by French colonial legacy, forge their critiques of patriarchy, colonialism and imperialism, racism? How did they also develop their own imagination of social justice, autonomy, and emancipation?
Based on a wide range of materials and references driven from social sciences scholarship, but also from literature and cinema, the course aims to introduce undergraduate students to a non-US centered and a transnational perspective on black feminisms. The historical period covered will span from 1945-1946 to the contemporary era without intending to be exhaustive. Depending on the needs of very specific topics addressed in the class, some comparative insights with the Caribbean and/or English-speaking Africa might be included.
The pedagogical and intellectual stake of the course is twofold. First, it calls students to reflect on the varying ways in which the very notion of "blackness" (which has no rigorous equivalent in French), and norms of gender and sexuality make sense or not in specific cultural, historical, but also religious and linguistic contexts. Second, the exploration of those different experiences and expressions of black feminisms and/or womanisms is an invitation to critically approach marginalized or "subjugated knowledges" and black feminist theory.
Learning Objectives
* Introduce the study of race and gender in a global and transatlantic perspective.
* To think critically about blackness and standpoints in a non US-centered context.
Teaching Method
Discussion, readings, problem sets, lecture, guest speakers
Evaluation Method
Attendance, class participation, writing assignments, final paper.
Class Materials (Suggested)
F. Germain, S. Larcher (ed), Black French Women and the Struggle for Equality (1848-2016), UNP, 2018.