Black Feminist Theory (380-0-20)
Topic
Feminism in a Global Context
Instructors
Silyane Larcher
Meeting Info
University Library 3370: 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 transnational perspective on black feminism. The historical period covered will span from the 20th century to the contemporary era without intending to be exhaustive. Comparative insights into the Caribbean and/or English-speaking Africa will also be included depending on the needs of specific topics addressed in the class.
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 the concepts of "diasporic subjectivities" and of "black feminist epistemologies".
Registration Requirements
Attendance at first class is mandatory.
Learning Objectives
* Introduce to the study of black feminism in a non US context.
* Engage critically about race, gender and the impact of colonialism in Europe.
* To introduce to a variety of disciplinary methodologies to think and study about black feminism, its genealogies, circulation and history in a diasporic perspective.
Teaching Method
Discussion, class participation, readings, problem sets, writing assignments, guest speakers
Evaluation Method
Attendance, class participation, writing assignments, mid-term and final paper.
Class Materials (Required)
in Canvas