African 203: Feminism in African Film & Literature

This course will explore how African writers, critics, and filmmakers across generations and genres (re)define and (re)present female subjectivities and identities in their creative expressions. Focusing on questions of gender, sexuality, body, and resistance, the course will introduce students to the sociocultural processes that shape the experiences of African women and how these are addressed in African film and literature. Students will be exposed to indigenous African feminist thought, including Motherism, Stiwanism, Nego-feminism, snail-paced feminism, and African womanism. It will also explore how African feminists develop theoretical and conceptual frameworks grounded in the African worldview to advance the cause of African women. Students will be exposed to how African women have responded to oppression, patriarchy, and exploitation and how women formed solidarity, sisterhood, and support for celebratory purposes and critique of power.

Primary Text

• So Long a Letter. Mariama Bâ. So (Novella)
• Nearly all the men in Lagos are mad. Damilare Kuku (short stories)
• Woman at Point Zero. Nawal El Saadawi,  (novel)

Films

• Fat Kine. Dir. Ousmane Sembene
• Moolade Dir. Ousmane Sembene
• Les Saignantes Di. Jean-Pierre Bekolo
• Wives on strike. Dir. Omoni Oboli

Recommended (not required)

• Dear Ijeawale (Feminist Manifesto in 15 suggestions),  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
• Wives Revolt J.P Clark