First-Year Seminar in African History

3 units

Gender is a powerful lens through which to examine Africa's past. Defined as the behaviors, attitudes and roles that society assigns the sexes, gender is one of the principles that has shaped African societies from the earliest times to the present. This course provides a broad introduction to major themes and debates relating to gender in African history. We will examine how gender has been produced, reproduced and transformed in the lives of African women and men from the latter parts of the 19th century to the 20th century. We will highlight African agency and structures of power as we seek to examine gender as a social and historical construct in Africa. We will also analyze how gender intersects with race, sexuality and politics. Beginning with some of the methodological questions about gender in African history, our case studies -- drawn from a range of sources including articles, book chapters, novels and films -- will cover topics such as domesticity and the colonial encounter, wicked women and the reconfiguration of gender relations, nationalism and the women's question in African history, and sexuality and the state.