HIST 346 Women & Gender in African History

3 Credit(s)

This course looks at major themes in African history - precolonial states, the slave trade, colonialism, nationalism, development - from the point of view of women’s experiences and knowledge. How does Africa’s past look different when women’s voices and lives are put at the center of the story? What can be learned from feminist debates about the relevance of gender in African history, especially prior to colonial rule? Drawing on scholarship, primary sources, life stories, fiction and film, this course will examine women’s roles in African history as well as the gender ideologies and practices constraining women’s agency in the past and today.