FALL 2007 HONORS COURSES

HONR 238E Sites of Memory—Acts of Imagination: African Women’s History in Life Stories
Wednesday, 2-4:30 p.m.
Dr. Hilary Jones, History Department

This course examines the role of African women in the history of the modern world. It focuses on the changing nature of African societies from the period of European colonial conquest in the late 19th century to the emergence of independent nation-states across the African continent from the 1960s to the 1990s. Specifically, we will examine the ways that women experienced socio-economic change in West Africa, North Africa, East Africa and southern Africa. This course will broaden student’s knowledge of topics such as poverty, westernization, urbanization, migration, Islam and Christianity, marriage, family and anti-colonial liberation struggles in Africa. We will examine these topics by analyzing life stories of African women. Students will read life histories, autobiographies, novels and memoirs written by or told by African women themselves. You will also read the work of historians and become more familiar with their interpretations of the role of women and gender in African History.

This course is a discussion based seminar. Students are required to lead at least one class discussion based on assigned readings, complete a map quiz, and write three short essays. These short essays (five to seven pages) will be based on analysis of specific themes relating to the course, using assigned materials. In addition, you are expected to complete a final research paper. This ten to twelve page paper requires you to develop a questionnaire for conducting a life history of a twentieth century African women and to write an essay giving the kind of background information that a historian must know in order to collect a life history.

Tentative Reading List:
Iris Berger and E. Frances White, Women in Sub-Saharan Africa
Jean Allman, Geiger and Musisi, eds., Women in African Colonial Histories
Berida Ndambuki and Claire C. Robertson, We Only Come Here to Struggle
Mpho’ M’Atsepo Nthunya, Singing Away the Hunger
Miriama Ba, So Long a Letter
Course Packet of selected articles

CORE: Social and Political History (SH) and Diversity (D)