AAAS 3900 - Women Writers in Contemporary Black Literature from the 19th Century to the Present

This course focuses attention on the creative and critical writings by major Black women writers from Africa and the African Diaspora (Europe, the U.S., and the Caribbean) and the question of African feminist literary theory and criticism. Through textual, inter-textual, and contextual analysis of selected works by Black women, the course will engage in a number of critical endeavors which can be grouped as follows: 1) establishing the canon of African women writers; 2) critically exploring the stereotypical controlling images of women in African literature written by both men and women; 3) Examining African women writers and the development of an African female aesthetics; 4) Analyzing women in oral literature. This course satisfies WMU Essential Studies Level 3: Connections – Global Perspectives Category.

Credits: 3 hours