239737 Gender and Memoirs (BS) (WiSe 2012/2013)

Perhaps the most visible impact of the criticisms of the binary models of the organization of gender and sexuality and challenges to a belief in the transparency of language has been on developments in the contemporary memoir, a mode of life writing that has gained enormous popularity beginning in the late twentieth century. In this seminar we will explore the implications of this as it pertains to gender. First, we will examine the shift from autobiography to the current trend in memoir, which, according to Julie Rak, acknowledges the changing relationship between ideas of selfhood (from unitary to multiple, dispersed, relational, intersectional) and the role of public and private spheres in late capitalism. Our question is why are women, including women of color, especially drawn to the form? To help answer this question, we will look at the theoretical reframings in ethnic, feminist (American and French), queer, and postcolonial studies more generally as they pertain to identity, memory, authority/agency, space/place, and autobiographical truth. A selection of memoirs will constitute our primary reading.

Bibliography

Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying

Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior

Rigoberta Menchu, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Hugo Hamilton, The Speckled People

Rebecca Walker, Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self

Audre Lourde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name