230368 What's in a name? African American Women Writers (S) (SoSe 2015)

“What’s in a Name? African American Women Writers”

This course will critically engage with the rhetorical oddities that surround the words “African” and “American” in the umbrella term “African America” and question the epistemology that frames our understanding of these denominations in the context of the American Hemisphere. Further, by reading texts by African American women from diverse nations in the western hemisphere, we will explore the meaning of Africa and America as the continents emerge in their writing, what it means to be African American and a woman in the Americas, and examine the questions these writers raise about sexuality, masculinity, family, resistance, and agency in a globalized world. Readings will include texts by, for instance, Carolina María de Jesus, Rebecca Walker, Edwidge Danticat, Luz Argentina Chiriboga, Mohja Kahf, Maryse Condé, Jamaica Kincaid, Dionne Brandt, María Elena Moyano.