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Course Description

In this class, we will listen to four powerful women’s voices, speaking about the postcolonial experience in North Africa, Vietnam, and the Antilles. We will explore how national identity and personal experience intersect, especially focusing on the power of creative expression to restructure and recover from the trauma of colonialism. We will read literary texts, essays, and interviews in translation from Linda Lê, Maryse Condé, Assia Djebar, and Susanne Dracius, Kim Lefèvre, and Malika Mokeddem. We also will watch excerpts of films which relate to colonial history, read articles which speak to the question of postcolonialism from a feminist perspective, and listen to filmed interviews about the issues women across the diaspora face today. By the end of the class, we will have a much richer understanding of how women represent the confrontation and/or weaving of two different cultures, thereby challenging more traditional concepts of national identity.

SAMPLE TEXTS

1. Vietnam

Linda Lê. Slander.

Kim Lefèvre. Selected excerpts.

2. Antilles

Maryse Condé. Crossing the Mangrove.

Susanne Dracius. Climb to the Sky.

3. North Africa

Assia Djebar. Women of Algiers in their Apartment and Fantasia: an Algerian Cavalcade

Assia Djebar. The author’s official site.

Malika Mokeddem. The Forbidden Woman

Film: The Battle of Algiers.

COURSE PACK: includes interviews, essays, excerpts, and timelines.

COURSE WEB PAGE: includes notes, images, film clips, etc.