Universität Wien

240005 SE SE Topics of Gender Studies (2023W)

Global Black Feminisms and the Culture of Survival and Resistance

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 02.10. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 16.10. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 30.10. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 13.11. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 27.11. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 11.12. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 15.01. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Monday 29.01. 13:15 - 16:30 Hörsaal 29 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The central focus in this course will be to explore African/Black feminisms from an Afro-Feminist Diasporic perspective to include a wide range of black women’s voices from all parts of the world. By grounding this course in global African/Black feminism, it provides a space for women to interrogate their conditions from their own socio-cultural contexts and perspectives. For global African/Black feminist theorists and writers as well as women who tell their own stories, this focus on blackness and feminism adds to a culture of survival and resistance. Indeed, for African and African Diaspora feminists, the word feminism has often had negative connotations due to the historical exclusion of women of African descent and their extensive contributions and concerns from mainstream global feminist discourses. In their response to the questions surrounding their ties to feminism as a whole, various African and African Diaspora feminist theorists have developed theories.

In this course, the language of feminism, race, class, sexuality and intersectionality will be interrogated from different global vantage points. As black women encounter multiple oppressions that define their unique experience, they respond with multiple ways to demolish oppressive systems. bell hooks’ (2000) emphasizes the uniqueness and importance of the black woman’s experience to resist: This lived experience may shape our consciousness in such a way that our worldview differs from those who have a degree of privilege (however relative within the existing system). It is essential for continued feminist struggle that black women recognize the special vantage point our marginality gives us and make use of this perspective to criticize the dominant racist, classist, sexist hegemony as well as to envision and create a counter hegemony.

Method:
1. Students are expected to read a selection of articles and materials that are made available for the class on the Moodle platform prior to the
start of the course and bring questions of their choice for the peer discussion.
2. In the middle of the semester, a seminar paper must be presented. The students can also use the texts and the works of fiction that were
already discussed in class.
3. Participation in discussions about the specified reading material in the seminar can cause the performance assessment of the student's
examination paper to move up or down the grading scale by one level.
4. Absence from the class, in which participation in the discussions is obligatory, must be communicated at the latest before the beginning of the
unit; otherwise the final grade will be lowered.

Aims:
1. As texts from authors from around the globe are explored, this course will enable the students to explore and study the notions of a global
black diasporic feminism. This inclusion of black women writers and scholars from around the globe, as well as the exploration of their
interaction and communication with one another, strengthens the argument in support of a global black feminist community.
2. This course will equally focus on how black women writers, storytellers and academics around the world, use feminism to develop a culture of
resistance and survival to the intersecting oppressions in their lives.

What the students will learn:
1. At the end of this course, the students would have a basic knowledge of the history of Global Black Feminist studies.
2. Students will learn how to identify the underlying socio-cultural factors that separate texts written by Global Black Feminists.
3. The students will learn to apply their experiences in this course to their approach to Global Black Feminist studies.

Assessment and permitted materials

Participation in the discussion.
Presentation of a paper during the semester (15 pages).
Writing a term paper (20 pages, Times New Roman, 1.5 lines, 12 pt.) by February 28, 2024.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Very good English reading and comprehension are expected. Poor language skills do not preclude successful participation in the seminar, but considerably limit the possibilities of scientifically dealing with Anglophone literature.

Examination topics

Examination material is the content of the course, script and secondary literature.

Reading list

Primary Literature:
1. Busby, Margaret (ed.) (2019). New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent. New York:
Amistad.
2. Manyika Ladipo, Sarah (2008). In Dependence. London: Cassava Republic.

Secondary Literature:
1. Allan, Tuzyline Jita. (1995). Womanist and Feminist Aesthetics: A Comparative Review. Athens: Ohio University Press.
2. Amesberger, Helga and Brigitte Halbmayr (eds.) (1998). Rassismen: ausgewählte Analysen afrikanisch-amerikanischer Wissenschafterinnen.
Wien: Braumüller.
3. Ayim, May; Oguntoye, Katharina; Schultz, Dagmar (eds.) (2006). Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte. 3rd
ed., Berlin: Orlanda.
4. Collins, Patricia Hill (2002). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge.
5. Eggers, Maureen Maisha; Kilomba, Grada; Piesche, Peggy; Arndt, Susan (eds.) (2005) Mythen, Masken und Subjekte: Kritische
Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland. Münster: Unrast.
6. Friedman, Susan Stanford (1998). Mappings: Feminism and the Cultural Geographies of Encounter. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.
7. Graneß, Anke, Martina Kopf, and Magdalena Andrea Kraus (2019). Feministische Theorie aus Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika: Eine Einführung.
Wien: facultas.
8. Habinger, Gabriele and Brigitte Fuchts (eds.) (1996). Rassismen & Feminismen: Differenzen, Machtverhältnisse und Solidarität zwischen
Frauen. Wien: Promedia.
9. hooks, bell (2000). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Pluto Press.
10. hooks, bell (1996). Sehnsucht und Widerstand: Kultur, Ethnie, Geschlecht. Berlin: Orlanda.
11. Johnston-Arthur, Araba-Evelyn. 2009. "Jenseits von Integration... Überlegungen zur Dekolonisierung des österreichischen Klassenzimmers." In
Egermann, Eva and Pritz, Anna (eds.) Class Works, pp. 113-138. Wien: Löcker.
12. Joseph, Gloria I. and Vogt, Barbara (eds.) (1993). Schwarzer Feminismus: Theorie und Politik afro-amerikanischer Frauen. Berlin: Orlanda.
13. Kazeem-Kaminski, Belinda (2016). Engaged Pedagogy: antidiskriminatorisches Lehren und Lernen bei bell hooks. Wien: Zaglossus.
14. Kolawole, Mary E. Modupe (1997). Womanism and African Gender Consciousness. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.
15. McDowell, Deborah (1995). “The Changing Same”: Black Women's Literature, Criticism, and Theory. Bloomington: Indiana UP.
16. Meyer, Katrin (2017). Theorien der Intersektionalität zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius.
17. Ogunyemi, Chikwenye-Okonjo (1985). “Womanism: The Dynamics of Black Female Writing in English.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society, 11(1), 63-80.
18. Oyewumi, Oyeronke (2001). “Ties that (Un)Bind: Feminism, Sisterhood and Other Foreign Relations.” Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African
Women Studies, 1(1).
19. Piesche, Peggy (ed.) (2012). "Euer Schweigen schützt Euch nicht": Audre Lorde und die Schwarze Frauenbewegung in Deutschland. Berlin:
Orlanda.
20. Rodriguez, Cheryl R., Dzodzi Tsikata, Akosua Adomako Ampofo (eds.) (2015). Transatlantic Feminisms: Women and Gender Studies in Africa
and the Diaspora. Pennsylvania: Lexington Books.
21. Unterweger, Claudia (2016). Talking Back: Strategien Schwarzer österreichischer Geschichtsschreibung. Wien: Zaglossus.
22. Walker, Alice (1983). In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.
23. Yuval-Davis, Nira (2009). "Intersektionalität und feministische Politik." Feministische Studien 27 (1), 51-66.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 26.09.2023 11:28