01:508:224 Women and Gender in African History (3)
Professor Barbara Cooper
MTh1 Murray 212
Office Hours: Van Dyck 003 Thursday 9:30 - 10:30 and by appointment bacooper@rci.rutgers.edu
Women in Africa have been queens and slaves, farmers and traders, mothers and prostitutes. Given the
extraordinary diversity of Africa we will not attempt to tell a single story about the history of women.
Instead we will explore a number of themes (productive life, spiritual authority, family dynamics, age and
gender as cross-cutting dimensions of power, the implications of the legal domain, conceptions of the
body and health, women's education, the construction of femininity and masculinity) across a variety of
different settings on the continent. We will consider how local, regional and global shifts in environment,
economy, political life and spiritual conceptions have affected women and men, shaping the roles they
play. We will use texts that illustrate the use of a range sources for history: life histories, documentary
evidence, ethnographic observation, legal dramas, oral and written poetry.
All of your readings are either available in a coursepack (#36) available at Pequod Copy
(119 Somerset Street (732) 214-8787) or they are available to you for free online through the Rutgers
University Library (often through JSTOR). To access online journal articles you must enter through a
Rutgers account–find the journal in question in IRIS, then search for the article within the journal once
you find the online link. Please print out copies of all journal articles so that we can discuss the language
and evidence closely in class.
Course Requirements:
Attendance: 20% of grade. This is not a lecture course. To be a member of the class you must commit to
three things: regular and timely attendance in class; prior preparation through reading and note taking;
participation in the discussion. More than three un-excused absences will diminish your final grade.
More than five un-excused absences is grounds for failure of the course. Similarly regular lateness to
class or disruptive departure from class can affect your grade.
Midterm essay: 30% A five to seven page typed essay on a topic I will assign drawing together the
readings, due in hard copy class on Monday Oct. 24. I will give out the essay assignment earlier in
October.
Final exam: 50% Students will be given a take home essay exam. The exam will be cumulative–it will
cover material for the entire semester. Our exam date falls on a Saturday Dec. 17th but I am giving you a
little extra time to complete your take home final exam. Accordingly your take home exam must be
returned to me IN HARD COPY in my office in Van Dyck 003 by noon on Monday, Dec. 19th. I will not
accept late exams and I do not accept exams by attachment.
Extra Credit: You will note that I have included numerous extra credit opportunities on the syllabus. You
can earn one point for each one page written response you turn in to me for the events listed below. You
may earn up to 5 points of extra credit. Other opportunities may become available throughout the
semester.
Thur. Sept. 1 Introduction to the Course
Mon. Sept. 5 Labor Day - no class
Thur. Sept. 8 Orientations
Coursepack 8-34:
Eugenia Shanklin, “Family and Kinship,” in April and Donald Gordon, Understanding
Contemporary Africa Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2001, 245-69.
April Gordon, “Women and Development, in April and Donald Gordon, Understanding
Contemporary Africa Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2001, 271-97.
Mon. Sept. 12 Debating Matriarchy and Patriarchy
Coursepack 35-58:
E. Frances White, “Africa On My Mind,” in Cheryl Johnson-Odim and Margaret Strobel,
Expanding the Boundaries of Women’s History, Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1992, 51-73.
Ifi Amadiume, “The Matriarchal roots of Africa,” from her book Reinventing Africa:
Matriarchy, Religion and Culture London: Zed Press, 1997, 29-51.
Thur. Sept. 15 Gender and Masculinity
Coursepack 59-82:
J. Lorand Matory, Sex and the Empire that is No More: Gender and the Politics of
Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion, New York: Berghahn Books, 2005, 197-225.
Mon. Sept. 19 Gender and Masculinity
Coursepack 83-97:
Dorothy Hodgson, Once Intrepid Warriors: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Cultural Politics
of Maasai Development. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001, 21-47.
Thur. Sept. 22 Female Power and Legitimacy
Coursepack 98-104 and 111-122:
Sa’ad Abubakr, “Queen Amina of Zaria,” in Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective,
edited by Bolanle Awe, Sankore/Bookcraft, 1992, 12-25
Edna Bay, “The Kpojito or ‘Queen Mother’ of Precolonial Dahomey: Towards an
Institutional History,” in Queens, Queen Mothers, Priestesses and Power, edited by Flora
Edouwaye S. Kaplan. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1997, 19-40.
Mon. Sept. 26 Female Power and Legitimacy
Coursepack 105-110 and 151-163:
E.K. Alagoa, “Queen Kambasa of Bonny,” in Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective,
edited by Bolanle Awe, Sankore/Bookcraft, 1992, 27-35.
Heidi Nast, Concubines and Power: Five Hundred Years in a Northern Nigerian Palace,
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005, 1-20.
Extra Credit: Mon. Sept. 26, 4:30 Jerry H. Bentley (University of Hawaii)"What Is World History Now?"
Teleconference Lecture Hall, Alexander Library, 4th Floor (CAC).
Extra Credit: Wed. Sept 28, 7 pm Alison DesForges, Senior Adviser to the Africa Division, Human
Rights Watch "Mass Justice After Mass Violence: The Case of the Rwandan Genocide"
Cook Douglass Lecture Hall, Room 102
Note: History Majors Orientation is Wed. Sept. 28 at 6.30 PM
Thurs. Sept. 29 Women and Slavery
Coursepack 123-150:
Claire Robertson and Martin Klein, “Women’s Importance in African Slave Systems,” in
Claire Robertson and Martin Klein, eds., Women and Slavery in Africa. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, 3-25.
George E. Brooks, “The Signares of Saint-Louis and Goree: Women Entrepreneurs in
Eighteenth-Centry Senegal,” in Nancy Hafkin and Edna Bay, Women in Africa: Studies
in Social and Economic Change, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976, 19-44.
Mon. Oct. 3 Women and Slavery
Coursepack 154-193:
Marcia Wright, Strategies of Slaves and Women. New York: Lilian Barber Press, 1993,
“Msatulwa Mwachitete” 59-79, “Mama Meli” 91-121.
Extra Credit: Mon. Oct. 3, 4:30 Sandra Barnes, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania,
"Global Flows: Oil, Terror and Strategic Philanthropy" College Hall, Livingston Student Center
Thurs. Oct. 6 Ritual and Power
Coursepack 194-207:
Judith van Allen, “‘Aba Riots’ or Igbo ‘Women’s War’? Ideology, Stratification, and the
Invisibility of Women, in Nancy Hafkin and Edna Bay, Women in Africa: Studies in
Social and Economic Change, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976, 59-85.
Online:
Edward A. Alpers, “‘Ordinary Household Chores’: Ritual and Power in a 19th-Century
Swahili Women's Spirit Possession Cult” The International Journal of African Historical
Studies Vol. 17, No. 4 (1984), pp. 677-702 Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=03617882%281984%2917%3A4%3C677%3A%22HCRAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
Rosh Hashanah sundown, ends Wed.
Mon. Oct 10 Power and the Market
Coursepack 219-228:
Gracia Clark, “Gender and Profiteering: Ghana’s Market Women as Devoted Mothers
and ‘Human Vampire Bats’” in Dorothy Hodgson and Cheryl McCurdy, eds., ‘Wicked’
Women and the Reconfiguration of Gender in Africa, Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001,
293-311.
Video: God gave her a Mercedes Benz [videorecording] / produced by SFINX Film/TV ; directed by
Katia Forbert Petersen ; concept and research by Ingrid Nyström. New York, N.Y. : Filmakers Library,
Inc., [1993?]. 1 videocassette (48 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in. (Media library 2-3610)
Extra Credit: Wed. Oct. 12, 7 pm dinner, 8pm movie, Hotel Rwanda, Busch Campus Center
Multipurpose Room (reserve ticket in advance)
Thurs. Oct. 13 Shifting Economies of Power and Meaning
Coursepack 208-218 and 229-240:
Misty Bastian, “‘Vultures of the Marketplace’: Southeastern Nigerian Women and
Discourses of the Ogu Umunwaanyi (Women’s War) of 1929,” in Jean Allman et al. eds.,
Women in African Colonial Histories Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002, 26081.
Jean Hay, “Luo Women and Economic Change During the Colonial Period,” in Nancy
Hafkin and Edna Bay, Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change,
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976, 87-109.
Mon. Oct. 17 Defining Labor: Domesticity and the Worker
Coursepack 241-263:
Elizabeth Schmidt, “Race, Sex, and Domestic Labor: The Question of African Female
Servants in Southern Rhodesia, 1900-1939,” in Karen Hansen, ed., African Encounters
with Domesticity, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992, 221-241.
Nakanyike Musisi, “Colonial and Missionary Education: Women and Domesticity in
Uganda, 1900-1945,” in Karen Hansen, ed., African Encounters with Domesticity, New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992, 172-194.
Extra Credit: Mon. Oct. 17 8pm Rutgers Student Center, An Evening with Paul Rusesabagina.
Thurs. Oct. 20 Struggles to Control Women
Coursepack 264-285:
Luise White, “Domestic Labor in a Colonial City: Prostitution in Nairobi, 1900-52,” in
Sharon Stichter and Jane Parpart, eds., Patriarchy and Class: African Women in the
Home and the Workforce, Boulder: Westview Press, 1988, 139-160.
Jean Allman, “Rounding up Spinsters: Gender Chaos and Unmarried Women in Colonial
Asante,” in in Dorothy Hodgson and Cheryl McCurdy, eds., ‘Wicked’ Women and the
Reconfiguration of Gender in Africa, Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001, 130-138
Extra Credit: Oct. 20, 4:30, Karen Musalo, “Gendered Injustice: Transcending the Male Paradigm in the
U.S. and Beyond,” RDJC 103/104 (Douglass)
Mon. Oct. 24 Struggles to Control Women
Mid-term essay due in class. No reading is assigned for this class.
Video: A Woman’s Place, Maryland Public Television
Thurs. Oct. 27 Colonial Medicine and the Body
Coursepack 286-298:
Jan Turritin, “Colonial Midwives and Modernizing Childbirth in French West Africa,” in
Jean Allman et al. eds., Women in African Colonial Histories Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2002, 71-91.
Online:
Nancy Rose Hunt, “‘Le Bébé en Brousse’: European Women, African Birth Spacing and
Colonial Intervention in Breast Feeding in the Belgian Congo” The International Journal
of African Historical Studies Vol. 21, No. 3 (1988), pp. 401-432 Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=03617882%281988%2921%3A3%3C401%3A%22BEBEW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
Mon. Oct 31Colonial Medicine and the Body
Coursepack 299-309:
Nakanyike Musisi, “The Politics of Perception or Perception as Politics: Colonial and
Missionary Representations of Baganda Women, 1900-1945, in Jean Allman et al. eds.,
Women in African Colonial Histories Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002, 95115.
Thurs. Nov. 3 White Women, Power, and Identity
Coursepack 310-321:
Keith Shear, “‘Not Welfare or Uplift Work: White Women, Masculinity and Policing in
South Africa,” in Nancy Hunt et al., eds., Gendered Colonialisms in African History,
Malden: Blackwell, 1997, 71-93.
Online:
Jonathan Hyslop, “White Working-Class Women and the Invention of Apartheld:
'Purified' Afrikaner Nationalist Agitation for Legislation against 'Mixed' Marriages, 19349" The Journal of African History Vol. 36, No. 1 (1995), pp. 57-81 Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00218537%281995%2936%3A1%3C57%3AWWWATI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
Extra Credit: Thurs. Nov. 3, 4:30 Marc Epprecht, title TBA, RDJC 103/104 (Douglass)
Mon. Nov. 7 Intimate Colonialism
No reading for this class.
Video: The life and times of Sara Baartman [videorecording] : "The Hottentot Venus" / a film by Zola
Maseko ; produced by PhilipBrooks and Harriet Gavshon New York, N.Y. : First Run Icarus Films,
c1998. Physical descrip: 1 videocassette (52 min.). (Media library 2-5019)
Extra Credit: Wed. Nov. 9, 10am “Lester P. Monts, “Cultural Memory and Resolving Conflict Among the
Vai People of Liberia, College Hall, Livingston Student Center.
Thurs. Nov. 10 Religion and Identity
Coursepack 322-330:
Barbara Cooper, “Gender and Religion in Hausaland: Variations in Islamic Practice in
Niger and Nigeria,” in Herbert Bodman and Nayereh Tohidi, Diversity Within Unity:
Gender Dynamics and Change in Muslim Societies Boulder: Lynne Riener, 1988, 21-37.
Online:
Dorothy L. Hodgson, “Engendered Encounters: Men of the Church and the "Church of
Women" in Maasailand, Tanzania, 1950-1993" Comparative Studies in Society and
History Vol. 41, No. 4 (Oct., 1999), pp. 758-783 Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00104175%28199910%2941%3A4%3C758%3AEEMOTC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
Mon. Nov. 14 Women and Farming Crises
Online:
Megan Vaughan, “Famine Analysis and Family Relations: 1949 in Nyasaland” Past and
Present No. 108 (Aug., 1985), pp. 177-205 Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00312746%28198508%290%3A108%3C177%3AFAAFR1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
Thurs. Nov. 17 Class cancelled. [ASA runs from Nov. 17 through 20, in D.C.]
Mon. Nov. 21 Women and Farming Crises
Coursepack 332-363:
Mirian Goheen, “The Ideology and Political Economy of Gender: Women and Land in
Nso, Cameroon,” in Christina H. Gladwin, ed. Structural Adjustment and African Women
Farmers, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1991, 239-56.
Hussaina J. Abdullah and Ibrahim Hamza, “Women and Land in Northern Nigeria: The
Need for Independent Owndership Rights,” in L. Muthoni Wanyeki, ed., Women and
Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realizing Women’s Rights London: Zed Books,
2003, 135-75.
Thurs. Nov. 24 Thanksgiving - no class.
Mon. Nov. 28 Paradoxes of Polygyny
Coursepack 364-380:
Christine Obbo, “The Old and the New in East African Elite Marriages,” in David Parkin
and David Nyamwaya, Transformations of African Marriage, Manchester: Manchester
Univeristy Press, 1987, 263-79.
Wambui wa Karanja, “‘Outside Wives’ and ‘Inside Wives’ in Nigeria: A Study of
Changing Perceptions in Marriage,” in David Parkin and David Nyamwaya,
Transformations of African Marriage, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987,
247-61.
Thurs. Dec. 1 AIDS
Coursepack 381-392:
Brooke Grundfest Schoepf, “AIDS, Gender, and Sexuality during Africa’s Economic
Crisis,” in Gwendolyn Mikell, ed. African Feminism: The Politics of Survival in SubSaharan Africa. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, 310-32
World AIDS Day
Extra Credit: Dec. 1, 7 pm Wold AIDS day event, film showing and discussion of “Scenarios from the
Sahel,” Science and Engineering Resource Center, Rm 118, Busch
Mon. Dec. 5 Women, Nationalism, Militarism
Coursepack 394-411:
Beth Goldblatt and Sheila Meintjes, “South African Women Demand the Truth,” in
Meredeth Turshen and Clotilde Twagiramariya, eds., What Women Do in Wartime:
Gender and Conflict in Africa, London: Zed Books, 1998, 27-61.
Online:
Susan Geiger, “ Tanganyikan Nationalism as 'Women's Work': Life Histories, Collective
Biography and Changing Historiography” The Journal of African History, Vol. 37, No. 3
(1996), pp. 465-478 Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00218537%281996%2937%3A3%3C465%3ATNA%27WL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B
Extra Credit: Wed. Dec. 7, 7pm Drucilla Cornell, “The Dignity Jurisprudence of South Africa,” Cook
Douglass Lecture Hall, Rm 102 (Cook/Douglass).
Thurs. Dec. 8 The “Female Circumcision” Debate in Kenya
Coursepack 412-445:
Lynn Thomas, “‘Ngaitana (I Will Circumcise Myself)’: Lessons from Colonial
Campaigns to Ben Excision in Meru, Kenya,” in Bettia Shell-Duncan and Ylva Herlund,
eds., Female ‘Circumcision’ in Africa, Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000, 129-150.
Jean Davison, Voices from Mutira: Change in the Lives of Rural Gikuyu Women, 19101995, Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996, 108-128, 213-228.
Mon. Dec. 12 Women’s Human Rights
Coursepack 446-459:
Diana J. Fox, “Anthropology and Women’s Human Rights: Perspectives on Relativism
and Universality,” in Diana Fox and Naima Hasci, eds., The Challenges of Women’s
Activism and Human Rights in Africa, Lewiston: Edwin Mellon Press, 1999, 39-64.
Video: Women with Open Eyes
Class Policies:
On College Level Writing:
I expect college level writing in my courses. If you are unclear about the kinds of standards expected for
college level writing in terms of grammar, punctuation, citation and complexity of argument then you
should consult the English Writing program’s web-page for 101:
http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/101/index.html There are downloadable handouts you may want to print
out as well.
On plagiarism:
This course calls for written work, including essays and an essay exam. You must understand clearly
what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. The following University statement will help, but if you need
more information you should consult The Writing Program’s excellent and student-friendly explanation
of plagiarism at http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/201/plagiarism_policy/
Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.
To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or by appropriate
indentation and must be promptly cited in the text or in a footnote. Acknowledgment is required when
material from another source is stored in print, electronic, or other medium and is paraphrased or
summarized in whole or in part in one's words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state:
"to paraphrase Plato's comment ... " and conclude with a footnote identifying the exact reference. A
footnote acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not suffice to notify the reader of any
preceding or succeeding paraphrased material. Information which is common knowledge, such as names
of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc., need not be footnoted; however, all facts or
information obtained in reading or research that are not common knowledge among students in the course
must be acknowledged. In addition to materials specifically cited in the text, only materials that contribute
to one's general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography. Plagiarism can, in
some cases, be a subtle issue. Any questions about what constitutes plagiarism should be discussed with
the faculty member.
A longer guide to historical writing in general can be found at the History Department website:
http://history.rutgers.edu/undergrad/writingguide.htm
Policy on Classroom Etiquette (the full History Department policy is available on the History
Department website)
Attendance in this course is not optional.
Cell Phones and Beepers: Students should deactivate signals from cell phones and beepers that can be
heard by others during class. Students may not use cell phone during class.
Personal Conversation: It is rude and disruptive to engage in personal conversation during class. Students
who persist in this disruptive behavior may be asked to leave the class and will be marked absent for the
session. Reading newspapers, doing crossword puzzles, or engaging in other personal diversions
unrelated to class activity is equivalent to personal conversation.