African Pasts, Presents, and Futures

Generational Shifts in African Women's Literature, Film, and Internet Discourse

By (author) Touria Khannous Louisiana State Universit

Publication date:

17 October 2013

Length of book:

230 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

236x157mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739170410

African Pasts, Presents, and Futures: Generational Shifts in African Women's Literature, Film, and Internet Discourse, by Touria Khannous, provides a history of African women’s cultural production, as well as an alternative approach to the arguments that have traditionally dominated post-colonial studies in general, and African and gender studies in particular. It examines some of the more overarching questions that are prevalent in the works of African women authors, who position themselves within the contexts of Islam, feminism, nationalism, modernity, and global and postcolonial politics, thus engaging in the construction of socio-political platforms for reform in their home countries. The book explores different aspects of women’s agency at the political, cultural, social, religious and aesthetic level, and highlights their civil society activism and push for legal reform. It also traces their opinions on a range of social and political questions and underscores fundamental shifts in their positions and concerns through the different generations.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Theoretical Introduction
Part I: Negotiating Colonial and National Politics
Chapter 1Algerian Women in the Public Sphere: Remaking / Her / Story in Assia Djebar’s Film La Nouba des Femmes du Mont Chenoua
Chapter 2Ama Ata Aidoo’s Modernism and the Politics of Postcolonialism
Chapter 3Rewriting Power: Bessie Head’s Revolutionary Politics
Part II: Postcolonial Injustices
Chapter 4National Reconciliation through Narrative: Malika Oufkir’s Stolen Lives
Chapter 5National Violence and Male Crisis Discourse in Yvonne Vera’s The Stone
Virgins
Chapter 6Political Satire in Tess Onuweme’s Play No Vacancy
Part III: Reflections on Islam, Identity and Gender
Chapter 7Islam, Gender and Identity in Leila Abouzeid’s The Last Chapter: A Postcolonial Critique
Chapter 8Strategies of Representation and Post/colonial Identity in Farida Benlyazid’s
Door to the Sky and Moufida Tlatli’s Silences of the Palace
Chapter 9Islam, Youth and the Global: Leila Merrakshi’s Controversial Film Marock
Part IV: Internet Discourse and Women as Agents of Change
Chapter 10Debating Islam, Gender and the Arab Spring: Moroccan and Tunisian Women’s Cyberspace
Conclusion
Bibliography/Filmography

Khannous provides insightful historical and political contextualization that makes the book accessible to a wide audience. Her contribution is timely and significant as it builds an important framework for further work on African women.