Lecture Notes for Feb 2, 2009

Nfah-Abbenyi Article ? Says don't get involved with western feminism ? At the same time, maybe get western help with female circumcision ? Colaborate, but be aware of the differences Tropus ? Used to maintain status quo ? Trope- symbol ? Mother Africa Trope ? Detracts attention from issues of gender and sexuality ? Negates/neglects complexities ? Prostitution- turned into a men's issue ? Conservative general role ? Aren't allowed humanity as a character ? Over-simplifies/ white masks issue ? Village vs. City ? City corrupting influence ? Western influences The Promise Land ? Problems all combined on one girl ? Diouana- race, gender leads to discrimination ? White male protagonist (or not) ? Did he have an affair with Diouana? ? Sexual exploitation? Implied? ? Did this lead to suicide ? Dynamic of slave and master in this relationship (as well as with Diouana and white woman) ? White women are in charge- more racial than having to do with gender ? They know their guilty (when asked about death they say they always used her name, though they didn't) ? They play colonialism with her ? Play game of exploers and savages ? White women ? Not nurturing ? The woman only sees her children now and then ? Authenticity of Diouana was a big draw, she's from a rural area ? Gender in France vs. Africa, very much a woman's problem ? She goes to France because she has this grand idea of it from movies, etc ? A man is a voice of reason ? She doesn't look into it ? He's like a soothsayer ? Message, no place like home ? Demonstrates what happens to people who leave ? It doesn't matter if you're male or female, beyond gender dynamic Senegal/France 1958 ? End of colonialism ? France was trying to make the second rate citizens ? In reality, they weren't French citizens ? "The promised land? ? Colonial idealogy