Khannous, T: African Pasts, Presents, and Futures

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.

African Pasts, Presents, and Futures: Generational Shifts in African Women's Literature, Film, and Internet Discourse, by Touria Khannous, critically reevaluates assumptions in liberal feminist theory, which has examined African women primarily in terms of their object status rather than as agents effecting change.By analyzing forces of marginalization, subordination and empowerment, the book carves out arenas for African women within feminist theory and creates spaces for the recognition of their place in national and global politics.

Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsTheoretical IntroductionPart I: Negotiating Colonial and National PoliticsChapter 1Algerian Women in the Public Sphere: Remaking / Her / Story in Assia Djebar's Film La Nouba des Femmes du Mont ChenouaChapter 2Ama Ata Aidoo's Modernism and the Politics of PostcolonialismChapter 3Rewriting Power: Bessie Head's Revolutionary PoliticsPart II: Postcolonial InjusticesChapter 4National Reconciliation through Narrative: Malika Oufkir's Stolen LivesChapter 5National Violence and Male Crisis Discourse in Yvonne Vera's The StoneVirginsChapter 6Political Satire in Tess Onuweme's Play No VacancyPart III: Reflections on Islam, Identity and GenderChapter 7Islam, Gender and Identity in Leila Abouzeid's The Last Chapter: A Postcolonial CritiqueChapter 8Strategies of Representation and Post/colonial Identity in Farida Benlyazid'sDoor to the Sky and Moufida Tlatli's Silences of the PalaceChapter 9Islam, Youth and the Global: Leila Merrakshi's Controversial Film MarockPart IV: Internet Discourse and Women as Agents of ChangeChapter 10Debating Islam, Gender and the Arab Spring: Moroccan and Tunisian Women's CyberspaceConclusionBibliography/Filmography