Francophone Feminist Thought
In this discussion-based seminar, the focus was on individuals and movements central to understanding the history and arguments of feminist thought, from the French Revolution to the contemporary Francophone world. The struggle to achieve greater justice and equality for women has taken many forms and has emerged repeatedly in the past two centuries. Francophone Feminist Thought (FREN 464) gave students the opportunity to discover French and Francophone voices and tendencies that can help inform and even inspire us in our current historical moment, because they offer tools and strategies for thinking through and tackling situations of injustice experienced by women and a variety of other marginalized groups in Europe, North America, and Africa. While focused on feminist thought specifically, this course also included fiction, non-fiction, and cinematic texts that explore Afro-feminisms, Quebec feminisms, intersectional theory, and reactions to feminism’s gains. Experiential learning and a museum field trip were part of the work for this course. This course was taught by Miléna Santoro as a Doyle Seminar in spring 2023. Please refer to the current course catalog for an up-to-date description of the course.