African Pasts, Presents, and Futures

Touria Khannous is an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and the International Studies Program at Louisiana State University. She has published articles on women’s writing from Africa and the African diaspora, African cinema, black diaspora studies, and cultural studies. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Black-Arab Encounters: Representations of Blackness in Arabic Literature.

• 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 Stone VirginsChapter 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’s Door 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

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.