In this class, taught in French, we will carry out a critical exploration/Study of selected works of ‘fiction’ by Senegalese women authors. In the process, we will look into the ways in which these writers have been constructing effective authoritative voices/discourse for themselves and for the socially marginalized We will explore how these women writers are ‘infiltrating’ traditional patriarchal structures while subverting them and claiming important shares inside various social and political power structures. We will accomplish this and more through critical study of novels by four prominent women authors: Mariama Bâ, Ken Bugul, Fatou Diome and Sokhna Benga. Our discussions will focus on issues of Identity, Oppression, Resistance, Exile, Language, Colonialism and of Literature as a tool for self-definition and self-liberation.