Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa

ISBN-13: 9781786990105 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 216 str.

Stephanie Newell

Opis

How does our understanding of Africa shift when we approach it from the perspective of women? And, what can this African perspective contribute to more general theories of culture and of gender difference? To answer these questions, Writing African Women brings together a wide variety of African scholars to explore the links between literature, popular culture, and theories of gender. Beginning with a ground-breaking overview of African gender theory, this volume goes on to analyze specific works, uncovering the ways different women writers have approached issues of female creativity and colonial history, as well as the ways in which they have subverted popular stereotypes around African women.

This major analysis of gender in popular and postcolonial cultural production remains essential reading for students and academics in women's studies, cultural studies, and literature.

Spis treści

Part I: Theory and Politics 1. Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers Within Feminist Gynocriticism - Nana Wilson-Tagoe 2. Masculinity: The Military, Women and Cultural Politics in Nigeria - Bayo Ogunjimi 3. Women's Role in Ghana's Social Development: a Short Statement - Akosua Gyamfuaa-Fofie Part II:: Literatures 4. A Life on the women's Page: Treena Kwenta's Diary - Jane Bryce 5. Recovering Lost Voices: The Short Stories of Mabel - Dove-Danquah and Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang 6. Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected Stories by Theodor Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye - Chinyere Okafor 7. Gender Conflict in Flora Nwapa's Novels - Theodora Akachi Ezeigbo 8. Culture and Gender Semantics in Flora Nwapa's Poetry - Obododimma Oha 9. Behind the Veil in Northern Nigeria: The Writing of Zaynab Alkali and Hauwa Ali - Margaret Hauwa Kassam 10. The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Bƒ and Zaynab Alkali - Ibiyemi Mojola 11. Narrative Technique and the Politics of Gender: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here - Chioma Opara Part III: Popular Culture 12. Hausa Women as Oral Storytellers in Nigeria - Sani Abba Aliyu 13. Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance - Chinyere Grace Okafor 14. Anatomy of Masculine Power: Three Perspectives on Marriage and Gender in Nigerian Non-Fiction - Stephanie Newell 15. Gender Tempered Through Metal: Women in Metal Casting in Benin City, Nigeria - Adepeju Layiwola