The Politics of (M)Othering: Womanhood, Identity and Resistance in African Literature (Opening Out: Feminism for Today)

This collection is a study of African literature framed by the central, and multi-faceted, idea of 'mother' - motherland, mothertongue, motherwit, motherhood, mothering - looking at the paradoxical location of (m)other as both central and marginal. Whilst the volume stands as a sustained feminist analysis, it engages feminist theory itself by showing how issues in feminism are, in African literature, recast in different and complex ways. Book Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Contributors......Page 11 Series preface......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 NOTES......Page 39 WORKS CITED......Page 40 1 Mother’s talk......Page 43 WORKS CITED......Page 49 NATIONALISM AND FEMINISM: “EQUAL AND DIALOGIC”?......Page 50 COLONIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS “HINGE”......Page 52 THE COLONIAL MALE AS “HISTORICAL ARTEFACT”......Page 53 COLONIZED WOMEN: ACCOMMODATION AND THE SOURCES OF RESISTANCE......Page 55 NOTES......Page 64 WORKS CITED......Page 65 3 Why the Snake-Lizard killed his mother......Page 67 THEORY OF GENDER BALANCE: NNEKA AND CHUKWUKA......Page 68 OKONKWO AND SNAKE-LIZARD: MALE TROPES AS ABSOLUTE STANDARDS......Page 72 METAPHOR AND NUMEROLOGY: THE SYMBOLIC SEVENS AND THREES......Page 73 THE KILLING OF WOMAN: FOR WHOM IS IT GOOD?......Page 76 WOMANBEING: BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS......Page 80 CONCLUSION......Page 83 WORKS CITED......Page 85 4 The Eye and the Other......Page 87 NOTES......Page 97 WORKS CITED......Page 98 “AESTHETIC COGNITION” AS A DIMENSION OF LITERARY CRITICISM......Page 100 GENDER, GENRE, AND AUTHORITY: ‘MIRASSE’ AS NARRATIVE DEVICE......Page 102 ENLIGHTENMENT EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE INVENTION OF POLYGYNY......Page 106 NOTES......Page 113 WORKS CITED......Page 115 6 Calixthe Beyala’s “femme-fillette”......Page 119 NOTES......Page 128 WORKS CITED......Page 130 7 Bound to matter......Page 132 NOTES......Page 145 WORKS CITED......Page 146 8 MotherTongues and childless women......Page 148 NOTES......Page 163 WORKS CITED......Page 164 9 Ontological victimhood......Page 165 NOTES......Page 177 WORKS CITED......Page 178 FEMINISM, SPEECH, AND SILENCE(D)......Page 180 MODERNITY AS SUBVERSION......Page 185 LIVING WITH CONTRADICTIONS: DIFFERENT LIVES, SAME STORY......Page 193 REVENONS A NOS MOUTONS!21......Page 205 NOTES......Page 207 WORKS CITED......Page 208 11 Reconstructing motherhood......Page 210 MOTHER=MOTHER AFRICA IN “MASTER TEXTS”......Page 211 WOMEN WRITING THEMSELVES......Page 213 WOMEN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND MOTHERING......Page 215 NOTES......Page 220 WORKS CITED......Page 222 12 Geographies of pain......Page 224 DISFIGURATION AND CASTRATION: JULETANE AND SIDONIE......Page 231 MEDUSA’S SILENCE: EVA......Page 235 FINDING “GOLD AMIDST THE ASH”: LIFE AND DIKELEDI......Page 239 NOTES......Page 243 WORKS CITED......Page 244 Index......Page 247 This Study Of African Literature Examines The Paradoxical Location Of (m)other As Both Central And Marginal And Is Framed By The Idea Of Mother--motherland, Mothertongue, Motherwit, Motherhood, And Mothering. Whilst The Volume Stands As A Sustained Feminist Analysis, It Engages Feminist Theory Itself By Showing How Issues In Feminism Are, In African Literature, Recast In Different And Complex Ways. The Core Arguments In The Volume Foreground Epistemological Questions - The Construction, Containment, And Dissemination Of Knowledge - And The Role That Gender Politics Plays In Them. Even More Significantly, The Politics Of (m)othering Insists On The Importance Of Cultural Literacy To An Effective Analysis Of Cultural Productions Such As African Literary Texts. The Volume Is Unique In Its Extensive Territorial Claims, In Terms Of Genre (orature, Fiction, Theater, And Autobiography) And Geography (from All Regions Of Africa To The African Diaspora). Introduction : Imag(in)ing Knowledge, Power, And Subversion In The Margins / Obioma Nnaemeka -- Mother's Talk / Trinh T. Minh-ha -- Nervous Conditions : Dangarembga's Feminist Reinvention Of Fanon / Charles Sugnet -- Why The Snake-lizard Killed His Mother : Inscribing And Decentering Nneka In Things Fall Apart / Ousseynou B. Traoré -- Eye And The Other : The Gaze And The Look In Egyptian Feminist Fiction / Peter Hitchcock -- Enlightenment Epistemology And Aesthetic Cognition : Mariama Bâ's So Long A Letter / Uzo Esonwanne -- Calixthe Beyala's Femme-fillette : Womanhood And The Politics Of (m)othering / Juliana Makuchi Nfah-abbenyi -- Bound To Matter : The Father's Pen And Mother Tongues / Cynthia Ward -- Mother Tongues And Childless Women : The Construction Of Kenyan Womanhood / Celeste Fraser Delgado -- Ontological Victimhood : Other Bodies In Madness And Exile : Toward A Third World Feminist Epistemology / Huma Ibrahim -- Urban Spaces, Women's Places : Polygamy As Sign In Mariama Bâ's Novels / Obioma Nnaemeka -- Reconstructing Motherhood : Francophone African Women Autobiographers / Renée Larrier -- Geographies Of Pain : Captive Bodies And Violent Acts In The Fictions Of Gayl Jones, Bessie Head, And Myriam Warner-vieyra / Françoise Lionnet. Edited By Obioma Nnaemeka. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "This study of African literature examines the paradoxical location of (m)other as both central and marginal and is framed by the idea of "mother"--Motherland, mothertongue, motherwit, motherhood, and mothering. Whilst the volume stands as a sustained feminist analysis, it engages feminist theory itself by showing how issues in feminism are, in African literature, recast in different and complex ways. The core arguments in the volume foreground epistemological questions - the construction, containment, and dissemination of knowledge - and the role that gender politics plays in them. Even more significantly, The Politics of (M)Othering insists on the importance of cultural literacy to an effective analysis of cultural productions such as African literary texts. The volume is unique in its extensive territorial claims, in terms of genre (orature, fiction, theater, and autobiography) and geography (from all regions of Africa to the African Diaspora)."--Résumé de l'éditeur

A feminist study that interrogates feminist theorizing, The Politics of (M)Othering calls into question the validity of the traditional/modern prototype in analysis of African Literature. This volume examines the many faces of Mother in African works--motherland, mother tongue, motherwit, motherhood, mothering--that expose the paradoxical location of (m)other as both a central and peripheral other.

On many levels, the essays in this volume problematize the issue of victim as it is articulated by a feminist voice. Though this volume stands as a feminist analysis of African Literature, it engages in feminist theory itself by demonstrating how issues in feminism such as voice, agency, victimhood, subjectivity, choice, sisterhood and motherhood are recast in different ways.

"The most stupid of all animals that fly, walk and swim, that live beneath the ground, in water, or in the air, are undoubtedly crocodiles, which crawl on land and walk at the bottom of the water ... And this, for no other reason than that they have the best memories in the world."