Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture And Literature In West Africa (african Culture Archive)

“How does our understanding of Africa shift when we begin from the perspective of women? What can the African perspective offer theories of culture and of gender difference? This work, as unique and insightful today as when it was first published, brings together a wide variety of African academics and other researchers to explore the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender. Beginning with a ground-breaking overview of African gender theory, the book goes on to analyse women's writing, uncovering the ways different 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. The contributors also explore the related gender dynamics of mask performance and oral story-telling. 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.” Cover 1 About the Author 4 Title Page 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Foreword by Wendy Griswold 12 Introduction: Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa Stephanie Newell 14 Part I: Theory and Politics 22 1: Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers within Feminist Gynocriticism 24 2: Masculinity: The Military, Women and Cultural Politics in Nigeria 42 3: Women's Role in Ghana's Social Development 53 Part II: Literatures 58 4: A Life on the Women's Page: Treena Kwenta's Diary 60 5: Recovering Lost Voices: The Short Stories of Mabel Dove-Danquah 80 6: Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected Stories by Theodora Adimora-Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye 94 7: Gender Conflict in Flora Nwapa's Novels 108 8: Culture and Gender Semantics in Flora Nwapa's Poetry 118 9: Behind the Veil in Northern Nigeria: The Writing of Zaynab Alkali and Hauwa Ali 130 10: The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Bâ and Zaynab Alkali 139 11: Narrative Technique and the Politics of Gender: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here 150 Part III: Popular Culture 160 12: Hausa Women as Oral Storytellers in Northern Nigeria 162 13: Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance 170 14: Anatomy of Masculine Power: Three Perspectives on Marriage and Gender in Nigerian Non-fiction 183 15: Gender Tempered Through Metal: Women in Metal-Casting in Benin City, Nigeria 204 Index 211 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. This unique book brings together a wide variety of African academics and other researchers to explore the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender. The first part looks at African gender theory. The book then goes to on analyse women's writing, uncovering the ways in which different writers have approached, appropriated and subverted issues of female creativity, stereotypes of 'African Women' and colonial history. Part three looks at the interaction of sexual politics, polemics and popular culture, including explorations of the gender dynamics of mask performance and oral story-telling. This major analysis of gender in popular and postcolonial cultural production is essential reading for students and academics in women's studies, cultural studies and literature Annotation How does our understanding of African culture shift when we begin from the perspective of women? This unique book brings together a wide variety of African academics to explore the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender An enlivening exploration of the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender in African literature.