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

An enlivening exploration of the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender in African literature.;Cover ; About the Author ; Title Page ; Copyright ; Contents ; Acknowledgements ; Foreword by Wendy Griswold. Cover About the Author Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Foreword by Wendy Griswold. Introduction: Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa Stephanie Newell Part I: Theory and Politics 1: Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers within Feminist Gynocriticism 2: Masculinity: The Military, Women and Cultural Politics in Nigeria 3: Women's Role in Ghana's Social Development Part II: Literatures 4: A Life on the Women's Page: Treena Kwenta's Diary 5: Recovering Lost Voices: The Short Stories of Mabel Dove-Danquah. 6: Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected Stories by Theodora Adimora-Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye 7: Gender Conflict in Flora Nwapa's Novels 8: Culture and Gender Semantics in Flora Nwapa's Poetry 9: Behind the Veil in Northern Nigeria: The Writing of Zaynab Alkali and Hauwa Ali 10: The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Bâ and Zaynab Alkali 11: Narrative Technique and the Politics of Gender: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here Part III: Popular Culture 12: Hausa Women as Oral Storytellers in Northern Nigeria. 13: Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance 14: Anatomy of Masculine Power: Three Perspectives on Marriage and Gender in Nigerian Non-fiction 15: Gender Tempered Through Metal: Women in Metal-Casting in Benin City, Nigeria Index. 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. 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