African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches

Scholars in African feminism have historically repudiated the concept of feminism, which has been perceived as a Western imposition. Through a literary analysis of Ekomo (Nsué Angüe, 1985), Efuru (Nwapa, 1966) and Une si longue lettre (Bâ, 1979), the current article examines how first-generation Afr...

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Main Author: Lomotey Benedicta Adokarley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2024-12-01
Series:Gender Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2024-0007
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author Lomotey Benedicta Adokarley
author_facet Lomotey Benedicta Adokarley
author_sort Lomotey Benedicta Adokarley
collection DOAJ
description Scholars in African feminism have historically repudiated the concept of feminism, which has been perceived as a Western imposition. Through a literary analysis of Ekomo (Nsué Angüe, 1985), Efuru (Nwapa, 1966) and Une si longue lettre (Bâ, 1979), the current article examines how first-generation African women writers approach the conditions that oppress women. Furthermore, the article discusses how the approach to women’s challenges in first-generation novels differs from the forms of feminism that are being articulated more recently by African feminist activists. The findings show that Nsué Angüe, Nwapa, and Bâ’s novels project the experiences and concerns of their female characters through the various ways of liberating women in the local context such as nego-feminism and snail-sense feminism. These African variants of feminism cater to their local peculiarities in ways that reflect the differences between African and Western cultures. However, these earlier approaches to women’s challenges do not align with the forms of feminism articulated today.
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spelling doaj-art-22111231f8a54eb2a5beec5cae7ff2592025-08-20T02:58:07ZengSciendoGender Studies2286-01342024-12-012319311910.2478/genst-2024-0007African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist ApproachesLomotey Benedicta Adokarley0University of GhanaScholars in African feminism have historically repudiated the concept of feminism, which has been perceived as a Western imposition. Through a literary analysis of Ekomo (Nsué Angüe, 1985), Efuru (Nwapa, 1966) and Une si longue lettre (Bâ, 1979), the current article examines how first-generation African women writers approach the conditions that oppress women. Furthermore, the article discusses how the approach to women’s challenges in first-generation novels differs from the forms of feminism that are being articulated more recently by African feminist activists. The findings show that Nsué Angüe, Nwapa, and Bâ’s novels project the experiences and concerns of their female characters through the various ways of liberating women in the local context such as nego-feminism and snail-sense feminism. These African variants of feminism cater to their local peculiarities in ways that reflect the differences between African and Western cultures. However, these earlier approaches to women’s challenges do not align with the forms of feminism articulated today.https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2024-0007african (hispanophone) feminist literaturegenderekomoefuruune si longue lettre
spellingShingle Lomotey Benedicta Adokarley
African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
Gender Studies
african (hispanophone) feminist literature
gender
ekomo
efuru
une si longue lettre
title African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
title_full African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
title_fullStr African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
title_full_unstemmed African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
title_short African Women Writers Across Generations: Navigating Local Contexts and Evolving Feminist Approaches
title_sort african women writers across generations navigating local contexts and evolving feminist approaches
topic african (hispanophone) feminist literature
gender
ekomo
efuru
une si longue lettre
url https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2024-0007
work_keys_str_mv AT lomoteybenedictaadokarley africanwomenwritersacrossgenerationsnavigatinglocalcontextsandevolvingfeministapproaches