Issuesin African Feminism
Issuesin African Feminism
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Issues in African Feminism: A Syllabus
Ada UzoamakaAzodo
On our continent, millions of women and girls have been, and are
being, preventedfromrealizingtheirfull potentialas humanbeings,
whetherit be the possibilityof being writersand artists,doctorsand
other professionals,athletesor anythingelse outside the traditional
roles assignedto women.
201
202 Women'sStudiesQuarterly1 997: 3 & 4
African feminism, therefore, not only raises the issues of sex and
gender but also the questions of race and canon formation. How are
African women writers seen, read, and by whom?
The statement on the back cover of a 1987 collection of essays
edited by Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, Womenin AfricanLiteratureToday,
is instructive:
Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves, eds., preface and introduction
to Ngambika:Studiesof Womenin AfricanLiterature,vii-23.
Katherine Frank, "WomenWithout Men: The Feminist Novel in Africa,"14-34.
WORKS CITED
Adeola, James. In TheirOwn Voices:AfricanWomenWritersTalk.London: Heine-
mann, 1990.
Aidoo, Ama Ata. Changes:A Love Story.New York:The Feminist Press at The
City University of New York, 1993.
. "To Be an African Woman Writer- An Overview and a Detail." In
Criticismand Ideology:SecondAfrican WritersConference,Stockholm,edited by
Kirsten Hoist Petersen.
. OurSisterKilljoy.London: Longman, 1977.
- . Unwelcome Pals and Decorative Slaves. AFAJournalof CreativeWriting
1 (November 1982): 34-43.
206 Women'sStudiesQuarterly1 997: 3 & 4