Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: a Bibliography

Feminist and Womanist critique of Afri mickle books A Bibliography By Sharon Verba July 20, 1997 Those wo manpower who struggle without giving up hope, herald the impend change change in attitude for some(prenominal) men and women as they evaluate and re-evaluate their social roles. -Rosemary Moyana, Men & Women Rereading, willful misreading, and de- and re-coding argon tools utilise in African literature and charwomanist or womens liberationist intercourse to ch completelyenge adjudge literature that tends to faint out Black and blanch out Woman. -Kofi Owusu, Canons Under military blockade The bodied effort has to emerge from the ranks of those whose intent is theorized. -Sisi Maqagi, Who Theorizes Feminist review of African literatures is a steadily growing field. The following bibliography includes articles and essays in English and french which testify African literatures (fiction, poetry, drama and viva voce literature) from a womens liberationist or womanist scene. It does non include, unfortunately, criticism in otherwise speechs much(prenominal)(prenominal) as Wolof, Xhosa, Zulu, Portuguese, German, or Arabic due to my own inability to read those languages.Also, authors whose piddleings be origin entirelyy scripted in languages other than French or English, such as Ngugi wa Thiongos plays and the apologue, Devil on the Cross, and Nawal al Sadawis flora, may be below-re ar start outed in this bibliography, as criticism ofttimes tends to be written in the language of the work at macrocosm communicate. The first plane sections of this essay will present overviews on two key copes for those interested in both feminism and African literatures the accredited ebate over the role of womens liberationist criticisms in dealing African literatures, and an run of the changes which have developed over the past decade in the ways libber criticism approaches African literatures. This examination will sense of touch these c hanges from 1985-1996 by con brassring articles which represent the ongoing evolution of libber criticism in this field. Finally, this essay to a fault includes a section which explains my methodology and sources in digest the bibliography, and a section offering hints for forthcoming searches, in particular of online indexes. Feminist Criticism and African LiteratureMany bug outs of concern to feminist/womanist thought argon emanationd and addressed in these articles. (1) Among the issues bear offn up in the state of feminist surmisal and criticism ar the importance of feminism as a literary critical method the representation and mis-representation of women in literary texts the cultivation of women the prevail of women to the economic means of survival motherhood women in the domestic argonna women as part of their communities womens role in politics and revolution sexual urge and the direct manipulation of women by men, and men by women.Underlying this array of pecu liar(prenominal) interests atomic number 18 questions of gender in representation and of the reality or realities of flavour for women in Africapast, present, and future. The arguments found in the articles in this bibliography present a multiplicity of views, a a couple of(prenominal) of which may even be anti-feminist, further all of which ask gender a basis of discussion, and all of which offer some(prenominal) for the consideration of feminist thought with respect to African literatures.The state of feminist literary criticism/thought in Africa now is the direct tenseness of some(prenominal) of the articles, although all of the articles could be said in some degree or a nonher to be a part of this particular debate. I put now in quotations, because these articles cover a broad bea of time1980-1996 and those which focalisation on this particular topic present an evolving talk of. ii collections of essays in particular are abide by worthyy for their presentation of a range of root words on feminism and literary criticism in Africa Ngambika Studies of Women in African Literature (1986) and South African womens liberation movements Writing, Theory and Criticism 990-1994 (1995). Ngambika includes twenty articles which focus on the representation of women in African literature. Taken together the articles generate an invaluable overview of the types of feminist criticism being applied to African literatures in the mid 1980s, although wholesome-nigh do non focus on the issue of feminism as a critical method. ane essay in this collection proves a notable exception. In the collections introductory essay Carole Boyce Davies(2) does economise of the tension found in the deeds of many critics of African literatures, particularly fe manlike critics.These critics, she says, work out of a growing cognizance of the need to balance both the need to liberate African peoples from neo-colonialism and other hammers of stimulate and class oppressi on, coupled with a respect for certain features of tralatitious African cultures, and the recognition that a feminist consciousness is necessary in examining the localize of women in African societies (1).Davies whence outlines the issues of women writers in Africa (including the relatively small mo of women writers) and the presentation of women in fiction written by African men, as well as the development of an African feminist criticism. In her treatment of the latter concern, she lists four major areas which African feminist critics tend to address the development of the ordinance of African women writers, the examination of stereotyped mountain chains of women in African literature, the study of African women writers and the development of an African egg-producing(prenominal) aesthetic, and the examination of women and the oral tradition (13-14).While Davies acknowledges the objections African women writers and critics have to the line feminist and discusses womanist c onjecture, she focuses on the idea of a developing African feminist theory which will not besides perform the balancing act menti wizd at the offshoot, but shroud to address the major issues she has outlined. Seven geezerhood later, in the 1993 publication A History of Twentieth-Century African Literatures, Davies and Elaine Savory Fido contributed a chapter entitled African Women Writers A Literary History. In it, they examine African women writers and their writings, focal point especially on the styles and genres used by these writers. Included is a brief segment on Feminism and African Women Writers as well as a branch section on Criticism and African Womens Writing. In the section on feminism, they note the have-to doe withd reluctance of many African women writers and critics to be designate as feminists because of the overt champions of westernization the term carries, but they too point out that most African women writers are committed, in the words of Omolara Ogun dipe-Leslie, as a writer, as a woman and as a third world mortal (339).This triple commitment encompasses much of the politics of African feminism, as well as womanism, whether the labels are accepted or not. Fido and Davies conclude The role and history of feminist politics or activism on womens rights in Africa is a discourse which African women are studying and clarifying for themselves (339). One of the take aims in which this discourse can be seen is South African Feminisms Writing, Theory and Criticism 1990-1994.South African Feminisms presents a collection of articles on feminist literature and criticism, including and expanding the debate on feminist criticism of African literatures which was part of the special issue latest Writing Text and Reception in Southern Africa 2 (1990). M. J. Daymonds invention gives a good overview of the issues raised in the collection, including the debate over feminist criticism and the development of an African feminist theory.The section Theory and circumstance includes eight articles originally publish from 1990-1993. Taken together, these articles constitute an splendid sampling of some of the issues and trends in African feminist criticism, including Sisi Maqagis Who Theorizes? in which she questions the ability of sportsmanlike critics, African or non-African, female or male, to develop a theory which will adequately address the issues of black African women, rather than appropriating those issues, and the voices which raise them.Jill Arnott, in an article entitled French Feminism in a South Africa? Gayatri Spivak and the Problem of Representation in South African Feminism, contends that difference, which can often whizz to misrepresentation, can in like manner at times lead to accurate and insightful work to power a genuinely dialectical interaction amid two vigilantly foregrounded subject-positions, but only with an awareness of the position of ifference and a consciousness of the act of representat ion (87). Desiree Lewis, in The governance of Feminism in South Africa, counters that such a conscious and strong use of difference may well be impossible, as hanker as in that respect is a political climate in which discolour female academics are attempting to hold on to their power within the academy, at the expense of black women.In the aforesaid(prenominal) article she also points out that unless black working class women can make their statements about the current heavy orthodoxies and do so without creating, as she argues horse opera feminism has, another authoritarian orthodoxy, there may be no way out of the current impasse. Changes in Feminist Criticism of African Literature Although some of the articles include in this bibliography, like those above, examine feminist literary criticism as a topic, most focus on literary concerns texts, authors, or issues.In the xvii long time this bibliography spans there are shifts in the coverage these concerns are given. deta iled analyses of individualistic authors naturally both broaden and deepen over the years, especially as an individual authors body of work grows or is reclaimed from obscurity. In general, in the 1990s there are less works of criticism that examine several authors and to a greater extent which focus on individuals and their work than there were in the 1980s. Also, the topics focused upon subtly shift over the years. Images of women in the works of. could be the subtitle for many of the articles written in the 1980s as feminist critics examined representations, or misrepresentations, of African women in literary texts. At the equivalent time these critics raised the question of the role of African authors, male and female, in expanding and/or correcting such representations. These concerns are still addressed indeed, the feminist criticism on these topics is, like the criticism of ad hoc authors, expanding and deepening.To highlight these changes, I shall examine here some of t he collections and representative individual articles which have been produced over the years, beginning with the landmark collection Ngambika, which was published in 1986, followed by Women in African Literature Today in 1987, articles by Kofi Owusu and Elleke Boehmer in 1990, the 1990 issue of topical Writing Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Essays on African Writing 2 Contemporary Literature published in 1995 and The marabou stork and the Muse new Approaches to Islam in African Literature in 1996.All of the articles in the first section of Ngambika overtly tackle the issue of the representations of women in the works of African authors. Carole Boyce Davies writes one of these articles Maidens, Mistresses, and Matrons Feminine Images in Selected Soyinka Works. In it, she argues that Soyinka often offers only stereotyped images of women which fall into one of three categories the foolish virgin in rural settings, the femme fatale in urban settings, and the masculinized mat ron.Those characters which fall in the latter category, in Davies opinion, come closest to being non-stereotypes, but even they are move with no depth (81). The foolish virgins and the femme fatales, Davies argues, fill only the roles of stereotypes and symbols, possessions or trophies to be won away from Western influences by African traditions, or, more threateningly, these women are seen as dangers which can distract and destroy.Davies acknowledges that Soyinka sometimes shows women briefly in a positive light but notes that byout Soyinkas works one finds the heart of positive portrayal of the female image which is never fully cognise (85). Davies concludes with the argument that the artist has the power to create naked realities women as incomplete victors nor victims but partners in struggle (86). Davies article is representative of the criticism which examines the image of women in African literatures. That is, she carefully addresses the concerns of the author (i. e. he need for perceptible symbols) as she argues against the relegation of women solely to symbolic roles, asking for characterizations which do not reinforce a negative perception of self to the female viewer/ indorser and, concomitantly, a condescension in the appraisal of women on the part of the male (78). In the years following the publishing of Ngambika, several journals and monograph series attached to African literatures published issues on women as authors of or characters in African literatures. One of the first was the Women in African Literature Today issue of African Literature Today (Vol. 5). Like Ngambika, this issue contains many excellent articles, almost all of which are written from a feminist perspective. I would like to discuss two of these articles as representative not nevertheless of this particular collection, but of the feminist criticism on African literatures being published at this time. In Feminist Issues in the Fiction of Kenyas Women Writers dungaree F. OBarr list three main categories of feminist concerns in the fiction of Kenyan woman writers how female children become women what marriage means for women here womens work fits into their lives (57). OBarr notes that the women authors she analyzes all write from the womans point of view, sharply underscoring the idea that the female perspective . may be different from the male perspective on the same topic (58). OBarr analyzes the works of Kenyas female authors from a sociological approach, hoping to establish a stronger image of the social lives of Kenyas women than is possible from the works of male authors. She concludes that Kenyas women find themselves in a quadruple bind they see themselves performing traditionalistic roles ithout traditional resources while at the same time they are undertaking contemporary activities while being denied access to modern support systems (69). While OBarr looks at the fiction of Kenyan women in order to locate the reality of womens live s, Katherine stark(a) attempts in the controversial article Women without Men The Feminist Novel in Africa to find a radically feminist future for African women. coarse endeavors to place African women writers into the Western feminist mold by talk of their work as a more radical extension of the Western feminist tradition.In speaking of the contemporary British or American novel she claims our heroine slams the door on her domestic prison, journeys out into the great world, slays the dragon of her hoary society, and triumphantly discovers the grail of feminism by purpose herself, (14). She argues that in comparing African novels by women go far beyond their Western counterparts, refusing to splash around in daydreaming about enlightened heroes or reformed, non-sexist societies, (15). brusk finds that the feminist writers of Africa portray women not only as taking on bustling and shared roles with men, but as finding a circumstances of their own. destiny with a vengeance , (15). Frank contends that Mariama Ba, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoos novels are, in their feminisms, more radical, even more militant, than their Western counterparts (15). But Franks interpretations place African heroines on a course of action which is not different, but rather the same, if more intense, than the one taken by the British and American heroines she notes above. Frank stresses that in these novels women find only annoying and degradation in their relationships with men, but on their own and in their relationships with other women they find female solidarity, power, independence (33).In her interpretation, Barr neglects to note examples in which the future is shared by men and women. For example, when she speaks of Mariama Bas So Long a Letter, she focuses on Ramatoulaye and Aissatous experience and the world they create apart from men, (20). While this in itself glosses over the colonial (and by no means completely negative) relationships these w omen have with the men in their lives, she also does not speak of Ramatoulayes daughter and son-in-law, and the hope Ramatoulaye finds in their relationship.In this article, Frank does not acknowledge a difference between demonstrating that a womans worth is not inextricable from her relationship with men, that a woman can take care of herself, as Ramatoulaye discovers, and an actual desire to live a life without men. However, controversial as some of her interpretations are, her essay effectively outlines the some of the pestilent feminisms of African women novelists.Katherine Franks stance is one which falls into the category of radical, feminist-separatist ideology which Kofi Owusu defines and rejects in his article in Callaloo entitled Canons Under Siege Blackness, Femaleness, and Ama Ata Aidoos Our Sister killjoy(1990). While Frank sees Aidoos character Sissie as moving towards an autonomous, self-determining life without men (Frank 32), Owusu finds Aidoo to be in tune with t he old (Achebes vast corpus of African traditional stories) and the new (modern feminist theory) (357).Owusu sees Aidoo, and other female writers, not as bridging a gap between Western and African thought but creating something new out of both and challenging the canons that would ignore either black or female concerns. Much of Owusus article analyzes the discontinuities as well as continuities between womanist-feminist perspectives, on the one hand, and African literature, on the other (342), allowing Owusu to regard Aidoos work as one which gives a sense of structural and linguistic sarcasm which is functional. signifying a couple of things the need for, and very care for of, revamping (361).Here, the canons need to be reformed in recognition of both race and gender, not one or the other, or one without the other. While Kofi Owusu focused on Aidoos linguistic and textual manipulations, the question of the image of women in African literature continues to be a highly examined to pic. Elleke Boehmer explores the construction of women as mothers, whores, representations of national pride, or last-placely, as spiritual advisors and supporters, but not as individuals actively and crucially conglomerate in political activity.In Of Goddesses and Stories sexual practice and a New Politics in Achebes Anthills of the Savannah, Boehmer analyzes Chinua Achebes efforts to include women in his re-vision of the future and questions whether women remain a vehicle of interlingual rendition rather than actual women with an active role in the future of the country, that is, whether woman is the ground of change or discursive displacement but not the subject of transformation (102).She concludes that Achebe has still idealized women but that his creation of a female character with an important yet undefined role for the future has opened up place for women to have active and involved roles, side by side with men, in the building of the future. Like Davies article on Soyi nka from Ngambika discussed early, Boehmers work recognizes Achebes literary prowess and commends his willingness to make women positive symbols, but in the end laments the lack of depth in his female characters.Although South African Feminisms was published in 1996, many of the articles in it come from the 1990 issue of received Writing Text and Reception in Southern Africa, which was dedicated to Feminism and Writing. This issue continued the trend of publishing articles debating not only the justness of feminism in an African context but also the challenges of applying it to African literatures, as well as articles focusing on women writers or womens images in literature.In A Correspondence Without Theory Tsitsi Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions, Brenda Bosman addresses the psychological dislocation force upon the women of the heroines family by Englishness, the term used by her mother to describe the process of assimilation which various members of the family undergo. However , one of the most interesting aspects of the article is Bosmans hard-core attempt to find a position from which to speak, as a ovalbumin South African woman, to not for, or of Dangarembga.She writes her article in the form of a letter to Dangarembga, and acknowledges that she might not have succeeded in finding a legitimate position you may find despite all my conscious efforts, I have nonetheless submitted to the voice of my education(311). Considering the problematics of education in Nervous Conditions, this could be seen as a double entendre, but her article shows a conscious attempt to find a place from which to speak comfortably, an increasingly difficult matter for some African feminists.The snuff it two articles I will discuss reveal change in the field of feminist criticism of Africa on two levels both are located in collections of essays on African literature which can be considered general, and both are examples of the further increase in variety in the forms of feminis t criticism of African literature. Although very good collections of critical essays focusing exclusively on women and African literature are published, it is important to note that few, if any general collections are now being published without the cellular inclusion of at least one, if not several essays which address feminist concerns.In Essays on African Writing 2 Contemporary Literature (1995), there are three articles which are written from a feminist perspective. One of these is Belinda Jacks Strategies of evildoing in the Writings of Assia Djebar. In it she explores the means by which Djebar writes for Arabic women of Algeria in the language of the colonizer.Jack distinguishes Djebars writings by arguing that her texts are not written in the French language but a French language a language which no longer belongs to the colonizers because of the deliberate shifts Djebar makes (23). Jack also notes that Djebar also transgresses against Islam in her choices of subject matter, especially sexuality, again firm in the knowledge that while such speech may be a transgression, it is only a transgression because with speech (or writing) comes power.The last article I wish to discuss also focuses on Assia Djebar and her concerns with Islam. The Marabout and the Muse New Approaches to Islam in African Literature (1996) contains four articles which approach literature from a distinctly feminist perspective one on Somali womens Sittaat (songs interpret for and to notable women in Islamic history), one on the tradition of female Islamic writers in Nigeria, and two which examine Djebars Loin de Medine.In Daughters of Hagar Daughters of Muhammad Sonia Lee argues that through her early fictional exploration of women in Islam, Djebar is attempting to make a space for Islamic women to reclaim the true law of God (60). Lee finds that Djebars historical training feature with her literary skills allow her to oscillate between the actual and the probable, indeed underly ing the real subject matter of the novel, . the problematic of Islamic collective memory with regard to women (51). The above articles typify the growing expansion of feminist approaches to African literatures.While feminist criticisms continue to broaden the literary canon by bringing literature by African women to critical attention and continue to address the representation of African women in literatures, the methods used by such criticism in relation to African literatures continue to evolve. As feminist critics, both African and non-African, use sociological, linguistic, psychoanalytic, historical and other approaches to broaden the examination of African literatures, at least some Western feminist critics are also trying to incorporate a heightened awareness of their own positions with regards to the authors and literatures they discuss.Methodology This bibliography is, in every sense of the word, selective. African authors were include if an article (in English or French) co uld be located which discussed him or her from the angle of feminism, womanism, or the treatment of gender. Authors were not excluded or included on any other basis, including race and gender. Interviews were included for many of the female writers because such interviews often are a main source of feminist thought (their own) on their works.The sources I used to find these articles were the bibliographies of African literature located in the journal Callaloo (1987-89 and 1990-93), the MLA Bibliography, the African studies bibliographies for the years 1995-96, the CD-Rom resource Womens Resources International, 1972-August 1996, as well as various library catalogs for monographs, whether collections or single-authored. In addition, I scanned the bibliographies of articles and books to find other relevant citations.There are several good bibliographies which focus, at least in part, on feminist criticism of African literatures from the 1970s through the mid 1980s. Brenda Berrians Bi bliography of African Women Writers and Journalists, Carole Boyce Davies A Bibliography of Criticism and Related Works in Ngambika, and Barbara Fisters bibliography on criticism in Third World Womens Literature in combination cover this earlier period very thoroughly.I did not use these bibliographies to compile this one to obviate excess duplication, I have focused on criticism published from 1980 on and simply cite these earlier bibliographies at the end of this one, although I am sure some duplication has occurred. This bibliography is organized by authors and also includes a section on general works, which is organized first by those which cover African literatures without focusing on a specific country, contribution or author, then by region, and then individual countries.Works of criticism are placed in this section if they refer to several authors/works from the continent, a particular region, or country. If an article focuses on four or fewer authors, it is included under the name of from each one author. The bibliography includes articles on eighty-seven individual authors, as well as general articles on Africa, East Africa, mating Africa, West Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Somali, South Africa, and Zimbabwe it cites more than four hundred articles and monographs.It is interesting to correspond the authors found in this bibliography with the ninety-five authors found in the biography section of Hans Zells A New Readers Guide to African Fiction (1st ed. , 1971 2nd rev. ed. ,1983). The authors in Zells work are often considered the early canon of African literatures. only twenty-five authors appear in both the current bibliography and Hans Zells Guide. There may be several reasons for this difference. Many of the authors included in my bibliography were not then considered a part of the canon of African literature and a few had not even published at the time Zells work appeared.Carole Boyce Davies also offers an insight which ma y explain the lack of overlap. She notes in her introduction to Ngambika that one of the priorities of African feminist literary criticism is the development of a canon of African women writers and a parallel canon of critical works with the final aim of expanding the African literary canon (14). The Guides were compiled in the early years of this expansion, and it is quite possible that today the lists would be more reflective of each other.At the same time, many African women writers actively rebuke attempts to place African men on the defensive, arguing that a critical approach to literature (as well as other social, political, and cultural expressions) must explore the strengths of both African women and African men. While feminist criticism does focus on male authors, it more often strives to bring to the forefront of literary discussions the works of female African authors and the strong, individualistic portrayals of women they offer.Future Search Hints The issues discussed a bove make feminist criticism of African fiction an exciting and dynamic field. They also make it a very complex field to research. There are several issues to bound in mind when beginning research in this area. One of the most difficult to overcome is the lack of coverage of this area in mainstream indexing sources, such as the MLA, especially when one looks for early works, which were often carried in journals not then indexed by the MLA.Other sources which do cover these journals, such as the excellent bibliographies periodically offered by Callaloo on studies of African literature, do not offer separate sections for feminist criticism, and it is necessary to assess which ones are relevant by the titles or, at times, the authors, of the articles. For my own part it should be renowned that it is entirely possible that I have missed articles which should appear in this bibliography.Many of the best sources are only available in photographic print, such as International African Bi bliography, Current Bibliography of African Affairs, and Cahiers detudes africaines, which are more long to search, but well worth the effort. As the discussion above indicates, the term feminism can be extremely limiting when it is being used as a descriptor in either online or print indexes. For this reason, it is advisable to keep other terms in mind when seek for articles, whether in print or electronic resources, such as the keywords/descriptors Gender and Womanism/Womanist.It is important, as well, not to limit searches to the term African. While some articles are indexed with this descriptor, those articles which deal with a specific author may be listed under that authors country instead, as of course are those which deal with the literatures of a specific region or country. Finally, especially when searching for articles in online indexes, it is useful to keep in mind specific topics, such as sexuality, motherhood, and politics combined with women or female.