Issues in African Feminism: A Syllabus

Author(s): Ada Uzoamaka Azodo

Source: Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 3/4, Teaching African Literatures in a Global
Literary Economy (Fall - Winter, 1997), pp. 201-207
Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40003384
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Issues in African Feminism: A Syllabus
Ada UzoamakaAzodo

This course, "Issuesin AfricanFeminism,"designedas an undergrad-

uate senior seminar,explores issues surroundinga discussionof the
struggleof Africanwomen for self-realizationand self-fulfillment.A
look at the situationof womenin Africa,in the pastand in the present,
showsthat a univocaltheoryof global feminismdoes not addressthe
specialconditionsin whichAfricanwomen find themselves.Rigidtra-
ditions discriminateagainstAfricanwomen, who are seen as perpet-
ual children and second-classcitizens. Endemic sexism, patriarchal
attitudes,and the force of blinding traditionbond Africanmen in a
hegemonicsystemthatnourishesand protectstheirinterests.Canone
justifiably say that the women in African mythology and history-
FunmilayoRansomekuti,Queen Amina, Igbo women of Aba- who
fought for human rightsfor women in their time, did not realizethat
society as set up and ruled by men was inimical to female interest?
(Loth58-64, 133-140). Evennow,withAfricanwomenwritingin spite
of the critical eyes and tongues of Africansocieties, can we say that
suchwritersas BuchiEmecheta,AmaAtaAidoo, and FloraNwapaare
irrelevantbecauseJuliaKristeva,SusanGardener,VirginiaWoolf,Toril
Moi, Simonede Beauvoir,and bell hooks, to mention only a few,have
alreadydealt with all the issues that affectwomen, including African
women?To sayso wouldbe to ignore the fact that there existeda com-
plementarityof male and female roles in precolonialAfricansocieties
and that it is during and after colonization that the downfall of the
African woman from a position of power and self-sovereigntyto
becoming man'shelper occurred (VanAllen 59-85; Hayand Stitcher
140;Johnson-Odim and Stroebel; Stitcher and Parpart;Mohanty,
Russo, and Torres). Commenting on the present predicament of
African women, Aidoo says in her address to the Second African
Writers'Conferencein Stockholm(1986):

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

It is definite that anythingthat had to do withAfricanwomen was,

of all vitalpieces of information,the most unknown (or ratherun-
sought),the mostignoredof all concerns,the mostunseen of all the
visibles, and one might as well face it, of everything to do with
humanity,the most despised.This had nothing to do with the poli-
tics of sex and the politicsof the wealthyof this earth,who grabbed
it and who held it.

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:

This [book]is a recognitionof twoimportantfacts.Firstly,thatAfrican

womenwriters,as a numberof articlesshow,havebeen neglectedin
male-authoredstudiesandjournals.Secondly,that the last ten years
or so haveat last,despiteall sociologicalfactorsagainstthem, shown
a blossomingof accomplishedworksbyAfricanwomenwriters.
Running through the articles is the refrain that the cause of
womanhood has been inadequatelyservedby Africanmale writers
in their works.

African women writers are now challenging their male counterparts

who, heretofore and with impunity, have presented African women
through characters they portrayin their male-authored literary texts as
second-class citizens. It must be said, however, that there are some male
African feminists whose contributions to the struggle for the liberation
of African women cannot be ignored. These include Amilcar Cabral,
Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Ousmane Sembene, Chimalum Nwankwo, and
Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
Some of the women included in "Issues in African Feminism" are
theorists of African feminism. Like Filomina Chioma Steady, they
argue strongly for a theory of African feminism to elucidate its prac-
tice. The course responds to three main themes, which run consis-
tently through the fifteen-week semester - sexuality, existentialism,
and revitalization.
"Issuesin African Feminism" startswith a six-week theoretical explo-
ration of feminism in African societies, with a view to establishing it as a
political movement distinct from universal feminism. First, we discuss
the limitations of the traditional Eurocentric orientation in feminist
research, an African perspective, and the need for new theories and a
Women'sStudiesQuarterly1997: 3 &f4 203

frameworkfor thatperspectiveresultingin a curriculumchange.Wefol-

low the examplepropoundedbyWilliamM. King's"ChallengesAcross
the Curriculum: Broadeningthe Basesof HowKnowledgeIs Produced."
Then we go on to examinethe relativeneglectof womenengagedin lit-
eraryscholarshipon the Africancontinent. Issuesof commitmentby
Africanwomenwritersand theirunderstandingof Africanfeminismare
dealt with as we read "TheFemaleWriterand Her Commitment"by
OmolaraOgundipe-Leslie;excerptsfrom Ngambika, edited by Carole
Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves;"ToBe an AfricanWoman
Writer- An Overviewand a Detail"byAmaAtaAidoo;"Feminismwith
a Small T!" by Buchi Emecheta;and "WomenWithout Men: The
FeministNovelin Africa"byKatherineFrank.Questionsare raisedper-
tainingto the popularperceptionof womenwritersas those who have
failedin theirpersonalrelationshipswithmen, the pitfallsof generaliz-
ing aboutwomen'srealitiesin Africa,and the perceptionof all malesas
chauvinists.To conclude this theoreticalsection,we examineissuesof
Africanfeminism in the context of a global perspectiveby reading
"AfricanFeminism:A WorldwidePerspective"by Filomina Chioma
Steady,and "AfricanFeminism"by RosalynTerborg-Penn.The idea is
to establishthe similaritiesand differencesbetweenthe circumstances
of Africanwomen on the continentand theirdispersedsisters.
The secondpartof the courseconsistsof textualanalysis.It lastseight
weeksand discussesthe writingsof selectedauthors,the use of the novel
bywomenwriters,and the sociopoliticalcontextsof the texts.The inter-
relatedthemes that run throughthe novelsraisesignificantquestions
aboutAfricanwomen'scontinuedsearchfor identity.Foremostamong
the issuesis the problemof polygyny,both in the pastand in the mod-
ern era.Anotherissueraisedis the infidelityof men, nearlycondoned
bywomenand men alike;the beliefthat"boysmustbe boys,"that"aman
is neverugly,"(nwokeadinjo)asan Igbo adageputsit. Yet,a womanwho
is unfaithfulto her husbandcommitsa crime,secondonlyto murderor
manslaughter(Mbiti130-144). A thirdissueis motherhood,whichis pre-
sentedas a hindranceto women'sprogress.Husbandsand marriageare
seen as impediments, a "doubleyoke," to adopt Buchi Emecheta's
phrase.Sexismis an instrumentof oppressionand power.The peculiar
circumstances of SouthAfricanwomenis dealtwithin the novelbyBessie
A
Head, QuestionofPower(set during apartheid),and in the novel by
Nadine Gordimer,NonetoAccompany Me(set afterapartheid). Nothing
seems to have changed, despite politicalpronouncementsto the con-
trary,for SouthAfricanwomen since the end of apartheid.Blackmen
continueto oppressblackwomenasif the latterwerenot, onlyyesterday,
partnersin the strugglefor liberation(Gordimer1990).
204 Women*sStudiesQuarterly1997: 3 & 4

Other issues that arise during class discussions of female characters

in the novels include the ways in which race, class, sex, and gender
shape the identities of women, especially their roles as mothers,
career women, housewives, writers, and artists. The self is further
problematized by regional polarization, by religious differences, and
by the privileging of sexism over racism. Our strategy of reading an
early and a later novel by some of the novelists helps us to see how
those writers' views change.
Certain texts illustrate a specific theme particularly well. For exam-
ple, Mariama Ba's epistolary novel, So Long a Letter,deals with women's
problems in a predominantly Islamic context. Her second novel, Scarlet
Song,a sort of swan song (she struggled to finish it before her death),
bears testimony to her belief in a progressive humanity. The novel is a
call for empathy, altruism, and love among human beings. Buchi
Emecheta's TheJoysof Motherhood explores the dilemmas of maternity,
and Flora Nwapa's OneIs Enoughdeals with conflicting desires for mar-
riage and a career. Buchi Emecheta's Kehindeand Ama Ata Aidoo's
Changes:A LoveStoryexplore these dilemmas at the crossroads of tra-
dition and modernity. Both novels depict women engaged in conflict
with men who refuse to change. The subtheme of Kehinde,the suici-
dal tendencies of African women in contact with Western cultural
forces, is eloquently addressed in Aidoo's OurSisterKilljoy.
Throughout the semester, students keep a reading journal of their
impressions of the readings and the questions they raise. The journals
serve as the basis for the three short papers (3-5 pages) and the longer
paper (15-20 pages) that the students are assigned. Each of the shorter
papers focuses on a particular author and her work, while the longer
paper consists of an analysisof a topic in at least three of the texts read
for the class, each by a different author. Each student is asked to pre-
sent a brief oral summary (5-7 minutes) of a writer and her work or
of another author who may not be on the reading list. The idea is to
give students a little scope to pursue their own interests in research if
they so desire.
Syllabus
Part 1: Theory (6 weeks)
Week1: Needfor CurriculumChange
WilliamM. King, "ChallengesAcrossthe Curriculum:Broadeningthe Bases
of How KnowledgeIs Produced,"165-180.
Week2: Commitment
and Writing
OmolaraOgundipe-Leslie,"TheFemaleWriterand her Commitment,"
57-67.
Women'sStudiesQuarterly1997: 3 &4 205

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.

Week3: Women Writersand the Art Form

Am a Ata Aidoo, "To Be an African Woman Writer- An Overview and a
Detail," 155-171.
Buchi Emecheta, "Feminism with a Small T!" 175-180.

Week4: African Feminism in a Global Perspective

Filomina Chioma Steady, "AfricanFeminism: A Worldwide Perspective," 3-24.
Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "African Feminism: A Theoretical Approach to the
History of Women in the African Diaspora," 43-64.
Weeks5 & 6: African Women versus Diasporan Women
Niara Surdarkasa, "The 'Status of Women' in Indigenous African Societies,"
25-42.
Sharon Harley, "ResearchPriorities for the Study of Women in Africa and the
African Diaspora," 209-221.

Part 2: Practice (8 weeks)

Laments, Woes, Protests, and Revolt (Notions of Victimization)

Week7: Mariama Ba, So Long a Letter
Week8: Buchi Emecheta, TheJoys of Motherhood
Week9: Flora Nwapa, OneIs Enough
Week10: Bessie Head, A Questionof Power

Initiatives, Personal Sovereignty, and Alternative Lifestyles (Notions of

Liberation)
Week11: Ama Ata Aidoo, Changes:A LoveStory
Week12: Buchi Emecheta, Kehinde
Week13: Nadine Gordimer, None to AccompanyMe
Week14: Mariama Ba, ScarletSong
Week15: Conclusions. Oral reports and a reconsideration of questions
raised during the first six weeks of theoretical exploration.

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Ada UzoamakaAzodo, adjunct associateprofessorat Indiana University

Northwest,is theauthoro/L'imaginaire dans les romans de Camara Laye
(PeterLang, 1993) and "TheWorkin Goldas SpiritualJourneyin Camara
"
Laye'sThe African Child (Journal of Religion in Africa, 1994). She is
coeditorof Emerging Perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo, and author of
"AfricanWomenin Searchof Identity";"Efuruand Idu: RejectingWomen's
in Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa; and "(Re)
Subjugation"
Defining Africa'sLimits:A Comparisonof theNovel and theShortStory"in
Migrating Words and Worlds, allforthcomingfromAfricaWorldPress.She
is currentlyworkingon a novel,Afuda: Or, Meditations.

Copyright© 1997 byAda UzoamakaAzodo.