Table of Contents

Part I: Theory and Politics 1. Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers Within Feminist Gynocriticism - Nana Wilson-Tagoe 2. Masculinity: The Military, Women and Cultural Politics in Nigeria - Bayo Ogunjimi 3. Women's Role in Ghana's Social Development: a Short Statement - Akosua Gyamfuaa-Fofie Part II:: Literatures 4. A Life on the women's Page: Treena Kwenta's Diary - Jane Bryce 5. Recovering Lost Voices: The Short Stories of Mabel - Dove-Danquah and Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang 6. Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected Stories by Theodor Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye - Chinyere Okafor 7. Gender Conflict in Flora Nwapa's Novels - Theodora Akachi Ezeigbo 8. Culture and Gender Semantics in Flora Nwapa's Poetry - Obododimma Oha 9. Behind the Veil in Northern Nigeria: The Writing of Zaynab Alkali and Hauwa Ali - Margaret Hauwa Kassam 10. The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Bƒ and Zaynab Alkali - Ibiyemi Mojola 11. Narrative Technique and the Politics of Gender: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here - Chioma Opara Part III: Popular Culture 12. Hausa Women as Oral Storytellers in Nigeria - Sani Abba Aliyu 13. Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance - Chinyere Grace Okafor 14. Anatomy of Masculine Power: Three Perspectives on Marriage and Gender in Nigerian Non-Fiction - Stephanie Newell 15. Gender Tempered Through Metal: Women in Metal Casting in Benin City, Nigeria - Adepeju Layiwola

Promotional Information

An enlivening exploration of the links between literature, popular culture and theories of gender in African literature.

About the Author

Stephanie Newell is a professor of English at the Yale University, specialising in West African literature. Her other books include The Power to Name: A History of Anonymity in Colonial West Africa (2013) and The Forger’s Tale: The Search for Odeziaku (2006). Wendy Griswold is the Bergen Evans Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University. Her books include Cultures and Societies in a Changing World (new edition 2012) and Bearing Witness: Readers, Writers, and the Novel in Nigeria (2000).

Reviews

Clear, informed thinking about the gendered nexus of culture and power is needed more than ever. The new publication of Newell’s collection is an event to be applauded, and its contents to be pondered.
*Wendy Griswold, from the Foreword*