Feminist Knowledge | Bibliography: African Women's Studies II
Theorists from different disciplines, like Nancy Hunt in history, have raised the significance of life history and personal narratives as methodological tools for progressive feminist scholarship. Dovetailing with a recognition of the extent to which scholarly representation is always mediated, recent feminist scholarship acknowledges how the voices of “research participants" need to shape scholarly productions. This has considerably enhanced the quality of scholarship undertaken outside of Africa, since much of this scholarship traditionally assumed the natural authority of the writer-researcher and ended up muffling the subjectivities of those who were studied.
The upsurge of women's life histories and autobiographies has enormously expanded the range of perspectives on key events and processes in African history. For example, Wambui Otieno's autobiography and Namhila's personal narrative interpret events that have been extensively described, yet always narrated from the points of view of men or scholars beyond Africa.
The
growing attention to life history as a methodological and theoretical strategy
has shaped a number of innovative biographical projects in recent years. Margaret
McCord's The Calling of Katie Makanya is an especially perceptive and sensitively
written example.
Accad, E. Transl. Hahn, C. T. 1997. Wounding Words: A Woman's Journal in Tunisia. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Behrend, H. Transl. Cohen, M. Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits: War in Uganda 1985-1997. Oxford: James Currey; Kampala: Fountain Publishers; Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers; Athens: Ohio University Press.
El Saadawi, N. Transl. Hetata, S. 1999. A Daughter of Isis: The Autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi. London/New York: Zed Books.
Kapteijns, L. and Ali, M. 1999. Women's Voices in a Man's World: Women and the Pastoral Tradition in Northern Somali Orature, 1899–1980. Westport, Connecticut: Heinemann.
Landman, C. Ed. 1996. Digging Up Our Foremothers: Stories of Women in Africa. Pretoria: UNISA.
Nelson, C. 1996. Doria Shafik, Egyptian Feminist: A Woman Apart. Cario: American University in Cairo Press.
Olmstead, J. 1997. Woman Between Two Worlds: Portrait of an Ethiopian Rural Leader. University of Illinois Press.
Otieno, W. and Presley, C. Ed. 1998. Mau Mau's Daughter: The Life History of Wambui Waiyaki Otieno. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reider.
Mack, B. and Boyd, J. 2000. One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u Scholar and Scribe. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
McCord, M. 1997. The Calling of Katie Makanya: A Memoir of South Africa. New York: Wiley. Cape Town: David Philip.
Namhila, E. 1997. The Price of Freedom: A Woman's Story About Exile. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.
Olmstead, J. 1997. Woman Between Two Worlds: Portrait of an Ethiopian Rural Leader. University of Illinois Press.
Orford, M. and Becker, H. 2001. "Home and Exiles: Owambo Women's Literature", in Bender, B. and Winer, M. eds. Contested Landscapes: Movement, Exile and Place. Oxford and New York: Berg.
Reyher, R. 1999. Zulu Woman: The Life Story of Christina Sibiya. New York: Feminist Press at CUNY.
Romero, P. 1998. Profiles in Diversity: Women in the New South Africa. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press.
Shaarawi, H. Transl. Badran, M. 1998. Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Surdakasa, N. 1997. The Strength of Our Mothers: African and African-American Women and Families – Essays and Speeches. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Women in Nigeria. 1996. Margaret Ekpo: A Political Biography. Zaria, Nigeria: Women in Nigeria.