Feminist Knowledge | Bibliography: African Women's Studies II

Literary and Cultural Studies  

Following an earlier emphasis on making visible women's traditions that challenged canons of men's writing, recent literary criticism carefully assesses the strategies of women's writing. A growing emphasis on cross-cultural approaches to diasporic black women's creative expression, such as the collection edited by Ghosh et al. Interventions: The Feminist Dialogues on Third World Women's Literature and Film (1997) and Gwendolyn Foster's Women Filmmakers of the African and Asia Diaspora: Decolonizing the Gaze, Locating Subjectivity (1997) has considerably enhanced analytical insights.

The strategies and tools of literary studies have inflected the upsurge of cultural studies approaches to everyday cultural forms and political expression. Articles like Linneburh’s “Kanga: Popular Cloths with Messages" (1997) and Bryce's “Women and Modern African Popular Fiction" (1997) are richly suggestive studies of the gendering of popular culture.

Studies like Kapteijns' Women's Voices in a Men's World: Women and the Pastoral Tradition in Northern Somali Orature (1999), which offers pioneering detailed attention to non-elite women's creativity, charts important avenues for further research into this crucial, yet neglected field.  

Abraham, K. 1999. “Resistance Innovations in African Feminist Literary Discourses: African Women Negotiating Cultures of Resistance", in McFadden, P.  ed. Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa. Harare: SAPES Books.

Adebayo, A. 1996. Feminism and Black Women's Creative Writing: Theory, Practice, and Criticism. Ibadan: AMD Publishers.

Adeleye-Fayemi, B. 1997. "Either One or the Other: Images of Women in Nigerian Television", in Barber, K. Readings in African Popular Culture. Oxford: James Currey.

Arndt, S. 2001. The Dynamics of African Feminism: Defining and Classifying African-Feminist Literatures. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Arnold, M. 1997. Women and Art in South Africa. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Badejo, D. 1996. Osun Seegesi: The Elegant Deity of Wealth, Power, and Femininity. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Baird, V. Ed. 1996. Eye to Eye, Women: Their Words and Worlds: Life in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as Seen in Photographs and in Fiction By the Region's Top Women Writers. Oxford: New Internationalist.

Bazin, N. 1989. "Feminism in the Literature of African Women." Black Scholar, 20, 3–4, May–August:8–17.

Bertoncini-Zubkova, E. Ed. 1996. Vamps and Victims: Women in Swahili Literature. Koln: Rudiger Koppe Verlag.

Brinkman, I. 1996. Kikuyu Gender Norms and Narratives. Leiden: Research School.

Brooks De Vita, A. 2000. Mythatypes: Signatures and Signs of African/Diaspora and Black Goddesses. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Brouwer, R. 1998. "Books for Africans: Margaret Wrong and the Gendering of African Writing, 1929–1963." International Journal of African Historical Studies, 31, 1:53–71.

Bryce, J. 1994. "Writing as Power in the Narratives of African Women." Kunapipi, 16, 1:618–625.

Bryce, J. and Dako, K. 2000. "Textual Deviancy and Cultural Syncretism: Romantic Fiction as a Subversive Strain in Black Women's Writing." Matatu, 21–22:155–164.

Bryce, J. 1997. "Women and Modern African Popular Fiction", in Barber, K. Readings in African Popular Culture. Oxford: James Currey.

Daymond, M. J. Ed. 1996. South African Feminisms: Writing, Theory, and Criticism, 1990-1994. New York: Garland Publishers. 

Driver, D. 1996. "Drum and the Spatial Configuration of Gender", in Darian-Smith, K., Gunner, L. and Nuttal, S. eds. Text, Theory, Space. Routledge: London and New York.

Egejuru, P. and Katrak, K. Eds. 1997. Nwanyibu: Woman Being and African Literature. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Ellerson, B. 2000. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Ezeigbo, T. 2000. "The Dynamics of Literary Response: Students as Readers of African Women's Writing." African Research and Documentation, 83:37–47.

Foster, G. 1997. Women Filmmakers of the African and Asia Diaspora: Decolonizing the Gaze, Locating Subjectivity. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Ghosh, B. and Bose, B. Eds. 1997. Interventions: The Feminist Dialogues on Third World Women's Literature and Film. New York: Garland.

Henderson, H. 1999. "Beyond Streetwalking: The Woman of the City as Urban Pioneer", in Anyidoho, K., Busia, A. and Adams, A. eds. Beyond Survival: African Literature and the Search for New Life. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Hitchcott, N. 2000. Women Writers in Francophone Africa. Oxford: Berg. French Studies Series.

Ibrahim, H. 1996. Bessie Head: Subversive Identities in Exile. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.

Irele, D. 1998. "African Urban Women and Romance Literature: A Feminist Interpretation", in Aduke, A. and Odunuga, D. eds. Literature, Ideology, and Society: Essays in Honor of Abiola Irele. Ibadan: AMD Publishers.

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.

Kalu, A. 2001. Women, Literature and Development in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Kolawole, M. 1997. Womanism and African Consciousness. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press/Red Sea Press. 1997.

Kolawole, M. 1998. "Women's Oral Literature as Site for Dynamic Self-Expression", in Kolawole, M. ed. Gender Perceptions and Development in Africa. Lagos: Arrabon Academic.

Kolawole, M. Ed. 1998. Gender Perceptions and Development in Africa. Lagos: Arrabon Academic Publishers.

Kolawole, M. 1999. "Self Representation and the Dynamics of Culture and Power in African Women's Writing." Journal of Cultural Studies (Nigeria), 1, 1:1–10.

Koyana, S. 2001. “Womanism and Nation-Building in Sindiwe Magona’s Autobiographies.” Agenda, 50:62-70.

Kumah, C. 2000. "African Women and Literature." West Africa Review, 2, 1 August.

Larrier, R. 2000. Francophone Women Writers of Africa and the Caribbean. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press.

Latha, R. 2001.”Feminisms in an African Context: Miriama Ba’s ‘So Long a Letter’.” Agenda, 50:23-40.

Lawal, B. The Gelede Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in African Culture. Seattle, WA: Univ. of Washington Press, 1996.

Lee, S. 1996. "Daughters of Hagar: Daughters of Muhammad", in Harrow, K. ed. The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature. Portsmouth, New Hampshire/London: Heinemann/James Currey.

Lewis, D. 1999. "Gender Myths and Citizenship in Two Autobiographies by South Africa Women." Agenda, 40:38–44.

Lewis, D.  2001. “Writing Hybrid Selves: Richard Rive and Zoe Wicomb”, in Erasmus, Z. ed. Shaped by History, Coloured by Place.  Cape Town: Kwela.

Linneburh, E. 1997. "Kanga: Popular Cloths with Messages", in Barber, K. Readings in African Popular Culture. Oxford: James Currey.

Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi, J. 1997. Gender in African Women's Writing: Identity, Sexuality and Difference. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Mazrui, A. 1993. "The Black Woman and the Problem of Gender: An African Perspective." Research in African Literatures, 24, 1 Spring, 1993:87–112.

Mblinyi, D. and Omari, C. 1996. Gender Relations and Women's Images in the Media. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.

McFadden, P. 2001. "Cultural Practice as Gendered Exclusion: Experiences from Southern Africa." Discussing Women's Empowerment: Theory and Practice, Sida Studies, 3.

McNee, L. 1997. "Autobiographical Subjects." Research in African Literatures, 28, 2:83–101.

Meena, R. 1996. Gender Relations and Women's Images in the Media. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.

Meurant, Georges, and Thompson, R. 1996. Mbuti Design: Paintings by Pygmy Women of the Ituri Forest. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Minh-ha, T. 1997. "Mother's Talk", in Nnaemeka, O. ed. The Politics of (M)othering: Womanhood, Identity, and Resistance in African Literature. New York/London: Routledge.

Mogu, F. 1999. "The Problem of Representation of Characters in Black Male-Authored Texts: Womanism as Antidote." Journal of Cultural Studies (Nigeria), 1, 1:69–84.

Morgan, E. 1998. "Writing Our Way Out: The Cross-Cultural Dynamics of African Women's Novels." World Literature Written in English, 37, 1–2:102–117.

Mugo, M. 1998. "Women and Books", in Adams, A. and Mayes, J. eds. Mapping Intersections: African Literature and Africa's Development. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Newell, S. Ed. 1997. Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa. London: Zed Books.

Ngara, E. Ed. 1996. New Writing from Southern Africa: Authors Who Have Become Prominent since 1980. London: James Currey.

Nnaemeka, O. 1997. "Imag(in)ing Knowledge, Power, and Subversion in the Margins", in Nnaemeka, O. ed. The Politics of (M)othering: Womanhood, Identity, and Resistance in African Literature. New York/London: Routledge. 

Nnaemeka, O. 1997. "Black Women Writers." Women's Studies Quarterly. 25, 3–4 Fall/Winter:208–224.

Nnaemeka, O. Ed. 1997. The Politics of (M)othering: Womanhood, Identity, and Resistance in African Literature. New York/London: Routledge.

Ntarangwi, M. 1999. “Musical Practice as a Gender Experience: Examples from Kenya and Zimbabwe”, in McFadden, P. ed. Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: SAPES Books.

Nzegwu, N. 1998. "Transgressive Vision: Subverting the Power of Masculinity", in Nzegwu, N. ed. Issues in Contemporary African Art. Binghamton: ISSA:105–134.

Nzegwu, N. 2000. "African Women and the Fire Dance." West Africa Review, 2, 1 (August 2000). http://www.westafricareview.com/war/vol2.1/nzegwu1.html.

Obiechina, E. 1997. "Female Perspectives in African Literature", in Egejuru, P. and Katrak, K. eds. Nwanyibu: Womanbeing and African Literature. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Obradovic, N. 1996. "The White Woman in African Literature." Okike, 33:78–84.

Ogunyemi, C. 1996. Africa Wo/Man Palava: The Nigerian Novel by Women. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Oha, O. 1999. "L. S. Senghor's Feminisation of Africa and the Africanisation of Feminist Aesthetics." Journal of Cultural Studies (Nigeria), 1, 1:11–18.

Okereke, G. 1998. "African Gender Myths of Vocality and Gender Dialogue in African Literature", in Kolawole, M. E. M. ed. Gender Perceptions and Development in Africa. Lagos: Arrabon Academic Publishers.

Onwueme, O. T. 1999. "To the Would-Be African Female Writer: Husband Yourself First!" in Gibbs, J. and Mapanje,  J. eds. The African Writer's Handbook. Oxford: African Books Collective.

Oyewumi, O. 2000. "Alice in Motherland: Reading Alice Walker on Africa and Screening the Color Black", in Oyewumi, O. ed. African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Pallister, J. 1997. "From La Noire de...to Milk and Honey, Portraits of Alienated African Women", in Egejuru, P. and Katrak, K. eds. Nwanyibu: Womanbeing and African Literature. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.

Perani, J, 1998. The Visual Arts of Africa: Gender, Power and Life Cycle Rituals. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ryan, P. 1998. "Singing in Prison: Women Writers and the Discourse of Resistance", in Nnaemeka, O. ed. Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power: From Africa to Diaspora. Trenton: Africa World Press.

Schipper, M. 1996. "Emerging From the Shadows: Changing Patterns in Gender Matters." Research in African Literature, 27, 1, Spring:155–171.

Sutherland-Addy, E. 1996. "Orthodox Feminism and the African Woman Writer: A Reappraisal." Legon Journal of the Humanities, 9:81–98.

Wilson-Tagoe, N. 1997. "Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers Within Feminist Gynocriticism", in Newell, S. ed. Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa. London/Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed.

Zimbabwe International Book Fair. Ed. 2000. ”Women and Activism. ZIBF Women Writers Conference, 1999." Harare: ZIBF Trust.