Feminist Knowledge | Bibliography: African Women's Studies I
From the eighties to the mid-nineties, much African feminist scholarship defined distinct agendas in relation to a western feminist mainstream. This led scholars to focus on the range of discourses and power relations that shape gender and feminism on the continent. Earlier writers like Nawal el Saadawi (1980), Chikwenye Ogunyemi (1984) and Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1985) and later writers like Patricia McFadden (1992), Ifi Amadiume, Ruth Meena (1992) and Amina Mama (1995) transformed the received meanings of feminism by examining the particular struggles and goals confronting African women in their battles against the global and local effects of patriarchy and capitalism.
Highlighting self-naming as a strategy for defining unique goals and concerns for African women's struggles, theorists like Chikweye Ogunyemi (1984), who coined the term “womanism" and Catherine Acholonu (1995), using the rubric of “motherism", offered identities that allowed a number of other African activists and scholars to name and clarify their agendas.
An important distinguishing feature of early African feminist theorising is that many of its proponents integrated theoretical writing with sociological, historical, literary and other studies. The nexus of theory and practice is illustrated in the range of writings that tease out key theoretical concepts in relation to women's movements. Ifi Amadiume's work on women in pre-colonial society illustrates this trend (1987), as does much of the writing about women's participation in nationalist struggles.
Much
of the first wave of writing on women's movements has been documentary in orientation.
This reflects an over-riding concern with making visible women's participation
in struggles hitherto represented from men's points of view. This work has ranged
from writing produced by organizations like Women in Ethiopia (1982), published
by the Revolutionary Women's Organization, to studies by scholars based outside
of Africa, like Berger's Threads of Solidarity (1992), Christine Obbo's African
Women: Their Struggle for Economic Independence (1980) and Lazreg's The Eloquence
of Silence: Algerian Women in Question (1994). These works have, at different
moments, pioneered in-depth analysis of gendered dynamics and articulated theoretical
orientations that have been used and developed by other scholars.
AAWORD. 1982. "The Experience of the Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD)." Development Dialogue, 1:2.
Abdel-Atty, S. and Abdel-Moneim, A. 1995. "Structure and Dimensions of the Female Labour Force in Egypt", in Cairo Demographic Centre (CDC). CDC 24th Annual Seminar on Population Issues and the Challenges of the 21st Century in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, 1994. Cairo: CDC. Research Monograph Series 24.
Abdullah, H. 1995. "Wifeism and Activism: The Nigerian Women's Movement”, in Basu, A. ed. The Challenges of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder: Westview.
Acholonu, C. 1995. Motherism: The Afrocentric Alternative to Feminism. Owerri, Nigeria: Afa Publications.
Adayfio-Schandorf, E. and Kwafo-Akoto, K. 1990. Women in Ghana: An Annotated Bibliography. Distributed by ABC, London.
Aidoo, A. 1992. "The African Woman Today." Dissent, 39: 319-325.
Al-Hassan, S. 1994. "The Role of Women in Politics in Ghana", in Hassan, S. ed. Feminist Perspective Series Volume 2. Voices of Wisdom. Ottawa: MATCH International Centre.
Amadiume, I. 1987. Afrikan Matriarchal Foundations: The Igbo Case. London: Karnak House.
Amadiume, I. 1990. Male Daughters, Female Husbands. London: Zed.
Awe, B. and Mba, N. 1991. “Women’s Research and Documentation Centre.” Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture Special Issue on African Women, 16, 3 (Summer): 859-864
Berger, I. 1992. Threads of Solidarity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; London: James Currey.
Bernstein, H. 1978. For Their Triumphs and Their Tears. London: International Defense and Aid Fund.
Besha, R. M. 1994. African Women: Our Burdens and Struggles: Papers from an IFAA Residential Course. Johannesburg: Institute for African Alternatives.
Bozzoli, B. 1983. "Marxism, Feminism and Southern African Studies." Journal of Southern African Studies, 9, 2: 122-139.
Catagay, N., Grown, C. and Santiago, A. 1986. "The Nairobi Women's Conference: Toward a Global Feminism?" Feminist Studies, 12, 2:401–412.
Cutrufelli, M. R. 1983. Women of Africa: Roots of Oppression. London: Zed.
Dolphyne, F. A. 1991. The Emancipation of Women: An African Perspective. Accra: Ghana University Press.
Drew, A. 1995. "Female Consciousness and Feminism in Africa." Theory and Society, 24, 1:1–33.
El Saadawi, N. 1980. The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World. London: Zed Press.
Friedman, M. 1990. “The Social Construction of Gender: Historically Changing Meanings of White Femininity and Masculinity, 1910–1980.” Critical Arts: A Journal for Cultural Studies, 5, 2:67-11.
Gakuo, M. 1985. "Kenyan Women’s Situation and Strategies for Improvement." Women's Studies International Forum, 8, 4: 373-379.
Hay, M. J. 1995. African Women South of the Sahara. Harlow, Essex: Longman Scientific and Technical.
Holness, M. 1984. "Angolan Women's Congress." Review of African Political Economy, 3, 2: 49-56.
Imam, A. 1991. "Women Should be Neither Seen nor Heard? Identity Politics and Women's Mobilization in Kano, Northern Nigeria", in Moghaden, V. ed. Identity Politics and Women: Cultural Reassertions and Feminisms in International Perspective. London: Oxford University Press.
Kabira, W. and Nzioki, E. 1993. Celebrating Women's Resistance: A Case Study of the Women's Groups Movement in Kenya. University of Sussex: Institute of Development Studies Information Resource Unit.
Khasiani, S. and Njiro, E. 1993. The Women's Movement in Kenya. Nairobi: AAWORD.
Lazreg, M. 1994. The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. London and New York: Routledge.
Mama, A. 1995. Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender and Subjectivity. London and New York: Routledge.
Manuh, T. 1992. "Methodologies for Gender Analysis: An African Perspective", in Kumekpor, M., Manuh, T. and Adomako, A. eds. Proceedings of the Gender Analysis Workshop. Legon: University of Ghana, Development and Women's Studies.
Mathasane, M. 1995. African Women: Three Generations. London: Hamilton.
Meena, R. Ed. 1992. Gender in Southern Africa: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues. Harare: SAPES Books.
Mikell, G. "African Feminism: Toward a New Politics of Representation." Feminist Studies, 21, 2:405–424.
O'Barr, J. Ed. Perspectives on Power: Women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Durham, NC: Duke University Centre for International Studies.
Obbo, C. 1980. African Women: Their Struggle for Economic Independence. London: Zed.
Oduyoye, M. A. 1995. Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Ogundipe-Leslie, M. 1985. "Women in Nigeria," in Women in Nigeria. Editorial Committee. ed. Women in Nigeria Today. London: Zed.
Ogundipe-Leslie, M. 1994. Re-creating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press.
Ogunyemi, C. 1984. "Womanism: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female Novel in English." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 11, 1.
Qunta, C. 1987. Women in Southern Africa. New York: Schocken Books.
REWA (Revolutionary Ethiopian Women's Association). 1982. Women in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: REWA.
REWA. 1984. Ethiopia: Women in Revolution. Addis Ababa: REWA.
Roberts, P. 1984. "Feminism in Africa: Feminism and Africa." Review of African Political Economy, 10, 27/28:175-184.
Russell, D. 1990. Lives of Courage: Women for a New South Africa. London: Virago.
Selassie, T. In Search of Ethiopian Women. London: CHANGE International Reports, Women and Society.
Sexwale, B. 1988. Preliminary Investigation into the Position of Women in the Southern African Region: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. The Hague: HIVOS.
Steady, F. 1987. "African Feminism: A Worldwide Perspective", in Terborg-Penn, R., Harley, S. and Rushing, A. eds. Women in Africa and the African Diaspora. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.
Steady, F. Ed. 1981. The Black Woman Cross-Culturally. Rochester, VT: Schenkman Publishing Company.
Steady, F. 1985. "African Women at the End of the Decade." Africa Report, 30 (March-April).
Staunton, I. Ed. 1990. Mothers of the Revolution. Harare: Baobab.
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme. 1993. Gender Profile of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Gender Networking Programme.
Terborg-Penn, R., Harley, S. and Benton Rushin, A. 1987. Women in Africa and the African Diaspora. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.
Thiam, A. 1986. Speak Out, Black Sisters: Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa. London: Pluto Press.
Walker, C. 1995. ”Conceptualising Motherhood in 20th Century South Africa." Journal of Southern African Studies, 21, 3:417-437.
Wieringa, S. Ed. 1995. Subversive Women: Women's Movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. London: Zed.
Women in Nigeria Editorial Committee. 1985. Women in Nigeria Today. London: Zed Press.