Abstract:

The world or the idealized super lady, current African women writers provide new paradigms for the self of African femininity in their literature. Contemporary authors such as Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, and Bessie Head highlight the double oppression African women face because of their race and gender. Contemporary African women writers often return to the subject of the double yoke that women experience as a result of cultural clash. Emecheta's heroines span the gamut from the wild and independent native lady to the migratory diasporic people who come together to build a new tribe. Her Destination, Biafra, shows a heroine who is a contemporary woman willing to play her own distinctive role in the development of the country, and it is set in the middle of the Civil War after Nigeria's independence. In Double Yoke, another of Emecheta's feminist writings, the protagonist takes a stand against racial and gendered injustice. The upper-class city dweller Deborah in Destination Biafra and the rural Nigerian Nko in Double Yoke both represent the spirit of resistance. Destination Biafra is one of the many war novels that appeared after this seminal event for African thought. As a result of the British colonialism of Africa, neocolonial circumstances developed, and women were directly affected by the conflict. Debbie, the protagonist, is a prototypical member of the educated indigenous elite; she is able to stand up for herself and her country while not relying on her traditional African womanly strength.

Description:

Postcolonial, African Woman, Destination Biafra, Double Yoke, African femininity