Routledge Women, Literature and Development in Africa (Rethinking Development)

This book is a powerful exploration of the role of women in the evolution of African thinking and narratives on development, from the precolonial period right through to the modern day. Whilst the book identifies women’s oppression and marginalization as significant challenges to contemporary Africa’s advancement, it also explores how new written narratives draw on traditional African knowledge systems to bring deep-rooted and sometimes radical approaches to progress. The book asserts that Africans must tell their own stories, expressed through the complex meanings and nuances of African languages and often conveyed through oral traditions and storytelling, in which women play an important role. The book’s close examination of language and meaning in the African narrative tradition advances the illumination and elevation of African storytelling as part of a viable and valid knowledge base in its own right, rather than as an extension of European paradigms and methods. Anthonia C. Kalu's new edition of this important book, fully revised throughout, will also include fresh analysis of the role of digital media, education, and religion in African narratives. At a time when the prominence and participation of African women in development and sociopolitical debates is growing, this book's exploration of their lived experiences and narrative contribution will be of interest to students of African literature, gender studies, development, history, and sociology. Review "The main strength of this second edition of Women, Literature and Development in Africa lies in its emphasis on the relevance of African literature and its criticism to the development of contemporary African societies, especially with regard to the importance of indigenous knowledge systems, African languages, and women’s contributions. This book is certainly a valuable guide not only to scholars and students of African literature, but also to African development policy makers." Lokangaka Losambe, The University of Vermont, USA "The main strength of this second edition of Women, Literature and Development in Africa lies in its emphasis on the relevance of African literature and its criticism to the development of contemporary African societies, especially with regard to the importance of indigenous knowledge systems, African languages, and women’s contributions. This book is certainly a valuable guide not only to scholars and students of African literature, but also to African development policy makers." -- Lokangaka Losambe, The University of Vermont, USA "In Women, Literature and Development in Africa, Anthonia Kalu assesses the use of traditional African verbal arts in written African literature and identifies a gap: the incomplete representation of gender wholeness. This book makes a significant contribution to scholarship on African literature particularly its theorizing of women and gender engineering of society. [It] offers a nouvelle feminist lens in a book that makes little or no claim to feminist theorizing. Its feminism is woven into logic that would appeal to interdisciplinary scholars and students of anthropology, oral literature, development, literature and literary theory." -- Chinyere G. Okafor, Chair, Women, Gender and Diversity Studies, Wichita State University, Wichita, USA "When it was published in 2001, Anthonia Kalu’s Women, Literature and Development in Africa was celebrated as a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between gender, development, and African thinking. With this new edition, it will be welcomed as an outstanding example of how attention to local systems of knowledge, including oral resources, transforms our understanding of African pasts and futures. This book will now occupy its rightful place in the library of African thought." -- Simon Gikandi, Robert Schirmer Professor of English, Princeton University, USA "This is a remarkable and fascinating book that offers read