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This book proposes feminist empathy as a model of interpretation in the works of contemporary Anglophone African women writers. The African woman's body is often portrayed as having been disabled by the patriarchal and sexist structures of society. Returning to their bodies as a point of reference, rather than the postcolonial ideology of empire, contemporaryAfrican women writers demand fairness and equality. By showing how this literature deploys imaginative shifts in perspective with women experiencing unfairness, injustice, or oppression because of their gender, Chielozona Eze argues that by considering feminist empathy, discussions open up about how this literature directly addresses the systems that put them in disadvantaged positions. This book, therefore, engages a new ethical and human rights awareness in African literary and cultural discourses, highlighting the openness to reality that is compatible with African multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and increasingly cosmopolitan communities.
List of contents
Introduction: The Ethical Turn in African Literature.- Chapter 1: Feminism as Fairness.- Chapter 2: Diary of Intense Pain: Postcolonial Trap and Women's Rights.- Chapter 3: The Body in Pain and the Politics of Culture.- Chapter 4: Abstractions as Disablers of Women's Rights.- Chapter 5: The Enslaved Body as a Symbol of Universal Human Rights Abuse.- Chapter 6: Human Rights as Liberatory Social Thought.- Chapter 7: The Obligation to Bear Testimony to Human Rights Abuses.- Bibliography.-
About the author
Chielozona Eze is Associate Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Northeastern Illinois University, USA. He has held fellowships including the UCLA Global Fellowship and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS).
Summary
This book proposes feminist empathy as a model of interpretation in the works of contemporary Anglophone African women writers. The African woman’s body is often portrayed as having been disabled by the patriarchal and sexist structures of society. Returning to their bodies as a point of reference, rather than the postcolonial ideology of empire, contemporaryAfrican women writers demand fairness and equality. By showing how this literature deploys imaginative shifts in perspective with women experiencing unfairness, injustice, or oppression because of their gender, Chielozona Eze argues that by considering feminist empathy, discussions open up about how this literature directly addresses the systems that put them in disadvantaged positions. This book, therefore, engages a new ethical and human rights awareness in African literary and cultural discourses, highlighting the openness to reality that is compatible with African multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and increasingly cosmopolitan communities.
