Gender In Selected African Novels

Ikechukwu Aloysius Orjinta

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9783640989928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: African Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Scientific Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Literature - Africa, Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Brixen (none), course: Gender Studies, language: English, abstract: In its oral and written forms, literature has constantly served as one of themajor instruments in mirroring reality and society. Literature remains aconsistent tool in the representation, comprehension and interpretation offields of human endeavour such as religion, class struggle, politics, humansituations, social conflicts and Gender relations. No wonder then, genderrelations, especially feminism has laid hold on literature as a veritablemachinery for gender activism Men discovered the gold mine in literaturequite early and for ages tapped its resources to carve a niche for the malegender in politics, culture and religion. At the same time the male genderused the resources of literature and criticism to invent prejudices, stereotypes and superstitious beliefs and heaped them on the female gender.While women laboured under this burden for ages, men were busyupstaging them in every field of life. Few instances have however existedwhere certain female figures due to their exalted royal, military, economicsand cultic backgrounds have through individual efforts raised their headsabove water in their respective societies and eras. Literature has equallyrecorded cases where powerful women in various races have astutely andsubtly cornered for themselves rights and priviledges which ordinary womenand even ordinary men could never dream of. Such positions were likepersonal identity cards which neither outlived them nor were enjoyed byother women during and after their lifetime. These examples are todayliterature, in history and literary achieves. [...]