African women writing resistance : an anthology of contemporary voices

African Women Writing Resistance is the first transnational anthology to focus on women's strategies of resistance to the challenges they face in Africa today. The anthology brings together personal narratives, testimony, interviews, short stories, poetry, performance scripts, folktales, and lyrics. Thematically organized, it presents women's writing on such issues as intertribal and interethnic conflicts, the degradation of the environment, polygamy, domestic abuse, the controversial traditional practice of female genital cutting, Sharia law, intergenerational tensions, and emigration and exile.
Contributors include internationally recognized authors and activists such as Wangari Maathai and Nawal El Saadawi, as well as a host of vibrant new voices from all over the African continent and from the African diaspora. Interdisciplinary in scope, this collection provides an excellent introduction to contemporary African women's literature and highlights social issues that are particular to Africa but are also of worldwide concern. It is an essential reference for students of African studies, world literature, anthropology, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, and women's studies. A Choice Outstanding Academic Book

Outstanding Book, selected by the Public Library Association

Best Books for High Schools, Best Books for Special Interests, and Best Books for Professional Use, selected by the American Association of School Libraries

• Preface: Roots of the Collection p. xiii
• Acknowledgments p. xv
• Forword: A Song in Seven Stanzas for Our Granddaughters p. xix Abena P. A. Busia
• African Women Writing Resistance: An Introdcution p. 3 Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez and Pauline Dongala and Omotaya Jolaosho and Anne Serafin
• Part 1 Engaging with Tradition p. 13
• The Day When God Changed His Mind p. 15 Eve Zvichanzi Nyemba
• The Old Woman p. 22 J. Tsitsi Mutiti
• Interview with Kaya a Mbaya (Congo), a Babongo Woman p. 27 Pierre Piya-Bouanga
• Interview with Elisabeth Bouanga (Congo-Brazzaville): Remembrance of Things Past p. 33 Pauline Dongala
• Part 2 Speaking Out: Young Women on Sexuality p. 39
• Woman Weep No More p. 43 Sibongile Mtungwa
• Letters to My Cousin p. 50 Catherine Makoni
• Story of Faith p. 59 Mamle Kabu
• Lovesung for a Father, with Poet's Note p. 75 Zindzi Bedu
• It's Not Rape If ... p. 84 Ann Kithaka
• To Be or Not to Be a Lesbian: The Dilemma of Cameroon's Women Soccer Players p. 85 Sybille Ngo Nyeck
• My Name Is Kasha p. 90 Kasha N. Jacqueline
• Cosmo Africa and Other Poems p. 93 Cheshe Dow
• Part 3 Challenging the Institution of Marriage p. 97
• Child p. 101 Ann Kithaka
• Hailstones on Zamfara p. 104 Sefi Atta
• The Good Woman p. 118 Patricia Chogugudza
• Ngomwa p. 131 Ellen Mulenga Banda-Aaku
• They Came in the Morning p. 140 Iheoma Obibi
• The Battle of the Words: Oratory as Women's Tool of Resistance to the Challenges of Polygamy in Contemporary Wolof Society p. 149 Marame Gueye
• Part 4 Focusing on Survival: Women's Health Issues p. 167
• Tell Me Why: Two Poems p. 171 Ann Kithaka
• Surviving Me p. 174 Janine Lewis
• The Struggle to End the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation p. 192 Nawal El Saadawi
• Slow Poison p. 198 Makuchi (Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi)
• Just Keep Talking: Two Poems p. 210 Cheshe Dow
• Tell Me a Lie p. 212 Ann Kithaka
• Prayers and Meditation Heal Despair p. 214 Pauline Dongala
• Part 5 Taking a Stand: Women as Activists against War, Environmental Degradation, and Social Conflict p. 219
• A Poem Written in the Ink of the Blood Shed in Rwanda, with Poet's Note p. 223 Nathalie Etoké
• Excerpt from Biography of Ash p. 228 Khadija Marouazi
• Women's Responses to State Violence in the Niger Delta p. 235 Sokari Ekine
• Excerpt from Child Soldier: Fighting for My Life p. 248 China Keitetsi
• Don't Get Mad, Get Elected! A Conversation with Activist Wangari Maathai (Kenya) p. 259 Danielle Nierenberg and Mia MacDonald
• Part 6 Writing from a Different Place: Perspectives on Exile and Diaspora p. 265
• Musings of an African Woman: Excerpts from a Memoir in Progress p. 267 Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe
• A Moroccan Woman in the Glocal Village: Reflections on Islam, Identity, and Cultural Legacies p. 273 Touria Khannous
• Knowing Your Place p. 281 Diana Adesola Mafe
• Letter to Clara p. 285 Susan Akono
• Part 7 Standing at the Edge of Time: African Women's Visions of the Past, Present, and Future p. 293
• ôWe Are Our Grandmothers' Dreamsö: African Women Envision the Future p. 295 Pauline Dongala and Marame Gueye and Omotayo Jolaosho and Nimu Njoya and Abena P. A. Busia
• Liberation p. 313 Abena P. A. Busia
• Suggestions for Further Reading p. 315
• Contributors p. 327