Aspects of Feminism and Gender in the Novels of Three West African Women Writers (Aidoo, Emecheta, Darko) by Edith Kohrs-Amissah. Heidelberg, Books on African Studies 90pp. ISBN 3-927198-17X

Abstract

In her book, Aspects of Feminism and Gender in the Novels of Three West African Women Writers, Edith Kohrs-Amissah revisits the Third World or African feminist debate on feminist theoretical conceptualization, naming, and identity. She does this by testing the theoretical contributions of leading scholars like ‘Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, and others against selected works of Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta and Amma Darko. Because these three women’s works only represent two countries, Ghana and Nigeria, Kohrs-Amissah acknowledges that although she uses theories of African feminism in examining the works of the authors, her work “lays no claim to being comprehensive on the topic of feminism in Africa and on feminism in African Literature” (11). With this, she embarks on a journey to find a space for her own literary examination of contemporary African women’s positionality, environment, and challenges in Aidoo’s Changes. A Love Story, Emecheta’s Kehinde, and Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon.