Molara Ogundipe

Molara Ogundipe
PROF.OGUNDIPE.jpg

Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie (born in Lagos) is a Nigerian poet, critic, editor, feminist and activist. Considered one of the foremost writers on African feminism, gender studies and literary theory, she is a social critic who has come to be recognized as a viable authority on African women among black feminists and feminists in general.[1]

Contents

Life

Born Abiodun Omolara Ogundipe to a family of educators and clergy, she graduated as the first Nigerian with a first class degree. She rose to prominence early in her career in the midst of a male dominated artistic field concerned about the problems afflicting African men and women. Over the years, she has been a critic of the oppression of women and has argued that African women are more oppressed in their status and roles as wives in view of their multiple identities, in some of which identities, they enjoy status, privilege, recognition and agency. She criticizes the plight of African women as due to the impact of imposed colonial and neo-colonial structures that often place African males at the height of social stratification. Their plight is also due to the internalization of patriarchy by African women themselves. She, however, insists on an understanding of the complexity of the statuses of African women in their pre-colonial and indigenous cultures for any useful discussion or study of African women. Molara Ogundipe has been in the leadership of feminist activism and gender studies in Africa for decades. She now lives and works in West Africa, where she has been setting up writing centres at universities, in addition to her work on literature, gender and film, in contribution to her commitment to intergenerational education and mentoring.

Criticism

Ogundipe is a Nigerian scholar, critic, educator and activist who is recognized as one of the foremost writers on African women and feminism. She argued for an African-centered feminism that she termed "Stiwanism" (Social Transformation In Africa Including Women) in her book Recreating Ourselves. A distinguished scholar and literary theorist, she has published numerous works of poetry and literary criticism in addition to her works cited below.

Ogundipe earlier in her career had posited that a true feminist writer had to understand or describe effectively a woman's viewpoint and how to tell the story about a woman. She strongly believes that rediscovering the role of women in Nigeria's social and political institutions may be the best way to improve those institutions. She is known as a writer whose works capture most vividly the complexities of African life. In Re-Creating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations, she writes brilliantly about the dilemma of writing in her traditional language and men'sresistance to gender equality.[1]

Works

  • Sew the Old Days and Other Poems, 1985
  • Re-Creating Ourselves: African Women & Critical Transformations, 1994
  • (ed.) Women as Oral Artists, 1994
  • (ed. with Carole Boyce-Davies and Carole B. Davies) Moving Beyond Boundaries. April 1995 (two volumes).

Notes

  1. ^ a b Douglas, Carol Anne, 'Women in Nigeria Today', off our backs, Washington, Nov 30, 1987.

References

  • Gay Wilentz: Review Postcolonial / Postmodern: What's in a Wor(l)d? College English. Vol. 56, No. 1 (Jan., 1994)
  • Gibreel M. Kamara: The Feminist Struggle in the Senegalese Novel: Mariama Ba and Sembene Ousmane. Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 32, No. 2 Nov., 2001.
  • Allan, Tuzyline Jita: Book reviews, Re-Creating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations by Molara Ogundipe-Leslie. Research in African Literatures, Summer 1995

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of Nigerian writers — A*Adam Abdulahi *Yusufu Adamu *Chris Abani *Andy Abulu *Chinua Achebe (1930 ndash; ) *Wale AdebanwiBAYO ADEBOWALE (1944 ) *Remi Adedeji (1937 ndash; ) *Abiola Adegboyega *Dapo Adeniyi *Mobolaji Adenubi *Kole Ade Odutola *Kayode Aderinokun *Pius… …   Wikipedia

  • Okot p'Bitek — (June 7, 1931 – July 20, 1982) was a Ugandan poet, who achieved wide international recognition for Song of Lawino, a long poem dealing with the tribulations of a rural African wife whose husband has taken up urban life and wishes everything to be …   Wikipedia

  • Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry — The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry, in an earlier 1963 edition Modern Poetry from Africa, was a 1984 poetry anthology edited by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier. It consists mainly of poems written in English, or French or Portuguese and… …   Wikipedia

  • Black feminism — argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. [cite web|url=http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Defining Black Feminist Thought.html|title=Defining Black Feminist Thought|accessmonthday=May… …   Wikipedia

  • MAMSER — was an acronym for Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance, Social Justice, and Economic Recovery. It was an exercise in political orientation undertaking by President Babangida as one of the recommendations of the Political Bureau headed by Samuel… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste nigerianischer Schriftsteller — Liste von in Nigeria geborenen bzw. zum größten Teil publizierten Schriftstellern. Inhaltsverzeichnis A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nigerianische Schriftsteller — Liste von in Nigeria geborenen bzw. zum größten Teil publizierten Schriftstellern. A Chris Abani (* 1966) Chinua Achebe (* 1930) Remi Adedeji (* 1937) Toyin Adewale Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (* 1977) Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo Tolu Ajayi Zaynab Alkali …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nigerianischer Lyriker — Liste von in Nigeria geborenen bzw. zum größten Teil publizierten Schriftstellern. A Chris Abani (* 1966) Chinua Achebe (* 1930) Remi Adedeji (* 1937) Toyin Adewale Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (* 1977) Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo Tolu Ajayi Zaynab Alkali …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nigerianischer Schriftsteller — Liste von in Nigeria geborenen bzw. zum größten Teil publizierten Schriftstellern. A Chris Abani (* 1966) Chinua Achebe (* 1930) Remi Adedeji (* 1937) Toyin Adewale Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (* 1977) Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo Tolu Ajayi Zaynab Alkali …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Feminism — Feminists redirects here. For other uses, see Feminists (disambiguation). See also: feminist movement and feminism in the United States …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”