Rethinking Androcentric Representations of Women in African Literature

Abstract

The representation of women in fictional discourse still remains an area of live interest in African literary criticism. There has been a sustained focus in the flawed portraiture of women in male writing, yet more and more male creative writers are striving to draw images of women from an increasingly gender sensitive perspective. They endeavour to depict women in positive roles and emphasize their agency in society. Similarly, more male critics are venturing into the female creative space while being mindful not only of the insider/outsider location paradigm but also of the critical attention of their female colleagues. The developing critical interaction between female and male writers and critics significantly contributes to the growth of African literature. This paper embarks on a study that leans on the revisionist critical trend in an attempt to examine the portrait of African women in novels particularly by Ousmane Sembene and Ngugi wa Thiong’o that show them as initiators and actors in the struggle for the community’s political and social welfare.