Feminist empathy: unsettling African cultural norms in 'the secret lives of Baba Segi's wives'

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Periodical article

Title:	Feminist empathy: unsettling African cultural norms in 'the secret lives of Baba Segi's wives'
Author:	Eze, Chielozona
Year:	2015
Periodical:	African Studies (ISSN 1469-2872)
Volume:	74
Issue:	3
Pages:	310-326
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Africa Nigeria
Subjects:	feminism literature literary criticism
About person:	Titilola Alexandrah Shoneyin
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2015.1067996
Abstract:	Africa has produced some of the more exciting literary works of the 21st century, and most were written by women. One of the things that these women have in common is their preoccupation with the pain that the African woman's body is subjected to by her society due to her gender. The writers are not shy about being called feminists, quite in contrast to the generation of writers before theirs. How are we to understand the concerns of these writers? What is the relationship between their feminist concerns and those of their literary and intellectual foremothers in Africa? This article re-examines African feminism, and suggests feminist empathy as a theoretical approach to African women's writings. Using Lola Shoneyin's novel 'the secret lives of Baba Segi's wives' as an example, the author argues that the writers employ the riches of empathy as a social, liberatory virtue that not only throws light on the pains of ordinary Africans, but also can enhance human flourishing in African communities. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]