Women Writing Africa
The Northern Region- Publication Date: 2009
- Dimensions and Pages: 235 x 155 mm, 636 pp
- EAN: 9781868144907
- Recommended Price (ZAR): 100.00
- Recommended Price (USD): n/a
The contributions of African women to their respective nations have been documented for generations as letters, speeches, songs, poems and other oralities, but never before have they been gathered together in one monumental work: The Women Writing Africa Project. This invaluable resource is the result of over ten years of dedicated research by the editors, and seeks to elucidate voices and stories that have been long ignored and are in need of telling.
The fourth volume in the series includes more than 100 texts from Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. It includes works from 1500 BCE to the present; from an Egyptian Queen’s marriage proposal to contemporary women promoting new marriage and family laws. Many names will resonate with modern readers, including Leila Abou Zeid, Amina Arfaoui, Salwa Bakr, Assia Djebar, Nawal El Saadawi and Fatima Mernissi. Important themes include polygamy, the veil, education and political participation.
Women Writing Africa, a project of cultural reconstruction, aims to restore African women’s voices to the public sphere. Through the publication of a series of regional anthologies, each collecting oral and written narratives as well as a variety of historical and literary texts, the project will make visible the oral and written literary expression of African women. The definition of ‘writing’ has been deliberately broadened to include songs, praise poems, and significant oral texts, as well as short fiction, poetry, letters, journals, journalism and historical documents. The publication of these texts will allow for new readings of African women’s history. The first of these regional anthologies, subtitled The Southern Region, was first published in 2003. The second volume, subtitled West Africa and the Sahel, was published in 2005, the third volume, The Eastern Region, was published in 2007.
With Feminist Press (US)
Section 1. The Ancients: Fifteenth Century BCE to Fourth Century CE
Section 2. Islam: Seventh century to Eighteenth Century
Section 3. Nineteenth Century to Early Twentieth Century
Section 4. Mid-Twentieth Century
Section 5. Late Twentieth Century
Section 6. The New Century