African womanism

Essay by cheribiUniversity, Bachelor's April 2003

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African womanism

Feminism is one of the most discussed topics in the last two decades. The discussion of this topic brings in many concepts and different philosophies; each defending its claim and expressing its opinion. There are many different directions in feminism; there is the western feminism, Marxist feminism, African-American feminism, and African womanism (feminism).

In the article "African Gender Trouble And African Womanism:An Interview With Chikwenye Ogunyemi and Wanjira Muthoni" Arndt Susan wrote about feminism in Africa, and this was by writing about an interview she did with Chikwenye Oguneyemi a Nigerian womanist literary critic, and the Kenyan writer and African feminism activist Wanjira Muthoni. In the interview they discussed the new idea of Oguenyemi which is African womanism, and also they talked about the gender sensitization program that Wanjira is working on. So, the paper will be about these two points and how they apply to the Moroccan society.

African women do not accept the word feminism as a designation for their claim; they are shy to be referred to as feminists. In Africa the word feminist equals to lesbianism and hate of men. This doesn't mean that women in Africa accept their subordination to men, no, they also believe that the situation of women in Africa should be ameliorated; they believe that there should be someone to look at their situation with a 21st century level of thinking, but not feminism, no hey need to define another term for their claim. Another reason for this is that "feminism does not see beyond western societies and hence ignores or marginalizes the specific problems of African women."(Susan, 714) There are many issues that are not taken into consideration by the western feminism like religion issues and social issues; for example, in the western society we would not find...