For Further Research
Jell-Bahlsen, Sabine. “The Concept of Mammywater in Flora Nwapa’s Novels.” Research in African Literatures 26.2 (1995): 30-41.
In this article, Jell-Bahlsen argues that Nwapa’s Uhamiri “re-constructs the myth of the idealized divine woman and voices her own concerns and ideals of womanhood. In many respects, Nwapa’s heroine is not an ideal woman, but she also has serious flaws that contradict customary ideals and norms” (32). In other words, she is arguing that Nwapa rewrites the Uhamiri goddess, purposefully stripping her of children and her child-granting abilities. |
Lu, Nick T. C. “Between Tradition and Modernity: Practical Resistance and Reform of Culture in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.” Research in African Literatures 50. 2 (2019): 123–141.
In this article, Lu reads Efuru, not through the lens of the limiting tradition versus modernity, but rather as one that casts a traditional Igbo woman as an agent of change. |
Hogan, Patrick Colm. “‘How Sisters Should Behave to Sisters’: Women’s Culture and Igbo Society in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.” English in Africa 26.1 (1999): 45-60.
In his article, Patrick Colm Hogan argues that Nwapa has two sets of concerns in her first novel: 1. to show that the abuses of patriarchy are found in both traditional Igbo culture and modern colonial times and 2. to combat the patriarchal abuses, women should bond together in solidarity, which is a “traditional” solution. |
Osinubi, Taiwo Adetunji. “Provincializing Slavery: Atlantic Economies in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.” Research in African Literatures 45.3 (2014): 1–26.
In this article, Osinubi argues that Efuru is not a story of female empowerment and female solidarity, as many have claimed; rather, it is a story of economic empowerment—but just for those like Efuru and her father who engaged in the African slave trade and domestic slavery. |
Nadaswaran, Shalini. “Dispelling the Myth of the ‘Silent Woman’: The Nigerian Igbo Woman in Flora Nwapa’s Efuru (1966).” ALT 30 Reflection & Retrospectives in African Literature Today. Ed. Chimalum Nwankwo, et al. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2012, 108-121.
In this essay, Nadaswaran highlights the effect that Flora Nwapa had on female literary tradition by giving female writers a voice in literature and an avenue to verbalize their life experiences. Efuru, she argues, was a breakthrough regarding how women were characterized, men were represented, and Igbo gender relations were shown to be changing. |
Krishnan, Madhu. “Mami Wata and the Occluded Feminine in Anglophone Nigerian-Igbo Literature.” Research in African Literatures 43.1 (2012): 1–18.
In this article, Krishnan examines how literary representations of the sacred feminine have changed over time in Nigerian-Igbo literature. Krishnan begins by analyzing the pre-colonial tradition of Mami Wata. Then she highlights how colonial imposition “fossilized” traditional standards of gender discourse and pushed Judeo-Christian standards for gendered behavior. This resulted in the removal of the sacred feminine from Nigerian-Igbo literature. However, this action has been reversed in recent years due to a change in engagement that gives Nigerian-Igbo writers the opportunity to return to the traditional representation of the sacred feminine instead of the colonialist representation. Krishnan explores this change through the works of Nwapa and other African writers.
In this article, Krishnan examines how literary representations of the sacred feminine have changed over time in Nigerian-Igbo literature. Krishnan begins by analyzing the pre-colonial tradition of Mami Wata. Then she highlights how colonial imposition “fossilized” traditional standards of gender discourse and pushed Judeo-Christian standards for gendered behavior. This resulted in the removal of the sacred feminine from Nigerian-Igbo literature. However, this action has been reversed in recent years due to a change in engagement that gives Nigerian-Igbo writers the opportunity to return to the traditional representation of the sacred feminine instead of the colonialist representation. Krishnan explores this change through the works of Nwapa and other African writers.
Moolla, F. Fiona. “Eros and Self-Realization: Zora Neale Hurston’s Janie and Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.” The Langston Hughes Review 26.1 (2020): 29-48.