Feminism and Pan Africanism

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66 | Feminist Africa 20 the migrants are critical of intellectual engagements about the continent, but that these conversations about Africa are happening in Europe (or the United States) and not Africa. The narrator points this out when she muses, If anyone had thought there was anything odd about such an event taking place somewhere in Europe instead of somewhere in Africa, they didn’t say so any time before, during or after the retreat. In any case, if they had, they would have exposed their own ignorance. For over centuries, all sorts of meetings, conferences and other caucuses crucial to Africa and her people had been organised outside that continent and most especially in Europe (2012: 85). The narrator rightly criticises the tradition in which intellectual and political engagement that concern the African continent are undertaken in Europe. Indeed since the Berlin Conference of 1884, some of the most crucial of Africa’s economic and political policies have been enacted in Euro-American localities, often without the contribution of Africans living and working on the continent. These intellectual engagements about the continent that take place in Europe are paralleled with Affiye’s negotiation of her migration and mobility, ending with her return to Ghana to assist and support her family. At the same time, due to the dispersal of Africans across the world, it remains important that these discussions are taking place in various localities. Aidoo’s conception of pan-Africanism as female-centred leads her to question the homogenous understandings of the term. This variability is reiterated across her literary work through women like Eulalie Yawson in The Dilemma of a Ghost, to Anowa’s dream which connects her body to Ghana’s history of slavery; to Sissie’s commentary on her journey to Europe and her friendship with Marija; and more recently in the plethora of female characters in Diplomatic Pounds who transgress boundaries of space and time and social constrictions. Some have described Aidoo as “the mouth of those women who have no mouth to speak for themselves” and as “the spokesperson for Africa” (Azodo, 1999: 401). Though such broadly applicable acclamations tend to overlook the specificity of Aidoo’s work, I believe that the many lessons that Aidoo’s work imparts make her a voice for a feminist pan-Africanism.
Feature article | 67 Endnotes 1. The Bond of 1844 and its legal significance in Ghana’s history has been contested by J.B. Danquah in “The Historical Significance of the Bond of 1844”. Danquah argues that the considering the Bond of 1844 as a kind of “magna carta” is false because the wording of the document does not grant the British Crown political control over the communities described in the bond as “adjacent” to Cape Coast Castle. References Adams, A. 1993. “Claiming Her Authority From Life: Twenty Years of African Women’s Literary Criticism. In: Dieter-Riemenschneider and Frank Schulze-Engler, F. eds. 1993. African Literatures in the Eighties. Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V., pp. 165-172. Adams, A. V. 2012. (ed) Essays in honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies. Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK: Ayebia. Aidoo, A. A. 1971. No sweetness here. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. Aidoo, A. A. 1993. Changes. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. Aidoo, A. A. 1994. Our Sister Killjoy. London: Longman. Aidoo, A. A. 1995. The dilemma of a ghost. Harlow: Longman Aidoo, A. A. 1998. “The African Woman Today”, in: Nnaemeka, O. ed. 1998. Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power. Trenton: Africa World Press. Aidoo, Ama Ata. Anowa. Ed. Martin Owusu and Benjamin Okyere Asante. Harlow England: Pearson Education, 1965(2003). Print. Aidoo, A.A. 2012. Diplomatic Pounds. Oxford, UK: Ayebia. Aidoo, Ama Ata. 2000. “She Who Would Be King” in Anyidoho, K., & Gibbs, James. Eds. 2000..FonTomFrom : Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film. (Matatu; no. 21- 22). Atlanta: Rodopi. Anyidoho, K. 2012. “Literary Visions of a 21st Century Africa: A Note on the Pan African Ideal in Ghanaian Literature”, in Adams, A. ed. 2012. Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70. Banbury: Ayebia Clark. Azodo, A. U. and Wilentz, G. A. 1999. Emerging Perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Boyce Davies, C. 1994. Black Women, Writing, and Identity. London: Routledge. Certeau, M. D. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Gourdine, Angeleta KM. “Slavery in the Diaspora Consciousness: Ama Ata Aidoo’s Conversations.” In Azodo, A. and Gay Wilentz eds. 1999. Emerging Perspectives On Ama Ata Aidoo. Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press, 1999. 27-41. Print.
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Issue 20 | 2015 Feminism and Pan Af
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ii | Feminist Africa 20 Editorial p
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Feminist Africa 20 | v Contents Edi
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Editorial | 1 Editorial: Feminism a
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challenges still remain. Pan-Africa
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Editorial | 5 state structures to c
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Feature article | 7 and autonomy of
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Feature article | 9 and yield meagr
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Feature article | 11 structured, an
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Feature article | 13 raises the que
Page 23 and 24: Feature article | 15 2006: 4). The
Page 25 and 26: Feature article | 17 and explaining
Page 27 and 28: Feature article | 19 operating outs
Page 29 and 30: Feature article | 21 In other words
Page 31 and 32: Feature article | 23 Chatterjee, Ip
Page 33 and 34: Feature article | 25 Prasad, Monica
Page 35 and 36: Feature article | 27 the question t
Page 37 and 38: Feature article | 29 health centres
Page 39 and 40: Feature article | 31 People’s Rig
Page 41 and 42: Feature article | 33 Accordingly, t
Page 43 and 44: Feature article | 35 proceed. He ha
Page 45 and 46: Feature article | 37 The Nexus betw
Page 47 and 48: Feature article | 39 Without a more
Page 49 and 50: Feature article | 41 Ahikire, Josep
Page 51 and 52: Feature article | 43 Creating Women
Page 53 and 54: Feature article | 45 1889, 1960, 21
Page 55 and 56: Feature article | 47 negotiations.
Page 57 and 58: Feature article | 49 they could sha
Page 59 and 60: Feature article | 51 This created a
Page 61 and 62: Feature article | 53 upon to partic
Page 63 and 64: Feature article | 55 gender, peace
Page 65 and 66: Feature article | 57 Ama Ata Aidoo
Page 67 and 68: Feature article | 59 collections of
Page 69 and 70: Feature article | 61 Carole Boyce D
Page 71 and 72: Feature article | 63 something” (
Page 73: Feature article | 65 Her mother hai
Page 77 and 78: Feature article | 69 Archives and C
Page 79 and 80: Feature article | 71 conceptions of
Page 81 and 82: Feature article | 73 As individuals
Page 83 and 84: Feature article | 75 3. We concur w
Page 85 and 86: Standpoint | 77 When Exploitation i
Page 87 and 88: appointed Minister of Foreign Affai
Page 89 and 90: Standpoint | 81 Malawians have had
Page 91 and 92: In Conversation | 83 In Conversatio
Page 93 and 94: In Conversation | 85 Marziya Mohamm
Page 95 and 96: In Conversation | 87 We follow Audr
Page 97 and 98: In Conversation | 89 The sister to
Page 99 and 100: In Conversation | 91 are planned. S
Page 101 and 102: In Conversation | 93 Five Stories I
Page 103 and 104: In Conversation | 95 shower. Yes, I
Page 105 and 106: In Conversation | 97 Dayo: My curre
Page 107 and 108: In Conversation | 99 bell hooks, Be
Page 109 and 110: Review | 101 Feminism, Empowerment
Page 111 and 112: engaged in gender mainstreaming is
Page 113 and 114: Review | 105 Migrant Women of Johan
Page 115 and 116: elow.” This is a bold move that c
Page 117 and 118: Review | 109 In Idi Amin’s Shadow
Page 119 and 120: so by brilliantly employing central
Page 121 and 122: ut military service available to me
Page 123 and 124: Review | 115 without graves.” The
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our thoughts, and our knowledge pro
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women freedom fighters alongside th
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which white supremacy founds itself
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Review | 123 The Art of Ama Ata Aid
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as much in the slave castles that l
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Review | 127 Legacies and Losses: A
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Schwarz’s detailed account of Cab
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of a new humanity as Fanon-Mendès
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Contributors 18 | 133 Contributors
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Contributors 18 | 135 Juliet Kamwen
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Contributors 18 | 137 & Artistic Ex
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Feminism and Pan Africanism

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