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The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies pp 1–17Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Women and North African Literatures

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Abstract

North Africa is a part of Africa which has been somewhat neglected in scholarship on African literary and cultural production. This is as a result of this region’s own conflicted relationship with its “Africanness.” This chapter focuses on female Maghrebian writers and how they use literature to dissect and discuss gender and gender relations in this region of North Africa. By exploring the contributions made by different female writers, this chapter attempts to show how literature has made it possible to rethink the roles and status of women. In its analysis of the sociocultural framing of gender and gender relations in North Africa, this chapter focuses principally on the deployment of sexuality by women to challenge patriarchy. Such focusing on sexuality does not in any way elide the vast contributions made by women in the fields of politics and economics in this region of Africa. The chapter also examines the manner in which literary narratives have inevitably allowed for a thinking of the public space and how women are represented or represent themselves within this space which was previously the preserve of men. Through an analysis of texts by writers such as Assia Djebar, Yamina Mechakra, and Nina Bouraoui, this chapter argues that more than just examining the objectification and commodification of women in North African literature, it is also worthwhile to consider the agency that women also possess.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Gibson Ncube

  2. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Gibson Ncube

Authors
  1. Gibson Ncube
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Correspondence to Gibson Ncube .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Babcock University , Ilishan Remo, Nigeria

    Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Toyin Falola

Section Editor information

  1. Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC), Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Sharon Adetutu Omotoso

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© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Ncube, G. (2019). Women and North African Literatures. In: Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_43-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_43-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77030-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77030-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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