Sunday, 13 January 2019

88th birthday of Flora Nwapa

(Born 13 January 1931, Ugwuta, Biafra)
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

OKEE NWANYI MMADU, first African (continental) woman published novelist – Efuru, 1966, and, soon after, Idu, which she begins to work on at the onset of the Igbo genocide (mid-1966) and later publishes in 1970.

Nwapa’s landmark works as well as those of sociologist Kamene Okonjo’s project the legacy of the historic complementarity of Igbo gender relations, not the fractious/antagonistic/conflictive relations which define/defined the experiences and inheritance in some other histories, some other geographies… Thus, Nwapa and Okonjo’s foundational works open up the expanse of possibilities in Igbo Women/African peoples-centred studies in which the scholarship, artistry and writings of subsequent generations of intellectuals, working worldwide, have flourished immensely.

(Jaki Byard Trio, “Trendsition zildjian” [personnel: Byard, piano; David Izenzon, bass; Elvin Jones, drums; recorded: Prestige, New York, US, 31 October 1967])


*****Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is the author, with Lakeson Okwuonichaof Why Donald Trump is great for Africa (2018)

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe



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