African women writing resistance : an anthology of contemporary voices / edited by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, Pauline Dongala, Omotayo Jolaosho, [...] et al.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-325) and index.

Foreword : a song in seven stanzas for our granddaughters / Abena P. A. Busia (Ghana) -- African women writing resistance : an introduction / Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, with Pauline Dongala, Omotayo Jolaosho, Anne Serafin -- Pt. 1 Engaging with tradition : The day when God changed his mind / Eve Zvichanzi Nyemba (Zimbabwe) -- The old woman / J. Tsitsi Mutiti (Zimbabwe) -- Interview with Kaya a Mbaya (Congo), a Babongo woman / Pierre Piya-Bouanga (Congo-Brazzaville) -- Interview with Elisabeth Bouanga (Congo-Brazzaville) : remembrance of things past / Pauline Dongala (Congo-Brazzaville) -- Pt. 2 Speaking out : young women on sexuality : Woman weep no more / Sibongile Mtungwa (South Africa) -- Letters to my cousin / Catherine Makoni (Zimbabwe) -- Story of faith / Mamle Kabu (Ghana) -- Lovesung for a father, with poet's note / Zindzi Bedu (Nigeria) -- It's not rape if... / Ann Kithaka (Kenya) -- To be or not to be a lesbian : the dilemma of Cameroon's women soccer players / Sybille Ngo Nyeck (Cameroon) -- My name is Kasha / Kasha N. Jacqueline (Uganda) -- Cosmo Africa and other poems / Cheshe Dow (Botswana) -- Pt. 3 Challenging the institution of marriage : Child / Ann Kithaka (Kenya) -- Hailstones on Zamfara / Sefi Atta (Nigeria) -- The good woman / Patricia Chogugudza (Zimbabwe) -- Ngomwa / Ellen Mulenga Banda-Aaku (Zambia) -- They came in the morning / Iheoma Obibi (Nigeria) -- The battle of the words : oratory as women's tool of resistance to the challenges of polygamy in contemporary Wolof society / Marame Gueye (Senegal) -- Pt. 4 Focusing on survival : women's health issues : Tell me why : two poems / Ann Kithaka (Kenya) -- Surviving me / Janine Lewis (South Africa) -- The struggle to end the practice of female genital mutilation / Nawal el Saadawi (Egypt) -- Slow poison / Makuchi (Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi) (Cameroon) -- Just keep talking : two poems / Cheshe Dow (Botswana) -- Tell me a lie / Ann Kithaka (Kenya) -- Prayers and meditation heal despair / Pauline Dongala (Congo-Brazzaville) -- Pt. 5 Taking a stand : women as activists against war, environmental degradation, and social conflict : A poem written in the ink of the blood shed in Rwanda, with poet's note / Nathalie Etoké (Cameroon) -- Excerpt from Biography of ash / Khadija Marouazi (Morocco) -- Women's responses to state violence in the Niger Delta / Sokari Ekine (Nigeria) -- Excerpt from Child soldier : fighting for my life / China Keitetsi (Uganda) -- Don't get mad, get elected! A conversation with activist Wangari Maathai (Kenya) / Danielle Nierenberg, Mia MacDonald -- Pt. 6 Writing from a different place : perspectives on exile and diaspora : Musings of an African woman : excerpts from a memoir in progress / Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe (Ghana) -- A Moroccan woman in the Glocal village : reflections on Islam, identity, and cultural legacies / Touria Khannous (Morocco) -- Knowing your place / Diana Adesola Mafe (Nigeria) -- Letter to Clara / Susan Akono (Cameroon) -- Pt. 7 Standing at the edge of time : African women's visions of the past, present, and future : "We are our grandmothers' dreams" : African women envision the future / Pauline Dongala (Congo-Brazzaville), Marame Gueye (Senegal), Omotayo Jolaosho (Nigeria), Nimu Njoya (Kenya), Abena P. A. Busia (Ghana) -- Liberation / Abena P. A. Busia (Ghana).

This work "is the first transnational anthology that focuses on women's strategies of resistance to the challenges they face in Africa today. The anthology brings together personal narratives, testimony, interviews, short stories, poetry, performance scripts, folktales, and lyrics. Thematically organized, it presents women's writing on such issues as intertribal and interethnic conflicts, the degradation of the environment, polygamy, domestic abuse, the controversial traditional practice of female genital cutting, Sharia law, intergenerational tensions, and emigration and exile. Contributors include internationally recognized authors and activists such as Wangari Maathai and Nawal El Saadawi, as well as a host of new voices from all over the African continent and from the African diaspora. Interdisciplinary in scope, this collection provides an introduction to contemporary African women's literature and highlights social issues that are particular to Africa but are also of worldwide concern."--P. 4 of cover.