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The Poetics of Economic Independence for Female Empowerment: An Interview With Flora Nwapa

1995; Indiana University Press; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1527-2044

Marie Umeh,

Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

Flora Nwapa-Nwakuche, popularly known as Flora Nwapa, Africa's internationally recognized female novelist and publisher, died of pneumonia on 16 October 1993, at the age of 62 in Enugu, Nigeria. She was buried at Amede's Court in Ugwuta. In what was to be my last conversation with Flora Nwapa-Nwakuche in December 1992, in Scarsdale, New York, when she was on tour in the United States, the renowned author spoke not only of the glory she received as the African woman to be published internationally, but also unashamedly of her position as a writer globally, coming from a formerly colonized state. Very much in tune with her Ugwuta heritage, Nwapa applauded the androgynous nature of her society. Conversely, she decried the multiple marginality she experienced with her Western publisher who regarded her as a minor writer. Regarded as a Third World writer, her London publisher did not bother to print and distribute her books locally and internationally when they were in demand as they would have if she came from a so-called first world country. According to Nwapa, Heinemann's placing her in the literary backwaters resulted in the piracy of her books in Africa and the death of her voice globally. And as Ama Ata Aidoo once said, when the canonical establishment refuses to promote, print, distribute, read, and critique your books, they kill you creatively (38). Recognizing her status as other, Nwapa took it upon herself to distribute her books herself and established Tana Press Limited in 1977 for this purpose. It is my contention that Nwapa's resistance to the canonical politics of her erasure is behind her distancing herself from the term feminist to describe her ideological position in global letters. Certainly, Nwapa x-rayed and analyzed her own realities and concluded that sexism is a secondary problem that arises out of race, class, and the exploitation of people of color. Hence, she preferred to identify with Alice Walker's term womanist, which reflected the African reality of effacement based on racial difference. The Eurocentric popular view of the position of African women is one of subordination to husbands, and the repression of talents outside the domestic realm. Despite the asymmetrical nature of some African societies, gifted African women in pre-colonial times were not deterred from playing significant roles exercised by female leaders, such as Moremi, Queen Amina of Zaria, and Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Similarly, Flora Nwapa contends that if she is considered the doyenne of African female writers, the glory goes to the oral historians and griottes who mesmerized her with stories about the mystical powers of Ogbuide, the mother of the lake, her family members of industrious women and men who served as role models, as well as her penchant for service and the pursuit of excellence. Accordingly,