Examining the dynamic evolution of African feminisms: María Nsué Angüe and Guillermina Mekuy Mba-Obono in perspective

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of postcolonial African feminism and dialogism (Bakhtin), the current study compares María Nsué Angüe’s Ekomo (1985), and Guillermina Mekuy Mba-Obono’s Tres almas para un corazón (2011) [Three Souls for One Heart]. By engaging with these first- and third-generation African women writers, I show how African women writers have adjusted the forms of feminism they embrace over time, and contribute to African studies broadly, including the less-familiar African Hispanophone literary tradition. While the study centers primarily on the aforementioned works, two Anglophone novels, namely Flora Nwapa’s Efuru (1966) and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010) will be used as points of comparison. The analysis confirms that contemporary African feminist writers have moved from focusing on (post)colonial discourse to a redefinition of womanhood that involves both the quest for self-fulfillment and transnational issues.