When my Department asked me to teach, next spring, a seminar on West African Literature, I thought about various options. I have taught the works of a number of West African writers, such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Sembene Ousmane, Mariama Ba, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ben Okri and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have even, several times, taught an advanced course on Soyinka.
This time, however, I thought of doing something different, something I have not done before: a seminar on Ama Ata Aidoo, a writer who has been producing work from the mid sixties, in drama and fiction, and has continued to create.
Nobody would be surprised if someone offered a seminar, on, say, Ayi Kwei Armah, Achebe, or Kofi Awoonor. But a seminar on woman writer seemed out of the ordinary. Yet, there are such writers, including Flora Nwapa and Buchi Emecheta. I therefore thought Ama Ata Aidoo would be an appropriate choice and a great learning experience for me and for the students.
In the late sixties, as a secondary school student in Tanzania, I enjoyed the short stories of Ama Ata Aidoo. I still remember, for example, the story-telling skills she displays in her "In the Cutting of a Drink." Even as a young reader, I found this story fabulous.
I have taught several of Aidoo's works, especially The Dilemma of a Ghost, which I find profound in its exploration of the differences and tensions between Africans and African Americans. I have also taught her other play, Anowa and her novel Our Sister Killjoy.
I look forward to trying to place Ama Ata Aidoo in the context of the last several decades of African writing in English, and in the context of African women's writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment