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Social Changes and the Evolution of the Modern Igbo Woman in Chika Unigwe’s Novel, Night Dancer. A Feminist Perspective

Balkisu Abubakar Kigo (Mrs.)

Abstract

African women writers have in the past couple of years explored the changing roles of the woman, in the depiction of their female characters. The female character is now portrayed as emancipated independent and an active member of the society. She is also described as intelligent and strong in checking the excesses of patriarchy, and in promoting her welfare. The woman is also portrayed as mature in her relationships, particularly with her male counterpart, which is significant in the proliferation of economic stability. Apart from the changing status of the woman, their novels seek to explore the impact of social, economic and political changes on African women’s lives. And as well to examine ways in which women can resist oppression and create identities for themselves. The Nigerian female writers are contributing immensely to this development. This is fuelled by the desire to tell their own stories. In every society in Nigeria, the female writers strive to tell their stories according to the experiences of the women in their societies. They have come to the realisation that they need to tell their own stories as they respond to the tremendous changes in the society. Chika Unigwe is no exception in this regard. She has attempted to portray the changing role of the modern Igbo Woman in her novel, Night Dancer. This study seeks to explore Chika Unigwe’s Night Dancer through a feminist perspective.

Keywords

Social ChangeModern Igbo WomanNight DancerFeminist Perspective

References

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