Flora Nwapa

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Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa (born January 13, 1931 in Oguta , then British Nigeria , today the Nigerian state of Imo ; † October 16, 1993 in Enugu , state of Enugu ) was a Nigerian writer known under the name Flora Nwapa , who as the "mother of modern African literature ”applies. Her debut novel Efuru from 1966, published in English , won international recognition as the first literary work by a West African woman . Nwapa declined to consider herself a feminist but referred to the term womanism originally coined by Alice Walker , a concept that reflects conditions of oppression in an Afro-American and African context and includes colonialism . She combined a critical female perspective with the cultural traditions of the Igbo people to which she belonged.

Life

Early years and education

Flora Nwapa was born in Oguta on the lake of the same name in southeastern Nigeria. As the eldest daughter of Christopher Ijeoma, the manager of a British palm oil exporter, and Martha Nwapa, a teacher, she grew up with five siblings in affluent circumstances. She attended schools in Oguta, Port Harcourt and Lagos . She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Ibadan in 1957 . Then they went to Scotland , where she attended the University of Edinburgh her degree in education and graduated with a diploma.

Education and Public Service

After returning to Nigeria, Flora Nwapa began working as an education officer for the Cross River State Department of Education . In 1959 she started teaching English and geography at Queen's School in Enugu . In the years that followed, she worked in education and public service, including in the administration of the University of Lagos (1962–1967).

After the Biafra War (1967-1970) she entered the cabinet of the East Central State (now Anambra and Imo), where she first worked for the Department of Health and Social Welfare (1970-1971) and then the Department for Agriculture and Urban Development (1971–1974) headed. During this time she was involved in the reconstruction of the southeastern parts of Nigeria. Above all, it supported orphans and refugees who had become homeless as a result of the war.

Author and publisher

Flora Nwapa's first book, Efuru , was published in 1966 and is considered the first English-language novel by a West African author. As early as 1962 she had sent the text to the well-known writer Chinua Achebe in Lagos, who had very positive comments about the work and forwarded the manuscript to his publishing house Heinemann in London . Her debut was followed by the novels Idu (1970), Never Again (1975), One Is Enough (1981) and Women Are Different (1986). She also published two volumes of short stories - This Is Lagos (1971) and Wives at War (1980) - and a volume of poetry entitled Cassava Song and Rice Song (1986). She also emerged as an author of children's books .

In the 1970s, Flora founded Nwapa with Tana Press and Flora Nwapa Book Ltd. two book publishers where she published her own poetry for adults and children as well as works by other authors. One of her goals was to “educate women all over the world, and especially feminists [...], about the role of women in Nigeria, about their economic independence, their relationship with husbands and children, their traditional beliefs and their general status in society. ”Tana Press has been described as“ the first publisher founded by an [African] woman with a largely female target audience ”. "The project was way ahead of its time and came into being when nobody could have imagined that African women would constitute a reading audience or a class of buyers."

Late years

Flora Nwapa's commitment as a teacher and facilitator lasted a lifetime and also included teaching at universities. In 1989 she received a visiting professorship in creative writing at Maiduguri University in northern Nigeria. From 1984 to 1985 and again from 1991 to 1993 she lectured at numerous universities in the United States (including Northwestern University , Michigan State University , Sarah Lawrence College , Rutgers University , New York University ). Shortly before her death, she said in an interview: “I've been writing for almost 30 years. I'm interested in women in the countryside and in the big cities, who are trying to survive in a rapidly changing, male-dominated world. "

Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 to a pneumonia .

It was included in the anthology Daughters of Africa , edited in 1992 by Margaret Busby in London and New York.

The writer is the subject of Onyeka Nwelue's documentary The House of Nwapa , which premiered in August 2016.

Work (selection)

Novels

  • Efuru . London: Heinemann, 1966.
  • Idu . London: Heinemann, 1970.
  • Never again . Enugu: Nwamife, 1975.
  • One is enough . Enugu: Tana Press, 1981.
  • Women are different . Enugu: Tana Press, 1986.

Short stories and poems

  • This Is Lagos And Other Stories . Enugu: Nwankwo-Ifejika, 1971.
  • Wives At War And Other Stories . Enugu: Tana Press, 1980.
  • Cassava Song and Rice Song . Enugu: Tana Press, 1986.

Children's books

  • Emeka - Driver's Guard . London: University of London Press, 1972.
  • Mammywater . Enugu: Flora Nwapa Books, 1979.
  • The Adventures of Deke . Enugu: Flora Nwapa Books, 1980.
  • Journey to Space . Enugu: Flora Nwapa Books, 1980.
  • The Miracle Kittens . Enugu: Flora Nwapa Books, 1980.

Publications in German

  • Saltless ash. Short stories from Nigeria . Translated from English by Lotta Suter. Zurich: Stechapfel-Verlag, 1989.
  • Efuru . Translated from English by Helmi Martini-Honus and Jürgen Martini. Göttingen: Lamuv , 1997.

literature

  • James Adeola (Ed.): In Their Own Voices. African Women Writers Talk . Currey, London 1990, ISBN 0-85255-508-3 .
  • Susan Z. Andrade: Rewriting History, Motherhood and Rebellion . In: Research in African Literatures , 21, 1990, pp. 91-110.
  • Theodora Akachi Ezobo: Traditional Women's Institutions in Igbo Society. Implications for the Igbo Female Writer . In: Languages ​​and Cultures , 3, 1990, pp. 149-65.
  • Christiane Fluche: Palaver. Gender and Social Discourse in Nigeria. Contextual reading of selected novels by Igbo authors Buchi Emecheta and Flora Nwapa . Breitinger, Bayreuth 2002, ISBN 3-927510-74-2 (dissertation University of Bayreuth 2000).
  • Anna Githaiga: Notes on Flora Nwapa's "Efuru" . Heinemann Educational Books, Nairobi 1979.
  • Chidi Ikonne: The Society and Woman's Quest for Selfhood in Flora Nwapa's Early Novels . In: Kunapipi , 6, 1984, pp. 68-78.
  • Femi Nzegwu: Love, Motherhood and the African Heritage. The Legacy of Flora Nwapa . African Renaissance, Dakar 2001, ISBN 1-903625-09-2 .
  • Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi: Africa Wo / Man Palava. The Nigerian Novel by Women . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1996, ISBN 0-226-62084-0 .
  • Marie Umeh: Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa. Critical and Theoretical Essays . Africa World Press, Trenton (New Jersey) 1998, ISBN 0-86543-515-4 .
  • Gay Wilentz: Binding Cultures, Black Women Writers in Africa and the Diaspora . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1992, ISBN 0-253-36585-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Margaret Busby (ed.), Flora Nwapa . In: Daughters of Africa. An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present , London 1993, p. 399.
  2. ^ A b c d e Susan Leisure, Nwapa, Flora . , Postcolonial Studies at Emory , Emory University [Atlanta], 1996.
  3. ↑ Born 85 years ago: the writer Flora Nwapa , Frauen-Internationalismus-Archiv, January 13, 2016.
  4. ^ Janice Hamilton, Nigeria in Pictures , Minneapolis 2003, p. 71.
  5. ↑ a b Kathryn EI Gibson, Nwapa, Flora (1931-1993) , Women in World History. A Biographical Encyclopedia . Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  6. ↑ Interesting Things About Flora Nwapa, Nigeria's First Female Novelist , Information Nigeria , March 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ Femi Nzegwu, Flora Nwapa . , The Literary Encyclopedia , October 20, 2001.
  8. ↑ a b Ainehi Edoro, Flora Nwapa and the Letter That Changed Forever Nigerian Literature , Brittle Paper , February 3, 2016th
  9. ↑ Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Chinua Achebe: A Biography , Oxford 1997, p. 93 f.
  10. ↑ Hans M. Zell, Publishing & Book Development in Africa ; Paris 1984, p. 4.
  11. ↑ Interview with Flora Nwapa in The African Book Publishing Record , Vol. VII, No. 1, 1981, p. 6.
  12. ↑ Brenda F. Berrian, In Memoriam: Flora Nwapa (1931-1993) . In: Signs , Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 996-999.
  13. ↑ Cheta Igbokwe, Onyeka Nwelue's House of Nwapa Documentary Film Premiers in Zimbabwe , Statereporters, August 28, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Nwapa, Flora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nwapa, Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru
SHORT DESCRIPTION Nigerian writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Oguta, Nigeria
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1993
Place of death Enugu , Nigeria