Supernatural bodies : the intersection of Nigerian feminism and body autonomy.

Abstract

Many Nigerian women are depicted in literature as possessing little to no personal agency. Due to socio political issues, these women are often relegated to the margins of discourse surrounding Nigerian literature. Because of the chasm left within this arena, it becomes apparent that a critical investigation should be complied on the ways in which Nigerian feminism is employed within literature of the Global South. Specifically, with the recent surge in young, female, Nigerian authors being published, there has been an increase in the usage of the supernatural as a key element to provide women a semblance of agency. These young writers use various supernatural elements to open the discourse on Nigerian bodies, and how previous scholarship has failed to adequately capture underpinnings that are crucial to Nigerian feminism. The female protagonists in Ayobami Adebayo's Stay with Me, Helen Oyeyemi's White is for Witching, and Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater each find agency via supernatural elements. Applying the theoretical framework of Oye?Çro?ünke?ü Oye?Çwu?Çmi?ü, specifically regarding gender roles in Nigeria, it becomes clear that each of these protagonists adheres to but also rejects Nigerian gender roles. Through this subversion of Western patriarchal notions of gender and feminism, the three authors studied provide a new type of Nigerian feminism, one that accounts for all feminine bodies, binary or non. By looking at how each author uses supernatural elements in tandem with bodies, it becomes clear that a discourse on the body cannot be parsed from its attachment to agency.