A Literary and Discourse Study of Womanism and Women Literature

Abstract

This study examines Womanism and Women Literature from literary and discourse perspectives. The study is therefore immersed in Women Studies. In women literature, women literary writers’ views, identities and cultural backgrounds are brought to the fore. In this regard, women-related themes such as gender discrimination communalism, complementarity, etc, are engaged. When language is used, certain actions are performed. The literature views the term ‘discourse’ as ‘language in use’. By attempting an overview of Womanism and Women Literature, the ideologies that underpin theme and language use are studied. Female writers write on familiar themes including issues they have experienced personally. Women literary texts do not exist in a vacuum. They are products of the writers’ existential experiences. The theoretical frameworks of this study are Gynocriticism and Gender Mainstreaming. The study concludes that Womanism is about Women Literature which is deeply rooted in womanist literary tradition in which case the different coatings of the discrimination, oppression and repression that women and females suffer in patriarchal African societies are brought to the fore and condemned with ideological underpinnings that project women identity.