Feminism and the African Male Writer: The Poetry of Dami Ajayi :Somtochukwu J. Ogbuehi and Ijeoma Uchenna-Okoye

Abstract: Feminism, like other “isms,” has generated controversies since its inception. Amongst the issues surrounding this movement is its place in a largely patriarchal continent like Africa. African Literature of the middle part of the Twentieth Century demonstrated the inequality between the male and female genders. The prominent place given to a man in various African societies and the eerie “insignificant” roles assigned to women ironically buttress the burden placed on the shoulders of women. Aided by the strides made by Feminism, the twenty-first-century African writers have shifted the way they portray female characters. In this instance, the aesthetics that trail the female body is viewed through the lens of a male writer. Using the tenets of Feminist Literary Theory which include resistance of the manacles of patriarchy and embracement of femininity, the poems of Dami Ajayi demonstrate that the power of the female body lies with one who possesses the body and not a system put in place to control and laud over the feminine body and agency. As such, his poems show the stance of feminism and the beauty of the female body unburdened by Patriarchy.

Keywords: Feminism; Femininity; Inequality; Patriarchy; African Literature.