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Women And War In Contemporary Love Stories From Uganda And Nigeria

This essay puts contemporary women's short fiction from Uganda and Nigeria in conversation through the analysis of literary representations of love in the context of war. Proposed here is a mode of reading the love story by reflecting more generally upon narrative's relation to political turmoil, violence, and conquest. Addressing the underlying theme of love as a cre ative stimulus for self-expression, it explores the potential of women's love stories from Uganda and Nigeria to resist, and sometimes resolve, conflict. Though Nigeria and Uganda share similarities with regards to their social, cultural, and economic conditions, as well as their colonial histories, the extent of their literary output differs considerably. In comparison to Uganda where there has been a revival of literature only relatively recently, Nigerian writing has already altered the collective social body and even the land itself has been transformed under its influence. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Ugandan writers looked at in this essay write about issues concerning daughters confronting the challenges of a modern world. Theirs is an inter nalized narrative, one that acknowledges that social and political change begins from within the self and the ability to raise one's voice above that of the mainstream. Their Nigerian counterparts, by comparison, write from the point of view of the mother who struggles to keep together and shepherd her dependents in moments of disunity and national crises. When considered together, Nigerian and Ugandan texts occasion a rare possibility to discuss the shifts in African women's writing in times of Civil War and regional conflict. The concerns shared by women writers from both countries point to the benefits gained from transnational dialogue, especially within equato rial Africa. However sober the writing from Uganda seems by comparison