Female Imagination: Biographical Survey of East African Women Artists

This book is a product from a research project of the Organization for Social Science Research in East and Southern Africa (OSSREA). The research project set out to look at who the women artists of East Africa region are, what they create or write about, and how they communicate their ideas creatively. Literature as a discipline reflects what happens in reality. Literature can also be prophetic. This project addressed itself to women literary artists in this sub-region who are studied at University level. We articulate views on thirteen (13) women authors of literary works and a total of fourteen (14) women performers from the three countries. In a number of areas these women form an autonomous creative group. However, in terms of stylistic devices, most of them employ very related aspects. Thematically, the women address a variety of issues. They are therefore not highly influenced by the gender roles dictated to them by society. This disproves what has often been argued by feminist critics of literature. Thus, we can conclusively argue that East African women‘s writing is not necessarily gynocentric.