الفهرس 
Chapter One: Introduction: African Womanhood and the Unity of Thought andOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 170 |  |  |
| | | from | 170 | | |
Abstract
As the title shows, ‘the community spirit’, ‘An Africana womanist reading’, and
‘Naylor and Emecheta’s selected novels’ can be regarded as keywords of the primary
focus of the thesis. This thesis set out to examine the communal sense and its importance
in Africana communities in selected novels by Naylor and Emecheta, in light of Hudson-
Weems’ Africana womanism. According to Hudson-Weems, the community spirit is an
African-centered value that empowers the relations amongst Africana men and women.
Hudson-Weems is aware of the fact that Africana men as well as Africana women are
victims of feminism which identifies patriarchy as an enemy. The Africana womanist
paradigm credits such gender-based theories with causing the dichotomies that exist in
the Africana community. Rather than blame Africana men for subjugating Africana
women, Hudson-Weems asserts the possibility of alliance and mutual understanding. In
doing so, she directs a message to both Africana women and men against the dangers of
outside ideas of individuality and personal achievements, slavery and stereotyping,
brought to them from the west and through colonialism. Naylor and Emecheta’s novels
show how western thought distorts the Africana womanist’s relation to Africana men
who become neocolonialists in their Africana communities on the one hand and to the
community on the other hand.
The method intended for this study is analytical, examining selected novels by
Naylor and Emecheta in light of the Africana womanism theory, with a particular focus
on three characteristics detailed by Hudson-Weems. These characteristics are selfdefinition,
spirituality, and respect for elders. The first two characteristics are particularly
manifested amongst a group of people. According to African culture, self-definition is
achieved through the black community. These characteristics and the analysis of the
novels show how the two novelists represent a strong sense of community life in their
work. Emecheta and Naylor’s novels, The Joys of motherhood and kehinde and Mama
Day and The Women of Brewster Place, respectively, were an important method for
tracing the community spirit among Africana communities. A review of the studies
conducted on Naylor and Emecheta so far emphasize that their fiction has been tackled
from different perspectives. However, the issue of the communal aspect from an Africana
womanist perspective has been neglected. Naylor and Emecheta’s characters, symbols,
settings, and technical devices have been helpful in clarifying the theoretical framework
of Africana womanism, namely the definitions and the key concepts of the three selected
characteristics of the Africana woman, self-definition, African spirituality and respecting
elders. In their selected novels, there is a presentation of the character and its counterpart.
These characters represent and embody the ideals of the African world as well as the
western one. As for symbols, the use of the quilt, the use of Mammy Wata, the use of the
image of the ebony phoenix, and the use of the twins’ image in Mama Day, The Joys of
Motherhood, The Women of Brewster place and Kehinde respectively have been helpful
in highlighting the various manifestations of the Africana cultural identity.