MOTHERHOOD DEFIANCE: SPECULATING THE FUTURE FROM THE PRESENT IN BUCHI EMECHETA 'S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN AND NNEDI OKOROAFOR ‘S THE BOOK OF PHOENIX

Abstract

Motherhood defiance is a woman's determination to be self-reliance and her refusal to be controlled by the patriarchal society she lives in. It is when a woman rejects gender stereotype and challenges patriarchy and stands her ground for socio-economic and political improvement. In African literature, motherhood can be described as strength characterized in femininity. Motherhood defiance conceptualizes a woman unique mothering experience while maintaining her autonomy and identity. Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen has been critiqued from a standpoint of female autonomy, identity formation and resistance against women oppression and colonial legacies, while studies on Okoroafor's The Book of Phoenix focused on her speculative fiction as a critique to gendered violence and social inequality. From motherism, a decolonial feminist approach, this paper aims to portray motherhood as a form of defiance and empowerment in traditional and speculative African fiction. However, our interpretation of motherhood from the old and the recent texts, is a speculation of the future from the existing feminist canons.