Womanist Dilemma in Africa: A Study of Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo

To the exclusion of other socio-political and cultural constructs, African female writers have often concentrated on problematizing the trajectories of feminine experience. They have simultaneously foregrounded the pains and the gains of being a female on the continent. They have, however, shown more interest in thematizing the positive, believing, as such, that what obtains in the work of the male writers is negative presentation of the female. The female writers have also contended that Womanism, the continental variety of Feminism, is more suitable for African women because of its recognition of peculiar contextual and racial vectors. These trajectories, anathema in other contexts, with other races, define an experience that is not only unique, but form a significant core of female experience in Africa. This paper examines the female-centred plot of Ama Ata Aidoo’s Changes and concludes that the quandary of the protagonist further externalises the dilemma of Womanism in Africa; to imbibe the individualistic and confrontational values of Feminism or remain true to the tradition of Womanism which celebrates femininity as a complementation to masculinity and venerates motherhood as a unique female facility.