Revisiting the womanist-feminist continuum in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come

Abstract

This paper examines the tensions and intersections between feminism and womanism primarily through a consideration of Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi’s theorization of one version of womanism that she bases on a selection of three female-authored Nigerian novels. The essay also includes more recent engagements with feminisms, including those put forward by The Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists. Specifically, the paper explores three core elements of Ogunyemi’s theorization of Nigerian womanism — collectivism, compromise, and non-confrontational approaches to women’s resistance — in relation to the representation of Nigerian womanhood in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come. The paper’s central argument is that while Atta’s novel suggests that Ogunyemi’s recourse to womanism remains a useful way of theorizing [the] Nigerian novel by women,” more importantly, Everything Good Will Come shows that the gap between feminism and womanism might not be as wide as some critics have suggested. The paper concludes that despite disagreements over nomenclature and emphases, Everything Good Will Come instantiates the continuum on which feminism and womanism exist.