AMA ATA AIDOO
Ama Ata Aidoo at Africa Writes 2014 by RAS News & Events, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), via flickr.
Also known as: Christina Ama Aidoo
Nationality: Ghanaian
Dates: 1942-
Literary Periods:
- Postwar Period, 1945-1999
- Twentieth Century, 1900-1999
- Twenty-First Century, 2000-
Literary Movements:
- Feminist Writers, 1900-
- Postcolonialism, 20th Century
"I believe that although the human imagination is boundless, it can only ride on the realities of our individual lives.
We dream out of who we are and something of our tangible lives is bound to be part of our writing..."
An interview with Ama Ata Aidoo
Massachusetts Review 36.1 (1995).
In this interview, originally conducted on January 29, 1992, Aidoo discusses her feminist perspective, African nationalism, and the portrayal of African immigrants in her work.
BOOKS CONTAINING INTERVIEWS
In Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk (1990) by Call Number: Miller Library PR9340.5 .I5 1990ISBN: 0852555083
Writing Across Worlds: Contemporary Writers Talk by Call Number: Bates PN452 .W75 2004Publication Date: 2004
COMING SOON
Power Women Ghana Mathias Hagstrøm, (CC BY 2.0), via flickr
REFERENCE & BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Scribner Writers Series [Database]
Essay on the life and works of Ama Ata Aidoo, complete works and suggested reading bibliographies
| You'll also want to check out... |
Postcolonial African Writers (2012) by Call Number: E-BookISBN: 9780203058558See Chapter 2 on Ama Ata Aidoo
African Writers (1996) by
The Scribner Writers Series has set the standard for literary reference for more than 25 years. In addition to addressing the lives and careers of important writers, the articles discuss the themes and styles of major works and place them in pertinent historical, social and political contexts for today's readers. Novelists, playwrights, essayists, poets, short story writers, and more recently, genre writers in science fiction and mystery, are all expertly discussed in the more than 16 sets comprising this series. Two volumes of original essays present 65 African writers from 17 countries writing in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic and indigenous languages. Subjects span the late 19th century to the present. Included are Najib Mahfuz, Andre Brink, Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Alan Paton and many more.
Call Number: Colby REF PL8010 .A453 1997 v.1 - v. 2ISBN: 0684196514
The Companion to African Literatures (2000) by
"Refreshing..." -- African Sudies Review "The entries are knowledgeable, thorough, and clearly written.... Highly recommended... " --Choice "...an ambitious reference guide to works on African literature." - African Studies Review "This comprehensive compendium will be a handy companion for anyone working on African literatures. The entries are authoritative and up-to-date, providing reliable information on the hundreds of authors and texts that have contributed to a whole continent's literary flowering." --Bernth Lindfors A comprehensive introduction and guide to African-authored works, with over 1,000 cross-referenced entries covering classics in African writing, literary genres and movements, biographical details of authors, and wider themes linking African, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American literatures.
Call Number: Miller PR9340 .C65 2000ISBN: 0253336333
RESEARCH & CRITICISM
Books, essays, and journal articles indexed in MLA International Bibliography 
[Database]
MLA International Bibliography is the definitive literary research database, indexing the most authoritative Aidoo scholarship published in books and academic journals. MLA indexes and links to the entire JSTOR literary research collection as well as linking to many other full-text providers and the Colby College Libraries catalog. If you discover books or articles through MLA that are not available at Colby or through our lending partners, please request these items using your ILLiad Account.
You'll also want to check out...
- "Rethinking the Specter: Ama Ata Aidoo's Anowa" [JOURNAL ARTICLE]Karavanta, Assimina. "Rethinking the Specter: Ama Ata Aidoo's Anowa." Mosaic 34.4 (2001): 107-22. Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
- "The Discourse of Sweetness in Ama Ata Aidoo's No Sweetness Here." [JOURNAL ARTICLE]MacKenzie, Clayton G. "The Discourse of Sweetness in Ama Ata Aidoo's No Sweetness Here." Studies in Short Fiction 32.2 (1995): 161-70. Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
- “The Politics of Exile: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy” [JOURNAL ARTICLE]Wilentz, Gay. “The Politics of Exile: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy.” Studies in Twentieth Century Literature 15.1 (1991): 159-74. Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Web. 17 Oct. 2011.
Using the Master's Tools (2000) by
Through close readings of works by writers like C. L. R. James, Salman Rushdie, Ama Ata Aidoo, Michelle Cliff, and Hanif Kureishi,Using the Master’s Tools examines instances of textual resistance elaborated within imperial/metropolitan epistemologies and ideologies. In her analysis, Anuradha Needham focuses especially on each writer’s historical location, personal and political affiliations, presumed audiences, and position on gender as integral contextual determinants of the strategies of textual resistance each deploys. Drawing on the extensive scholarship on “subaltern” and anti-colonial resistances in a number of disciplines, this book demonstrates the mutual interactions of (general) theory with (specific) practice such that each is enriched, extended, and refurbished.
Call Number: Miller PR120.M55 N44 2000ISBN: 0312225423
Emerging Perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo (1997) by
Includes interviews, essays and three sections of critical writings on her work. Contributions cover virtually all literary genres and critical forms in which the author has worked, establishing conclusively her versatility as a serious writer of world renown.
Call Number: Bates PR9379.9.A35 Z65 1999ISBN: 0865435812
The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo (1994) by
Written by a fellow Ghanaian, this book examines the strengths of Aidoo's work and the evolution of her concerns as an artist and an activist from a perspective the author terms "polylectic" criticism--a "reading against neocolonialism." While challenging Western reading habits, Odamtten's approach corrects earlier misreadings of Aidoo's works by fusing the strands of gender, history, ideology, and literary convention.
Call Number: Miller PR9379.9.A35 Z8 1994ISBN: 0813012767
PRIMARY SOURCES: TEXTS
Changes (1993) by
Changes explores the complex world in which the lives of professional working women have changed sharply, but the cultural assumptions of men's lives have not. Witty and compelling, Aidoo's novel, according to Manthia Diawara, "inaugurates a new realist style in African literature." "Aidoo writes with intense power in a novel that, in examining the role of women in modern African society, also sheds light on women's problems around the globe."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) Suggested for course use in: African literature African studies Family Studies Ama Ata Aidoo, one of Ghana's most distinguished writers, is the author of two other works of fiction, Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here (The Feminist Press), as well as plays, poems, and children's books. Tuzyline Jita Allan is associate professor of English at Baruch College, CUNY.
Call Number: Miller PR9379.9.A35 C48 1993ISBN: 1558610642
Dilemma a Ghost and Anowa Longman African Writers Series (1995) by
Dilemma of a Ghost When Ato returns to Ghana from his studies in North America he brings with him a sophisticated black American wife. But their hopes of a happy marriage and of combining 'the sweetness and loveliest things in Africa and America' are soon shown to have been built on an unstable foundation.
Call Number: Miller PR9379.9.A35 A6 1987ISBN: 0582002443
The Girl Who Can (2003) by
In this collection of short stories, Aidoo elevates the mundane in womens lives to an intellectual level in an attempt at challenging patriarchal structures and dominance in African society.
Call Number: Miller PR9379.9.A35 G57 2002ISBN: 0435910132
No sweetness here by Call Number: Miller PR6051.I33 N6
