A Feminist Perspective on Gender Representation in Nnedi Okorafor's 'Lagoon' (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Literature - Africa, grade: 2,0, University of Bremen, language: English, abstract: Nnedi Okorafor's novel 'Lagoon' is a work of speculative fiction which challenges science fiction stereotypes by placing an alien invasion narrative inside Lagos, Nigeria and mixing mythological creatures and aliens with themes of spirituality, ideology, and political, social and personal dilemmas. Among those, the novel explores terrains of gender inequality and gender identity and displays a feminist attitude towards those issues.

The characters and their actions underline the conflicts which define issues researched in gender studies. That and the themes as well as reader and author-related motives are guidelines to outline the representation of gender in Nnedi Okorafor's 'Lagoon' and attempting to expose a feminist mentality.

Nnedi Okorafor challenges traditional gender roles explicitly and implicitly by offering a wide range of personalities and by placing those personalities in a chaotic and dangerous environment, which places both male and female characters on the same level of imminent danger, with outsiders offering a new perspective on traditional human conceptions. She explores many different aspects of feminist literary theory and offers new ways of perceiving and understanding gender in general, therefore challenging its traditional representation in speculative fiction. So is 'Lagoon' a feminist novel?

Gender representation is a type of research done under the pretext of the philosophical discourse of feminist theory, which, among other practices, investigates the gender roles that define a societal norm. The topics which are subject to investigation when trying to establish gender roles deal with issues under the precept of different feminist disciplines, such as the psychological background of the 'mind / body dichotomy' which is described in Susan Bordo's book 'Unbearable Weight'. It asserts that throughout time the typical gender role of the woman has established itself to be represented by the body, while, for men, it is represented by the mind. This, of course, leads to several issues for women, which are also relevant topics in 'Lagoon'. For example, oppression and sexual objectification are still mentioned frequently as problematic topics calling for feminist action. Okorafor presents several characters in her novel who struggle with those issues.