The Odyssey of the Nigerian Woman

"This book has an ambitious agenda—excavating Nigerian women’s history in a comprehensive, inclusive, coherent, and cohesive manner, in 39 essays, organized into 10 themes. What constitutes “Herstory”? How should it be constituted and presented? What should be included? What can be excluded? These are some of the responsibilities undertaken by the editors. In addition, Nigeria is a country that could confidently be categorized as exhibiting superdiversity — many of its ethnic groups are large and complex enough to be considered nationalities. Are they all gendered the same way? The reader must read this book to find out. The editors are to be commended for assuming this responsibility. The authors deserve recognition for their clarity and incisiveness. The ground covered is massive and significant, but there’s still more to be done. Nonetheless, the book is an important building block to constructing Nigerian women’s “Herstory” that will also produce more worthwhile Nigerian history. Of course, more must be done to fully excavate Nigerian women’s “Herstory”. However, for its ambitious agenda, the depth of intellectual engagement, the breadth of subjects included, its interdisciplinarity, and the geographic scope, as well as historical timespan, and ultimately, for its contribution to knowledge, this book is well worth reading."