Stephanie Newell is a professor of English at the Yale University, specialising in West African literature. Her other books include The Power to Name: A History of Anonymity in Colonial West Africa (2013) and The Forger’s Tale: The Search for Odeziaku (2006).Wendy Griswold is the Bergen Evans Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University. Her books include Cultures and Societies in a Changing World (new edition 2012) and Bearing Witness: Readers, Writers, and the Novel in Nigeria (2000).

• Part I: Theory and Politics1. Reading Towards a Theorization of African Women's Writing: African Women Writers Within Feminist Gynocriticism - Nana Wilson-Tagoe2. Masculinity: The Military, Women and Cultural Politics in Nigeria - Bayo Ogunjimi3. Women's Role in Ghana's Social Development: a Short Statement - Akosua Gyamfuaa-FofiePart II:: Literatures4. A Life on the women's Page: Treena Kwenta's Diary - Jane Bryce5. Recovering Lost Voices: The Short Stories of Mabel - Dove-Danquah and Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang6. Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination: Selected Stories by Theodor Ezeigbo and May Ifeoma Nwoye - Chinyere Okafor7. Gender Conflict in Flora Nwapa's Novels - Theodora Akachi Ezeigbo8. Culture and Gender Semantics in Flora Nwapa's Poetry - Obododimma Oha9. Behind the Veil in Northern Nigeria: The Writing of Zaynab Alkali and Hauwa Ali - Margaret Hauwa Kassam10. The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Bƒ and Zaynab Alkali - Ibiyemi Mojola11. Narrative Technique and the Politics of Gender: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy and No Sweetness Here - Chioma Opara Part III: Popular Culture12. Hausa Women as Oral Storytellers in Nigeria - Sani Abba Aliyu13. Gender Politics in West African Mask Performance - Chinyere Grace Okafor14. Anatomy of Masculine Power: Three Perspectives on Marriage and Gender in Nigerian Non-Fiction - Stephanie Newell15. Gender Tempered Through Metal: Women in Metal Casting in Benin City, Nigeria - Adepeju Layiwola

Clear, informed thinking about the gendered nexus of culture and power is needed more than ever. The new publication of Newell’s collection is an event to be applauded, and its contents to be pondered.