Part I: After finishing Nervous Conditions and also reading the article by Nfah-Abbenyi discussing the problems some African scholars have with feminism, offer your reflection on the novel discussing it as a feminist piece of literature. Tell us how you see the novel addressing the theme of women as “other” and whether you think it succeeds or not as a feminist text, and why or why not. Include a direct quote from each of the texts you address in your discussion.
Part II: In the West, we often assume that the African novel is addressed to a Western reader in what she calls this safari moment. She refers to “a Zimbabwe constructed for the moral and literary tourist” (ix). Consider these ideas as we read our text. Do we look at Nervous Conditions through tourist’s eyes? If so, who has the nervous condition? Does the nervousness belong to the characters or does it rest with the uneasy tourist who is looking from her position of privilege?
