THE DANGER OF THE UNIQUE WOMAN: REFLECTIONS ON A FEMININE IDEA IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE'S A HISTORIADORA OBSTINADA

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight some of the ideas proposed by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in two of her conferences and relate them to the conception of woman in her European and post-colonial sense, based on the author's own specific observations about similarities and differences between the feminine in the two conceptions. Ahead, we analyze the short story A historiadora obstinada, by the same author and point out the elements that contribute to signal the idea of ”‹”‹women in the African, more precisely Nigerian context, and how this woman has her own traits, which reveal a peculiar experience in some way similar to and distinct from European women, based on the theoretical contribution of Elizabeth Badinter, Joan Scott and Gayatri C. Spivak. Finally, we suggest how the tale problematizes the situation of women in the postcolonial context and how this woman puts herself in a paradoxical position, between staying in the place of origin and leaving the cultural space.