Bonding beyond struggle: a reconsideration of female togetherness in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come

Abstract

Coalition politics is gaining critical attention across the social sciences, and in feminist studies more precisely, since it promises a feasible solution to social issues for scholars concerned with social justice. Such political alliances with an emphasis on the feminist concept of sisterhood have proved a gateway to female freedom. However, while the merit of sisterhood is recognized mostly in terms of women in conflict with male tyranny, the feminist political agenda advanced through empowering women as best friends, supporters, and benefactors is less understood. Focusing on Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come (2005), this paper advances intimate and political associations as proactive ways through which feminist partnership-building is attained, stressing women in rapport with themselves rather than in struggle with men as the hallmark of feminist desire, purpose, and politics.

Keywords:

• Female togetherness
• feminism
• sisterhood
• Sefi Atta
• Everything Good Will Come

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Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.