Chioma Opara

Chioma Opara (born 23 May 1951 in Jos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian author and academic whose work primarily focuses on West African feminism. She is known for developing the theory of femalism and is recognised as one of the six most important African feminist theorists. Her work has been influential in study of gender in Africa.

She is currently a Professor of English and Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Humanities at Rivers State University in Port Harcout, Nigeria.

Education Opara received her B.A in French from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and went on to earn her diploma in French Studies at The University of Dakar, as well as a certificate in French studies from the University of Tours in France. She obtained her Ph.D. in English at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

Opara has been an activist for humanities education in Nigeria. In a 2016 inaugural speech at Rivers State University, Opara stated that its Institute on Foundational Studies should be elevated to a full-fledged Faculty of Humanities. She argued that "the elevation of the institute to a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences would facilitate integrative possibilities. At her university, Opara is dubbed "the English women" due to her expertise in the English language and literature.

Femalism Opara describes her theory of femalism as a tangible "praxis" that "foregrounds the body while applying psychoanalytical criticism in its negotiation of the gendered subjectivity deemed as culturally and socially constructed." In this theory, she describes the female body as a site of patriarchal abuse and violence on the African continent as the bearer of European colonialism and exploitation. In a lecture, Opara also described her theory:By virtue of its analysis of living experiences focused on the body, femalism is as phenomenological as it is heuristic and composite. Drawing parallels between the politically scarred African nation and the socioculturally battered female body, femalism effects a nexus between the freedom of woman and that of the African continent. The female nurturing body is considered to be analogous to Mother Africa--an embodiment of Mother Nature. The Metropolitan manipulations of a jolted African nation in the course of its economic and historical trajectory are likened to the flagrant, patriarchal abuse of the female body and mind in the quest for a holistic existence.

Gynandrism Opara defines her theory of gynandrism (a term she uses differently than others) as the male empathy for women found in African literature. She writes that it provides "African female subjects as well as female writers a robust leverage in the literary canon." "Not a scintilla of light: Darkness and despondency in Yvonne Vera's Butterfly Burning" (2008) "New Perspectives on Women and Community Empowerment in Zaynab Alkali's The Descendants and The Initiates" (2011) "A Drama of Power: Aminata Sow Fall's The Beggars' Strike." in Twelve Best Books by African Women. (Athens : Ohio University Press, 2009 "On the African Concept of Transcendence: Conflating Nature, Nurture and Creativity." International Journal of Philosophy and Religion 21(2): 189-200. "The Gynandrist : Elechi Amadi." Journal of Gender Studies 1, No. 2 (November 2000), pp. 121–141. "From Stereotype to Individuality: Womanhood in Chinua Achebe's Novels" "The foot as metaphor in female dreams: analysis of Zaynab Alkali's novels" "Making Hay on Sunny Grounds" "The emergence of the female self: The liberating pen in Mariama Ba's Une si longue lettre and Sembene Ousmane's Lettres de France"