Combining postcolonial perspectives with race and culture based studies, which have merged the fields of African and black American studies, this volume concentrates on women writers, exploring how the (post) colonial condition is reflected in women's literature. The essays are united by their focus on attempts to create alternative value systems through the rewriting of history or the reclassification of the woman's position in society. By examining such strategies these essays illuminate the diversity and coherence of the postcolonial project.