ABSTRACT
African literature reveals a diversity of depictions of the figure of the prostitute. Though seldom the main character, the prostitute is a familiar figure in African literature. Female writers, including Oludhe Macgoye and Genga-Idowu, conceal or camouflage the activities of the prostitute in order “to project prostitution as a career and as a productive economic activity like any other”. In Jagua Nana, Cyprian Ekwensi has constructed a complex character, who conflates the many characteristics, both positive and negative, that society attributes to prostitutes and that has been mirrored generally in modern literature throughout the world. The bodies of prostitutes become a locus of varied discourses ranging from those that conscript them to the service of patriarchal or nationalist ideologies to those, especially female writers, who feel it is their work to offer a positive image of the prostitute. The prostitute has no regret for being a sex worker.
