Power Dynamics

Women in New Nollywood Epics

Bibliographic Data

ID19205608
AuthorsAbisola Akinsiku (0000-0002-1555-9259, University of Kansas, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume85
Issue1
Pages1-16
Publication date2026-05-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00020184.2026.2655749
OpenAlexW7160495536
LanguageEN
References cited22

Nollywood is a rich cultural zone, especially with the rise of epic blockbusters in the 2020s. Some of these include King of Thieves: Ogundabede (2022), Aníkúlápó (2022), Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman (2022), Mami Wata (2023), Jagun Jagun: The Warrior (2023), Orisa (2023), Ageshinkolé (2022), House of Ga’a (2024) and Lísàbí: The Uprising (2024). Using African feminisms as a conceptual lens, I interrogate how female characters are portrayed and note that Nollywood, although maturing and creating more nuanced female characters, is still tethered to patriarchal stereotypes of power distribution privileging men above women. I further argue that, although powerful women assert powerful personalities to a certain extent, thus demonstrating agency, their power is curtailed in the socio-cultural, domestic and political arenas, which ultimately creeps into the production culture of epic films, thus complicating women’s truest emancipation

EPIC · Feminism · Personality psychology · Politics · Popular culture · Power (physics) · Decolonial Thought and Epistemologies · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies