Writing from the Hearth

<I>Writing from the Hearth</I> probes the relationship of gender to space in close readings of texts of Francophone women writers of Africa: Aoua Kéita Mariama Bâ Calixthe Beyala and Aminata Sow Fall and the Caribbean: Marie Chauvet Simon Schwarz-Bart Maryse Condé and Edwidge Danticat. It explores the hypothesis that the female protagonist moves toward empowerment by appropriating public space and transforming domestic space into alternative space.