Ama Ata Aidoo (1942–2023) was one of Africa's most important women writers. She grew up in a Fante family in central Ghana, where her father founded the first school in their village. She studied at the University of Ghana, became a lecturer, and in 1982 served as Ghana's Minister of Education, working to make education free for all. Her works include the plays The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965) and Anowa (1970), the novel Our Sister Killjoy (1977), and the novel Changes: A Love Story (1991), which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa). The Girl Who Can is the title story of her collection The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (1997). Her writing often draws on the oral storytelling of her people and questions the narrow roles society gives to women.
Worked examples
Example 1 (MCQ, 1 mark). Ama Ata Aidoo was from (a) Nigeria (b) Kenya (c) Ghana (d) South Africa.
Solution. (c) Ghana. She grew up in a Fante family in central Ghana and, in 1982, served as Ghana's Minister of Education.
Example 2 (short answer, 3 marks). How does Aidoo's own life connect with the theme of the story?
Model answer. Aidoo grew up in a family where her father founded the first school in their village, and she became a lecturer and a Minister of Education who worked to make school free for all. In the story, Maami insists that Adjoa go to school, and school is where Adjoa's talent is found. Aidoo's writing also questions the narrow roles society gives to women, which is the main idea of the story.
Why this scores: two links to her life (2 marks) and one link to the story's theme (1 mark).
Example 3 (short answer, 4 marks). Aidoo's writing often draws on the oral storytelling of her people. Show how this is true of The Girl Who Can.
Model answer. The story opens like a tale told aloud: "They say I was born in Hasodzi." The narrator speaks directly, and her voice has a natural rhythm. When Nana orders her to be silent, the words "never, never, but NEVER" appear with capital letters, as if we could hear the stress. The narrator also makes simple statements such as "school is nice", the way a storyteller makes plain remarks to her listeners. The result is a story that is easy to hear and to remember.
Why this scores: the idea (1 mark), two examples from the text (2 marks) and the effect (1 mark).
Doubts cleared
Q. Do I have to learn the names of Aidoo's plays and novels? Not for an extract question. Know that the story is the title story of The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (1997), and that she was a Ghanaian writer and Minister of Education.
Q. Is the story based on Aidoo's childhood? The story is fiction. But it comes from a writer who grew up in Ghana and who cared about girls' schooling.
Q. Why is it important that she was a minister of education? It shows that the story's belief in schooling for girls was also her life's work.
Mistakes to avoid
- Calling Aidoo a Nigerian or a Kenyan writer. She is Ghanaian.
- Writing a long biography when the question asks about one point of her style.
- Forgetting the title story link: this is the title story of her 1997 collection.
Check yourself
- Which country was Ama Ata Aidoo from?
- What public post did she hold in 1982?
- Name the collection that gives its title to this story.
Answers: 1. Ghana. 2. Minister of Education. 3. The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (1997).