OF WHAT SEX IS THE TEXT? A NEW READING OF GENDER CHARACTERIZATION AS A TROPE OF HARMONY, COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE AND JOINT HEROISM IN GABRIEL OKARA'S THE VOICE (original) (raw)
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African Study Monographs, 2009
This paper is a new reconstruction of gender meanings on Gabriel Okara's post-colonial African fiction, The Voice. While it is common to ascribe masculine interpretations to most early post colonial writings, this author argues that Okara's agenda in this novel is to propagate a bisexual, co-sexual and joint gender heroism thesis as the best and most harmonious approach to a true post-colonial African nationalism. The search for "it" (the neuter pronoun as metaphor for the essence of truth, justice, gender equality and fairness) by the male messiah-hero is invigorated by the physical, logistic and spiritual support of the misunderstood female mother In the tale of a strong bond between the two main characters to search "it," and "the thing between us," Okara uses a genderless pronoun and a generic noun, respectively. This desexation in language, style and themes in The Voice can be understood and appropriated for the contemporary search for an African epistemology.
Journal of International Women's Studies Unbending Gender Narratives in African Literature
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Gender Frustration in the African Novel: Matters Arising
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2023
In many countries of the world especially in Africa, men have enjoyed patriarchal domination over their female counterparts. This subjugated position women are expected to maintain is reflected in the character representation of women in some male-authored African novels. In recent times however, the focus is gradually shifting from inter-gender conflict to intra-gender conflict as well as trans-sexualism in the African novel. This aspect of gender discourse has not enjoyed adequate scholarly attention. Womanism, Marxist Feminism and Intertextuality are adopted as the theoretical framework of the study. This study adopts content analysis of two texts: Night Dancer by Chika Unigwe (West Africa), and Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (North Africa). The reading and analysis of the selected texts reveal that trans-sexualism is on the front-burner of gender discourse in the African novel. In the contemporary African novel, there have been instances of male/female writers writing in favour of the opposite sex. This is evident in Palace Walk, where the writer, through the characterisation of the protagonist, Jawad, shows empathy for the plight of women in a patriarchal society. More so, there is the issue of intra-gender conflict in contemporary African novels. This is reflected in the conflict between mother and daughter in Night Dancer. The paper proffers a new approach to gender discourse in contemporary African novel in which case the focus is no longer on inter-gender conflicts in which male/female writers antagonise the opposite sex. Rather, there is an intra-gender conflict which reveals an apparent dynamic shift in the gender discourse of the African novel.
Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2014
African novelists have long been seen as biased in their portrayal of female characters. This practice is condemned by many feminist writers as perpetuating male dominance and subjugating against women. However, Sembène Ousmane and Ama Ata Aidoo gave a different account of women characters in their works by assigning them positive roles. This paper asserts that the action of these two Anglophone and Francophone writers marks a shift from the status quo and is indicative of their stance as committed feminist writers. The paper further establishes that their stance offers the needed pretext to make a case for social and economic advancement of women in the two works. Finally, the paper concludes that characterization of women in these works by the two novelists helps to create an awareness of the power of the female species as an equal force in national development.
Babilónia: Línguas, Culturas e Traducao, No. 13 (2013), Lusofonia Pós-colonial: Línguas, Literaturas e Identidades
The exploitation and trauma of the colonised nation has often been written upon the female body, and in turn the land has been accorded feminine characteristics. European colonisers talked of their divine, patriotic mission to penetrate virgin lands in order to inseminate them with the seed of civilisation. This allegory evolved in postcolonial discourse into the figurative rape of the colonised land and the societies that inhabited them. With the figuring of the nation as family (McClintock, 1993) the innate femininity of the native land was perpetuated in African nationalists’ and Pan-Africanists’ romanticisation of their origins as Mother Africa. This paper will examine the gendering of the bodies upon which the narrative of the nation is written in the three novels of the Bissau-Guinean author Abdulai Sila. A Última Tragédia (1995), his second published work but whose narrative sits chronologically first of his three novels, centres on the trope of the female Africa in inscribing the colonial nation upon the body of his protagonist Ndani as she symbolically undergoes the physical, psychological and cultural violations which likewise oppressed the nation. Eterna Paixão (1994) features the romanticisation of Africa as the loving, vital, fecund Mother, a symbolism which spills onto female bodies as the African American protagonist’s tempestuous connection with the post colonial continent is reflected in his relationships with the homely African Mother figure and the sexually charged, morally deviant African Woman. Finally, this paper will explore and interrogate Sila’s innovative evolution of the post-independence national body into the emasculated man in Mistida (1997). Here the male body becomes the site upon which the corruption and political violence brewing in the years preceding the 1998 civil war and their grave consequences upon Guinea Bissau’s social fabric are figured in the physical disabilities, psychological scarring and social incapacities of poignantly male characters.
Cognizance Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (CJMS), 2023
Using Ayesha Harruna Atta’s The Hundred Wells of Salaga as a stepping-stone, this research paper sets out to delve into the gendered structure of slavery. The article argues that the straightjacket of patriarchal masculinity with its attendant human toll was instrumental in mediating female slavery in pre-colonial Africa. That slavery exacted a heavy toll amongst African women is borne out in the physical and psychological woes of such characters as Aminah, Khadija, and, to a lesser extent, Wurche. The paper also brings to light this much – slave women serve as sexual objects and domestic labour. The pervasiveness of the dead hand of patriarchy reaches out into the practice of enslavement. The sexist edge of slavery reflects in many regards, so the article posits, the power of men, whose praxis is geared towards shoring their stranglehold on women. Men wield vis-à-vis women what the American scholar John Halloway calls ‘power over,’ thereby thwarting them in their well-meaning all-out drive towards full-blown ‘self-actualization.’ This investigation project makes the contention that one of the merits of The Hundred Wells of Salaga is to bring out into sharp relief the dogged refusal of women to take their patriarchy-induced lot in their strides. If anything, Aminah and Wurche’s pushback bears commending since it bespeaks not only a scathing reproach to male dominance and female slavery but also a stunning tribute to sisterhood as a sure-fire way out of the predicament of women. Methodology-wise, this paper taps into an array of perspectives predicated upon the social sciences and the humanities as well as literary theory.
UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2018
Feminist writers have over the years portrayed patriarchy as the major and real source of female exploitation and subjugation and have highlighted the concept in their creative works. African female experiences, problems and yearnings are examined through the female character in the selected literary texts. Certain practices in the various cultural milieus, which not only demean women but also debar them from having a say in the daily affairs of the society are also exposed. The study interrogated some oppressive forces that marginalize women to determine if the factors are only inter gender. The paper revealed at the end of the study that truly women are subjected to discrimination, oppression and humiliation all through their lives and that these are both inter-gender and intra-gender. Patriarchy, as generally accepted, is not the sole source of female oppression because women seem to suffer oppression in the hands of fellow women especially in the African cultural milieu. The study employed the theories of Focu feminism, Snail Sense Feminism and Womanism in critical evaluations. To make adequate judgements, critical opinions of some scholars were reviewed. The study recommends love and empathy amongst women. It concludes that the oppression of women by the male gender will greatly be countered by women's collective activism, which can only be possible when they close ranks and unite.
Female Agency and Subjectivity in Some Selected West African War Novels
International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 2018
From the above, it is not merely sufficient that women write. It is also imperative that they interpret not only their own stories but also stories written about them by men. This is one way of curbing biases against women in literature hence the production of this paper. A gendered interpretation of literary texts ensures that society in general has access to a fair representation of women as the distorted images of women are revealed and critiqued. Another resultant effect of gendered interpretation of literary texts is the highlighting of female writers and the aesthetics of their art. According to Akung (2007, p.25), "feminist aesthetic logically celebrates female consciousness" Generally, despite the many years of tireless efforts put in by many writers such as Bessie Head, Ama Atta Aidoo, Ammato Darko, Elaine Showalter Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elma Shaw and Pede Hollist amongst others, to propagate gender consciousness, gender inequality persists. Laqueur (1986, p.18) argues that there is rather a heightening of gender inequality where women remained "incommensurable" to men. Superstitions, stereotypes and traditions that uphold male superiority over females persist. Fwangyil (2011) affirms this by indicating that indeed many people generally perceive women in general, including African women, as compliant, flaccid and scrawny in predominantly male cultures. She however asserts that irrespective of this general opinion about women, in her view, the new crop of African women in Adichie"s Purple Hibiscus are self-assured in a way that deflates this age-old acuity: Women are generally regarded as docile, passive and weak in most male-dominated societies. In this novel [Purple Hibiscus], the women work hard to debunk this age-long myth by asserting themselves and proving their mettle, regardless of the obstacles they face (p.271
Since the dawn of time, women generally have had fewer legal rights and status in society than their male counterparts. The continuous subordination and suppression of women are further aggravated by traditions, cultural beliefs and religions of most societies which favor patriarchy. Using the radical feminist approach, the present paper attempts an exploration of patriarchy as an aspect of culture which helps to subordinate women as highlighted in Nawal El Saadawi's A Woman at Point Zero (1983), Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood (1979), and Amma Darko's Beyond the Horizon (1995). It also examines the steps taken by the women to free themselves from the ‚chains‛ of male domination and oppression. The study revealed that cultural practices such as polygamy, female genital mutilation and sexual abuse facilitate the abuse, subjugation and oppression of women in the novels under study. The study has implications for the theory of feminism and literary criticisms.
NEGOTIATING THE TRAJECTORY OF GENDER FLUIDITY IN AHMED YERIMA'S AKUABATA
Okike: An African Journal of New Writing, 2020
Archetypes are universally recurring patterns across world cultures, religion and literature, one of which is the scapegoat archetype. This proposes that the death/suffering of one essentially yields life/benefit to a community. In his play, Akuabata, Ahmed Yerima recreates the myth of the scapegoat around the complexities of the Igbo culture's gender fluidity and adaptability. This flexibility in gender (re)assignment becomes another patriarchal tool for the subjugation of women. The woman thus possesses the unfortunate capacity to be made scapegoat over and over again. Using both African Womanism and the Archetypal theory, this paper evaluates how the female scapegoat in Akuabata is serially abused by both her family and societal constructs. It exposes how unfair and discriminatory certain traditions are towards the girl-child/woman. It concludes that, even when serving the honour of being the chosen atonement lamb, women have truly enjoyed neither goodwill nor true privileges when they, unfortunately, are the chosen scapegoats.