Transcript Post-Colonial Women’s Literature as a Tool for Assisting

Post-Colonial Women’s Literature
as a Tool for Assisting Social
Work Students to Understand of
the Impact of Colonization on the
Lives of Women in Developing
African Societies.
By Pat Groves, Ph.D.
Professor of Women’s and Gender
Studies
The University of Toledo
• Nervous Conditions was written by
Tsitsi Dangarembga in 1968. The novel
tells the story of loss involved in the
colonization of one culture by another. It is
set in the settler colony of Rhodesia in the
sixties, as the struggle for independence
from the British was heating up.
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• The story focuses on the life of two young girls:
• Tambu, from the rural area realizes her dream when her
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wealthy uncle offers her to sponsor her education. She
learns that there is a price to pay for the education she
earns at the mission school.
Tambu’s cousin, Nyasha is the daughter of Tambu’s uncle
and has spent much of her life in Great Britain. She has
become a stranger to her own people, no longer to
speak Shona, the native language. It is she, who pays
the full cost of alienation, developing anorexia, a
western disorder, as a means to gain control over her
life, dominated by her father.
Themes
• Modernity versus Tradition: Coping with Alienation
– Dangarembga addresses this issue through the interweaving of Tambu in
her environment and the development of her female body.
– Ann Elizabeth Wiley has pointed to the development of the village as a
process that cannot be controlled by the villagers, just as Tambu resists
being gendered by her adolescent development. Tambu’s brother dies
from illness at the beginning of the story. This event enables Tambu to
ultimately break with tradition and take his place at the mission school.
Prior to his death, as Tambu dreams of going to school, she asks her
brother why she cannot also attend school. He responds that it is because
she is a girl. “I was no longer listening. My concern for my brother died
and unobtrusive death.
– The struggle she experiences through the rest of the novel is embodied in
her two processes of development, bodily development and her education
– This novel differs from many others in that it deals with the clashes from
tradition to modernity, not from a male, but from a female perspective.
Males often experience alienation as a separation from self and from one’s
cherished traditions. For women, the life offered by traditional culture is
fraught with suffering. The culture clash is therefore viewed with greater
struggle as one is pulled toward some of the benefits offered to women in
modernity, while mourning the loss of the positive aspects of tradition.
• Food
– Every woman in the novel has a strong relationship to food:
growing, preparing, feeding others, feeding self
– Tambu begins growing mealies (corn) as a means to finance her
education prior to the death of her brother. This effort is
discouraged by her father, but her mother is supportive even
though she does not believe an education will benefit a woman
whose job it is to care for her family.
– When Tambu returns to visit her family after leaving for boarding
school, her uncle brings a goat which must be prepared by the
women. Of course after much time is spent in food preparation,
the women serve the men.
– Tambu’s aunt, Nyasha’s mother has a servant who prepares the
food on in a western kitchen, one of the ways that modern life has
a strong pull for Tambu who has grown up on a rural farm where
cooking is done on an open fire.
– Nyasha develops an eating disorder, and ultimately is hospitalized
and treated by a western physician.
• Education
– Tambu, through her educational experience is faced with
the intersection of individual consciousness and social
conditions. She must come to self realization in the
context of her community. Is this the community of her
traditional family or the community of her uncle and his
westernized experience.
– Tambu’s aunt has achieved a master’s degree, yet still
must assume the role of a woman in Shona culture.
– Nyasha has, as a result of her education and life in
Britain lost touch with the traditions of her ancestors
and is unable to make a successful transition to
modernity. She ultimately is lost to her eating disorder
as a means to control her life in relation to her father.
While westernized in his personal dealings, he treats his
daughter in traditional style.
Educational Relevance
• Through reading this novel, the students
gain an understanding of the impact of
colonialism and encroaching modernity on
the lives of women. The text prepares
students to develop a deeper
understanding of the lives of women in
post-colonial African societies.
The Dilemma of a Ghost and
Anowa
A recent article in the New York Times highlights Ama Ata Adoo, the Ghanaian poet and novelist.
From the realms she calls "the outposts of the Empire," Ama Ata Aidoo, the Ghanaian poet and
novelist, has managed to transcend space, time and cultures to inspire and empower a generation of female
writers.
Ms. Aidoo's words reached Jean (Binta) Breeze, a young poet in Sandy Bay, Jamaica, and cured her writer's block.
They found Ramona Lofton, the writer known as Sapphire, in Professor Jerome Brooks' class at the City College of
New York and led her to write her first novel, "Push," and a critically acclaimed collection of poems, "American
Dreams." Michele Wallace, author of "Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman," said
Ms. Aidoo helped reaffirm her faith in the power of the written word to teach and reach.
The author has written two plays and published a collection of short stories and poems. She is most noted for her
two novels," Our Sister Killjoy" and "Changes," which present the joys and struggles of contemporary African
women.
"As a young women growing up in Ghana, I didn't know that as a woman I wasn't supposed to write," Ms. Aidoo
said during one quiet moment in an otherwise hectic day. "Those of us who started to write so early were at an
advantage because we didn‘t know what was good for us, in terms of one's self as a writer."
Still, it took another 15 years "for me to begin to describe myself as a writer," she said. "On the one hand, I had
no problem writing. On the other hand, I clearly had a problem conceiving myself as a writer."
• Both works, the Dilemma of a ghost
and Anowa, depict dramas that are
fundamentally relevant to the lives of the
students in the class (love and marriage),
so there is an emotional connection to the
content, yet the students must be able to
let go of their own cultural perspectives in
order to understand the contextual
meaning of the works.
• The Dilemma of a Ghost was first
presented by the Students’ Theatre at the
University of Ghana in March of 1964.
The play has been republished in 1987,
1995, and 1997.
• The story is of a young Ghanaian man (Ato
Yawson) who goes to university in the United
States and falls in love with an African American
woman (Eulalie Yawson). He marries her and
brings her home to his native village. The play
brings forth the conflicts of tradition and
modernity as the two young people struggle to
live their lives in harmony with Ato’s parents and
the expectations that family and villagers have
of an African man.
• When Ato returns to his home after completion of his
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studies, his bride has accompanied him. His family does
not know he has married. They do not understand that
a woman can come from a place where she is not
identified with a tribe. “Since I was born, I have never
heard of a human being born out of the womb of a
woman who has no tribe. Are there trees which never
have any roots?”
Initially they think she is white because tells them she is
an American. Perhaps it would have been easier for the
family to accept Eulalie’s strange ways if she were white,
as white colonials have long proven the unusual
behaviors of white people.
• Because Eulalie is of African descent,
there may be a higher level of expectation
that she will accept the ways of the
traditional culture. Eulalie cannot accept
cooking on an open fire or pounding yam
with a pestle. The family thinks Ato is
wasting his money as he buys Eulalie a
western stove.
• As a coping mechanism, Eulalie begins drinking heavily,
not acceptable behavior for an African woman. When
drunk, she pokes fun at Ato’s tradition and calls him
“native boy.” Eulalie becomes fearful as she hears the
beating of African drums. Her expectations of drumming
was that it would be like American Jazz or Spanish
Mambo. She is fearful that the drumming might be
related to witch hunting and perhaps that she is
perceived as the witch. Her fears are put aside when
Ato explains that the drums she hears are funeral drums.
• Ato and Eulalie decided at the time of their marriage to postpone
childbearing until they were settled and established. Ato has
insisted that they stick with this plan, however, the family blames
Eulalie for the lack of children. Certainly, children are extremely
important in African cultures and are indications of success. There
are attempts to use traditional medicine to enable the couple to
conceive. It is believed that the couple is displeasing the dead
ancestors because they have not born children. Eulalie understands
that she is not accepted and is frustrated by Ato’s insistence that
they stick with their plan to postpone having children. Although he
has made this decision, it is she that bears the blame from family
members.
After a fight between Ato and Eulalie, Ato is speaking to his mother:
Ato: I only asked her to come to the thanksgiving with me. But she refused and….
Esi: And will she not refuse? I would have refused too if I were her. I would have know that I can
always refuse to do things. Her womb has receded, has it not?
Ato: But her womb has not receded!
Esi: What are you telling me?
Ato: If we had wanted children, she would have given birth to some.
Esi: Everyone should come and listen to this. I have not heard anything like this before! Human
beings deciding when they must have children? Meanwhile where is God? Yet only a woman
who is barren will tell her neighbors such a tale.
Ato: But it can be done.
Esi: if it can be done, do it! But I am sure any woman who does it will die by the anger of the ghosts
of her fathers-or at least she will never get the children when she wants them.
Esi: You do not even tell us about anything and we assemble our medicines together. While all the
time hour wife laughs at us because we do not understand such things…Yes, she laughs at us
because we do not understand such things…..and we are angry because we thing you are both
doing what is not good for…. And yet who cam blame her? No stranger ever breaks the law.
Hmm, my son. You have not dealt with us well. And you have not dealt with your wife well
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Esi: Yes, and I know
They will tell you that
Before the stranger should dip his finger
Into the thick palm nut soup,
It is a townsman
Must have told him to.
And we must be careful with your wife
You tell us her mother is dead
If she had any tenderness,
Her ghost must be keeping watch over her
All which happen to her.
(to Eulalie) Come my child.
• The play ends ambiguously, with a song that
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frequents Ato’s dreams in the voice of children:
Shall I go to Cape Coast? Shall I go to Elmina?
I can’t tell, Shall I? I can’t tell…….
The audience or reader is left with the sad
impression that the situation cannot be rectified.
There has been too much pain, too much
misunderstanding.
Educational Relevance
• The students are led to understand the difficulty
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in bridging the gaps between traditional cultures
and Western thought and ways of doing things.
For people who come from the West, our ways
seem right and acceptable. For people of
traditional culture, it is difficult to reconcile the
differences and the move to Westernization
comes at great cost.
Anowa
• This play is based on an old Ghanaian
legend. A young woman decides against
her parents’ wishes, to marry the man she
loves. In spite of amassing great wealth,
Anowa realizes that there is something
wrong with the life they have built.
• Anowa is a strong willed young woman who has
refused the hand of those who have offered to
marry her. The women in the village talk behind
her back and wonder what is wrong with her.
The consensus seems to be that her mother has
spoiled her because of her charm and beauty.
There are also thoughts that she is born to be a
priestess rather than to assume the traditional
role of an African woman as wife and mother.
• Badua (Anowa’s mother) is distraught that her daughter could become a priestess.
She recites the following lament that underscores the importance of marriage in
traditional cultures:
• Her assessment of being a priestess:
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They counsel with spirits;
They read into other men’s souls;
They swallow dogs eyes
Jump fires
Drink goats blood
Sheep milk
Without flinching
Or vomiting.
They do not feel
As you or I,
They have no shame.
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She says this about her hopes for her daughter to marry and bear children. Still, there is the
recognition that her daughter has potential beyond that of the ordinary woman:
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I want my child
To be a human woman
Marry a man,
Tend a farm
And be happy to see her peppers and onions grow.
A woman like her should bear children,
So she can afford to have
One or two die.
Should she not take her place at meetings
Among the men and women of the clan?
And sit on my chair when I am gone?
And a captainship in the army
Should not be beyond her
When the time is ripe.
• When Anowa tells her parents that Kofi Ako has
asked her to marry him, her mother is not
pleased. Her mother describes Kofi: “…Anowa,
why Kofi Ako? Of all the mothers that are here
in Yebi, should I be the one whose daughter
would want to marry this fool, this good-fornothing cassava man, this watery male of all
watery males? This-I-am-the-handsome-onewith-a-stick-between-my-teeth-in-the-marketplace…..”
• On one hand, Anowa has been spared the
suffering of becoming a priestess, yet, she is set
to marry a man with little promise to bring her a
successful family life.
• Also, there is the struggle of seeing a strong
woman, choosing what she wants for herself
and letting go of the traditional value of
choosing a proper husband for your daughter.
• Ultimately, the couple marries and they seem to
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be deeply in love. They are engaged in hunting
animals and selling the furs. This endeavor
takes them deep into the wilderness where
Anowa’s strength and independence makes her
a good hunter and wilderness traveler. Mud and
cold do not get in her way.
Their trade involves the white colonials and they
are able to accumulate large amounts of money
from their dealings with white men.
• As their wealth grows, they are able to buy a
house and obtain many western accoutrements.
Kofi decides to purchase slaves, much to
Anowa’s dismay. She protests, but, ultimately
he wins.
• Anowa sees slavery as selling out to western
interest and accumulating financial wealth rather
than building family and community.
• Kofi loses his sexual interest in Anowa and she
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urges him to take another wife in order to
produce children. He refuses.
Anowa’s parents develop the myth that Anowa
and Kofi have sold their birth seeds in order to
acquire financial wealth.
The couple has two slave children that double as
servants and as children. Anowa cannot accept
these children as substitutes for birth children
and states that an adopted child is always an
adopted child and a slave always a slave.
• Kofi ultimately tries to send Anowa away, as she will not
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relent in her desire for Kofi to produce a child with her or
another woman. He seems consumed with the desire to
accumulate wealth and to live the life that comes with
his dealings with white colonials.
Anowa accuses Kofi of not being a man. (Is he having
homosexual relations with his slaves or has he lost
interest in sex altogether?).
The accusation is too much for Kofi to bear and he finally
shoots himself. In response, Anowa drowns herself.
Educational Relevance
• The story has a tragic ending, the ultimate response to the conflicts
between tradition and western desire. It is the desire for wealth
that eats the couple alive. The villagers suggest that Anowa ate
Kofi up, and yet it was desire for wealth that turned him from his
historical meaning in life, to produce children and continue the lines
of his ancestors.
• The villagers say of Anowa: “Anowa behaved as though she were a
heroine in a story. Some of us wish she had been happier and that
her life had not had so much of the familiar human scent in it. She
is true to herself. She refused to comeback here to Yebi, to our
gossiping and our judgments. Osam and Badua have gone with the
others to bring the two bodies home to Yebi. Ow, if there is life
after death, Anowa’s spirit will certainly have something to say
about that.”
So Long a Letter
• Mariama BA was born in Dakar Senegal. She
was brought up as a Muslim by her maternal
grandparents. As a writer, she believed her
‘sacred mission” was to strike out at archaic
practices, traditions, and customs that are not
truly a part of cultural heritage. This novel,
originally written in French, has been translated
into sixteen languages and won the first Noma
award for an African novel. Certainly, her work
can be defined as feminist since she criticizes
patriarchal practices.
• The novel is written as a letter by
Ramatoulye to her friend, Assatou.
• Ramatoulye has been recently widowed
• Her husband had taken a second wife,
acceptable in her Islamic culture, as well
as many traditional African cultures, but
Ramotoulay felt betrayed and rejected by
his action.
• “this is the moment dreaded by every
Senegalese woman, the moment when she
sacrifices her possessions as gifts to her
family-in-law; and, worse still, beyond her
possessions, she gives up her personality,
her dignity, becoming a thing in the service
of the man who has married her, his
grandfather, his grandmother, his mother,
his brother, his sister, his uncle, his aunt, his
male and female cousins, his friends.”
• As is customary, Modu’s brother proposes marriage to Ramatoulye. He
says to her: “I shall marry you. You suit me as a wife, and further, you
will continue to live here, just as if Modou were not dead. Usually, it is
the younger brother who inherits his elder brother’s wife. In this case,
it is the opposite. You are my good luck. I shall marry you. I prefer
you to the other one (Modu’s second wife), too frivolous, too young. I
advised Modou against that marriage.
• Ramatoulye responds in the presence of Modu’s other brother and the
Imam: “Did you ever have any affection for your brother? Already you
want to build a new home for yourself, over a body that is still warm.
While we are praying for Modou, you are thinking of future wedding
festivities.”
• Ramatoulye pointed out that the other brother did not properly care
for his wives and make it clear that she would marry none of them.
Partially, her angry response was in revenge for the day when they
airily informed her of Modu’s marriage to a second wife.
• As a widow, who had turned down the
customary marriage to the brother of her
deceased husband, Ramatoulye was
available for marriage to other men. She
was approached by her former suitor. She
truly enjoyed his company, but turned
down his proposal because he also had
another family. She would not do to his
family, that which had been done to hers.
• The success of the family is born of a couple’s
harmony, as the harmony of multiple
instruments creates a pleasant symphony.
• The nation is made up of all the families, rich or
poor, united or separated, aware or unaware.
The success of the nation therefore depends
inevitably on the family.
• The story ends when Ramatoulye’s young adult,
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unmarried daughter gives birth to a baby fathered by her
boyfriend. There is a plan for the two to finish their
schooling and then marry.
Ramatoulye says: “I am not indifferent to the
irreversible currents of women’s liberation that are
lashing the world. This commotion that is shaking up
every aspect of our lives reveals and illustrates our
abilities. My heart rejoices each time a woman emerges
from the shadows. I know the field of our gains is
unstable, the retention of conquests difficult: social
constraints are ever present and male egoism resists.
• Instruments for some, baits for others,
respected or despised, often muzzled, all
women have almost the same fate, which
religions or unjust legislation have sealed.
My reflections determine my attitude to
the problems of life. I analyze the
decisions that decide our future. I widen
my scope by taking an interest in current
world affairs.
• I remain persuaded of the inevitable and necessary
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complementarity of man and woman. Love, imperfect as
it may be in its content and expression, remains the
natural link between these two beings.
To love one another. If only each partner could move
sincerely towards the other. If each could only melt into
the other If each would only accept the other’s
successes and failures. If each would only praise the
other’s qualities instead of listing his faults. If each
could only correct bad habits without harping on about
them. If each could penetrate the other’s most secret
haunts to forestall failure and be a support while tending
to the evils that are repressed.
Educational Relevance
• Is this work feminist? The discussion of traditional family
life might be questioned by those in our culture. Yet, the
question seems to come from a feminist framework in a
culture that has often separated male and female culture.
• Ramatoulye is looking at her daughter and her relationship
as potentially new in that it can be based upon love and
respect between two people.
• She holds the view that the nation state is reflected and is
revealed through the nature and stability of family life.
• There is a tension for women in the traditional cultural
practices that separate women from being able to have a
sense of control over their own lives and over the course of
their family life. When men choose additional wives, it can
be seen as a betrayal of trust and of the commitment to
family.