Challenging Hierarachies in Anglophone Cameroon Literature: Women, Power and Visions of Change in Bole Butake's Plays

CHALLENGING HIERARCHIES IN ANGLOPHONE CAMEROON LITERATURE: WOMEN, POWER AND VISIONS OF CHANGE IN BOLE BUTAKE’S PLAYS NAOMI EPONGSE NKEALAH A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN AFRICAN LITERATURE JOHANNESBURG, MARCH 2011 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own un-aided work. It is submitted for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination at any other university. Naomi Epongse Nkealah Signed ………………………………… Date ………………………………....... i DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the NKEALAH family (Papa Nkealah, Mami Nkealah, Obed, Mbah, Serah and Prisca) to whom I pay tribute for the elasticity of their patience and the bounty of their love. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Perhaps I should start by s aying that the order in which I have presented these acknowledgements has nothing to do with hierarchy, for challenging hierarchies is a project I engage in beyond academia. I owe many thanks to many people, all of whom might not be acknowledged here, but I am sure there will be opportunities beyond the printed page to assure them of my heartfelt appreciation for their support. I am grateful to the University of the Witwatersrand for several bursaries and scholarships that allowed me to study for this degree, including the Postgraduate Merit Award and the Tothill Prestige Scholarship. I am especially thankful to the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Loyiso Nongxa, whose benevolence has ensured that this project is brought to fruition. To my supervisor, Professor Elsie Cloete, who never told me bluntly that I had to re-write whole chapters even when we both knew that was the case, I say a big Baie Dankie. Her sensitivity and tact are what gave me the courage to keep writing. I would certainly not have accomplished this without her scholarly guidance and unwavering encouragement. I thank the DAAD for sponsorship which enabled me to conduct intensive research at the Jahn Library for African Literatures at Mainz University in Germany. The quality of this work owes a great deal to my six-month stay in Germany in 2009. I am also thankful to Professor Dr Matthias Krings who went to great lengths to see that I settled comfortably in Mainz. To my family in South Africa – Makgomo, Tinyiko and Elizabeth Masango, Emilia Akande, Leticia Hadzor, Timothy Ngwe – I owe a lot. Their material and emotional support throughout the years has been overwhelming. To my mentor, Professor Harry Sewlall, I say thank you for seeing in me what I did not always see in myself – an aptitude for academic writing. iii I am grateful to Professor Christopher Odhiambo who read parts of this work at the early stages and gave me pointers on how to make it sound as scholarly as was expected. He always had to remind me that this was not creative writing, which I seemed to do instinctively. Many thanks also to Dr Dan Ojwang who facilitated my acquisition of funding and relevant material for this study. To Dr Anja Oed I say vielen Dank for hosting me at Mainz University and for making my stay in Deutschland a most pleasant experience. Even after I returned to South Africa in October 2009, Anja kept reminding me, through regular e-mails, of the need to complete what I had started, as she was anxious to read the final product. To my Good Pipo in Mainz – Vicentia Schule, Kevin Aanyu, Olu Cole, Benjamin Bandowe, Patricia Donker (Champion!), Briant Julien, Anywhere Tsokalankuku, Eucheria Monuoha, Aggrey Nganyi and Dieudonne Nem – I owe many productive nights of writing, after pleasant evenings spent engaging in various debates on ge nder, sex, relationships, racism and human rights. To Professor Eckhard Breitinger who hosted me at Bayreuth University and provided me with invaluable research materials even before I got to Germany, I owe many debts of gratitude. He is truly a father in another continent. To Adakole Oklobia whose enduring friendship was an invaluable source of rejuvenation on those occasions when the academic waters in my brain had run dry, I say thank you, my good friend. You have no rival. To many friends and colleagues – Melanie Samson, Annaird Naxela, Charles Nyuykonge, Roland Kangong, Busuyi Mekusi, Jendele Hungbo, Thabisani Ndlovu, Franklin Obazu, Sindisiwe Murahwa, Ajiseyi Olaosebikan, John Ngemandze, Fetson Kalua, Lynda Spencer, Ranka Primorac, Nande Neeta, Adesola Illemobade – whose support went deeper than they realized, I say merci beaucoup. iv To Professor Rosemary Gray who is many things to me – a former supervisor, a boss, a mother and a very dear friend – I give many thanks. It is not always that one gets privileged to have four valuable persons in one human being. To Rob Sharman whom I came to understand cared about my academic well-being more than his actions indicated, I say thank you for being there. To Ahmed Essop, my creative writing mentor, I give many thanks for all those times he kept me on the phone, telling me in his peculiar way – softly but firmly – that what I was writing about needed to be written. To my parents and siblings, no words can sufficiently express the depth of my appreciation for your extraordinary generosity in every way conceivable. I can only dedicate this work to you. And finally to my MUSE – the deep, rich, sexy voice of Shahrukh Khan – which forever played in the background, assuring me time and time again when I burned the midnight lamp to have no fear main hoon na, I say till technology do us part. v CONTENTS DECLARATION i DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ANGLOPHONE CAMEROON LITERATURE AND THE QUESTION OF GENDER 1.1 Preamble 1 1.2 Rationale for this Study 2 1.3 Aims of the Study 7 1.4 Key Terms of the Study 10 1.5 Background to the Study: Anglophone Cameroon and its Literature 13 1.5.1 The Genesis of the Anglophone/Francophone Conflict 14 1.5.2 Towards a Definition of Anglophone Cameroon Literature 17 1.5.3 The Evolution of Anglophone Cameroon Literature 19 1.6 Literature Review: The Gender Question in Cameroon 24 1.6.1 Gender Politics in Cameroon and its Implications for Contemporary Writing 25 1.6.2 Critical Perspectives on Bole Butake’s Drama 33 1.7 Theoretical Framework: Re-visiting the Feminist Discourse 38 1.7.1 Feminist Criticism 40 1.7.2 Strattonian Feminism 43 1.8 Methodology 50 1.9 Organization of Work 51 1.10 Scope and Limitation 53 CHAPTER TWO “DAUGHTERS OF EVE”: EARLY VISIONS OF WOMEN IN THE RAPE OF MICHELLE AND BETROTHAL WITHOUT LIBATION 2.1 Introduction 55 2.2 Women in Urban Spaces: The Rape of Michelle 56 vi 2.3 Michelle: The Literary Incarnation of Potiphar’s Wife 59 2.4 Rufina: The “Prostitute” Woman 68 2.5 Akwen: The Model Wife 74 2.6 Women and Depictions of the State 78 2.7 Women and the Marriage Metaphor: Betrothal without Libation 82 2.8 Hierarchical Formations in Urban and Rural Spaces 85 2.9 Defining the Female Space: Women, Marriage and Motherhood 89 2.10 Daughters of Eve, Sons of Whom? 102 CHAPTER THREE DIS/EMPOWERING THE FEMALE BODY IN LAKE GOD, THE SURVIVORS AND IN AND PALM WINE WILL FLOW 3.1 Introduction 105 3.2 The “Women Empowerment” Plays 106 3.2.1 Lake God 107 3.2.2 The Survivors 110 3.2.3 And Palm Wine Will Flow 112 3.2.4 Utopia vs Dystopia 114 3.3 Women, Sex and Discourses of Dis/empowerment 115 3.3.1 The Anlu of Kom and the Ta’kembeng of Bamenda 115 3.3.2 The Patriarchal Order and Female Power in Lake God 123 3.3.3 The Sexual Politics of Lake God 133 3.3.4 Body Politics in And Palm Wine Will Flow 137 3.3.5 Practices of Exclusion in And Palm Wine Will Flow 140 3.3.6 Heroism in Whoredom: The Survivors 143 3.4 Butake’s Female Characters under a Strattonian Lens 151 3.5 Whose Empowerment is it? 152 CHAPTER FOUR WOMEN AS ABSENTED PRESENCES IN SHOES AND FOUR MEN IN ARMS AND DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES 4.1 Introduction 154 4.2 Highlights of the Plays: Of Vampires and Vandals 157 4.3 The Post-colony and the Absented in Shoes and Four Men in Arms 160 4.4 The Grotesque and the Absented in Dance of the Vampires 171 4.5 What Happened to Women’s Agency? 177 vii CHAPTER FIVE THE FEMALE NEGOTIATOR IN ZINTGRAFF AND THE BATTLE OF MANKON AND FAMILY SAGA 5.1 Introduction 180 5.2 The Plays as Historical Drama 183 5.2.1 Bali History and Pre/colonial Politics in Zintgraff and the Battle of Mankon 184 5.2.2 Cameroon’s History and the Anglophone Problem in Family Saga 188 5.3 Women as Negotiators 190 5.3.1 Negotiating Peace: Kassa 190 5.3.2 Negotiating Reconciliation: Sawa 200 5.4 Echoes of Negritude: Mother Africa Re-packaged 207 5.5 Gendering the Allegorical Mode 211 5.6 In Celebration of Women? 213 CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION: WOMEN, POWER AND BUTAKE’S VISION 6.1 Introduction 216 6.2 A Review of Butake’s Themes and Dramatic Style 216 6.3 The Evolution of Butake’s Vision 220 APPENDICES Appendix I: Butake’s Plays on Stage: Some Observations 227 Appendix II: A Synopsis of Butake’s Life and Work 239 Appendix III: Interview with Butake 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY 262 viii ABSTRACT Through an in-depth analysis of selected texts, this study engages with the ways in which the Anglophone Cameroonian playwright, Bole Butake, interprets questions of gender, sex and female power.

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