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African Women's Empowerment: a Study in Amma Darko's Selected African women’s empowerment : a study in Amma Darko’s selected novels Koumagnon Alfred Djossou Agboadannon To cite this version: Koumagnon Alfred Djossou Agboadannon. African women’s empowerment : a study in Amma Darko’s selected novels. Linguistics. Université du Maine; Université d’Abomey-Calavi (Bénin), 2018. English. NNT : 2018LEMA3008. tel-02049712 HAL Id: tel-02049712 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02049712 Submitted on 26 Feb 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THESE DE DOCTORAT DE LE MANS UNIVERSITE ET DE L’UNIVERSITE D’ABOMEY-CALAVI COMUE UNIVERSITE BRETAGNE LOIRE ÉCOLE DOCTORALE N° 595 ÉCOLE DOCTORALE PLURIDISCIPLINAIRE Arts, Lettres, Langues «Espaces, Cultures et Développement» Spécialité : Littérature africaine anglophone Par Koumagnon Alfred DJOSSOU AGBOADANNON AFRICAN WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT: A STUDY IN AMMA DARKO’S SELECTED NOVELS Thèse présentée et soutenue à l’Université d’Abomey-Calavi, le 17 décembre 2018 Unités de recherche : 3 LAM Le Mans Université et GRAD Université d’Abomey-Calavi Thèse N° : 2018LEMA3008 Rapporteurs avant soutenance : Komla Messan NUBUKPO, Professeur Titulaire / Université de Lomé / TOGO Philip WHYTE, Professeur Titulaire / Université François Rabelais de Tours / FRANCE Laure Clémence CAPO-CHICHI ZANOU, Professeur Titulaire / Université d’Abomey-Calavi/BENIN Composition du Jury : Présidente : Laure Clémence CAPO-CHICHI ZANOU, Professeur Titulaire / Université d’Abomey-Calavi/BENIN Examinateurs : Augustin Y. AINAMON, Professeur Titulaire / Université d’Abomey-Calavi / BENIN Benaouda LEBDAI, Professeur Titulaire / Le Mans Université / FRANCE Komla Messan NUBUKPO, Professeur Titulaire/ Université de Lomé/ TOGO Philip WHYTE, Professeur Titulaire / Université François Rabelais de Tours / FRANCE Léonard KOUSSOUHON, Professeur Titulaire / Université d’Abomey-Calavi/ BENIN Dir. de thèse : Augustin Y. AINAMON, Professeur Titulaire de Littérature africaine et d’Etudes américaines Co-dir. de thèse: Benaouda LEBDAI, Professeur Titulaire de Littératures coloniales et postcoloniales Invité(s) Benaouda LEBDAI, Professeur Titulaire / Le Mans Université / FRANCE Komla Messan NUBUKPO, Professeur Titulaire/ Université de Lomé/ TOGO Philip WHYTE, Professeur Titulaire / Université François Rabelais de Tours / FRANCE ii RESUMÉ et MOTS CLÉS L’autonomisation des femmes africaines : Une étude à travers une sélection de romans d’Amma Darko Résumé: Cette thèse entreprend une analyse sur les romancières africaines qui ont un avis différent sur la question de la description des personnages féminins, un point de vue différent sur le rôle de leurs fictions qui peuvent être utilisées pour promouvoir les femmes. Cette recherche examine précisément l’influence de la culture, des coutumes traditionnelles africaines dans les romans de l’écrivaine ghanéenne, Amma Darko. Les romans publiés entre 1995 et 2007 inscrivent l’écrivaine ghanéenne dans la troisième génération de romancières africaines. Amma Darko est née un an avant l’indépendance du Ghana qui a eu lieu en 1957. Elle quitta le Ghana pour l’Allemagne où elle travailla pendant environ dix ans. Ses écrits partent de l’hypothèse générale de l’existence des groupes minoritaires au sein de la littérature africaine parmi lesquels celui des écrivaines dont les textes ont un écho plus en plus fort dans le champ littéraire. Son premier roman Beyond the Horizon (1995) donne la preuve palpable de cette capacité à revisiter l’histoire de son peuple en vue de raviver son identité dans un monde en mutation. Ce travail de recherche montre comment la romancière souligne les pratiques culturelles comme étant le point de blocage dans l’émancipation des femmes africaines. Cette thèse montre que ses romans expriment davantage les opacités du malaise culturel et identitaire de la femme ghanéenne et africaine d’une manière générale. Ses romans s’inscrivent dans un contexte d’émergence littéraire et sociologique et montre comment leurs dispositions, leurs positions et leurs prises de positions retracent une trajectoire ancrée dans le roman œuvre didactique et d’éveil de conscience. Cette thèse s’est construite sur une analyse approfondie du mode de transmission de l’émotion de la romancière, particulièrement à travers la mémoire, l’histoire et le traumatisme du peuple ghanéen et donc africain, et le mode par lequel elle représente et repositionne les personnages féminins pour répondre à la question de l’apport de la littérature dans la prise de pouvoir de la femme africaine. Amma Darko le justifie par le besoin constant de la solidarité entre femmes rurales, surtout pendant les moments difficiles. En ville, la chance est moindre pour que les femmes soient solidaires, mais cette solidarité engagée se retrouve au niveau des femmes de l’Organisation Non Gouvernementale, MUTE basée à Accra. L’ensemble montre comment Amma Darko propose des solutions de règlement de cette crise relationnelle homme/femme à travers des personnages convaincants et bouleverse par ce mélange de genres l’esthétique en fragmentant l’histoire par le biais de flashbacks, en refondant une société dans laquelle l’action des personnages féminins exigent le respect. Amma Darko reflète ainsi sa maîtrise des différentes langues utilisées et de leur esthétique. La romancière utilise des mots et des histoires de son ethnie d’appartenance pour justifier son identité et celle de ses personnages. Cette thèse montre combien Amma Darko est aux avant-postes de la littérature engagée écrite par les femmes en Afrique. MOTS-CLÉS: 1 Littérature 5 Autonomie 2 Tradition africaine 6 Féminisme 3 Culture 7 Société patriarcale 4 Femmes 8 Education African Women’s Empowerment: A study in Amma Darko’s Selected Novels. Abstract: This thesis addresses the question of whether African female writers have a different view in portraying their female characters and investigates whether their fiction can inspire women’s empowerment in Africa. Therefore, this study examines the influence of culture and customs in the novels of the Ghanaian female writer, Amma Darko. In her writings, Amma Darko has consistently sought to portray cultural practices that bring embarrassment to her shared gender. She has used the same channel to teach her counterparts the formal ways to cope with those issues. Focusing on her novels, our study explores modes of memory, trauma and history writing and examines the way she represents, reaffirms and re- positions women in their creative writings to answer the question of whether literature can help empower African women. Amma Darko proves it right by showing a constant need for female solidarity in order for women to remain or become empowered. This thesis examines the histories of immigration and maps the transatlantic slave trade. It discloses the active implication of Ghanaian men in fictional narratives, modes by which memories of the past are formally and consciously structured and recorded. It also examines the way in which traditional customs control the conscience of women in African societies. Since women's roles are largely dictated by cultural expectations such as motherhood, docility, child bearing and rearing, the dissertation includes examination of the writers' attitudes towards those traditions relating to marriage, polygamy, unfaithfulness, and witchcraft. Many womanist scholars have pointed out largely and unanimously that many aspects of African culture are hostile to women. Therefore, a need for a paradigm shift was deeply analysed. Their feminist points of view are indeed discussed in their creative works. This thesis draws attention to the fact that African female writers like Amma Darko are deeply concerned by female issues in villages as well as urban centres, but also by other pertinent issues like religious beliefs, modern evangelisation and street children phenomenon prevailing in their societies. It analyses the solutions regarding those issues through the writer’s characters. Through realistic and imaginative works, solutions are suggested through strong characters. This research shows how much Amma Darko is at the forefront of a committed African literature written by African women. KEY WORDS: 1 Literature 5 Empowerment 2 African tradition 6 Feminism 3 Culture 7 Patriarcal society 4 Women 8 Education iii EXCERPTS ON AFRICAN WOMEN’S IMPORTANCE_____________________ “Those women who struggle without giving up hope, herald the impending change [...] change in attitude for both men and women as they evaluate and re-evaluate their social roles [...]”. -Rosemary Moyana "No longer are we allowed to put the national question above gender issues; in fact, we are no longer allowed to think of the national question as something apart from the role and place of women in society" ~ Nelson Mandela speaking at a dinner celebrating Women's Month, Johannesburg Country Club, Johannesburg, South Africa, 25 August 2003 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS______________________________ The completion of this thesis is the result of the immense contributions of a number of individuals, who deserve every commendation and
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