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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Arm Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 AFRICAN WOMEN WRITERS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR EMANCIPATION: IMAGE AND REALITY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Beatrice M. Mulala, M.Ed ***** The Ohio State University 1999 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Karlis Racevskis, Adviser Professor John Conteh-Morgan Adviser Professor Marie-Paule Ha Department of French and Italian UMI Number: 9931657 UMI Microform 9931657 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ABSTRACT African women have been studied by many scholars and from many different perspectives, but very few of these studies have been done by African women themselves, due to economic and other constraints. The representation by outsiders as well as by African men has been blamed for perpetuating an image of African women that does not correspond to who they really are. The only way to correct this image is for African women to speak for themselves. If research has been accessible to only a few of them, the writing of fiction has given many more an opportunity to express themselves, beginning in the 1960s when women entered the literary scene. The study is undertaken on the premise that an examination of fictional writing by Afirican women can contribute to a better understanding of their condition and aspirations. The notion of situated knowledges is used to validate self-representation by women and to show why they are able to write more realistically about themselves. The notion of habitus is used to by-pass the difBculty inherent in any discussion of reality, since the habitus is shaped by reality as it is experienced in everyday life. Writing is considered emancipatory if it addresses the changing conditions of the material and social environment to reveal possibilities for a change of habitus, or if it exposes the mechanisms that perpetuate the oppression of Afiican women through the production of a compliant habitus. ii Even though many cultural differences exist among African women, researchers have seen patterns emerging in their condition under neocolonialism that allow for certain generalizations. The study examines fiction by francophone writers from Cameroon and anglophone ones from Kenya, countries with different colonial histories and from opposite ends of the continent, to see whether these patterns emerge in literature as well, and how women are negotiating their lives within the changing societies. A life cycle approach to women’s lives is used to organize the study of the texts, which are discussed under the categories of adolescence, marriage, motherhood, women and work, and woman’s body and sexuality. An examination of the various stages of a woman’s life as portrayed by the writers reveals how a woman’s habitus is shaped throughout her life. The works considered range from the early ones published in the 1960s to recent ones published in the 1990s. The generation of the writers is taken into account when assessing their representation of women. What emerges is that while the authors strive to give realistic representations of aspects of women’s lives, not all of them challenge the status quo or propose strategies for change. In order for an author to produce writing that can contribute to the emancipation of women, she has to write self-consciously to avoid falling into the traps of her own habitus with its internalized dispositions. Knowledge of feminist theory can help reveal the discrirnination against women that is embedded in customary norms, modem law and social conventions. The question of canonization is also raised: in order for works by women to contribute to social change, they have to be read by a wide audience. Unfortunately, few women writers have found a place in the canon of African literature. m TO THE MEMORY OF MWAITU IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser. Professor Karlis Racevskis, for intellectual support and for the timely manner in which he read and gave me feedback on my work. His detailed corrections made revisions much easier. My thanks also go to Professors John Conteh-Morgan and Marie-Paul Ha for taking the time to read and comment on individual chapters as I finished them. Their suggestions broadened my outlook on many issues. I know that my family was remembering me in their prayers everyday, and I thank them all for their love and support. To my son Mulatya, a very special thank-you for his cheerful presence in my life, for helping me keep things in perspective when I felt overwhelmed, and for continuing to grow and flourish in spite of my divided attention. VITA May 5, 1948 ............................................ Bom - Machakos, Kenya June 1970 ................................................ Certificat Pratique de Langue Française & Diplôme d’Etudes Françaises, Université de Madagascar June 1973 ................................................ Licence ès Lettres de Français Appliqué, Université de Besançon, France July 1973- July 1977.................................High School French Teacher, Limuru Girls’ School & Machakos Boys’ School, Kenya Aug 1977- July 1983 ............................... Tutorial Fellow in French, Kenyatta University, Kenya Dec 1981..................................................Master of Education, University of Nairobi, Kenya Aug 1983- Aug 1991...............................Lecturer in French, Kenyatta University Sept 1991-June 1996.............................. Graduate Teaching Associate, Dept o f French and Itahan, OSU Jan 1997-Mayl997................................. Lecturer in French, Ohio Dominican College, Columbus, Ohio Sept 1996-June 1999............................... Lecturer in French, Dept of French and Italian, OSU FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: French and Italian VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgment...................................................................................................................... v V ita...........................................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2; Cameroonian Women Writers ........................................................................... 35 Chapter 3 : Kenyan Women W riters ..................................................................................... 84 Chapter 4; Two Male Writers; Mongo Beti and Ngugi wa Thiong’o .............................. 135 Chapter 5: Conclusion ..........................................................................................................185 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 203 vu CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Studies on African women African women have been studied by many scholars and from many different perspectives. Descriptions of the economic, political and cultural activities of African women during the colonial period can be found mainly in ethnographies. However, "ethnographers were generally men, talking through male interpreters to male informants, about men's affairs. Rarely did an ethnography look specifically at women" (O'Barr, p. 14). But beginning in the 1960s, and motivated by debates on women's positions in Western countries, scholars began to look directly at African women. The publication in 1960 of Femmes d'Afrique Noire (translated three years later as Women of Tropical AfricaT a collection of essays by female anthropologists, set the stage for a new phase in the
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