Women Who Give Birth to New Worlds
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Women who Give Birth to New Worlds: Three Feminine Perspectives on Lusophone Postcolonial Africa A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2010 Maria Armanda Fortes Tavares School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures List of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................. 3 Declaration ....................................................................................................................... 4 Copyright Statement......................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 6 Dedication......................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction: “Bringing down the house”: Female literary voices in dialogue in Postcolonial Lusophone Africa ........................................................................................ 9 1. Relocating the margins and the centre: the reinvention of the nation in Dina Salústio’s A Louca de Serrano and Mornas Eram as Noites. ......................................................... 51 2. A State without a Nation: reading Paulina Chiziane’s rewriting of the nation’s utopia in Ventos do Apocalipse, Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia and O Alegre Canto da Perdiz.............................................................................................................................. 96 3. Women in the contact zone in Rosária da Silva's Totonya………........................... 197 Concluding Remarks: Whose imagined community? Rethinking national identity through gender.............................................................................................................. 237 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 249 Primary Sources........................................................................................................ 249 Secondary Sources.................................................................................................... 250 Word Count: 102.481 2 Abstract This thesis aims at analysing comparatively the literary production of three African female authors – the Cape Verdean Dina Salústio (1941), the Mozambican Paulina Chiziane (1955) and the Angolan Rosária da Silva (1959) – so as to observe the authors’ cultural construction of their complex postcolonial nations from a female- focalized point of view and their representation of the women of these nations interacting with the transcultural contexts of each analysed country. Their works demonstrate the importance of thinking nationalism and national identity through gender, simultaneously highlighting the potential of situated gender analysis for the understanding and contestation of the power networks that consolidate the supremacy of hegemonic discourses. Hence, the main argument that this thesis develops in three distinct chapters (each one devoted to the literary production of each author) and in the light of a particular theoretical framework is that the building of the post-independence nations under analysis is structured through gender differentiation. The point of departure for this project is the work developed by specific postcolonial theorists who analyse and deconstruct hegemonic discourses of identity. Hence, Benedict Anderson’s understanding of the nation as an “imagined political community” (1991) is explored and widened by Homi Bhabha’s theorization of the dynamics of national discourse (1990), whose instability comes from the friction between its pedagogical and performative dimensions. This emphasis on empowering marginality takes us to Edward Said’s reflections on exile (2001). For Said, the condition of exile represents an irrecoverable displacement of the human being as regards her/his own homeland, a state which she/he will permanently try to revoke. Andrea O’Reilly Herrera (2001) uses the term insílio to emphasise the psychological and emotional dimensions of this state, which precedes the actual physical exile. Reflections on the active involvement of the displaced in the renegotiation of the nation are also at the core of Mary Louise Pratt’s theorization of contact zones, autoethnography and transculturation (1991). The emphasis on the disruptive potential of autoethnography is recaptured in Graham Huggan’s study of the Post-Colonial Exotic (2001), focusing specifically on the potential of what he called “celebratory autoethnography”. Nonetheless, considering that these approaches are largely gender blind, the study questions their premises further by incorporating postcolonial feminist theories and feminist theories from sociology. Anne McClintock (1995) and Nira Yuval-Davis’s (1997) important proposal of the analysis of nationalism through the lens of a theory of gender power gave access to multiple experiences of the nation. Amina Mama’s (2001) proposal of the analysis of individual and national identity through gender with a view to understanding and dismantling the power structures in operation adds to these strong theorizations. Considering that the three examined countries had one-party socialist regimes immediately after independence, Catherine Scott’s study on gender and development theories (1995) facilitates a situated analysis of gender as well. Through this outlook, the study assesses the feasibility and limitation of the application of such theories to the gender-related issues in the specific context of postcolonial lusophone Africa. Furthermore, it explores the possible existence of common “lusophone postcolonial” spaces that link these women’s experiences of Portuguese colonialism and the socialist experiment. Women who Give Birth to New Worlds: Three Feminine Perspectives on Lusophone Postcolonial Africa, submitted by Maria Tavares to the University of Manchester for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2010. 3 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 4 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/policies/intellectual- property.pdf), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on presentation of Theses. 5 Acknowledgements Firstly, and most importantly, I would like to thank Professor Hilary Owen for believing in me and providing me with her unconditional support, guidance and patience throughout this very long and hardworking journey. I would also like to thank Dr. Par Kumaraswami, Professor Lúcia Sá and Professor João Cézar de Castro Rocha for all the suggestions and valuable intellectual input, and FCT for sponsoring me. There are also a number of other important persons who have been standing by my side for a very long time now, and I also need to thank them because I know that without them I simply would not have survived this adventure. Hence, I would like to thank my Mancunian Family – Ceyda V., Noelia A., Daniel S. S., Emilene L. S., Jose F., Ellie C., George B., Alex L., George D., Patrick O., Juan H., Tricia R., Panos, Rhian A., David F. and Sara R. P. – for the lovely lunches at ‘Bem Brasil’, for the late-night teas, for the lovely Greek food and desserts, for all the laughter, for all the help every time I had to move into a new flat, for the dinners at Varsity’s, for the cokes at KRO Bar, for all the stimulating conversations, for the incredible Turkish food, for the trips away from Manchester, for the great nights out, for sharing experiences, for the football matches, for the chocolate experiments... for loving me and sharing so many things