Browsing by Author "Olayinka, W."

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Blind devotion, violence and trauma in the works of Ka Maïga, Bassek and Mpoudi-Ngollé
(2012) Sanusi, R.; Olayinka, W.
African women, for too long, have been made to exist in the shadow of African men. Their subordination to men has been mostly achieved by the enactment of societal laws in pre-colonial, colonial and neocolonial African settings which categorize them women) as the ‘other’. The consequence of this subjugation is women’s dependence on / and blind acceptance of their inferiority to men. To change the status quo, African feminist writers and critics alike have raised awareness in women about the obduracy of oppressive tendencies of some African cultural mores. These cultural athos / practices are those that spring from essentially controlling woman's body that practically translate into controlling her mind in order to make her believe the myth that she is inferior to her male counterpart. The reification of the female body invariably leads to African women’s blind devotion to their husbands, children and most often, the extended family. Besides women are also victims of male violence and trauma as evidenced in the works of Philomene Bassek, Aminata Ka MaYga and Evelyne Mpoudi Ngolle.
Religio-cultural and poetic constructions of the subaltern African woman
(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2012) Sanusi, R.; Olayinka, W.
The colonial experience, particularly the introduction of Christianity and Islam in Africa, altered the African socio-cultural equation and ways of life. European and Arab missionaries diligently spread their religious beliefs which fused with some African cultural practices and subsequently determined the status of African women, in particular. Suffice it to say that colonialism, Christianity and Islam masculinised any territory upon which they inflicted themselves and dismantled the matriarchal system that mutually coexisted with patriarchy in some pre-colonial African societies. They also provided an ideological framework for the social roles of women, which subordinated them to their male counterparts. Besides, the poetic constructions of African women on the literary platform of Negritude largely contributed in reinforcing this subaltern image and secondary roles ascribed to African women, heightened by colonialism and promoted by new religious doctrines and practices. The textual representation of African women as mothers, in terms of their nurturing capabilities, placed them in an essentially problematic position, and conferred on them a purely domestic role. It is quite cheering to note, however, that this unhealthy subordination of the African woman is rapidly giving way to the notion of gender equity, founded on new religio-cultural principles, and facilitated by women’s access to western education, modernization, and the systematic ‘eboulement’ or dismantling of the African patriarchal culture.