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In Defense of African Male Writers’ Feminist Philosophy: Alternative Reading of Sembene Ousmane—“the Feminist Macho”



Author(s)

Prof. Hellen Roselyne L. Shigali

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DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2017.10.006

Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya

Gender sensitivity and feminist perspective in fiction is stereotypically associated with female writers based on stereotypical dichotomies that define patriarchy categorizing humanity into aggressive male oppressor versus passive female oppressor. The concepts are relatively new in African developmental discourse and scholarship. Gender is gradually gaining acceptance but feminism remains a dirty word in general public perception. It is replete with misconceptions and controversies. It is associated with the female rebel who is anti-African culture. In this context, African culture is presumed to be ideal and static. Its sexist practices against both men and women are erroneously misrepresented as African traditional values. Attempts to challenge the status quo in any sphere of life are attributed to disruptive foreign influence, on the assumption that all African peoples cherish their variants of patriarchy. Existence of indigenous egalitarian worldview and emancipatory ideologies is silenced. This scenario extends into African literature and criticism, so much so that many female writers disclaim the term because to acclaim it is to subject oneself to curious scrutiny. Therefore, to attach the label to an African, male writer requires justification. Fortunately, the label “feminist macho” was constructed by Sembene Ousmane’s friend and authorized biographer Samba Gadjigo who probably has a deeper understanding of the concept particularly in reference to Ousmane’s novel God’s Bits of Wood (1960). However, it is essential to clarify that African feminism exemplified by the text is not synonymous with Western feminisms that emerge from a capitalist, individualist, and seemingly secular worldview. Analysis of Ousmane’s vision on gender issues in this paper is guided by African feminist social theories formulated by Nigerian poet and critic, Molara Ogundipe-Leslie and Siera Leonian, as well as an anthropologist Filomina Chioma Steady. To constitute a framework for literary analysis, tenets of the social theories are combined with literary stylistics. Reference is made to scholars in the Diaspora who espouse Afrocentric feminist worldview and other African male writers who exhibit gender sensitivity. The underpining philosophy of African gender sensitivity views male and female as two complementary parts of a whole defined as human. This is an unchanging truth that makes scientific sense considering that all humans originate from an intricate combination of male and female seed in procreation. The concept of otherness is a latter day invention. By inference, when one part of the human whole presumes dominance against the other, it shares the resultant ramifications. Secondly, humans are social beings, which implies whatever every individual does requires an audience or accomplice. This presupposition unsettles the dichotomous paradigm that defines human relations particularly gender relations. The third undisputable truth that distinguishes African gender perspectives is the recognition of multiple forms of oppressions to which both African men and women are subjected, the root cause of which is the idealization of the concept of power over others. The very concept of dominance is destabilized by the fact that the dominated is an indicator of its very existence. This in turn unsettles patriarchal idealization of male dominance over female subordination. When the greatness of the Okonkwos of this world has woman as an essential component, it becomes obvious that the dichotomous constructions fall short of defining the intricate reality of gender relations. Dominance versus subordination in conjugal relations forms archetypal template for subsequent discriminations in similar illogical dichotomies in human relations whether they gender, caste, class, racial, and attendant inter-cum-intra category variants. Attempt to address the complex ramifications engendered by the illogical dichotomizing and polarizing of gender relations that would otherwise be harmonious albeit binary requires a gender-based worldview, as distinct from a feminist one that is essentially woman-centred. To capture such complexity is to transcend feminism without invalidating its philosophy and transformative aims. In Gadjigo’s words, it means being more feminist than narrow feminisms. Ousmane probably earns the broader title from his friend because he captures these essences of gender discrimination as archetype of other discriminations that delimit human relations. He may indeed be a “feminist macho” even in a Western sense because he addresses all oppressions of humanity and yet succeeds in foregrounding oppression of women. He criticizes definitive assumptions and basic features of patriarchal ideology and practice notably gendered division of labour, space, and the resultant stereotypes. He ennobles this deconstruction-cum-reconstruction project by contextualizing it in a historical novel. My paper grapples with this unique historisisation of the struggle for gender equity that predates the 1960s women’s liberation movements in the Western world. In a context where African male writers have been condemned for gender insensitivity en masse or mentioned en passant in supposedly gender sensitive critical texts, one hopes that another view might still get audience. Stereotypically, to be a feminist is to be pro-all-oppressed women versus all male oppressors. African feminist concept of complementarity demonstrated by Ousmane in God’s Bits of Wood calls for re-examination of gender sensitivity in literary art.

patriarchy, feminism, feminist macho, gender, dichotomies, complementarity, historization