Negotiating Cultural Identity: Tradition, Patriarchy, and Female Agency in Mariama Bâ And Buchi Emecheta

This paper examines the politics of cultural identity in postcolonial African feminist literature through Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter (1981) and Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and Second-Class Citizen (1974). Employing postcolonial feminist theory—particularly Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s critique of Western universalism and Obioma Nnaemeka’s “nego-feminism”—the analysis explores how Bâ and Emecheta portray women negotiating patriarchal traditions, colonial legacies, and diasporic alienation. Ramatoulaye in Bâ’s epistolary narrative embodies communal introspection and nego-feminist negotiation within Senegalese Muslim society, while Emecheta’s protagonists—Nnu Ego and Adah—illustrate the oppressive weight of Igbo motherhood ideals and the individualistic defiance required in Nigeria and Britain. The paper compares Bâ’s emphasis on relational agency and collective reflection with Emecheta’s focus on solitary resistance and self-redefinition, arguing that these complementary strategies highlight diverse pathways to empowerment in African feminist discourse. Ultimately, the works challenge stereotypes of African women as passive victims, centering education, resilience, and cultural re-negotiation as tools for reclaiming identity amid postcolonial flux.

African feminism, cultural identity, patriarchy, postcolonialism

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