 Thembeka Ntuli in traditional garb at this week's event  From left: Likhapha Mbatha, Director: National Movement of Rural Women; Prof Oupa Mashile, Deputy Executive Dean: College of Human Sciences; Ms Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula, the visiting scholar; Prof Gelderblom, CoD: Department of Sociology; Prof Rosemary Moeketsi, Executive Dean: College of Human Sciences; Dr Matoane, CoD, Department of Psychology; Ms Thuli Shandu, Department of English Studies; & Prof Dzvimbo, Deputy Executive Dean: College of Human Sciences  Members of the audience at the recent Africa speaks lecture |
African women will be liberated if they own the cause
Ms Jessie Kabwila Kapasula is a proud feminist who approaches feminism both as an academic and as an activist. This doctoral student, who also lectures on African feminism at Binghamton University in New York, was invited by the College of Human Sciences to be a part of the African Visiting Scholar of the Month lecture series.
Ms Kabwila Kapasula spoke on "Patriarchy and the oppression of African women in the 21st century: a conversation with Adichie and Dangarembga" at the Senate Hall on 12 August 2009.
Referring to the books Purple hibiscus and Nervous conditions, written by acclaimed authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria and Tsitsi Dangarembga from Zimbabwe, Ms Kabwila Kapasula said patriarchy and the oppression of African women has generated much controversy, because it forces Africans to take stock of what is happening in Africa. It engages the nerve centre of class, gender, race and power in Africa.
Ms Kabwila Kapasula described Adichie and Dangarembga as women who have proved themselves in Africa and globally. "This is because they write about how black women are understanding oppression and what they are doing about it."
In Nervous conditions, Dangarembga tells the story of Tambudzai, a young girl living in a small village in Rhodesia, whose own story begins with the death of her brother, Nhamo. Nhamo is sent to live with his uncle and aunt in order to be educated at a mission school and later provide his family with economic support; however, he develops a severe case of mumps and dies suddenly, leaving his parents without a son to support them. Tambudzai also wants to be educated and works on her own mealie crop in a bid to pay her school fees as she receives very little support from her family. This book explores how patriarchy is made into a system of logic and if women do not follow that logic, they are labelled as social misfits. Dangarembga also makes reference to various female characters and how they viewed, experienced or fought against patriarchy and oppression.
In Purple hibiscus, Adichie tells the story of 15 year-old Kambili who lives under the shadow of her wealthy Catholic father. Her father, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father sends her and her brother to stay with their aunt, whose house is different to theirs. Kambili and her brother discover a new life and love, and this gives rise to profound devotion and unexpected defiance. According to Ms Kabwila Kapasula, this book teaches society that gender equality cannot be attained at national level if it cannot be attained at family level.
According to Ms Kabwila Kapasula, the authors characterise patriarchy in Africa as a trend defined mainly from a Western perspective, and that it is a mechanism that has enabled men to gain and maintain authority and control. "These two writers also destroy the pathology that Africa is the only patriarchal place. They destroy the myth that all African men are patriarchal, and speak of those who relish African women and realise the stronger we are, the stronger the continent will be." She concluded by saying that African females will be liberated from oppression if they own the cause. |
