Gyasi, Kwaku Addae. "From God's Bits of Wood to Smouldering Charcoal : Decolonization, Class Struggle, and the Role of Women's Consciousness in Postcolonial West Africa."  French Colonial History 5 (2004): 173-191.

Kwaku Gyasi’s article compares and contrasts the elements of class struggle, African female power and hopes for post-colonial reform between Ousmane Sembène’s God’s Bits of Wood (1960) and Tiyambe Zeleza’s Smoldering Charcoal (1992). At its outset, the article briefly lays out the historical context in which Sembène released his novel, describing the emergence of a heavily French-influenced class of intellectuals and writers, and a religious elite class influenced mainly by Islam. The article was lengthy, so I focused on Gyasi’s argument about women as a social/political force. She shows how Sembène’s women represent a new force of assertive, combative individuals that reject Western stereotypes of gender roles and personality traits. These women are “architects of their own destiny,” and are portrayed as protagonists rather than submissive sidekicks to the male characters. Additionally, Gyasi expounds upon the women protagonists’ refusal to speak French, or to speak to white men.

Gyasi’s analysis of the characters and themes in God’s Bits of Wood reminded me a lot of Xala. The portrayal of female protagonists, in particular, smacked of Xala’s character Rama, who refused to speak El Hadji in French, and later on confronts her father about his treatment of Adja (his first wife). Not only this, but Rama tries to galvanize Raja and her brother into action, engaging them in dialogue about the unfairness of polygamy and the men that choose it. Additionally, the historical introduction of the article fit well with the opening scene of Xala, when the colonial powers are replaced by locals that end up idolizing and emulating the culture they supposedly kicked out.

Pfaff, Francoise. Cinema of Ousmane Sembene, a pioneer of African film. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984.

In chapter 2 of Cinema of Ousmane Sembène, Pfaff decribes Ousmane Sembène’s exquisite skill as a storyteller, calling him the modern equivalent of the traditional African griot. A griot is an individual that specializes in storytelling, legends and family histories. Sembène certainly fits the bill, but what makes him even more authentic as the first African international herald was the fact that he was self-educated, opinionated and critical of post-colonial rule in Africa. The author elaborates upon the popularity and effectiveness of griot storytelling in African heritage, and how this heritage gave Sembène’s films such a distinct style when compared to Western films. Griot-style stories were often allegorical in nature, and we see the same style in most of Sembène’s films. Pfaff uses Xala, for instance, to show how individual character psychology is not as important as character stereotype – each character representing a distinct worldview.

I think the relation between this chapter and Xala is rather obvious. Sembène uses Xala, to tell the story of post-colonial Africa. The film has elements of allegory, and certainly has a strong political and cultural agenda, as would be expected coming from a griot. The film was recorded in French so that Sembène could tell the story to an international audience, in hopes of spurring outside political pressure and accountability for African governments.

Thomas, Lynn M.  Politics of the womb : women, reproduction, and the state in Kenya.  Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.

Chapter three of Lynn Thomas’s book Politics of the womb: women, reproduction, and the state in Kenya talks about the ban on female excision (female genital cutting, a cultural and religious tradition in many African people groups) in Kenya from 1956-1959.  The ban resulted in a significant backlash, not from indigenous men in positions of leadership, but rather from young indigenous women.  Girls organized excisions on their own, as it was firmly believed that the coming-of-age ritual was necessary to live morally and even birth healthy children.  However, the girls didn’t follow all of the rituals, celebrations and formats of the traditional excision ceremony, which resulted in the older generation of women criticizing, and even not recognizing the excisions as legitimate.  Interestingly, this marked a significant shift in women’s mentality in Kenya.  The new generation of women represented a hybrid between rebellion against authority (both colonial and traditional), and preservation of tradition.

This article relates to the film Xala, and specifically to my thesis, in the way that demonstrates how one people group navigated the friction between traditionalism and modernism.  While the girls from this time period rejected the imposition of colonial modernism, they nonetheless diverged from complete traditionalism as well.  This generation even stood in rebellion to their maternal elders, who insisted upon the most “traditional” and thorough rituals associated with female excision.  The character and actions of Rama in Sembène’s film run parallel to the Kenyan girls’ attitude.

Mushengyezi, Aaron. "Reimaging Gender and African Tradition? Ousmane Sembene's Xala revisited." Africa Today 51, Number 1 (Fall 2004): 47-62.

Aaron Mushengyezi’s Reimaging Gender and African Tradition? Ousmane Sembène’s Xala revisited is written in direct response to Ousamane Sembène’s film Xala. The article challenges Sembène’s polarization of Western and African influences in post-colonial Africa, setting out to raise questions about the director’s vision for the country. The author argues that Sembène romanticizes and idealizes as he reimages Africa for foreign audiences, demonizing Western modernity and idolizing the “purity” of African tradition. It critique’s Sembène’s views of gender, his reimaging Africa and the symbolism of the Xala in an attempt to uncover the director’s worldview.

The article questions whether Sembène includes gender in his list of polarized worldviews, as he depicts males as incompetent, greedy and weak, and females as redemptive, wise and more “masculine” in spirit than their physiological counterparts. Although each of the female characters is comparatively strong, they individually represent different point on the continuum between African traditionalism and Western modernism. The author gives special attention to Rama, Sembène’s idealized heroine - educated yet untouched by Western corruption, speaking her mind, both true to her African heritage and disapproving of her father’s polygamy. The author, however, cites Rama as the primary example of Sembène’s idealism. He argues that such a person does not exist in Africa. The author questions Sembène’s criticism of the paternal system of family and government, hoping to determine what he would suggest in its stead.

The article does admit that Xala raises important questions as to whether Western modernity is solely to blame for the impotence of post-colonial African government. At its conclusion, it explores the paradoxical metaphor of the xala as both a curse and a redemptive force in cleansing El Hadji, the main character, of his Western and African fetishes.

Okom, Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké.  “African Women and Power: Reflections on the Perils of Unwarranted Cosmopolitanism.”  Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies 1:1.

This article explores African women’s positions of power in the pre and post-colonial eras.  The author first argues that it is incorrect to describe pre-colonial African women’s roles as “traditional,” as they had been steadily changing for centuries.  Not only that, but they varied dramatically from people group to people group.  The author focuses on one particular people group, the Yorùbá of Southern Nigeria, to demonstrate the rights and power exercised by women in the capacities of mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, political officials, owners of capital, monarchs, deities and religious leaders.  The author shows how women’s anatomical role as child-bearers was a position of honor in pre-colonial Africa.  Of particular interest was the rigid power structure within each clan of the Yorùbá people group.  Women belonging to the clan actually had authority over men that chose to marry into the clan.  Although the clan still operated as a patrimony, being a clan insider trumped sex.

As it relates to Xala, this article gives several real examples of how women in Africa can and do exercise power.  In Xala, we saw this in the way El Hadji’s first wife explicitly pointed out her superiority to the second and third wives both to her husband and to the other wives.  She could essentially hold her husband’s treatment of the second and third wives in check, and demand respect and submission from the other wives.  The author would also argue that many cultural “traditions” claimed by the males in the film were actually much less traditional than they claimed when one examines Africa’s history, which is very interesting.

Focusing on the first chapter of this book, titled “Contesting Cultures: ‘Westernization,’ Respect for Cultures, and Third-World Feminists,” the author defends the third-world feminists point of view against the accusation that the movement is just another negative artifact of the days of colonialism.  She shows how the issue of feminism has become a battleground upon which Western colonizing cultures and colonized indigenous cultures struggle to prove their superiority.  For those two sides, the issue itself of women’s roles and female sexuality is actually of little interest.  This has made progress on the women’s rights front more than difficult, as any third-world feminist criticisms of practices and gender norms are immediately written off as antinationalist, or an embrace of “corrupt” Western ways.  The author goes on to show how traditionalists use this excuse selectively, picking and choosing which elements of their culture they wish to demonize as “Western,” and which they prefer to preserve and elevate as “authentic” and “spiritually pure.”

This chapter, especially pages 17-21, provide a good overview of the issues faced by women in post-colonial Africa, and seen in Ousmane Sembene’s Xala.  Additionally, the article spells out quite plainly the hypocrisy of many African leaders that pull the “Western” and “Colonial” cards any time they disagree with a particular cultural practice.  An example of this inconsistent cultural choosing would be the attire worn by El Hadji and the other members of the Chamber of Commerce, clearly Western in style, and the simultaneous removal of French statue busts from the Chamber.  Even more hypocritical is El Hadji’s decision to take a third wife, justifying his decision as the preservation of African tradition, and then his insistence on Rama speaking to him in French instead of Wolof.  In the scene where Rama challenges her father’s decision to take a third wife, she states that “All polygamous men are liars.”  Infuriated, El Hadji responds by slapping her.  Rama had previously been speaking with her mother and brother about the issue, but El Hadji immediately silences the discussion, and all hope for women’s rights progress seems to stop.

Boris, Eileen.  “Gender After Africa!”  Africa After Gender.  Ed. Catherine M. Cole, Takyiwaa Manuh, and Stephan F. Miescher.  Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2007.  191-204.

Eileen Boris opens her essay by turning a common question asked by Western gender academics on its head. Instead of asking “What impact has gender as a category of analysis had on the study of Africa,” which in itself assumes Western thinkers have already arrived at a correct framework for studying gender, the author argues that a much more appropriate question is “What can Africa do for gender?” She explains how Western gender theorists have, until recently, incorrectly proposed their own historical gender tradition to be universal. Instead, historical African social and gender structures need to be used to enlarge the framework for academic gender theory. Additionally, she explores the similarities and differences between gender and other social attributes such as age, lineage, kinship and wealth for determining social status. Finally, she shows how African gender is a source of power in post-colonial political struggles.

In many ways, this article reveals the Western bias in my original thesis for this research project (I actually still retained the same thesis, as it is a case in point for Eileen Boris’s and many other African gender scholars). My thesis assumes that gender and feminism thought in Africa need a Western savior-that African women have to find a balance between their “primitive” gender tradition and the “correct” or “modern” Western ideas of gender and liberation. It also makes me wonder what opinions about gender roles director Ousmane Sembène might have had in mind when he released Xala. Most of the Western analysis of the film describe women in the film as “masculine,” and the men as “feminine,” but Boris’s article suggests such reviews assume Western gender stereotypes are universal. Did Sembène have this in mind as well?

Chapter 2 of Chant’s book gives an overview of the recent push to expand the definition and measurement of poverty at the global level. While traditional measurements fixated on household income, the author shows how this overlooks social dimensions such as self-esteem, respect, education and power. The author goes on to show that disaggregation of poverty measures into male and female components is essential to accurately measure poverty. Such disaggregation shows an alarming trend, a phenomena described as the “Feminisation of Poverty,” and has led to a whole new field of research. Also, it has brought issues of female ‘empowerment’, described as resources (preconditions), agency (process) and achievements (outcome), more to the forefront, leading to the popularization of microfinance, self-help groups, community development initiatives targeted at women. The author summarizes the modern definition of poverty as something that is a “Multidimensional and Dynamic Entity.”

This section of Gender, Generation and Poverty related closely to El Hadji’s wives’ financial predicament, particularly his first wife Adja’s dependence upon El Hadji. When questioned by her daughter Rama as to why she wouldn’t divorce her husband, we learn that at least part of her reluctance has to do with her financial dependency. The vast majority of the female characters in the film fit into the Western gender role of the financially dependant stay-at-home wife. As defined by Sylvia Chant (and her contemporaries), these women live in partial poverty as they lack the agency and achievement enjoyed by African males. Although El Hadji’s wives seem to have the resources (house, some personal property), their seems to be little place for them outside the home.