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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Gender Relations in African-Language Literature: Interpretative Politics and Possibilities |
| Author: | Englund, Harri |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Periodical: | African Sociological Review (ISSN 1027-4332) |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 154-175 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Malawi Central Africa Africa |
| Subjects: | gender relations literature Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Literature, Mass Media and the Press Cultural Roles gender African literature novels |
| About person: | Willie T. Zingani |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487421 |
| Abstract: | African novels can provide insights into history and society, but the risk, particularly when using them as learning materials in classroom, is that novels become mere illustrations of themes and conclusions already established by other means. This article examines gender relations in Willie Zingani's (Malawi) Chinyanja novels - 'Madzi Akatayika' (When water is spilt) and 'Njala Bwana' (Hungry, sir), both published in 1984 - and in Francis Moto's recent criticism of these novels. An alternative reading, pointing out the novels' potential for complex interpretations, suggests that Moto's dismissal of their gender relations as stereotypes must itself be understood as a literary product of a particular period. It is a period when the rhetoric of gender equality has emerged to support a form of State feminism in Malawi. Against its dichotomous view of gender the article shows how the complexity conveyed in Zingani's novels can be used to highlight class and generational contradictions obscured by the current rhetoric. The article concludes by recommending attention to narrative details as a measure against interpretations becoming mere reflections of teachers' and critics' own political preferences. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
