Rethinking Gender Violence in the Hispanophone Novel: The Curious Case of Ada, the Militia Woman

Posted: 14 Aug 2014

Date Written: August 14, 2014

Abstract

In its bid to reverse patriarchal domination, feminist political action has sought, among other things, to occasion women’s liberation, agency, and retrieval of voice. Within the peculiar context of African feminist thinking, also fundamental to this endeavor are marriage, family, motherhood, sexuality, and even men, elements by which it seeks to distinguish itself from mainstream feminist thinking. These elements are deemed to be sacred to the political agenda of the African feminist for their centrality to the African’s worldview. Our focus on Ada in Donato Ndongo’s Los poderes de la tempestad is with a view to critically think through the African feminist’s position with respect to the aforementioned elements. The simple question that the paper debates is the status of the female African protagonist who, while empowered, and endowed with liberty, agency and voice, is deprived of marriage, family, and motherhood - elements at the heart of African feminism. Can one argue that far from advancing African feminist agenda, the concession of power, freedom, agency, and voice in the novel, rather serves to mask the woman’s continued victimization and symbolic assassination?

Suggested Citation

Boampong, Joanna, Rethinking Gender Violence in the Hispanophone Novel: The Curious Case of Ada, the Militia Woman (August 14, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2480513

Joanna Boampong (Contact Author)

University of Ghana ( email )

PO Box 25
Legon, Accra LG
Ghana

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