BREAKING THE SILENCE : RECLAIMING FEMALE SUBECTIVITY IN THE AFRICAN MUSLIM CULTURE

Abstract

In this dissertation, we will explore the disempowerment of Muslim women in Africa under cultural norms in the narratives of Mariama Ba’ So Long a Letter (1981) and Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero (1983). The culture under examination , in this thesis, does not only exploit long embedded traditional norms to emphasize man supremacy , but it also manipulates the tenets of religion to reinforce and legitimize the status quo. Particularly, we examine the role of cultural norms to breed patriarchal logic of gender inequality which sanction women’s unfair treatment under institutions like polygamy, marriage and prostitution . The study goes on to look for possibilities of empowerment for the female characters . These possibilities include agential acts like writing and narration as modes of reclaiming subjectivity and defy the patriarchal order.