Abstract
Contemporary Ugandan novelists are preoccupied with the consequence of female marginality. Women, for a long time, have been described as easily subverted by unpleasant situations they daily encounter. Hence, women characters are depicted as quickly succumbing to vices of subordination without outlining their effort to subvert marginal treatments meted out to them. This representation is an imbalanced imagination of women and their evolving resilience and self-assertiveness against continued depreciation. Feminist poststructuralism was deployed as the theoretical framework, while the interpretive design was used to anaylse how instances of marginality are subverted after the victimised's encounter with violence. Gerotti Kymuhendo's Secret No More and Moses Isegawa's Abyssinian Chronicles were purposively selected for the study owing to their thematic relevance to the subject of the study. The selected texts were subjected to critical analyses. Also, the selection of a text each from a male and a female author was to help in the analysis of the nuances of subversion from a balanced gender perspective. I particularly paid attention to the ways the subjugation of women enhances the continuation of chasm in the representations of gendered roles. This, I have discovered, breeds not just their perpetual oppression, but conceals any possible attempt of transfiguring from the state of objectification. However, the varied replications of women's subservience as represented in the discussed fictional narratives expose deprivations in order to strategically plan women's emancipation from oppressive vices. In this way, the novels reflect stereotypes that influence the persistent dehumanisation of women but draw attention to the imperfections of polarities as possible propellant of transmutations which helps victims of oppressions to subvert their degradations. I submitted here that the need to exhibit parallel autonomy displayed in victimised characters is a main factor that disabuses fixations in expressions of antithetical gendered traits and roles.
Keywords
Introduction
The allotment of gendered roles based strictly on anatomic, physiological and cultural principles in almost all the world communities polarises both sexes. This makes it impossible for both sexes to relate as equals in many social matters. Observably, the childbearing and child rearing roles of women have continued since ancient times to define their personalities and values. Thus, gendered role is responsible for female subjectivity and marginality. Michel Foucault (1978) states that the reason for this differentiation is that all human societies are sexualised (p.147). The fact that strong consideration is given to biological make-up in almost all societies before gendered roles are assigned indicates the importance of the biological differences between male and female sexes. Consequently, this creation of differences between both sexes based on their biological make-ups empowers society to dictate the level of relevance of both girls and boys and ensures that both sexes function accordingly. Brownmiller (1975) asseverates that communal laws and ideologies are set up in diverse communities to reinforce the created differentiation between gender roles. These commonly held perceptions about the noticeable anatomical differences that exist between the male and female give expression to the notion of gender and gendered roles.
Content
Adverse Implication of Gendered Role Classification on Literature
The categorisation of roles based on a strong consideration of human biological nature has adverse implications for the conception of gendered duties in literary writings. This, according to Mackinnon (1982), has led to the conception of women as docile, soft, passive, nurturant, vulnerable, incompetent, masochistic and domestic in many literary texts (p. 580). They are represented in domestic terms as caregivers to their husbands and children. Such representations usually contrast the portrayal of men as strong, capable, natural leaders. This gender-based dichotomy makes it convenient to assign specific roles that index males' superiority over the females' inferiority, as they (the females) are assigned culturally-limiting roles as wives, mothers and housekeepers. Although, according to Sideris (2003, p. 13), gender role has experienced a lot of changes since the modern era and have continued to experience a paradigm shift within society, the influence this shift creates on the fluid adoptions of roles by both male and female is yet to reflect the dynamic representation of selves in most fictional narratives.
The allotment of gender roles, as it is constantly depicted in literature, still portrays the chasm that exists between both males and females especially in fictional presentations of characters. This portrayal of dualised gender roles in literature fails to represent the progress women have made over time in breaking free from societal and individualised dominance. Such literary texts replicate women history as a permanently subverted object and adopt the continual polarisation of gender roles. Hence, rather than create dynamic characters who express the essence of the dynamic trend in gender role assignment; many creative works still reflect the binary which permits the exaltation of one gender at the expense of the other. Invariably, this ascribes dominance to men while women are regarded as the other whose feeble nature predisposes her to male consistent dominance. Saadawi (2007) adds some insights to this observation when she alleges that:
Among the male authors I have read, both in the West and in the Arab world, irrespective of the language in which they have written, or of the region from which they have come, no one has been able to free him from this age-old image of women handed down to us from ancient past, no matter how famous many of them have been for their passionate defense of human rights, human values and justices, and their vigorous resistance to oppression and tyranny in any form (Saadawi, 2007, p. 77).
The distribution of gender roles using the ancient yardstick of biological and cultural measures, hinders the development of versatile male and female characters in literary representations. Rather they result in creating inferior female characters to gain much acceptance in a male-dominated community of writers. This attempt was first noted by Firestone (1970) as resulting in the “misrepresentation of odds” (p. 781). Invariably, in a bid to overhaul the perpetual description of female personalities as oppressed and subsumed under male authorities, female novelists often create female characters whose independence and sexual freedom often resembles that of:
. . .evil femme fatale who leads men down to their dooms, the proud educated woman who becomes someone's girlfriend, but never a wife, the virgin, the good girl who helps the old woman and gets rewarded, the one who suffers tribulations silently until a rich man comes along to 'free' her (Abiola et al., 2018, p. 1)
The inability of literary writers to construct dynamic characters that reflect the unbiased allotment of gender duties is, perhaps, because the problem of gender role division and sexuality is oppression that goes back beyond recorded history to the animal kingdom (Firestone, 1970; Foucault, 1982). Hence, to construct fluid literary characters who exemplify the growing changes in the gendering of roles, particularly in this epoch, it becomes essential to look beyond biological and cultural limitations that segregate gender roles. However, Foucault (1978) suggests that to achieve a balanced depiction of characters, especially in literary representations of roles, there must be a continuous struggle against the “government” of individualisation. In other words, to break the continuous mystification of sexed characters and stereotypical differentiation of genders in creative writings, the formation of a new power struggle against polarisation becomes the viable solution.
The categorisation of roles based on a strong consideration of human biological nature has adverse implications for the conception of gendered duties in literary writings. This, according to Mackinnon (1982), has led to the conception of women as docile, soft, passive, nurturant, vulnerable, incompetent, masochistic and domestic in many literary texts (p. 580). They are represented in domestic terms as caregivers to their husbands and children. Such representations usually contrast the portrayal of men as strong, capable, natural leaders. This gender-based dichotomy makes it convenient to assign specific roles that index males' superiority over the females' inferiority, as they (the females) are assigned culturally-limiting roles as wives, mothers and housekeepers. Although, according to Sideris (2003, p. 13), gender role has experienced a lot of changes since the modern era and have continued to experience a paradigm shift within society, the influence this shift creates on the fluid adoptions of roles by both male and female is yet to reflect the dynamic representation of selves in most fictional narratives.
The allotment of gender roles, as it is constantly depicted in literature, still portrays the chasm that exists between both males and females especially in fictional presentations of characters. This portrayal of dualised gender roles in literature fails to represent the progress women have made over time in breaking free from societal and individualised dominance. Such literary texts replicate women history as a permanently subverted object and adopt the continual polarisation of gender roles. Hence, rather than create dynamic characters who express the essence of the dynamic trend in gender role assignment; many creative works still reflect the binary which permits the exaltation of one gender at the expense of the other. Invariably, this ascribes dominance to men while women are regarded as the other whose feeble nature predisposes her to male consistent dominance. Saadawi (2007) adds some insights to this observation when she alleges that:
Among the male authors I have read, both in the West and in the Arab world, irrespective of the language in which they have written, or of the region from which they have come, no one has been able to free him from this age-old image of women handed down to us from ancient past, no matter how famous many of them have been for their passionate defense of human rights, human values and justices, and their vigorous resistance to oppression and tyranny in any form (Saadawi, 2007, p. 77).
The distribution of gender roles using the ancient yardstick of biological and cultural measures, hinders the development of versatile male and female characters in literary representations. Rather they result in creating inferior female characters to gain much acceptance in a male-dominated community of writers. This attempt was first noted by Firestone (1970) as resulting in the “misrepresentation of odds” (p. 781). Invariably, in a bid to overhaul the perpetual description of female personalities as oppressed and subsumed under male authorities, female novelists often create female characters whose independence and sexual freedom often resembles that of:
. . .evil femme fatale who leads men down to their dooms, the proud educated woman who becomes someone's girlfriend, but never a wife, the virgin, the good girl who helps the old woman and gets rewarded, the one who suffers tribulations silently until a rich man comes along to 'free' her (Abiola et al., 2018, p. 1)
The inability of literary writers to construct dynamic characters that reflect the unbiased allotment of gender duties is, perhaps, because the problem of gender role division and sexuality is oppression that goes back beyond recorded history to the animal kingdom (Firestone, 1970; Foucault, 1982). Hence, to construct fluid literary characters who exemplify the growing changes in the gendering of roles, particularly in this epoch, it becomes essential to look beyond biological and cultural limitations that segregate gender roles. However, Foucault (1978) suggests that to achieve a balanced depiction of characters, especially in literary representations of roles, there must be a continuous struggle against the “government” of individualisation. In other words, to break the continuous mystification of sexed characters and stereotypical differentiation of genders in creative writings, the formation of a new power struggle against polarisation becomes the viable solution.
Conclusion
The paper, through its exposition of both genders' parallel response to fear and other humanly exhibited traits, debunks the one-sided representation of women as the only set prone to victimisation. Although it realistically recognises women's susceptibility to oppression especially in volatile circumstances, specifically that of war, it, however, foregrounds women's efforts towards asserting themselves through these unpleasant situations as threatening and actually deconstructing the formidability of patriarchy and all it represents. Also, the paper draws attention to instances of masculine marginalities and discredits the correctness of the dichotomy which usually asserts affection, endurance and fear as virtues mainly expressed by women. The deconstruction of the one-sided exhibition of these traits reveals the writers' inclination to express vulnerability as a generic human trait and not gendered. Also, the paper, through the narrative substantiations of the writers, establishes that all bodies are susceptible to violence and all bodies can meta-morphose as a result of their exposure to violence, depending on their performances and not necessarily on their gender. Most victimised female characters discussed here are able to subvert marginality through their relentless determination to affirm their humanity in the midst of their brutality.
References
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https://latinostudies.nd.edu/assets/95245/original
Kymuhendo, G. (1999). Secret no More. Femrite Publications.
Kymuhendo, G. (2007). Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War. Feminist Press.
Mackinnon, C. (1982). Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory.
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Millet, K. (1970). Sexual politics. University of Illinois Press.
Minh-ha, T. (1989). Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcolonial and Feminism. Indiana University Press.
Ngcobo, L. (2007). African motherhood: Myth and reality. In T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.), African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing, 534–541.
Saadawi, N. (2007). The Heroine in Arab Literature. T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.). African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing,
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Sideris, T. (2003). 'War, Gender, and Culture: Mozambican Women Refugees'. Social Science and Medicine. 56, 713–724.
Stratton, F. (1988). 'The Shallow Grave: Archetypes of Female Experience in African Fiction'. Research in African Literatures. 19 (2), 143–169. Retrieved August 15, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3819444
Young, R. (2007). 'Subjectivity and History: Derrida in Algeria'. T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.). African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing, 621–627.
Kymuhendo's Fiction'. Journal of International Women's Studies, 10(4), 1–18.
Averill, J. (1983). 'Studies on Anger and Aggression: Implications for Theories of Emotion'.
American Psychological Association Inc., 2, 1145–1150.
Awogu-Maduagwu, E., & Umunnakwe, A. (2018). 'Gendered Representations of Women in War Literature: A Case Study of Akachi Ezeigbo's Roses and Bullets and Festus Iyayi's Heroes. International Journal of Social and Management Science, 2, 1–9.
Barthes, R. (1967). 'The Death of the Author'. American Journal Aspen, 5–6.
Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex. Vintage Books.
Braidotti, R. (2002). Metamorphosis: Towards a Feminist Theory of Becoming. Polity Press.
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. Simon and Schuster.
Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
Emecheta, B. (1980). The Joys of Motherhood. Heinemann Publishers.
Emecheta, B. (2007). Feminism with a Small “f”! T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.). African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing, 551–557.
Federici, S. (2012). Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle. PM Press.
Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. William Morrow and Company.
Foucault, M. (1969). Authorship: What is an Author? Screen. 20 (1), 13–34.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality: An Introduction. Random House. Foucault, M. (1982). The Subject and Power. Critical Inquiry. 8 (4), 777–795.
Goux, J. (1973). Économie et symbolique. Éditions du Seuil.
Haraway, D. (1991). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. Routledge.
Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Basic Books.
Hook, B. (1982). Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. South End Press.
Humm, M. (1995). Practising Feminist Criticism: An Introduction. Prentice
Hall/Harvester.
Isegawa, M. (2001). Abyssinian Chronicles. Alfred A. Knopf.
Jenna, K., Briana, M., & Alicia, Q. (2009). Women, Men, and the Changing Roles of
Gender in Immigration. Latino Studies. Retrieved January 25, 2025, from University o f No t r e Da m e La t i n o S t u d i e s w e b s i t e :
https://latinostudies.nd.edu/assets/95245/original
Kymuhendo, G. (1999). Secret no More. Femrite Publications.
Kymuhendo, G. (2007). Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War. Feminist Press.
Mackinnon, C. (1982). Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory.
Chicago Journals. 7(3), 515–544.
Millet, K. (1970). Sexual politics. University of Illinois Press.
Minh-ha, T. (1989). Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcolonial and Feminism. Indiana University Press.
Ngcobo, L. (2007). African motherhood: Myth and reality. In T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.), African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing, 534–541.
Saadawi, N. (2007). The Heroine in Arab Literature. T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.). African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing,
520–525.
Sideris, T. (2003). 'War, Gender, and Culture: Mozambican Women Refugees'. Social Science and Medicine. 56, 713–724.
Stratton, F. (1988). 'The Shallow Grave: Archetypes of Female Experience in African Fiction'. Research in African Literatures. 19 (2), 143–169. Retrieved August 15, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3819444
Young, R. (2007). 'Subjectivity and History: Derrida in Algeria'. T. Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds.). African Literature: Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Blackwell Publishing, 621–627.