Alternative Vision of Gender in the New Literatures of Africa in English: An Appraisal of Bole Butake’s Dramaturgy

Abstract

This study has attempted to revisit gender issues presented in the New Literatures of Africa in English to investigate whether there is, indeed, an alternative vision of these issues. In spite of the great contributions of female writers in this literature, it has continued to be a male-dominated terrain. It is from this perspective that we decided to draw inspiration from Bole Butake’s Dramaturgy to assess his contribution to this alternative vision of gender in modern Africa Literature.Bole Butake is a significant Cameroonian male dramatist who writes sensitively on issues that concern the African Women in general and the Cameroonian Women in particular.We have demonstrated in this work that in spite of Butake’s enormous contributions to issues of gender, his female roles to not conform totally to what women themselves expect. The sociological and feminist theories have been utilised in this study to come out with the following findings:First, there seem to be an alternative vision of gender in the New Literatures of Africa in English. Second, we posit that a major preoccupation of the female-oriented works of art in this literature is the exploration of the various pains that their characters encounter as women. Third, that most of the artists, if not all, present women reacting because they have been subjected or exploited by their male counterparts. Our final contention in this essay is that in order for us to have a total and positive alternative vision of gender in Modern African Literature, the artists should not only present the type of female characters that they have but should also attempt to balance the depiction of the pain with the development of consciousness-raising and role-modeling which are definite aspects of black feminist aesthetics

Keywords: Alternative, Vision, Gender, Butake, Dramaturgy.