Analysis Of Non-Violent And Violent Strategies In Combating Patriarchal Violence In Francophone African Narratives Of Fatou Keïta’s Rebelle And Aminata Ka Maïga’s La Voie Du Salut Suivi De Le Miroir De La Vie

Abstract

Previous studies in literary scholarship have highlighted various forms of violence against women as patriarchal strictures in Francophone African creative writings. However, not many of them have explored the possible ways out of the patriarchal hegemony. This effort, therefore, focuses on the analysis of both violent and non-violent approaches employed by female fictional characters in setting themselves free from the male violence. This study employs a combination of Non-violent and Violent strategies as its theoretical framework and adopts the French “explication de texte” as its methodology. Two (2) Francophone African narratives are investigated. They are Aminata Ka Maïga’s La Voie du Salut suivi de le miroir de la vie and Fatou Kéïta’s Rebelle, The scope of the work covers both the mild approach and the radical method of combating patriarchy. Kéïta espouses female bonding as a possible route to women’s liberation. She creates Malimouna who rallies round the oppressed women and protects their interest while Maïga in her own case, highlights suicide as possible means of eschewing men’s violence. She depicts Fatou Fane who hangs herself as a result of depression subjected to by her seducer thereby yielding herself to death in order to discard the limiting tradition. Political and socio-cultural non-violent approaches are effective than violent ones in thwarting patriarchal strictures in female Francophone African fictions. These non-violent approaches, if applied to real-life situations in Africa are capable of providing a lasting solution to patriarchal violence.