Resilience And Resistance: Women’s Agency In Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy And Ousmane Sembene’s Xala

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative examination of women’s agency and intertextuality in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy and Ousmane Sembène’s Xala, focusing on their roles within post-colonial African societies. The analysis explores how both authors portray the struggles of African women against the backdrop of cultural, social, and colonial oppression. In her work, Aidoo presents Sissie, a young Ghanaian woman who navigates the complexities of colonialism, diaspora, and migration. Sissie’s journey from Ghana to Europe exposes her to racial discrimination and cultural dislocation, highlighting her struggle for identity and agency. Conversely, Sembène’s work satirizes the power dynamics and polygamy in post-colonial Senegal through the character of El Hadji, a businessman whose impotency symbolizes his moral and societal corruption. The women in Xala reflect varying degrees of submission and resistance to patriarchal norms, with characters like Rama showing a nascent challenge to these structures. Both West African novels use interior monologues and flashbacks to depict the protagonists' inner conflicts and societal constraints. While Aidoo’s Sissie actively confronts and critiques the racial and cultural prejudices she encounters, the women in Sembène’s narrative are primarily portrayed within the confines of traditional and neocolonial expectations. The paper argues that despite these differences, both works underscore the persistent patriarchal subjugation and the nuanced ways African women navigate and resist these constraints. The comparative analysis reveals a shared theme of women's resilience and the therapeutic power of female solidarity, illustrating a progression from traditional subjugation to modern self-assertion in the face of ongoing patriarchal oppression. The study concludes that while resistance methods differ, Aidoo and Sembène emphasize the critical need for women's agency in overcoming the multifaceted challenges of post-colonial African societies.