Name: REJIANE DOS SANTOS TEIXEIRA
Publication date: 03/05/2018
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| JACQUELINE LARANJA LEAL MARCELINO | Internal Examiner * |
| MICHELE FREIRE SCHIFFLER | Internal Alternate * |
Summary: The novel Niketche: a history of polygamy, from Mozambican author Paulina Chiziane,
introduces to the reader the reflections on what it means to be a woman of color in a patriarchal
and post-colonized society. This book reveals the uncertainty and the sufferings of Mozambican
women who fight for both their social and self-recognition by seeking their place in a society
which is fragmented by the impositions of colonial oppresion and modernity. By introducing
its female characters who are compelled to cope with Eurocentric patriarchy's violence,
Niketche depicts both the past and present of those women and their obstacles on the search for
empowerment. Therefore, this research has intended to raise discussions that theorize on the
subjective and intersubjective relations of oppression, among the genders which are conferred
to colonized women, besides weaving a review on the hegemonic feminist studies that do not
consider the female idiosyncrasies and see gender as something separated from class and race,
by treating the female category as universal and hiding from their guidelines the oppressions to
which women of color are subjected. As a means of analyzing the effects of colonial imposition
on Mozambique's social structure and on the life of its female citizens, one has utilized the
gender studies of Mozambican sociologist Isabel Maria Casimiro and also researcher Signe
Arnfred and theologian Irene Dias de Oliveira, who discuss the fractures that African tradition
has suffered from colonization. The theoretical background that supports this research
regarding its history before, while and after colonization comes from historians José Luís
Cabaço and José Capela, besides contributions from Fr. Raúl Altuna on the Bantu culture
Mozambican predominant ethnicity. The discussions on the female and its break with tradition
and empowerment in current Mozambican society were traced through the perspective of
African female theorists Ana Maria Loforte, Oyeronke Oyewumi, Marie Pauline Eboh,
Conceição Osório and Teresa Cruz e Silva, who analyze the dominant relations which were
established by gender in our current society. Contributions of essayist Inocencia Mata and
Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe's studies have also enriched the discussions on the
theme.
