GENDER CONSCIOUSNESS IN AMA ATA AIDOOS CHANGES AND TSITSI

DANGAREMBGAS NERVOUS CONDITIONS

A TERM PAPER IN ENG 765: STUDIES IN AFRICAN PROSE FICTION

BY

WATSON IFEOLUWA O.

SUBMITTED TO:
DR A. KEHINDE

NOVEMBER 2011

161267

Abstract
African literature in its entirety all over the continent has shown a consistent quality of being a
functional art which addresses the pressing concerns of the particular society which it reflects.
The womens revolution in the West found its voice through the feminist movement and duly
expressed their concerns through the canonical works of women writers, essayists, novelists and
poets. This same trend is present in African literature, in which women writers have risen to the
task of examining the peculiarities of the African womans identity in a dominant patriarchal
society. This essay seeks to explore the dominant dialectics which constitute the considerations
of women in the African society and the dynamics of the male/female relationship as it is
depicted in Ama Ata Aidoos Changes and Tsitsi Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions.

Introduction
Gender has been redefined as a set of culturally defined characteristics or roles assigned to
people in the society. This has enlightened peoples perception on gender and removed their
limiting viewpoint of seeing gender from just sexual and biological perspectives. (Peter Barry
1995:22). Gender consciousness can be described as the awareness of roles and functions which
culture, religion, society, etc ascribes to the two sexes. These roles are culturally ingrained and
differ from one society to the other. Gender consciousness has continued to feature significantly
in African literature especially in womens writing. According to Mary Modupe Kolawole
(1997):
In more recent time, women groups have continued to get
mobilized to confront government and the society for their
needs and increased power. The conditions of women in the
home and at work, gender inequality, in law, differential
remuneration or benefits, continue to be the focus of
attention (50)
In Kolawoles Womanism and the African Consciousness, she establishes the fact that the gender
uprising movement had started in African communities long before the high-peak feminist
movement in the West in the early 1970s. However, such feats of female liberation and
significance in the African society are lost in history due to lack of proper documentation and the
superior stance of the West in their assumption that African women learnt about their rights from
Western feminism. It was assumed that before colonisation and the impact of western
civilisation, African women had always occupied insignificant positions in the African society.
Kolawole draws examples of valiant women such as Madam Tinubu of Lagos, Inkpi of Igala,
Moremi of Ile-Ife, Nehada of Zimbabwe, Madam Yoko of Sierra Leone, who in important ways
made positive influences and changes in their community through their powers and abilities.
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It is upon this background that the new stock of African womens literature is patterned. Female
African writers such as Buchi Emecheta, Akachi Ezeigbo Adimora, Bessie Head, Ama Ata
Aidoo, Tsitsi Dangarembga, etc in their literary works depict the peculiarities that exist in
male/female relations in different spheres of their relationships; at home, at work, and in the
larger society.
The fight for womens liberation may be a universal bid which is significant for women all over
the world. However one would be committing the fallacy of essentialism to assume that womens
needs all over the world are the same. Therefore, essentialism is a limiting ideal in feminism
which inhibits its relevance in the totality of the African womens experience.
This essay draws its theoretical background from Womanism; a kind of africanised feminism
which takes into cognizance the peculiarities of the African womans experience. As a gender
theory, Womanism was coined by Alice Walker so as to include an aura of black consciousness
for African-American women who suffered from the dual oppression of racism and sexism.
Kolawole adopting Walkers Womanist theory, defines Womanism as ...the totality of feminine
self-expression, self retrieval, and self-assertion in positive cultural ways (24). Other proponents
of the Womanists theory include: Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikwenye Okonjo, Omolara
Ogundipe-Leslie, etc.
The two novels under study in this essay; Ama Ata Aidoos Changes and Tsitsi Dangarembgas
Nervous Conditions, reveal the complexities of the gender situation in Africa and how the
African woman can successfully achieve a balance between her trio responsibilities of
motherhood, wifehood and selfhood.

Gender Consciousness in Aidoos Changes and Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions

Ama Aidoo Atas Changes (1991) is a love story which narrates the paradigm of a changing
African female personality within the contemporary African society. The novel portrays Esi
Sekyi, the major character who is an accomplished career woman. Esi divorces her husband Oko
because he takes too much of her time and because he commits marital rape on her. However,
Esi decides to marry another man Ali Kondey and become a second wife. Within this novel, there
are other major female characters such as Opokuya; Esis bosom friend, who also has a
successful career as a nurse and a happy marriage to Kubi. Fusena is Ali Kondeys wife who is
educated but does not use her educational qualifications.
Tsitisi Dangrembgas Nervous Conditions (1988) is a novel which takes its title from Jean PaulSatres famous comment in his preface to Franz Fanons The Wretched of the Earth that: the
condition of the native is a nervous condition (Palmer 2008). Tambu, the novels heroine
narrates the experiences of the women in her family and how at each point, these women are
faced with critical circumstances influenced by both the condition of colonialism and sexism in
the Shona community. Babamukuru is the patriarch in the family who takes the responsibility of
catering for the whole family. Maiguru, his wife is subsumed under her husbands identity and
she exists as an appendage of her husband. Nyasha, their daughter fights with the dual effects of
Western civilisation and gender imbalance in the African society while Lucia, Tambus aunt
arises as a dominant force for female liberation and empowerment.
Aidoos Changes and Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions review the fragmented experience of
the contemporary African woman. Both novels depict the complexities that arise out of the

influences of Western civilisation and education and the effects they have brought into the
horizon of male/female relationship especially in regard to marriage, family and career.
The notion of marriage in the African setting takes a dominant position. Marriage in the typical
African setting is seen as a compulsory rite of passage which a woman must undergo as part of
her maturation process towards adulthood. Aidoo in Changes explores the turn of ideals in the
situation of the contemporary African woman who is geared towards achieving career success at
the expense of marital/family happiness. The character of Esi Sekyi in the novel shows the
futility of such a choice. Esi chooses to leave Oko, her husband because he demands too much of
her and yet she submits to the fickle charms of Ali Kondey who abandons her for more lustrous
pastures after a while. Maiguru in Nervous Conditions on the other hand represents the picture of
docility that the African married woman is supposed to represent. Even though, she possesses the
same educational qualifications as Babamukuru, she is unable to use her abilities significantly
and carve out a career for herself. Dangarembga seems to portray marriage as a limiting strain on
the total freedom of the African woman. A notion which is broadened in Lucias statement:
Well, Babamukuru, said Lucia, preparing to leave,
maybe when you marry a woman, she is obliged to obey
you. But some of us arent married, so we dont know how
to do it. That is why I have been able to tell you frankly
what is in my heart... (171)
Also, the character of Opokuya in Changes depicts a married African woman who has to concede
ultimate authority to her husband so as to achieve happiness in her home. Opokuyas marital
success is highly tied to her submission to her husband in issues relating to proprietary rights
such as who rides the car to work. This might seem a frivolous issue but it is an important marker
of respect and submission to Kubi, her husband. In Changes, the sensitivity of some kinds of
marital rights is highlighted; Esi Sekyi leaves her husband because she finds him guilty of
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marital rape. However, in African parlance, such a notion is virtually non-existent and Esi cannot
confide in Nana, her grandmother because she would not be able to relate with such a ridiculous
reason. This raises the pertinent question of the womans right even in marriage as regards
conjugal rights; does the woman have the right to withhold sex from her husband? And if her
husband coerces her into having sexual relations with him, can it be called rape?
Closely related to the issue of marriage in both novels, the identity of the African woman; in
Changes and Nervous Conditions, women are portrayed as appendages to men without an
individual identity of their own. This can be seen as a struggle between the reproductive and
productive roles. Fusena in Changes even though she is educated, abandons her career to take
care of her husband and children. Maiguru in Nervous Conditions tolls the same line as she cares
for not just her immediate family but also the extended family of Babamukuru which includes
the burden of catering for Jeremiah and his familys needs. Therefore, the womans identity in
both novels is often portrayed through the mirror of the men in their lives. Although, in Changes
there is the portrayal of a role reversal in the functions of a man in the society due to the changes
that education and modernity has afforded the woman. Esi Sekyi is a self-accomplished woman
with a lucrative career in the department of urban statistics in the capital city. She is well
travelled, attends inter/national seminars and workshops, owns a car and a house that belongs to
her. This depicts the empowerment of women in the contemporary African society through the
formation of an independent identity that is not entirely dependent on a man.
Although, both novels support the actualisation of a womans identity through self-assertion,
Aidoo and Dangarembga portray the Womanist ideal of side by side existence of the male/female
sexes. It is significant that in both novels, when the otherwise docile woman decides to revolt
against dominant patriarchy in its different manifestation, they are unable to remove their
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dependence on men totally. Maiguru when she finally revolts against Babamukuru and leaves her
home goes to her brother. Her daughter, Nyasha is disappointed that her mother only left from
one man to another man: Its such a waste, lamented Nyasha, noting the difference. Imagine
what she might have been with the right kind of exposure! (175) Also, Esi Sekyi who complains
that Oko demands too much of her and leaves him only turns into the arms of another man, Ali
Kondey. This proves that the African woman cannot exist successfully alone without the
convergence of both sexes in a fulfilling relationship.
The concept of sisterhood is another strong motif which African gender consciousness writers
imbue into their works. The concept of sisterhood in the African setting as portrayed in Changes
and Nervous Conditions is one which buds from cordiality and not sexuality; this is in contrast to
the Western feminists ideal of sexual bonding between women as an alternative to sexual
relationship with men. The women portrayed in both novels pose a united front against the
opposition of the male folk. According to Lindsay Pentolfe Aegerter, The African women in
Nervous Conditions posit a new social configuration that simultaneously respects and revises
tradition; they work toward "autonomy and cooperation" rather than "competition and
opposition (233). The theme of sisterhood is most dominant in Nervous Conditions where the
women in Babamukurus household begin to question the god-like authority that Babamukuru
enjoys:
Have you ever seen it happen? she waxed ferociously and
eloquently, that a hearing is conducted in the absence of the
accussed? Arent they saying that my young sister impregnated
herself on purpose? ...Ehe! They are accusing Lucia. She should be
there to defend herself. (137)
The defiance of Mashingayi at this point in the novel is defined through the strength of the all
women coming together to question the unfairness of Babamukuru. Even though Maiguru
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refuses to join the protest at this point, the stage is set for the eventual change in male/female
relationship in the novel. In Changes, the influence of sisterhood is felt strongly in the friendship
between Esi Sekyi and Opokuya. Their relationship represents the strong bond that can exist
outside familial ties and the therapeutic effect such a relationship gives to the participants.
Opokuya is always there with a listening ear to hear all of Esis troubles and aid her towards the
healing process. The bond of sisterhood in Changes is shown as a sacred one which should be
respected and not abused with Esi Sekyis important decision not to slip into a sexual affair with
her friends husband, Kubi. This proves that African women do not have to always exist in
rivalry but rather they should support one another. The supportive role of sisterhood is also felt in
Nervous Conditions with Tambus concern for Nyasha; Tambu is able to understand the torn
identity crisis which Nyasha suffers even though her own father, Babamukuru cannot understand
the true nature of his daughters malaise. This shows the inability of men to understand the
peculiar traits of the female sex and their lack of insight into the womans self leads to major
conflicts that arise between both genders in the novel and the African society that it depicts.
The significance of education is another prevailing motif in both novels. In Nervous Conditions,
education is portrayed as the natural right of the boy-child. Nhamo is the singular choice of
Babamukuru and he is chosen as the one that will improve the lot of his family. It is only by
Nhamos death that Tambu gets the privilege of being educated. This depicts a change in the
sphere of the contemporary African woman; it proves the premise that women also have high
intellectual abilities. Tambu excels in her studies and she is given a scholarship to study at the
Young Ladies College of the Sacred Heart. Education is proposed in both novels as an enabling
device which empowers the women in the novel; Esi Sekyi, Opokuya and Lucia are examples of

women characters in Changes and Nervous Conditions that are freed from the shackles of
dominant patriarchy through the advantage of being educated and possessing lucrative careers.
Another dominant issue in both novels is the conflict that arises from the contact of tradition and
Western influences. Eustace Palmer sees the oppression of African women as double
colonization (176). In Nervous Conditions, Mashingayi represents the voice of tradition against
the dominance of Englishness. Tambus mother bemoans the fate of her children; their
exposure to Western civilisation and the draining effect on their sense of identity and belonging.
This psychological divide is duly represented in the attitudes of Chido and Nyasha after their
stay in Britain. They become strangers to the Shona culture and tradition. The psychological
strain is more prominent in Nyasha who recedes into herself and starts exhibiting strange
tendencies; she is rude to her father and is unable to act in line with societal and cultural
expectations. The conflict between father and daughter reaches its peak when Nyasha raises her
hand against her own father; this proves the breaking point for Babamukuru who sees it as the
ultimate sacrilege. Nyashas psychological breakdown and her anorexia show the critical
circumstance of the contemporary African woman under the conflicting influences of tradition
and modernity. Esi Sekyi in Changes also shows the same tendency towards conflict arising from
her adherence to the constructs of modernity without achieving a balance with the expectations
of tradition. Esi is unable to submit to Oko totally but in contrast she gives in to Ali Kondeys
charms and even agrees to become a second wife. This shows an extreme of two opposites; Esi
wants freedom to achieve the peak in her career however she still feels the urge to have a man in
her life. The voice of tradition in Changes is Nana, Esis grandmother. Nana is unable to
understand the desires of Esi to leave one man and become the second wife of another man. It is
significant here, that Nana who represents the preservation of tradition does not support Esi in
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her desire to leave the comforts and safety of monogamy into the crowded and not so
comfortable sphere of polygamy. Aidoo portrays polygamy as an organised system in African
epistemology which is unlike the savage portrayal of polygamy by the West as largely fraught
with disorganisation, strife and turbulence. The proper ways of taking another wife under the
dictates of tradition is properly highlighted in the refusal of Ali Kondeys family to consent to his
marriage to Esi without the knowledge of Fusena, his first wife. This notion in the novel proves
that the African tradition is not imbued in perpetual darkness and that there are commendable
aspects of the African tradition which should be encouraged and preserved. In Nervous
Conditions, the principle of traditional African communal living is highlighted in Babamukurus
patriarch status as the provider of not only his immediate family but also his extended family
members.
Aidoo and Dangarembga in Changes and Nervous Conditions propose the need for a balance
between accepting the gainful additions that modernity has brought in the contemporary African
womens sphere and also the preservation of traditional ideals present in the African cultural
values. This balance is portrayed in Changes through the character of Opokuya, who is able to
achieve success both at home and in her career as a nurse. Opokuya did not have all the comforts
she desired; she also wanted the luxury of owing a car and her desperation to do so is shown in
her readiness to buy Esis ramshackle car after Ali got a new car for her. However, Opokuya sees
the need for conceivable compromises in order to attribute a place for the man in her life. In
Nervous Conditions, the balance between tradition and modernity (including the press for female
liberation) is gained by Tambu who wisely keeps her peace in fiery situations while standing her
ground at other times. Tambu refuses to attend her parents wedding ceremony which is arranged
by Babamukuru in accordance to Christian standards. Even though, she was punished for this
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act, she remains adamant in her claim to self-assertion and self-realisation. Nyasha on the other
hand fails to achieve this balance and this ultimately leads to her psychological breakdown.
In Changes and Nervous Conditions, there is a balanced portrayal of both sexes; even though the
female characters are placed at the centre stage of action, the male characters are not depicted as
shoddy stereotypes who only act against the well-being of women. Oko, Esis husband is
presented as a responsible school teacher who loves his wife but is unable to maintain their
relationship because of his inability to understand the predilections of Esis nature and
personality. For instance, the case of marital rape which Esi accuses him of is Okos way of
showing his undying love and passion for his wife, Esi without the realisation that love and
passion in marriage does not depend on only one party. Kubi, Opokuyas husband is represented
as the ideal husband that is the dream of every woman. However, to avoid the error of creating a
perfect stereotype, Aidoo inserts a suggested flaw to Kubis character through his near slip
towards the end of the novel; Kubis sexual fascination for Esi shows that he is not a perfect
figure of marital fidelity and he could fall into the caprices of unfaithfulness if the opportune
moment presents itself. Ali Kondey serves as the foil to the character of Oko and Kubi. He is the
due representation of the amorous Casanova who loves women and has the monetary means to
feed his indulgences.
Esi Sekyi at the end of the novel sees the futility of clinging on to her career without also giving
equal devotion to keeping her family intact. She ends up as a kept woman who is neither
married nor single; the relationship she has with Ali Kondey is no longer a marriage but a kind of
friendship with added privileges. Nyasha becomes confined to a psychiatric home because of her
inability to cope with the dual influences of Englishness and traditional expectations.

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Conclusion
Aidoo and Dangarembga in their novels portray a gender consciousness which is hinged on the
unique African experience. They both portray characters that failed to achieve a balance between
their craving for freedom and the need to also align oneself within the constructs of tradition. For
Aidoo, little has changed for the African woman in her society; society still expects her to hold
particular assigned roles such mother, home maker, wife, etc. However, modernity and the
Western education it brought in its wake has caused some changes for the African woman and
given her new roles in the society such as; breadwinner, career woman, decision maker, etc.
therefore, these new roles create complexities in the male/female relationship especially in the
sphere of marriage. The shackle of male control cannot be totally removed in a marital
relationship as is shown in the Babamukuru and Maigurus marriage; even though Maiguru
revolts against her husbands unfairness in using both of their incomes for his family without
consulting her and she leaves her home to show her dissent, Maiguru in obedience to cultural
norms and social expectations has no other choice than to return home with her husband when he
comes for her. The same trend is seen in Esi Sekyis resigning to her fate by being Alis mistress
because she cannot do away with male companionship totally.
In Changes and Nervous Conditions, the Womanist ideal of co-existence and interdependence of
women and men in the society is encouraged as the ultimate way of creating a balanced society
which recognises the needs of both sexes; not trampling on the other without regard for one
anothers singular need for happiness, understanding and fulfilment.

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WORKS CITED
PRIMARY TEXTS:
Aidoo, A.A. 1991. Changes. New York, The Feminist Press

Dangarembga, T. 1988. Nervous Conditions. London, The Womens Press.

SECONDARY TEXTS:
Barry, P. 2002. Beginning Theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. Second
edition. ISBN: 0719062683

Palmer, E. 2008. Of war and women, oppression and optimism: new essays on the African novel.
Africa World Press, Inc.

Kolawole, M.E.M. 1997. Womanism and the African consciousness. Africa World Press, Inc.

Aegerter, L.P. 1996. A dialectic of autonomy and community: Tsitsi Dangarembgas Nervous
Conditions. Tulsa Studies in Womens Literature. 15.2: 231-240. Retrieved on November
18, 2011 from www.jstor.org/stable/464133

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