Marxist Reading of Selected African Drama Texts

By Tobi Idowu
Introduction:
Marxism has its provenance from the works of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels
(1820 -1895) who both published a widely influential text, Communism Manifesto (1848) in
which they foreground the dominating force of the economic system as shaping and
structuring human societies. Tyson (2006:55) explains, “for Marxism, getting and keeping
economic power is the motive behind all social and political activities, including education,
philosophy, religion, government, the arts, science, technology, the media, and so on.” In
other words, economic incentive determines and drives other sphere of human endeavours.
To use Marxist terms, economics is the base while politics and other social activities are the
superstructure which rely on and are built on the base. Furthermore, economic conditions
are classified as material circumstances, while the social/political/ideological atmosphere
generated by material conditions is called the historical situation. In order to gain a proper
understanding of human events and human production, one needs to understand the
specific material/historical circumstances in which those events and productions occur,
(Tyson, 2006).
In Marxist analysis, society is broadly divided into the bourgeoisie and the proletariat on the
socio-economic spectrum; and the proletariat are conditioned and dominated by the
bourgeoisie through (undesirable) ideology. Notably, undesirable ideologies are employed
by the bourgeoisie to promote repressive political agenda and, in order to ensure their
acceptance among the citizenry, pass these agenda off as natural ways of seeing the
world, (Nayar, 2017). Two of such ideologies, as reflected in African drama, are colonialism
and racism where a particular group of people, the white colonialists, endeavours to
dominate another group, the Africans, by emphasizing its own ‘natural’ superiority via skin
pigmentation. African drama is replete with denunciation of these ideologies.
Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi Is Dead: Ideological interplay
In Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead ideologies are manifested in the form of apartheid
system where the white settlers dominate, oppress and repress the black South Africans via
segregation. Since economic factor determines other variables in Marxist reckoning, it needs
emphasizing that, at the bottom of the apartheid system, and its segregation policy against
the blacks, lies overriding economic interest. As seen in Fugard’s text, the less or no control
of the economic levers by the blacks, the more they are dominated by the white. Styles, a
character in the text, aptly expresses it thus,
“You must understand one thing. We have nothing except ourselves. We own nothing
except ourselves. This government and its laws leaves us with nothing except ourselves.
Even when we die, we leave nothing behind except the memories of ourselves,” (Fugard,
1973)
Two instances of the consequence of this economically inflected domination predominate in
Fugard’s text, the psychological trauma and physical deprivation suffered by the black in
respect to their lot. At the beginning of the play, after

reading a newspaper, Styles “shakes his head ruefully at the memory” (Fugard, 1973). He
recalls the debilitating conditions at Ford Motor Company where he once worked, and also
how they had to mask the reality of the plant for a visit from the big boss. Apartheid, he
muses, does not only try oppress the black, but also endeavours to break and discourage
hopes for a brighter future of all the black people living under white rule. This inevitably
leads black people to suffer psychological trauma as their long, physical torturing and slavish
service to the white brings no fulfillment but more deprivation.
Another instance of ideological domination is foregrounded when Styles, bitterly, listens as
his fellow black people are addressed as “boys, ” invariably seen as lesser humans by the
white boss, whose posturing signifies his assimilated assumption of being a “full man.” This
kind of supremacist ideological conditioning is at the heart of colonialism, especially its
segregationist form, apartheid, in South Africa.
Worthy of note also is that, in Sizwe Bansi is Dead the eponymous character must give up
his own identity, or accept that he does not qualify to lay claim to an identity, in order to
survive. This is important for a Marxist reading. Sizwe’s transformation from his former
name and identity, Robert Zwelinzima, evokes some pity when seen in the light of his initial
rejection of the idea of assuming a dead man’s identity. He tells his friend, Buntu, who sells
the idea to him, “I don’t want to lose my name…How do I live as another man’s ghost?”
Remarkably his choice is no choice if he is to survive as the terms of survival have been set
by the ruling white minority. This is a form invisibility which is a key component of racist
ideology towards the black. Importantly, invisibility implies blank or no identity, which
implies that being black confers no distinguishable identity, whereas being white is
synonymous with having a recognizable identity. It does not matter what name a black man
goes by since all black people are all indistinguishable and they could be taken for one
another, dead or alive.
Commodification:
This invariably leads to another Marxist key component in analysis, commodification.
Commodification is a way relating with objects or persons in terms of their market value.
For Marxism, a commodity’s value lies not in what it can do (use value) but in the money or
other commodities for which it can be traded (exchange value) or in the social status it
confers on its owner (sign-exchange value). An object becomes a commodity only when it
has exchange value or sign-exchange value, and both forms of value are determined by the
society in which the object is exchanged. (Tyson, 2006:62)
In apartheid South Africa, in which Sizwe Bansi is Dead is set, the black workers’ ability to
be in employment lies in their exchange value. In other words, a worker’s
usability/productivity relative to others determines his chances of keeping a job. Despite the
long years of service he has rendered for the company, Outa Job’s employer’s son does not
suffer any form of scruple from dismissing him. As soon he could find fault, and thus begins
to dislike him, for Job’s productivity, he asks him to quit the work. Unfortunately for Job, his
old age counts against in his bid to get into other employments since his exchange value has
reduced drastically.
Onwueme’s The Reign of Wazobia: Insidiousness of Ideology and Subversion
In Tess Onwueme’s The Reign of Wazobia the insidious role ideology plays in individual and
societal consciousness over a long stretch of time is reflected, critiqued and most
importantly this assumed “natural” ideology is subverted. Tyson (2006:55), in explaining
ideology in Marxist term, defines it as “a belief system, and all belief systems are products of
cultural conditioning.” He elucidates the role of ideology in leadership formation giving the
instance of how man has assumed “leadership naturalness” overtime.
“‘It’s natural for men to hold leadership positions because their biological superiority
renders them more physically, intellectually, and emotionally capable than women” is a
sexist ideology that sells itself as a function of nature, rather than as a product of cultural
belief, ’ (Tyson, 2006:56).
Whereas, Wazobia subverts this notion of man’s natural fit for leadership by projecting
women’s leadership, an alternative discourse, in some way. In the play, the reign of “king”
Wazobia is portrayed, where focuses are placed on her progressive ideas on personal and
public relations. This is very significant as this alternative proposition on gender fit for
leadership is in opposition to patriarchal control of the nation-state and its women during
the time the play is set.
Notably, the attempt by Wazobia to use her regency to inspire her women in subverting and
eradicating repressive men imposed laws that have impressed on society’s consciousness as
if they are natural laws shows the author’s Marxist agenda. Wazobia lays claim to the
kingship even beyond the three years prescribed for her regency by rousing his fellow
women to biased zealotry. She charges them:
Wazobia: arise women,…………………………..
They say your feet are feeble show them those feet carry the burden of the womb. They say
yours are frail, show them those hands have claws, show them those hands are heavy.
Wake up, women. Arise, women. Barricade the entrance to the city, I can hear trumpet
sounds voice of men spitting blood to drown us. With your claws hook them, but spill no
blood for these are sons of our womb. (Wazobia, 1992, 2).
Sekyi’s The Blinkards: Hegemony and Unreflective Internalisation
Kobina Sekyi’s The Blinkards is an especial material for the explication of the concept of
hegemony in Marxist analysis. The craze, by Mrs Borofosem, for the appropriation of the
cultural values she imbibed in England is an instance of how economically determined
hegemonic practices manage to gradually impose themselves as the standard practices in
the minds of unsuspected and unreflective victims. Due to the dominant nature of Britain,
via colonialist enterprise in Ghana, then Gold Coast, English cultural values and language
were set as standards that must be attained or aped for upward social and financial mobility
and also for class upward trajectory in the society. Mrs Borofosem, Mr Tsibi, Mr Okadu are
characters for which the sly and gradual British propagation of Western ideals has been
successful on. It is therefore not surprising that Mrs Borofosem cannot understand why the
lawyer, Mr Onyimdze, will still revert back to Fanti dress, food and language, which she
considers as being “bushy” and inferior to the standard of the English own. She comments in
shock:

Mrs Borofo: Well, I am surprised! Fancy being able to talk Fanti like that, when you have
spend many years in England. How can you remember? Most young men don’t able to
understand vernacular when they return from England. (Sekyi,1994:35).
In another instance she cannot contain her displeasure when Miss Tsishi, brought under
tutelage for the knowledge of English ways, apparently suffers a relapse back into the old,
unrefined ways of the Fanti when she accepts Fanti delicacies as against that of the English
in Onyimdze’s house:
Mrs Borofo: Do behave, Erimintrude. A cake is more genteel…than boredze ntotoe. Or else,
take a chocolate. I recommend creamy ones. All young ladies in England chop creamy
chocolates. (Sekyi, 1994:37).
It needs emphasizing that at the heart of the success of the propagation of those Western
ideals and their unreflective acceptance by such characters as Mrs Borofosem lies economic
interest. Since Western food, dress and language have been set and internalized as
standards, they inevitably become supremely marketable in comparison to African own. The
West so continues to gain from, and also set all kinds of standard of tastes for Africans. In
other words, Western practices become hegemonic practices with overreaching influence
over African societies via subtle but powerful cultural propagation fuelled by economic
interest.

References:
Martin, Andrew, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Fugard, Athol. 1992. Sizwe Bansi is dead. New
York, NY: Insight Media.
Marx, Karl, 1818-1883. ( 1996). The Communist manifesto. London ; Chicago, Ill. : Pluto
Press,
Nayar, Pramod. 2017. From Text to Theory. Viva Books Private Limited
Onwueme, Tess. 1988. The Reign of Wazobia. Heinemann Educational Books
Sekyi, Kobina. 1994. The Blinkards. Heinemann Education Publishers
Tyson, Lois. 1999. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide