African Femininities in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s <i>Nervous Conditions</i>

Abstract

This paper considered the concept of African femininity as stems from performative gender relations within a familial set up. The paper argued that femininity in the traditional African sense is not shrouded in frailty, backwardness and powerlessness as western feminists have been depicting about women in various parts of Africa. Through the works of other African scholars as lenses, this paper explored the social construction of African femininity as portrayed by Tsitsi Dangarembga’s female characters in her debut novel, Nervous Conditions. Through the eyes of Dangarembga’s female characters, the paper highlighted some of the structural conditions responsible for altering African femininity and gender relations in general. It remains undisputed that femaleness and maleness are distinctly different attributes, which, to a greater extent, are biologically determined. The question to be asked is whether the fight for equality between the two is a worthwhile cause. Using the near misses, the losing battles, the struggles and the frustrations of Dangarembga’s women, this paper argued for complementarity rather than oppositional relationship between the genders for the building harmonious families and societies at large.

Key Words: Femininity; gender; matriarchy; industriousness