Abstract:
This thesis which is both comparative, stylistic and thematic examines irony as
a tool of moderate feminism in selected works of two African women writers,
a Francophone and an Anglophone. These are Riwan ou le chemin de sable
and De l'autre côté du regard of the Senegalese-Beninese novelist Ken Bugul,
and Anowa and Changes: a love story of the Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo.
The investigation is based on the premise that both writers use irony as a
discursive technique in their contributions to issues of women's oppression.
The use of this style requires the reader to use his or her critical thinking skills
in order to interpret accurately the vision that these authors project on feminist
doctrines in Africa. The study then sets itself the task of exploring and
explaining the ironic representation of feminist discourse in the selected texts
of the authors. It then analyses and interprets irony as an expression of
moderate feminism through the selected texts. The data, mainly collected from
the four books, were subjected to a hermeneutic study in the light of Firestone
(1972)’s theory of radical feminism and a combination of the various
tendencies of African feminism. The study concludes that the feminism
projected by Bugul and Aidoo is a fusion of Western feminist theories based
on the demand for women's rights and freedom through revolt and the spirit of
velvetiness and solidarity characteristic of Afrocentric feminism.
