Women as Agents of Social Change: A Critical Interrogation of Mariama Bâ’s Une Si Longue Lettre and Sembène Ousmane’s Les Bouts de Bois Dedieu
Women as Agents of Social Change: A Critical Interrogation of Mariama Bâ’s Une Si Longue Lettre and Sembène Ousmane’s Les Bouts de Bois Dedieu

Summary/Abstract: Since literature is believed to be a tool for social transformation, this study interrogates whether or not the efforts of militant women could demolish oppressive forces that have caused hunger and poverty in many African countries. The study aims at connecting literature with social realities in human society to strengthen its functionality. Postcolonial theory and Marxism set the premises for discussions in the study as theoretical framework while the French explication de texte is adopted as research methodology. Mariama Bâ’s Une si longue lettre and Sembène Ousmane’s Les bouts de bois de Dieu are purposively selected for the study. The two novels are selected based on the inclination of the novelists towards denouncing social imbalances in African society. Finding from the study suggest that both collective and individual struggles or agitations against exploitative and oppressive tendencies are capable of bringing progressive social change to Africa. The study, therefore, concludes that whether old or new, literary texts remain relevant and significant in shaping human minds and guiding their operations now and forever.

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