The Poetics of ‘Sensuous Knowledge’ in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter

Abstract

Through a focus on Mariam Bâ’s So Long a Letter, this paper argues for the importance of indigenous feminist theories in interpreting the work of African women writers. I argue that western systems of knowledge create binary categories, disregarding perspectives that do not conform to hegemonic frameworks; yet the radical indigenous feminism of Bâ’s text cannot be satisfactorily analysed within such a worldview. Instead, I approach So Long a Letter using Minna Salami’s Sensuous Knowledge (2020), which focuses upon the emotional and spiritual needs of African women within their specific cultural milieu. Salami’s study posits emotion as a legitimate tool in the fight against sexism and racism; a valid way of knowing that can co-exist with reason rather than becoming its abject. This sheds light on Bâ’s feminist politics, as indigenous feminist structures reveal her heroine Ramatoulaye in all her complexity as an empowered Senegalese woman.

Keywords:

• Bâ
• Salami
• sensuous knowledge
• African women

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Bâ herself married thrice; fell in love three times, chose her partners, and then called it quits. Her third and longest marriage was with the left-wing journalist turned politician Obèye Diop with whom she shared five children but whom she later divorced. Reflecting on his marriage with Bâ, Diop said, ‘The meeting of two opposing temperaments, two sets of roiling opinions, two voracious intellectual appetites, two different philosophies, is not easy to manage.’ (See Garman in the References.)

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Notes on contributors

Sadia Zulfiqar

Sadia Zulfiqar, a graduate of the University of Glasgow, is an assistant professor at Lahore University of Management Studies, Pakistan. Her numerous publications include Islam and the West: A Love Story? (2014) and African Women Writers and the Politics of Gender (2016).