WOMEN ADRIFT: FAMILIAL AND CULTURAL ALIENATION IN THE PERSONAL NARRATIVES OF ...

285 Pages·2016·1.31 MB·English

WOMEN ADRIFT: FAMILIAL AND CULTURAL ALIENATION IN THE PERSONAL
NARRATIVES OF FRANCOPHONE WOMEN

by

KAREN BETH MASTERS

submitted in accordance with the requirements for
the degree of

Doctor of Literature and Philosophy
in the subject
French

at the
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: PROF. EDGARD SIENAERT, Research fellow, Centre for Africa
Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

November 2015

© University of South Africa 2015
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the experience of alienation from family and culture as portrayed in
the personal narratives of francophone women. The authors appearing in this study are
Assia Djebar and Marie Cardinal, from Algeria, Mariama Bâ and Ken Bugul, from
Senegal, Marguerite Duras and Kim Lefèvre, from Vietnam, Calixthe Beyala, from
Cameroon, Gabrielle Roy, from Canada, and Maryse Condé, from Guadeloupe.
Alienation is deconstructed into the domains of blood, money, land, religion, education
and history. The authors’ experiences of alienation in each domain are classified
according to severity and cultural normativity. The study seeks to determine the
manner in which alienation manifests in each domain, and to identify factors which aid
or hinder recovery.
Alienation in the domain of blood occurs as a result of warfare, illness, racism, ancestral
trauma, and the rites of passage of menarche, loss of virginity, and menopause.
Money-related alienation is linked to endemic classism, often caused by colonial
influence. The authors experienced varying degrees of economic vulnerability to men,
depending upon cultural and familial norms. Colonialism, warfare and environmental
degradation all contribute to alienation in the domain of land. Women were found to be
more susceptible to alienation in the domain of religion due to patriarchal religious
constructs. In the domain of education, it was found that some alienation is inevitable
for all students. Despite its inherent drawbacks, education provides tools for
empowerment which are crucial for overcoming alienation. Alienation in the domain of
history was found to hinder recovery due to infiltration of past trauma into the present,
while empowerment in this domain fosters optimism and future-oriented thinking.
Each domain offers opportunities for empowerment, and it is necessary to work within
the domains to create a safe haven for recovery. Eight of the nine authors experienced
at least a partial recovery from alienation. This was accomplished via cathartic release
of negative emotions. Catharsis is achieved by shedding tears, talking, or writing about
the negative experiences. The personal narrative was found to be especially helpful in
promoting healing both for the author and the reading audience.
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Key words: alienation, culture, family, post-colonialism, blood, money, land, religion,
education, history, Mariama Bâ, Calixthe Beyala, Ken Bugul, Marie
Cardinal, Maryse Condé, Assia Djebar, Marguerite Duras, Kim Lefèvre,
Gabrielle Roy

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RÉSUMÉ
Cette étude examine l’aliénation de la famille et de la culture représentée dans les récits
personnels des femmes francophones. Les auteures examinées sont Assia Djebar et
Marie Cardinal d’Algérie, Mariama Bâ et Ken Bugul du Sénégal, Marguerite Duras et
Kim Lefèvre du Vietnam, Calixthe Beyala du Cameroun, Gabrielle Roy du Canada, et
Maryse Condé de Guadeloupe. L’aliénation est déconstruite dans les domaines du
sang, de l’argent, de la terre, de la religion, de l’éducation, et de l’histoire. L’aliénation
de chaque auteure est classifiée selon la sévérité et la normativité culturelle de
l’expérience. Cette étude cherche à déterminer la manière de laquelle cette aliénation
se présente dans chaque domaine et à identifier les éléments qui aident ou entravent la
guérison.
Dans le domaine du sang, l’aliénation se produit comme résultat de la guerre, des
maladies, du racisme, du traumatisme ancestral, et des étapes importantes de la
ménarche, de la perte de la virginité, et de la ménopause. L’aliénation relative à
l’argent est liée à la discrimination endémique contre les classes sociales inférieures,
souvent provoquée par le colonialisme. Quelques auteures ont souffert d’une
vulnérabilité financière aux hommes, selon les normes familiales et culturelles. Le
colonialisme, la guerre et la dégradation de l’environnement contribuent à l’aliénation
dans le domaine de la terre. Il a été déterminé que les femmes sont plus vulnérables à
l’aliénation dans le domaine de la religion à cause des constructions patriarcales. Dans
le domaine de l’éducation l’aliénation est inévitable pour tout élève ou étudiant, mais
l’éducation offre beaucoup de stratégies essentielles pour surmonter l’aliénation.
Aliénation dans le domaine de l’histoire entrave les efforts de surmonter le traumatisme
à cause de la transmission du traumatisme du passé qui s’infiltre dans le présent, mais
l’émancipation dans ce domaine permet à l’individu d’accepter un passé douloureux et
d’avancer vers un avenir bénéfique.
Chaque domaine offre des occasions pour l’émancipation, et il est nécessaire de
travailler dans le cadre de ces domaines pour créer un abri en sécurité pour la guérison.
Huit des neuf auteures ont ressenti au moins un rétablissement partiel de leur
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aliénation. Cela a été accompli par moyen d’une catharsis des émotions négatives. La
catharsis est réalisée par moyen des larmes, de la parole, et de l’écriture au sujet des
épreuves vécues. Le récit personnel est particulièrement utile pour encourager le
rétablissement pas seulement pour l’auteur, mais aussi pour le lectorat.
Mot clés: l’aliénation, la culture, la famille, le post-colonialisme, le sang, l’argent, la
terre, la religion, l’éducation, l’histoire, Mariama Bâ, Calixthe Beyala, Ken
Bugul, Marie Cardinal, Maryse Condé, Assia Djebar, Marguerite Duras,
Kim Lefèvre, Gabrielle Roy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Edgard Sienaert,
for consistently holding me to the highest academic standard. His patient
encouragement, insightful comments and sound mentorship inspired me to a greater
degree of academic growth than I would have thought possible.
I also wish to thank Professor Elizabeth Pretorius for guiding me through the
administrative requirements of being a doctoral student.
From early childhood through graduate school, I have benefitted from the wisdom of
many talented teachers, both in and out of a traditional classroom setting. A few have
influenced me to such a degree that I might not have made it this far without their
guidance. I express my heartfelt thanks to Professor Edgard Sienaert, Dr. Nina
Hellerstein, Dr. Cathy Stults, Tom Dwiggins, June Brandt, Don Simmons, and Rev.
Richard Burdick.

I am extremely thankful to my wonderful husband Michael Borge Jr., for providing tech
support and unfailing moral support. Sometimes I needed to be reminded to take a
break, and sometimes I needed to be reminded to get back to work, and you always
knew how to tell the difference.

I must also thank my beloved son Miles Sent-Leger-Franklin, whose departure from the
nest inspired me to begin a new chapter in my life.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page number

Chapter 1: Alienation and the personal narrative 1

1.1 Our ancestors … the Gauls? or What would Vercingetorix do? 1
1.2 The origins of autobiography and feminism 4
1.3 Alienation in the francophone world 9
1.4 The authors 15
1.4.1 Maryse Condé, Guadeloupe 16
1.4.2 Gabrielle Roy, Manitoba, Canada 18
1.4.3 Assia Djebar and Marie Cardinal, Algeria 19
1.4.4 Marguerite Duras and Kim Lefèvre, Vietnam 21
1.4.5 Mariama Bâ and Ken Bugul, Senegal 23
1.4.6 Calixthe Beyala, Cameroon 26
1.5 Research methodology 27
1.6 Anticipated impact of study 31

Chapter 2: Alienation in the domain of blood 34

2.1 Introduction 34
2.2 Une femme n’a qu’un seul trésor 36
2.3 Une femme indisposée 42
2.4 Bloodshed 46
2.5 Bloodlines 51
2.6 Tainted blood 56
2.7 Blood as carrier of genetic memory 61
2.8 Conclusions 63

Chapter 3: Alienation in the domain of money 67

3.1 Introduction 67
3.2 She works hard for the money 72
3.3 Can’t buy me love 77
3.4 Been caught stealing 84
3.5 Une sale mentalité de pauvre 87
3.6 Conclusions 93

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Chapter 4: Alienation in the domain of land 99

4.1 Introduction 99
4.2 Homesick 105
4.3 Do you have a flag? 113
4.4 Terre / mère 120
4.5 Conclusions 128

Chapter 5: Alienation in the domain of religion 134

5.1 Introduction: The beginning of wisdom 134
5.2 Opting out 143
5.3 Conversion or coercion? 148
5.4 Conclusions 159

Chapter 6: Alienation in the domain of education 165

6.1 Introduction: The roots of education 165
6.2 Unequal opportunity 172
6.3 Curriculum 182
6.4 Le premier métier 189
6.5 Conclusions 196

Chapter 7: Alienation in the domain of history 201

7.1 Introduction: What is truth? 201
7.2 Where do we come from? 206
7.3 Your history, my history, our history 214
7.4 Conclusions: Where do we go from here? 224

Chapter 8: Conclusions 233

8.1 Introduction 233
8.2 Spotlight on Vietnam 238
8.3 Safety and catharsis 245
8.4 Something to strive for 251
8.5 Final thoughts 258

Works cited 262
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Chapter One—Alienation and the personal narrative
1.1 Our ancestors … the Gauls? or What would Vercingetorix do?
To fight the Empire is to be infected by its derangement. This is a paradox;
whoever defeats a segment of the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates
like a virus, imposing its form on its enemies. Thereby it becomes its enemies.
--Philip K. Dick (1981, 235) (1)
According to the majority of French history books, the history of the French people
began with the Gallic resistance to Rome, led by the young king Vercingetorix. Yet
almost nothing is known about Vercingetorix aside from what was written about him by
his enemy, Julius Caesar. He may have been as young as seventeen when he began
gathering his army of freedom fighters to defend his homeland. Although he came
closer than anyone ever had to defeating the Romans, his efforts still ended in failure
and he was executed in Rome in 46 B.C.E. after languishing for years as a prisoner of
war. History gave him little further attention until Napoleon III resurrected his story in
1864, in the hopes of unifying the French people and shoring up his own precarious
political situation. A statue of Vercingetorix was erected near the village of Alise Sainte-
Reine, a statue whose face bears a remarkable likeness to that of Napoleon III
(Schofield 2012).
Under the rule of Napoleon III, France’s overseas Empire tripled in size (Milza 2004). At
this point the French were behaving a lot like the Romans, and the question has to be
raised—would Vercingetorix have endorsed the Second Empire? Or the first? What
political position would he have taken in response to the French invasion of Algeria?
Would he recognize himself in the comic books of Astérix and Obélix? When we think
of displaced indigenous people, we often think of the diasporas of more recent history,
such as the aboriginal people of Australia, the African Bushmen, and the Native
Americans. It is easy to forget that prior to the expansion of the Roman Empire, much
of Europe was populated by indigenous people. Although this era was far from a
bucolic golden age, the people of ancient Gaul generally lived life according to the
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rhythm of nature and weren’t particularly interested in chopping down sacred forests to
make way for roads, all of which led to Rome (Aldhouse-Green 2010).
Gaul was conquered, and its culture was almost completely submerged by Roman
influence. Vercingetorix was conquered twice, first by Caesar, then by Napoleon III.
Rather than allowing him the dignity to die in defeat, the colonizer romanticized him,
admired his virtues, saw himself in them and transformed his memory into a tool of
jingoism. It is possible that Vercingetorix had more in common with the colonized
school children of the francophone world who developed such a profound resentment to
the phrase “Nos ancêtres, les Gaulois” (2), than he did with the emperor who
appropriated his likeness.
The quote at the beginning of this chapter comes from a science fiction novel in which
the protagonist makes the startling realization that “the Empire never ended”, and
subsequently takes on the task of unearthing the truth beneath the bedrock of lies upon
which his society is built. Dick comments in a different book “It is the basic condition of
life, to be required to violate your own identity.” (Dick 1968, 156) This was certainly the
case for Vercingetorix, who is now forced to exist as a caricature of himself in comic
books, amusement parks and patriotic tales told to school children.
According to the official version of history the Visigoth invasion brought about the fall of
the Roman Empire in 476 C.E. (Ferreiro 1999). But did the Empire really end? If those
who fight the Empire become the Empire, and if the subjects of Rome were so
thoroughly assimilated prior to the fall that they continued to behave like Roman
subjects after 476, how can one say that the Empire ended? The French language is
derived from Latin, and has been exported to every continent by the French Empire.
Empire building is a skill handed down by the Romans. The influence of the Roman
Catholic Church is felt around the globe, but the animistic spirits revered by the Druids
are all but forgotten. Did the Empire end or did it just transform? Whether the Empire
calls itself Rome, France or some other name, it should be judged by its acts. Those
most qualified to do the judging are the people who have to live (and die) with the
consequences of those acts.
2