The female voice and traditional discourse biases: The case of francophone African literature

Abstract

This study reports on a statistical approach to Francophone African literature, addressing the issues of discourse bias and the specificity of female writing as against male. The research is based on a comparison of all the characters present in 20 novels written by male and female African authors, under the headings of importance, power and attitude. It suggests that a number of significant differences characterize the make-up of novels written by African female and male authors.

Gender and bilinguals’ creativity

“…One difficulty in answering the question about the influence of gender on writing styles is that, although many analyses of gender differences in literary discourse have found that women's creative writing differs at least to some extent from men's writing, especially in choice of topic and topic presentation (Izarray, 1992;Hiatt, 1977;Ormerod et al, 1995), other studies have suggested that differences in women's and men's speech may be caused by other factors (Eckert, 1998;O'Barr and Atkins, 1998). In fact, some scholars believe that differences between men and women exist only because of sociological factors, where women's behavior is indicative of any group that is powerless or a minority (Cameron, 1992).…”

“…Many scholars also emphasize that West African men and women have created two separate traditions of writing, the men writing about the effects of colonial rule on their countries, and the women writing about the difficulties of being raised in a traditional African environment and confronting Western ideas and ideals about being a woman. For example, Ormerod, Volet, and Jaccomard (1995) found that African French-speaking male and female writers differ in how they portray men and women in their novels. Based on their individual research, they have also discovered that African male writers tend to choose themes describing``the plight of people who are victims of political chaos and corruption'' whereas women choose themes``about the survival of people in an unfriendly environment'' (p. 366).…”

“…Valentine (1986) investigated the use of speech acts across genders in American and Indian cultures, finding literary discourse provides insight into the relationship between gender and speech. Other authors have found that story-telling differs depending on gender in indigenous New Zealanders (Holmes, 1997), French-speaking Africans (Ormerod, Volet, and Jaccomard, 1995), and Chinese male and female authors (Shen, 1992).…”