By Toyin Falola
This week, I released a new book, titled Feminism, Africanism, and Globalism: Doyin Aguoru’s Voices Through Drama. The background story of how this book came about will await the appropriate time. The link between drama and feminism in Africa has never been one merely of entertainment through literature alone. It has been political, historical, and profoundly human. Through the works of feminist playwrights, the stage in Africa has turned into a court in which patriarchy comes under scrutiny, a marketplace in which culture becomes negotiated, and a site of healing for those who were previously denied their voice. The link is at the heart of my analysis of the works of Professor Doyin Aguoru, a Nigerian dramatist whose work continues to engage academic interest and discussion. An encounter with Aguoru’s works should never be perceived as just another scholarly enterprise. It should be viewed as an enlightened attempt to understand the bigger picture of acknowledging women who have immensely impacted the intellectual environment of Africa through their literary and performative interventions. Through my critical engagement with Aguoru’s pieces of work, I can clearly state that African women have not always been victims of oppression as perceived. Rather, they have been able to revolt against it.
This discussion is further emboldened by a crucial question: What happens when drama is put into the hands of those who know pain, defiance, memories, and transformation? My interpretation of Aguoru provides an answer that is strikingly clear. Drama becomes activism. It becomes philosophy. It becomes a tool for social change, one that both reveals the conflicts within a culture and imagines what the future of society might hold. The dramatic works of Aguoru represent modern-day Africa in all of its intricacies. They bring out the destructive elements within cultures and challenge preconceived notions and beliefs. In addition, they highlight how ignorance can become embedded within cultural frameworks. However, unlike many other writers who merely criticize society from the outside, Aguoru delves deep into the psyche of common individuals. These are stories of humanity marked with suffering, courage, confusion, hope, and strife. One of her major books, which significantly influenced my views, is Stolen Seeds. First, it seems more like literary criticism, but in fact, it is a socially important piece of work. Being able to examine the dangers inherent in such cultural practices, based on myths, fascinated me.
Through drama, Aguoru demonstrates that there could be a destruction cycle within cultures, unbeknownst to anyone involved. This is exactly what makes Stolen Seeds a masterpiece, for it turns social criticism into an emotional journey. Instead of giving out lectures on bad cultural practices, Aguoru makes you witness the effects on people who lived through the fear, ignorance, and traditions. In such a situation, drama becomes revolutionary. The problem acquires faces of its own, which is something that statistics or politics cannot achieve. This prowess is evident, but I am also aware that it is one of the peak signs of a true artist. What makes Aguoru stand out is the fact that she adds literature, sociology, history, and social activism into one. Artistic expression alone does not define the essence of what she does. Her approach is a conversation between herself and society. She encourages us to see reality in all aspects of gender, power, culture, and ethics.
Through indirect involvement, I can show yet another aspect of feminism – the need for cooperation in establishing an intellectual community. Feminism should not only mean rebellion against the dominance of men but also the creation of networks of mutual recognition in which the voice of women is recognized. The works of Aguoru are full of struggles for recognition in which her female protagonists find themselves. In difficult socio-political conditions, characterized by oppressive tradition, economic hardship, lack of stability, and loneliness, they fight, resist, and define themselves anew. This theme is one of the strongest in African feminist literature. Contrary to Western feminist ideas that emphasize the individual emancipation of women regardless of the reality of communal living, the African feminist perspective is marked by the conflict between the individual and the collective, as seen in many African feminist writings.
The importance of this differentiation lies in the fact that it considers the historical peculiarity of Africa. All the phenomena mentioned, such as colonialism, exploitation, instabilities, and patriarchy, have made the lives of all African females quite complicated. Thus, African feminism frequently occurs not through detachment but through negotiations. The dramatic imagination of Aguoru shows great comprehension of this fact. This can be proved by my own involvement in this discussion, through my book on Aguoru and her works. For me, the plays she creates are more like an archive of the life experiences of people than just stories invented by her.
The above point helps understand my keen interest in the sociological aspects of the works of Aguoru. In the plays written by her, culture is viewed as anything but stagnant and divine. Culture is represented as an ongoing process that changes due to power dynamics, knowledge, and personal decisions made by people. Dangerous cultural traditions are kept alive not owing to any intrinsic superiority of such traditions, but simply because people may lack the guts and/or necessary knowledge to question them. Thus, the literary creations of Aguoru become instruments of education that teach readers to question their ingrained beliefs and rethink their actions.
It gives voice to experiences that women go through yet keep private from the rest of the world. Using the methods of conversation, performance, symbolism, and characterization, she converts personal suffering into collective discourse. One of the most important things about feminist drama is its capacity to bring suffering into the limelight. However, Aguruo is not naïve about the nature of her feminist views. In her works, there is no simplification of the image of men as evil monsters and of women as pure victims. She shows people caught in webs bigger than themselves. Some of the men become oppressors as they have internalized distorted concepts about male power. Some of the women become part of the system of oppression as it becomes natural for them over time. This complex approach grants her drama some credibility and makes it impossible to dismiss it as just propaganda.
If we are discussing the praise of Aguoru in relation to feminism, then we must consider the importance of the aspect of performance in the culture of Africa. The truth is that for many groups of people in Africa, narration of stories is seen as an activity performed together and supported by songs, dances, dialogues, and rituals. That is why drama has a particular place in the history of African thought because it is an artistic and social phenomenon. We can see that Aguoru perfectly understands the culture that she narrates about in her plays. In addition to that, her themes are not bound geographically since the topics of violence against women, societal inequality, cultural domination, and human dignity are global issues. This explains why I believe her works deserve greater attention and wider recognition beyond their current academic circulation. The issue of recognition is itself central to feminist discourse. The female mind was oppressed, insulted, and taken possession of by others for many years. The works of women writers were not easily published or accepted by society because of their views. Women who raised their voices for being exploited in their societies were considered rebels.
Against this historical background, my celebration of Aguoru and her works carries symbolic importance. It represents a conscious effort to correct patterns of exclusion within African intellectual culture. By dedicating scholarly attention to her works, she and her literary works will be positioned within discourses regarding African literature, feminism, and performance studies. This matters because, by being recognized, scholars can be included in intellectual history through their works being analyzed, evaluated, and referenced by other researchers. If their works are not recognized, scholars will eventually fade out of the historical discourse, despite their contributions to knowledge and the development of subject matters.
My book, therefore, performs a dual function. On one level, it analyzes Aguoru’s dramatic writings. On another level, it challenges academic cultures that have historically failed to adequately celebrate female intellectuals. There is also something profoundly intergenerational about this engagement. I have emphasized the importance of supporting younger generations of scholars and reducing the burdens they would otherwise face in gaining recognition. This perspective introduces an ethics of mentorship into the conversation. This concept is particularly applicable in the feminist movement. Feminism is at its best when there is mutual support among women, regardless of generational differences, professions, or institutions. The battle against exclusion will fail if each woman has to struggle on her own.
The plays written by Aguoru continually depict this concept of unity. Her female protagonists usually withstand unfavorable conditions because of the strength derived from their social relationships, personal fortitude, and collective defiance.
Another dimension of my engagement with her work in relation to feminism is the recognition of the emotional power of literary creativity. The reading of her works allowed me not just an intellectual understanding but also an emotional investment in the issue at hand. I want to emphasize this because literature does not just help people think differently but also feel differently. Literature cannot solve societal problems, but it can help to re-frame the conversation happening around them. Africa today faces gender inequality, economic instability, political strife, and cultural conflicts. So, literature needs to step in and join in the conversation, as Aguoru has done with a focus on women and the realistic struggles they face.
