The Culture of Resistance in Six African Plays by African Female Playwrights

Abstract

There is no literary creation that exists in a vacuum. Most creative works like plays have a strong link with the society that inspires them in such a way that they mirror the ills and preferences of the society for corrections or improvements. It is on this basis that the present study focuses on the commitment to female resistance to socially entrenched oppression in many African societies as depicted in the plays of six African playwrights. The study used the social logical approach as the theoretical framework and examined the Sweet Trap and Wedlock of the Gods by Zulu Sofola; the Marriage of Anansewa and Edufa by Efua Sutherland; and the Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo. At the end, the study argues that the idea of resistance flows through the six plays where the resistance is mainly in two folds; the major being the resistance against negatively entrenched stereotypical roles of women which include the lack of choice and freedom to make personal decision as can be seen in Ugwoma and Anowa and the others