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“Yesterday You were Divorced. Today I Am a Widow”: An Appraisal of Widowhood Practices and the Effects on the Psyche of Widows in Africa.
Abstract
Widowhood is a reality for as long as people are born and people die. Widows are found in every community but in Africa, the experience of the widow is such that women dread to be widows. In Africa, widows go through a lot of hardship that stems from the society, the husband‘s family and from tradition. This paper tries to look at the nature of the woman, see how this subscribes to the treatment she receives in society especially in her time of grief and loss. This paper will focus on the plight of widows in some communities in Africa and how gender and its attendant problems impede on the woman‘s social standing and general development in society. In looking at the issue of widowhood in Africa, the reference point will be Mariama Ba‘s novel, So Long a Letter where the paper will be addressing how the African woman handles widowhood and how the African society sees the widow. From study, it is observed that the term ―Widowhood‖ has not really attracted much criticism in African Literature. In this sense, this paper will be examining some feminist theories in an attempt to adequately appraise this situation.
