Véronique Tadjo: Is there hope beyond the divisions in contemporary Africa?

Abstract

This article discusses the Ivorian author Véronique Tadjo’s representation of separation and division in a post-colonial African context through a close reading of three of her texts, namely The Blind Kingdom (1990), Queen Pokou. Concerto for a sacrifice (2004) and Far from my Father (2010). In Tadjo’s novelistic universe, such divisions often require the intervention of a female protagonist, whose own existence is deeply influenced by tensions and frictions between two opposing camps. I shall argue that the agency of these protagonists is never futile and may even point to a way to go beyond the original divisions. Tadjo’s representation of division also transgresses generic boundaries to address socio-political problems in unique ways. I shall demonstrate how the author draws on various genres such as poetry, the African folktale, the novel, as well as autofiction in order to engage the reader in a profound reflexion on the current state and future of the African continent.

Keywords: Franchophone women’s writing, Véronique Tadjo, social divisions within a nation