Women and Violent Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa: A Study of Richard Ali’s City of Memories

Abstract

This study examines the role(s) of women in sanctioning or restraining violent conflicts in Africa as fictionalised in City of Memories. Arguing against the notion that women are exonerated from the orchestrations of violent conflicts in postcolonial Africa, the study builds on existing analyses of violence in African novel to interrogate the actions and reactions of major female characters. It posits that the experiences and dispositions of these characters condition their attitude to violent conflicts. The study avers that the quest to maintain power and agitations for equal rights with men by major female characters in the novel are pivotal to violent eruptions. In addition, the idea of feminism and its interpretation, fraught relationship, and the quest for revenge activate or suppress violent instincts in Ali's major female characters. It concludes that against its perceived unaccommodating tendencies, the symbol of patriarchy in the novel creates the atmosphere for peace and tranquility to prevail.