Abstract

This study titled “Gender and Power Relations in Diasporic Fiction: A Study of Priscillia Manjoh`s Snare” aims at critically examining how Priscillia Manjoh`s Snare reveals the relationship between the frustrating and traumatic conditions of African male and female immigrants living in diasporic communities. From a New Historicist stance, the study shows that Snare mirrors the challenges faced by immigrants where blacks are subjected to issues relating to racial subversion, identity fragmentation, nostalgia, the plight of belonging and non-belonging as well as disillusionment.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The voluntary and involuntary movement of Africans from their countries of origin to a host nation has affected the world so much from the point of origin to the point of destination. Because literature is inspired by the society around it, this trend has played an enormous role to the discourse on diaspora as several scholars and writers have articulated African diasporic experiences in their works. Thomas Faist in “Diaspora and Transnationalism: What Kind of Dance Partner” argues that:

Older notions of diaspora refer to forced dispersal, and this is rooted in the experience of Jews but also more recently of Palestine while newer notions of diaspora often refer simply to any kind of dispersal thus including trade diasporas such as that of the Chinese or labour migration diasporas such as the Turkish and Mexicans. (11)

It therefore implies that once a subject decides to settle in another place, diaspora is created. Stimulated by a wide range of factors, the sons and daughters of Africa have relocated to Germany in significant numbers; these movements are either voluntary or involuntary. The reasons for these movements are many in number and rare in nature. Involuntary movement is associated with the unwillingness to move, often referred to as forced migration or dispersal. Such displacements are usually orchestrated by societal crisis such as poverty, unemployment, bad governance, hardship and asylum seeking. These have compelled Africans to run away from home to seek solutions to these problems. On the other hand, some Africans emigrate to America and other European countries to satisfy their personal desires like to enjoy the facilities that such Europeans countries offer such as a life crowned with success, to fulfill one`s dream and the desire to be like other immigrants or friends who are living abroad and have portrayed Europe to be paradise on earth. On reception in this new so called ‘home’, African immigrants rather deploy their destinies or fate in a new form of slavery or colonization abroad (Germany) as they struggle against racism, discrimination, nostalgic feelings, questions of identity, just to name a few.  The burden of an undefined identity in the diaspora destabilizes African diasporic subjects and as a result, they always try to recourse to the past which is engraved in their memory but cannot resolve their plight as displaced people. In diasporic societies, African male and female immigrants all suffer from racism and discrimination, marginalization but there are differences in treatment. In recent years, diasporic studies have gained so much attention because most African youths still dream of the West (Europe and America) as a place where all dreams are actualized and fulfilled. To cancel this misconception, diasporic writing echoes the reality that pervades western societies to alert young Africans, especially young Cameroonians of the kind of challenging life that awaits them in an environment that does not accommodate them. Such an alert profile is not only portrayed through narratives or fiction but equally seen in cinemas. Christian Badjou, a Cameroonian script writer and a producer, in his Film “L`Oiseau” (Bird), wherein “Oiseau” refers to those people who travel to Europe (abroad) without even knowing where they are going, they have no relatives abroad but still embark on the journey, only to realize that Europe is a trap. It is from this light that this study seeks to examine the kind of gender relations Africans have in their new home, a society where Africans are inscribed subordinate positions and this in comparative to what they had before their emigration.

Aim and Objectives

The aim of the study is to show how through fiction the relationship between the frustrating and traumatic conditions of males and females in the diaspora are revealed.  Through Manjoh`s characters in Snare the realities of life as immigrants in Germany are portrayed. Life for these immigrants in a very unwelcoming society is one where choices have to be made, choices which many cannot talk about because Germany like many western societies is racist and sexist. Men like women have to develop survival strategies and coping mechanisms. This study has four main objectives;

The primary objective is to examine male and female immigrant oppression in the diasporic space.

Secondly, the study discusses the different ways male and female immigrants resist diasporic oppressions and how they struggle to create their own space in the diasporic environment.

Thirdly, the study examines how sexual interactions contribute to the growth of diasporic experiences.

The ultimate objective of this work is to examine the reasons that spur Africans to move to the west (Europe).

Statement of Problem

A reading of Priscilia Manjoh`s Snare shows that stormed by hardship back in Africa, Africans believe in an alluring possibility of having successful lives in other environments only to be caught on the fringes as immigrants as life turns out to be sour. Since they do not fully integrate into their host country, male and female immigrants face a lot of challenges such as racism, disillusionment, identity problems and gender constraints. Their hopes are shattered as soon as they realize that Europe is ‘a snare’. Reality for these immigrants or diasporic subjects is far from what they had dreamt of.  Europe is not as welcoming and easy as they thought or had been lured to believe because a black is treated as an inferior being. These Africans therefore have to look for ways of negotiating and navigating around the obstacles on their way. This study, therefore debunks the myth of the golden fleece which can only be achieved or obtained abroad, and highlights such a myth as a snare.

Research Questions

Based on the above stated problem, the following research questions provide a searchlight to this study;

1. What makes the African/ Cameroonian to move from home?
2. What are some of the diasporic predicaments faced by male and female immigrants and how do the predicaments of the female immigrants differ from those of the male immigrants?
3. How do African male and female immigrants react to their diasporic predicaments and negotiate/navigate survival methods?
4. How does Manjoh use her novelistic techniques to reinforce this diasporic tragedy?

Hypothesis

This study is based on the premise that Priscillia Manjoh`s Snare images African male and female experiences that are peculiar to diasporic conditions as one characterized by a plethora of societal bigotry such as racial subversions, identity crisis and disillusionment which provide unconduisive grounds for male and female diasporic subjects. However, they strive to emancipate themselves from these unconducive new home conditions and reshape their diasporic experiences.