Chimamanda’s Comments on Clinton; and why African Feminism is not the Enemy
For anyone who might have missed it, my title is citing the recent interview Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, had with former US Presidential Candidate, Hilary Clinton, at the PEN World Voices Festival. In the interview, Chimamanda questioned why Hilary had chosen to begin her twitter bio with ‘wife’ and other gendered relationships to others rather than with her professional accomplishments or other descriptors that weren’t about her womanhood in relation to others. Adichie went on to mention that she was sure Clinton’s husband’s bio didn’t start with ‘husband’, and indeed it did not. Check out this article from Jezebel which sums up the interview pretty nicely. With Adichie self identifying as a feminist, and being rather vocal about it; her comments sparked heated conversations in the African quarters of twitterverse, and I thought I would use those as a way to talk about African feminism-something I’ve been meaning to do anyway- and why I wish we would allow ourselves real and productive conversations re feminism.
ON CHIMAMANDA AND CLINTON
Now, I just want to clarify that this isn’t a conversation on Chimamanda’s politics. There are many things she has said and done that I disagree with, and there are other things she has done that I think have been helpful/useful. Neither is this entirely about the politics of Hilary Clinton, whose actions re black people and neo imperialism don’t get quite the side eyes they deserve. I think the conversation should be more centered on the context Chimamanda was asking the question from, and the history of African feminism she was likely pulling from in doing so. I think, were I the one who had asked Hillary that question, my concerns would have been two fold. Primary among them would have been a discomfort that Clinton was describing herself as wife, mother, grandmother as a means of accessing social capital/ via likability. Hilary is notoriously caricatured as an unlikable woman- her pantsuits, strong opinions, ‘masculine energy’ – she is continuously described as just not nice in a way that nobody cares if men are not nice, but that can be really quite ruining for women. By describing herself in those terms, then, it would seem that she was attempting to shift that perception of herself by playing into the ideas and roles of womanhood that patriarchal society is more comfortable with. It was not a question of can’t she choose to call herself whatever she wants – that is the ultimate goal of feminism- but acting as though in the world we currently live in, she would be making those decisions devoid of social context, and political power is disingenuous.
My second concern would be the kind of a statement that would be for all the young people that admire her. I think learning that Clinton thinks of herself primarily as a wife would be a tad disappointing given everything else she has done in her lifetime, and I am uncomfortable with the idea it might unwittingly promote that whatever women achieve is important but not as important as –so when will you marry?-. I think it is important that women are able to describe themselves in the multiple ways that they exist in the world; sister, teacher, partner, optimist, academic; but I think it is dishonest to act as though certain descriptors didn’t carry more social weight than others. Any twitter thread on why women should still come home and bow to their husbands will show you this. And I think the conversation was about whether she felt comfortable knowing that she might be affirming that by making ‘wife’ her primary descriptor.
ON AFRICAN FEMINISM
I describe myself as an African feminist. For me, feminism is simply a movement for the equality of the sexes. It is unfortunate that the underlying goal of achieving emancipation for women worldwide often gets corrupted into a man centered organization- feminists are not man haters. If you understand that that people who are pro black are not anti-white, then I don’t see why this should be a problem to see. Empowering women does not necessarily mean demeaning men- although given the privilege that men enjoy, it can certainly feel that way. And I don’t think feminists who do hate men are wrong for it- given the ugly history of how men treat women in the world, and the contemptible behavior women still experience at the hands of men, asking for a soft, negotiation of power by feminists is as sexist as the system feminists fight.
I describe myself as an African feminist, because the feminist movement as we typically think of it was not conceived with the issues of black/African women in mind. Of course the issue of women’ rights is not new to black/African women who have been doing this work for ages without calling it feminism. As a way to go around it, scholars have come up with womanism, African womanism, stiwanism and other terms which they felt black/African women could inhabit more easily. I choose feminist because I choose to inhabit the history of the term, and by so doing create space for bodies like mine. I qualify it with African because stand alone ‘feminism’ has proven itself incapable or unwilling to attempt to incorporate issues of multi dimensional oppression that women of color, trans women, experience. African feminism is concerned with womens’ equality as it interacts with different African traditions, with different African societies, and with the histories of African women claiming equality before we started to name it that.
Feminism is not unAfrican or anti African. I do not believe that oppression is inherent in any cultures. I believe it is constructed, and protected by series of gatekeepers and generations of indoctrination. African women have been claiming and wielding power for centuries see Amadiume’s Male Daughters, Female Husbands; we have been aware of the straits of patriarchy- see Wambui Otieno; and while African feminism itself is not a homogenous category, the underlying principle of women’s emancipation is our connecting factor. Even your faves like Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoo did not always agree on the details of how feminism should work; but their productive arguments show that the concept of feminism is treated seriously as an African concept as well.
I find it incredibly frustrating that African feminism, and feminism more broadly, is not treated with the seriousness it deserves as a field of discussion. Too many people make too many reductionist statements that don’t engage the actual substance of feminism, but only regurgitate frankly outdated- to-the-point-of-boring pseudo-arguments about what feminism is. As I mentioned before, one of its ultimate goals would be for women to be able to describe themselves however they want to- willingly. Until we have worked together, respecting one another, to create a world where women can exist without the straits of patriarchy and without having to claim relationships with men for social capital and power, let’s stop acting as though women who do so do so in a vacuum. I might add to this post later but I think I’m done for now.
As always, sending you love and light,
Amoafoa.
