“Driven by and Blinded by Our Desperation”: Religious Exploitation of Vulnerable Women in Amma Darko’s Not without Flowers

Pillay, Kimméra

Title: “Driven by and Blinded by Our Desperation”: Religious Exploitation of Vulnerable Women in Amma Darko’s Not without Flowers
Creator: Pillay, Kimméra
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2022
Date: 2022
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/458248
Identifier: vital:75726
Identifier: https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-iseaeng_v49_n2_a4
Description: As a feminist writer for social justice, Amma Darko exposes various instances of religious exploitation in Ghanaian society in the novel Not without Flowers. This study adds to the corpus of literature that critiques the androcentric organisation of patriarchal African societies, in which patriarchal and religious ideologies are used to institutionalise gender inequality. My argument in this paper is that the fear and anxiety surrounding mental illness, HIV and Aids, or other illnesses provide a fertile ground for religious exploitation and oppression of vulnerable women, as represented in Darko’s novel. My study offers an analysis of how Darko uses her literary work to challenge deeply engrained and culturally sanctioned patriarchal and religious hierarchies of gender-based dominance and cultural valorisation. The main objectives of this article are to explore the religious exploitation and/or stigmatisation of vulnerable women, the human rights violations that occur in religious institutions, as well as how mental illness is considered to be caused by a spiritual force or demonic possession in the selected text.
Format: 20 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: English in Africa
Relation: Pillay, K., 2022. “Driven by and Blinded by Our Desperation”: Religious Exploitation of Vulnerable Women in Amma Darko’s Not without Flowers. English in Africa, 49(2), pp.71-90
Relation: English in Africa volume 49 number 2 71 90 2022 0376-8902
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the English in Africa Statement (https://www.ru.ac.za/isea/publications/journals/englishinafrica/)

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