Women and Islam in Senegal in Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter and Sembène Ousmane's Xala

ABSTRACT: This article investigates the representation of women in the writings of Mariama Bâ and Sembene Ousmane. Their works So Long a Letter (1981) and Xala (1976) illustrate attitudes toward women in building the postcolonial nation state. Although African female writers play a key role in ensuring that female voices are heard and in demonstrating female oppression within the postcolonial state, male writers such as Ousmane also play a role in amplifying the ideas that female writers such as Bâ highlight in their narratives. When tackling the role of women in Senegal, through an engagement with the themes of feminism, women's place within the community, polygamy, and nation building, both Bâ and Ousmane illustrate the importance of women to the future of Senegal. This article will outline the significance of African writers representing themselves in African literature. It will explore how feminism and its various iterations such as womanism and Islamic feminism enable different readings of the two texts.