The Poetics of ‘Sensuous Knowledge’ in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter

Abstract

Through a focus on Mariam Bâ’s So Long a Letter, this paper argues for the importance of indigenous feminist theories in interpreting the work of African women writers. I argue that western systems of knowledge create binary categories, disregarding perspectives that do not conform to hegemonic frameworks; yet the radical indigenous feminism of Bâ’s text cannot be satisfactorily analysed within such a worldview. Instead, I approach So Long a Letter using Minna Salami’s Sensuous Knowledge (2020), which focuses upon the emotional and spiritual needs of African women within their specific cultural milieu. Salami’s study posits emotion as a legitimate tool in the fight against sexism and racism; a valid way of knowing that can co-exist with reason rather than becoming its abject. This sheds light on Bâ’s feminist politics, as indigenous feminist structures reveal her heroine Ramatoulaye in all her complexity as an empowered Senegalese woman.