The unheard voices of Africa

Abstract

This paper reflects on how the female subaltern constantly searches for a way to negotiate her repressive circumstances while she struggles against surrendering to a muted space. Different images of African women, as portrayed by two contemporary African female writers, namely Tsitsi Dangarembga (1959 -) and Yvonne Vera (1964 -2005), have been traced in order to depict these women's social realities. These authors present a critique of African societies that have been pushing women's voice into marginality. The paper argues that, contrary to Spivak's notion that the subaltern cannot speak, these authors present new and different subjectivities of women who challenge the myth of the silent subaltern