Stories of African Women's Bodies: The Bodily Lives of ESI and Mumbi

Abstract

The life stories of two young African women situated in the global South are narrated by African novelists Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ama Ala Aidoo. This article explores the female bodily practice of Esi Sekyi in Changes: A Love Story by Am a A ta Aidoo and Mumbi in A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o in order to highlight sexual and gender politics in even;day life in Africa. Esi's ailing conjugal relations/zip with her husband Oko collapses when he rapes her. 'Mumbi gets pregnant by Karanja whilst her husband Gikonyo is in detention. Upon his release, Gikonyo becomes violent Oil Mumbi' s body. Using narratological text analysis and dialecticalliteran; theorizing, this article contextually situates Esi's bodily life to signijt; the dilemmas of women's autonomous sexuality in postcolonial societies. On the other hand, a life course approach to sexuality reveals Mumbi's bodily transitions and agency offering both cumulative advantages and disadvantages.