Bonds of Resistance: African Women’s Solidarity as Counter-Narrative to Oppression in Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira’s A Letter to Mariama Bâ

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of resistance and solidarity among African women confronting both patriarchal and colonial oppression through the lens of Kabira’s A Letter to Mariama Bâ (2005). Marking the 20th anniversary of the novella, the paper reflects on the contributions of Professor Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira, a distinguished literary scholar whose career has been devoted to advocacy and critical analysis of Kenyan women’s lived experiences. Her scholarship amplifies African women’s voices through a multidisciplinary approach that interweaves oral literature, African and African diasporic texts, and feminist theory. A Letter to Mariama Bâ is a seminal text for transnational women’s empowerment at the intersection of gender, culture, and politics, framing women’s narratives as both historical records and tools of socio-political transformation. Drawing on Molara Ogundipe-Leslie’s ‘six mountains’ framework and grounded in African feminism and Stiwanism, the article examines Kenyan women’s struggles in conversation with Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter and Scarlet Song. Kabira immortalises acts of resistance by ordinary women, presenting solidarity as essential for survival and transformation. In doing so, she honours overlooked heroines, expands African feminist discourse, and calls for a collective re-memory that situates women’s agency at the core of East African literary and political landscapes.