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Women and Culture:

Perspective Readings on the
Dialectic of Tradition and
Modernity in Mariama Ba's So
long a Letter

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Alassane Abdoulaye Dia

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Volume 3, Number 1, March 2014

Women and Culture: Perspective Readings of the

Dialectic of Tradition and Modernity in Mariama
Bâ’s So Long A Letter

Alassane Abdoulaye DIA

Department of English,
Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis,

Abstract
This paper studies So Long a Letter – an African novel of the
1980s by a Senegalese female writer - to analyze the issue of
gender through the dialectic of tradition and modernity. So Long a
Letter is written by Mariama Bâ and it is a semi-autobiographical
novel that deals with the issues of gender and culture in general.
Mariama Bâ’s novel captures the way modern societies embrace
western culture with regard to their traditional values, which
results in a domination and marginalization of women. The paper
analyzes the clash of cultures generated in the form of a dialectic
of modernity and tradition in Senegalese society. From a critical
and reader-oriented approach, it shows how a “counter discourse”
occurs strikingly in the course of development of feminist
ideology in the novel - through female characterization. The topic
is developed in relation to multiculturalism as theorized by
thinkers like Robin Cohen, Ronald Takaki, Homi K. Bhabha and
Manfred B. Steger who have significantly analyzed the notion of
globalization and culture. The approach used alongside different
cultural theories provides a broad picture of the issue to be
observed inside and outside the reality.

Keywords: Women- Culture- Tradition- Modernity- Dialectic

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Introduction
Mariama Bâ is a prominent Senegalese writer born on April 17,
1929 in the capital city, Dakar, Senegal. She is part of the first
generation of African female writers and she published two
famous novels: So Long a Letter in 1979 followed by Scarlet Song
in 1981.She is part of the female writers who defend the cause of
women in the post-independence era strongly marked by the
influence of feminist ideology.
Mariama Bâ is committed to the cause of women and she
denounces their sufferings and her first novel is considered to be a
semi-autobiographical one. It delves into the issue of culture
which is worth examining in the context of globalization as she
presents the novel as an epistolary form in which she lends her
voice to a widowed protagonist – Ramatoulaye – who, in her turn,
addresses many of the matters that women have gone through. So
long a Letter does not deal with the issue of colonization or
globalization, which is linked to the dialectic that I will develop,
but it indirectly shows their main impacts as regards the clash of
cultures. Therefore, the novel becomes an interesting work
inasmuch as it delineates cultural issues in the present-day
civilization. Because of its topicality, the novel is viewed and
interpreted from different angles. However, some readers still
have misconceptions about the Senegalese culture and the African
milieu that is depicted in the novel. The book is well-known and
studied as part of many syllabi in African studies, cultural studies,
and gender studies as well. Although it is probably the most read
African novel by a female writer, no matter how much its thematic
evolution has developed, there are still “misunderstandings” and
some points to clarify and to discuss pertaining to the phenomenon
of globalization. Thus, So Long a Letter is relevant to cultural
studies insofar as it presents many cultural and social issues that
are worth commenting on and discussing in a close reading
exercise to better study the phenomenon of globalization in its

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holistic vision and also as a parameter and perspective of

development today.
This paper provides an analysis of the dialectic of tradition
and modernity generated through the clash of cultures particularly
in Senegalese society. In the analysis, I will connect my topic to
multiculturalism, which is theorized by different specialists of the
field such as Robin Cohen, Ronald Takaki, Manfred B. Steger, and
Homi K. Bhabha who have significantly developed the notion of
globalization. As to methodology, I will attempt the topic from a
socio-critical perspective parallel to a reader-oriented analysis to
back up my ideas in regard to the restricted choice of the above-
mentioned theorists of culture. In fact, my concern in Mariama
Bâ’s novel is to highlight the way modern societies endeavour to
embrace the western culture with regard to their traditional values.
Thus, I have chosen to focus on some major characters only and
mostly female ones to better apprehend the topic and give more
perspectives at the end. I will emphasize the notion of
modernization of culture and then raise the issue of cultural
difference which turns out to be the challenge of globalization.

The Modernization of Culture

In defining culture, the theorists I have cited in the introduction
put forward that globalization is viewed as a process and it builds
upon a series of ways of growing. In the light of Manfred B.
Steger’s theory some aspects of culture have been transformed in
such a way that they become adapted to its present-day context. In
his opinion,
The term globalization should be used to refer to a
set of social processes that are thought to transform
our present social condition into one globality. […].
Indeed, like ‘modernization’ and other verbal nouns
that ends in the suffix ‘ization’, the term
‘globalization’suggests a sort of dynamism best

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captured by the notion of development’ or

‘unfolding’ along discernible patterns. Such
unfolding may occur quickly or slowly, but it always
corresponds to the idea of change, and therefore,
denotes the transformation of present conditions
(Steger, 8).
From this perspective, Manfred B. Steger believes that
culture is dynamic and it evolves as long as it livesi. This situation
applies to Mariama Bâ’s novel as far as the marriage of Aissatou
and Mawdo Bâ is concerned. They are young intellectuals who
attended western school and they have four children together.
However, the main problem is that Mawdo’s mother, Aunty
Nabou, is totally against the marriage because Aissatou does not
belong to the same cultural group (caste) as Mawdo while their
religion does not take it into consideration. The main problem is
that of caste, which is considered as a cultural taboo because
accepting the practice of such a marriage equals breaking the
chains of tradition.
Here lies the main problem that I will address. In this
particular case, what strikes the mind of any reader is the problem
of caste – kinship –corroborated with social stereotypes as regards
culture within the Senegalese traditional and half-modern society.
Mariama Bâ shows how this aspect of culture(the issue of caste)
formerly taken into account in the tradition as a pillar of ethnic and
self-centred development –cultural radicalism – is now and then
going to be turned down for the sake of modernity. As a matter of
fact, cultural borders have to be open to people of different
horizons or ethnic groups. But, the big question to which I want to
draw the attention of any reader is: at what price will the camp of
traditionalists accept it?
This typical marriage is significant as a case study of the
notion of modernization that I will emphasize in this section. In
fact, this is a way of showing that the Senegalese intellectual or

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the African in general is aware of the dialogue between cultures

that is to be found in multiculturalism. Much of this idea of
embracing modernity is found in Mawdo Bâ’s initiative to put an
end to the radical beliefs of his society or the mindset of his mother
who is a conservative. Mawdo’s mother believes in the tradition
and she wants to apply it as she radically objects to the marriage
of her son to a woman of another caste. However, for Mawdo, a
man or a woman can marry anyone s/he loves regardless of
cultural origin or religion. His attitude can be regarded as one of
the challenges of modernity in Senegalese society which strongly
builds upon its traditional values as shown through the story.
Mawdo Bâ’s marriage to Aissatou is controversial but
meaningful. Its topicality connects to the issue of globalization in
deeply rooted traditional societies like the typical Senegalese one
that Mariama Bâ portrays. This issue presents a reflection on the
challenges of modernity, which means to live side by side with the
tradition. The following statement is an illustration: “What a
Toucouleurii marrying a goldsmith’s daughter! He will never
‘make money.”’ (Bâ, 26). In the context of globalization, believing
that a Toucouleur should not marry a goldsmithiii is nothing but a
social prejudice (because, the lovers simply do not belong to the
same cultural group)iv.
The case underscores, to some extent, the lack of freedom
of the minority groups that are marginalized, which breaks one of
the parameters of globalization (integration). Not only does the
marriage initiate to open cultural borders so as to forge a universal
civilization, it also draws attention to individual freedom, which
the narrator highlights it in the following terms: “But Mawdo
remained firm”. ‘Marriage is a personal thing’, ‘he retorted to
anyone who cared to hear.” (Bâ, 17). Robin Cohen supports this
idea when he states that “One can marry a spouse of one’s own
kind and feel the warm embrace of kinship; one can kneel in

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common prayer with one’s co-religionists; one can affect easier

friendships with those of common background” (Cohen, 195).
Indeed, this marriage is not the only situation found in the
novel as a predicament of women. It is also the case of Jacqueline
who is a foreigner. She is neither a Muslim nor a Senegalese (she
is Ivorian) and lives within a marriage in the same society. In this
situation again, Mariama Bâ offers a more complex case all the
more because Jacqueline is a victim of religious and ethnic
prejudices in the Senegalese society. This woman’s troubles result
from the society’s attachment to its cultural values, which is
mainly a problem with the older generation. The passage below is
illustrative of the issue.
And I think of Jacqueline, who suffered from one.
Jacqueline, the Ivorian, had disobeyed her
Protestant parents and had married Samba Diack, a
contemporary of Mawdo Ba’s, a doctor like him.
[…]Coming to Senegal, she found herself in a new
world, a world with different reactions,
temperament and mentally from that in which she
had grown up. In addition, her husband’s relatives
– always the relatives – were cool towards her
husband because she refused to adopt the Muslim
religion and went instead to the Protestant church
every Sunday (Bâ, 42).
In the lines above, Mariama Bâ shows how the present
should be negotiated in order to take over what was acquired a
long time ago from the past. But in vain, these attitudes do not
apparently meet Homi K. Bhabha’s call for “cultural negotiation”,
which implies that “culture is dynamic and not static” (Bhabha
1994) ; it evolves in time and space. Consequently, what turns out
to be the reality is that multiculturalism has hardly been introduced
in the Senegalese society. What is also worthy of note is this type
of modern marriage is only initiated by the young intellectuals

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who try their best to show the fruit of their fight – the quest for a
new identity. Bâ in the novel ascertains:
To lift us out the bog of tradition, superstition and
custom, to make us appreciate a multitude of
civilizations without renouncing our own, to raise
our vision of the world , cultivate our personalities,
strengthen our qualities, to make up for our
inadequacies, to develop universal moral values in
us: these are the aim of our admirable
headmistress. (Bâ, 15)
From the passage above, one can learn much about the role played
by education in the globalization of culture, which manifests itself
in the form of a dialectic of tradition and modernity. The passage
emphasizes the global culture and a sense of open-mindedness of
the young intellectuals. The latter are willing to accept other
cultures. Indeed, this is the task that Ramatoulaye’s Headmistress
assigns herself, to build a world that is one. This is also the idea
that Takaki conveys: “a society “unique” in the world because
“the world is here” – a place “where the cultures crisscross”
(Takaki, 16). To build a world where cultures “criss-cross” is
tantamount to accepting other cultures and letting down lots of the
social and cultural stereotypes that a given society may have
towards them. Therefore, considering one as an outcast equals
rejecting minority groups and marginalizing them. Through his
marriage to a woman of another caste, there is a call for modernity
that Mawdo Bâ launches to his people and mostly to the younger
generation which has to take the challenge. It is a quest for a new
identity in a new world of democracy and equality that Mawdo
expresses through his love story. However, the form of society he
evolves thereby turns out to be more aristocratic than democratic
or egalitarian. In other words; it is a discriminatory society in that
some cultural groups are marginalized.

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Moreover, these problems of integration are raised by

another character, Jacqueline. Despite her stereotypical treatment
as a gnac (alien, a pejorative name given to foreigners) which is a
sign of “rejection of aliens”, which results in narrow-mindedness,
she endeavours to integrate into the new society she has chosen.
Then, she undertakes to have an “ethnic, religious and nation-state
adherence” as Cohen postulates it. The narrator focuses on it:
Jacqueline truly wanted to become a Senegalese,
but the mockery checked all desire in her to co-
operate. People called her gnac, and she finally
understood the meaning of this nickname that
revolted her so. (Bâ, 42).
Finally, Jacqueline is marginalized and totally disillusioned. Her
disenchantment and resignation from the “ethnic and nation-state
adherence” can be justified in Cohen’s argument that:
Bonds of language, religion, culture , and a sense
of common history and perhaps a common fate
impregnate a transnational relationship and give to
it an affective, intimate quality that formal
citizenship or even long settlement frequently lack
(195).
Nonetheless, a significant aspect of the modernization of culture
appears in Mariama Bâ’s novel. This is what the advocates of
multiculturalism agree on. It is the fact of being open to other
cultures and taking the phenomenon of globalization as a way
forward. This is a cultural compromise that can help people meet
their expectations in building a universal civilization. This
compromise appears in the novel through the class of intellectuals
who are aware of the advantages of modernity. The narrator relates
it in the following lines:
Eternal questions of our eternal debates. We all
agreed that much dismantling was needed to
introduce modernity within our traditions. Torn

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between the past and the present, we deplore the

‘hard sweat’ that would be inevitable. We counted
the possible losses. But we knew that nothing
would be as before. We were full of nostalgia but
were resolutely progressists. (Bâ, 17)
The choice of the intellectuals is hard only in such a cultural
context but not impossible to achieve. Their goal is to be at the
crossroads of cultures. In other words, it is a choice for “alterity”
in the positive sense of the word (Cf. Bhabha, 1995), because the
intellectuals are aware of the stakes of multiculturalism and they
also know that culture should be negotiated in the context of
globalization. One of the compromises that can be found is what
Takaki points out in his analysis: “What is needed in our
perplexing times is not so much a “distant mirror” as one that is
different" (Takaki, 16).
In a nutshell, one can say that modernity has played a role
of paramount significance in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter
particularly in the way the Senegalese intellectuals undertake to
change the course of the history in their society.

Cultural Differences: The Challenges of Globalization

One of the biggest challenges of globalization in So Long a Letter
is the fight against cultural differences. In fact, this issue is shown
through a negative picture. A telling example is the rejection of
Jacqueline by her in-laws. She is symbolic in the analysis of
globalization in the novel. To recall what Homi K. Bhabha
theorizes in Cultural Diversity and Cultural Difference (1995) as
“The Third Space”, Jacqueline would represent the “alien culture”
within the Senegalese society. The way her in-laws treats her tells
much about their lack of open-mindedness to other groups. This is
in contradiction to the policy of multiculturalism.
From this regard, So Long a Letter shows a lack of
integration of some social groups and other cultures, particularly

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women and outcasts. This accounts for discrimination and, to

some extent, a kind of xenophobia towards foreigners as is the case
of Jacqueline. In comparison to what exits in the USA, one can
notice that there are different ways of globalizing culture. Unlike
Takaki’s theory which shows that America belongs to all the
ethnic groups that it comprises, the image that Mariama Bâ gives
to Senegalese people in her novel might be viewed as a negative
one because, for Takaki, “America does not belong to one race or
group […] Americans have been constantly redefining their
national identity from the moment of first contact on the Virginia
shore” (Takaki, 17), while in So Long a Letter, individual and
cultural belonging take the upper hand over multiculturalism.
Conversely, in So Long a Letter there are some
intellectuals who have such ideas (be precise) and who migrate to
the USA, for instance Aissatou. Like Jacqueline who migrates to
Senegal, Aissatou goes to the USA, but she is not at all faced with
the problems that the former is confronted with in Senegal. At this
level, the issue of migration is highly underscored. It is one of the
adamant aspects of globalization that appears throughout the texts
of Takaki in which he defends the idea of opening cultural borders.
However, one should not systematically exclude a positive reading
of the Senegalese culture that the novel does not present broadly.
So Long a Letter is still topical in modern societies, but its
interpretation should, by no means, urge any reader to negatively
apprehend the Senegalese culture that it depicts. As a key-note, I
will remind those who might be annoyed by such an affective
fallacy of the Senegalese notion of Terrangav (sense of
hospitality), which promotes both multiculturalism and
globalization although not shown in the story. Unfortunately, this
is not very apparent in the novel as far as the treatment of
foreigners is concerned. The novel does not show how Senegal too
has turned into a multicultural country of Terranga in the context
of globalization simply because the story dates back to the

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early1980s. But, actually, a cosmopolitan culture prevails in

Senegal nowadays and people are very hospitable to foreigners
and also the dialogue of cultures has almost broken the dialectic.
In any case, Mariama Bâ is fair to point out these
weaknesses of Senegalese society in her novel for the sake of
verisimilitude. Nonetheless, one should understand the difference
by looking at the novel “from a different mirror” to paraphrase
Takaki and mostly through a binary approach of the text and the
context, which hints that it may be a prototype of the early 1980s
Senegalese society where literacy was not well-developed as it is
nowadays.
As Takaki points out “America does not belong to one race
or ethnic group”, the Senegalese Terranga also could have been
broadly shown in the novel parallel to the way the author
highlights Jacqueline’s situation as a victim of xenophobia to
some extent, but this was not the concern of the writer and the
context was not the same. Objectively, this is a way of looking
inside and outside the box for a fair depiction of society and
culture. Obviously, So Long a Letter tells about Senegal in the
1980s, which is different, to some regard, from the present-day
situation of the country. It has evolved through time and space to
the tune of modernity. But still, some aspects of multiculturalism
are not accepted in some families or social groups because of
cultural radicalism that also accounts for difference. It is the ideas
that Mariama Bâ tries to show through the attitude of Mawdo’s
mother. This situation is quite understandable however
astonishing it might be through the eyes of an unimplied reader of
the novel. Mawdo’s mother is a Dioufene and a Guelwar, a
descendant of the royal blood of Sine –the ancient kingdom of
Sine: “Mawdo’s mother is a Dioufene, a Guelwar from the Sine.
What an insult to her former co-wives” (Bâ, 17). Something very
interesting in this point is that it is a woman who rejects another
one when objecting to her son’s marriage to a woman of a different

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caste, which means for the mother-in-law a misfortune or even a

curse. Indeed, the whole matter is that Aunty Nabou understand
the intellectuals’ choice for “alterity”. The narrator emphasizes,
saying:
Mawdo’s mother is Aunty Nabou to us and
Seynabou to others. She bore a glorious name in
Sine: Dioufene. She is a descendant of Bour-Sine.
She lived in the past, unaware of the changing
world. She clung to old beliefs. Being strongly
attached to her privileged origins, she believed
firmly that blood carried with it virtues (Bâ, 6).
This emphasis (see the phrase in bold) reminds the intellectual also
that the tradition still exists in some areas particularly in the rural
ones where the survival of tradition is more apparent. Aunty
Nabou gives hereby additional comments supporting that idea of
radicalism and strong belief in the tradition: “You have to come
away from Dakar to be convinced of the survival of tradition,”
murmured Aunty Nabou (Bâ, 27).
The behaviour of Aunty Nabou is not that surprising even
though it is a woman who speaks as if she did not care about
women’s situation. The rationale behind this representation is to
be understood through her embodiment. Aunty Nabou is not
speaking for herself; she is rather the voice of tradition which
expresses its power upon her and other women as well. Indeed, the
arrogance of aunty Nabou cannot be interpreted as a female
empowerment in her favour even if she also rejects harshly her
young fellow woman’s marriage to a man of a different clan,
which is quite understandable because theyvi are of different
generations too. In this particular case, one can observe that there
is a kind of counter discourse (my phrase) or a dichotomy in
female writing’s ideology to empower women in their narratives
by means of characterization as a narrative technique. The novel
has a feminist perspective inasmuch as it denounces women’s

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predicaments mostly shown through the former marriage of the

widowed protagonist – Ramatoulaye – who tells the story of the
epistolary novel to convey the hardships of women as the key
message. However, the imaginary power invested in Aunty Nabou
as regards her status of a “Royal Lady” is ironic for many reasons
that can be justified through her portrayal.
Through the eyes of a detractor of the tradition, Aunty
Nabou would be a kind of subject woman (my phrase)vii insofar as
she defends and represents the voice of the tradition that also
oppresses her while Aissatouviii – her target – stands, in this case,
for the object womanix who is intellectually strong, but culturally
weakx. What is mostly striking in the dichotomy herein is that
while Aissatou as a victim can be defined as an object woman,
Aunty Nabou – although strong and influential – is both a subject
and object woman because Aunty Nabou is too much subordinated
to the cultural order and she counter-attacksxi her peers whose
plight should be her own, which is tantamount to oppressing
women in general. Worse, in comparing both Aissatou and Aunt
Nabou, Aissatou is only and unwillingly an object woman while
Aunty Nabou is definitely and willinglyxii both a subject and object
woman.
Subsequently, Aissatou is looked down by both the
tradition and her society because of cultural prejudices and the
patriarchal system within which she experiences a double
oppression. From this dichotomy, one can go beyond the question
of gender and wonder why a female writer like Mariama Bâ,
pretending to defend the cause of women, comes up with a range
of subordinate female characters in her narrative in which, while
compared to their counterparts, turn out to be considered as
subjects and objects because some of them undertake to speak on
behalf of the tradition that oppresses them. As a matter of fact,
Aunty Nabou uses the tradition as a pretext and a weapon to
revenge Aissatou and she finally succeeds in breaking up this her

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marriage. This would probably daunt the mind of many readers

who are interested in gender issues. But, in reality, the situation
can be understood by the fact that the society and culture depicted
in So Long a Letter build upon a patriarchal system from which
women suffer the most. More obviously, one may infer that even
if the picture that the novel gives is a realistic one, there is a
dichotomy in its feminist discourse.
Nonetheless, there is a sense of honour and power that
Mariama Bâ expresses through the character of Aissatou when she
finally decides to put and end to her marriage because of the
cultural barriers and also the fact that Aunty Nabou has given
Mawdo a second wife that fits her choice. Aunty Nabou achieves
this by giving Mawdo her namesake young Nabou as a second
wife. The love-based marriage between Aissatou and Mawdo is
broken by an arranged one that Mawdo’s mother initiates. The
latter chooses her namesake, Young Nabou who is Mawdo’s
cousin, to be her son’s second wife under the pretext of revenging
Aissatou. Finally, Aissatou declares her divorce through a letter:
Mawdo,
Princes master their feelings to fulfil their duties.
“Others” bend their heads and in silence, accept a
destiny that oppresses them.
That, briefly put, is the internal ordering of our
society, with its absurd divisions. I will not yield to
it. I cannot accept what you are offering me today
in place of the happiness we once had. You want
to draw a line between heartfelt love and physical
love. I say that there can be no union of bodies
without the heart’s acceptance, however little that
may be.
If you can procreate without loving, merely to
satisfy the pride of your declining mother, then I
find you despicable. At that moment you tumbled

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from the highest rung of respect on which I have

always placed you. [...]
I am stripping myself of your love, your name,
Clothed in my dignity, the only worthy garment, I
go my way. (Bâ, 32-33).
This passage tells much about Aunty Nabou’s revenge against
Aïssatou. It is expressed through the former’s idea of giving her
son a second wife that is convenient to her wishes.
Therefore, it is strikingly noticeable that even if
multiculturalism is achieved through modernity, some traditional
values still remain as an obstacle to the globalization of culture,
which is to be seriously taken into account. The narrator evokes it
by giving the traditionalists’ negative impression on western
schools. “School turns our girls into devils who lure our men
away from the right path.” (my emphasis) (Bâ, 27). This negative
impression is confirmed by the attitude of Aunty Nabou.
However, this belief or position is relative. It should not be
generalized because the novel seems to bring the reader back to an
old debate of the mid 1950s in colonial Africa while the main
perspective of the novel is post-independence Africa. If we revisit
the debates or controversies over the introduction of the western
school in African societies in the earlier days of colonization,
another novel by a Senegalese writer could be more informative
about it. It is Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane
(1962). This novel is set in pre-colonial and colonial Africa with
the harsh introduction of the western school in traditional societies
mainly in the midst of colonization, but the picture given to the
western school by a female character called The Most Royal Lady
is not that negative even if there is a strategy behind her rationale.
Once her society was compelled to send their children to school,
she agreed on the decision and argued the following:
The school in which I would place our children will
kill in them what today we love and rightly

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conserve with care. Perhaps the very memory of us

will die in them. When they return from school,
they may be those who will not recognise us. What
I am proposing is that we should agree to die in our
children’s hearts and that the foreigners who have
defeated us should fill the place, wholly which we
shall have left free (Kane, 46).
Her proposal is as an example to show that African people cannot
avoid the clash of cultures; they should be flexible and aware of
what the western education means to them. The Most Royal Lady
in Ambiguous Adventure is more visionary than Aunty Nabou in
So long a Letter. The former expects from such a contact of
cultures the resurrection of her own culture, which will be the only
solution to survive. That is why she gives this further explanation:
‘But people of the Diallobé’ She continued after a
pause, ‘remember our fields when the rainy season
is approaching. We love our fields very much, but
what do we do then? We plough them up and burn
them: we kill them. In the same way, recall this:
what do we do with our reserves of seed when the
rain has fallen? We would like to eat them, but we
bury them in the earth.’ Folk of the Diallobé, with
the arrival of the foreigners has come the tornado
which announces the great hibernation of our
people. My opinion I, the Most Royal Lady – is that
our best seeds and our dearest fields – those are our
children (Kane, 46-47).
Therefore, the negative vision on the introduction of girls to the
western school as expressed through the attitude of Aunty Nabou
on behalf of traditionalists was a mere strategic apology for them
in the past to preserve the tradition. Ambiguous Adventure shows
that the advantages of the western education had been observed
almost two decades priorxiii to Aunty Nabou’s negative position.xiv

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To come back to the focal point of my concern in Mariama

Bâ’s novel, the issue of minority groups is looked down. It does
not go into details about the cohabitation of different ethnic groups
or races. It only touches on the issue of cultural boundaries as an
expression of difference contrarily to what Takaki highlights
through “the different mirror” that tells much about cultural
diversity in the USA: “Much of what is familiar in America’s
cultural landscape actually has ethnic origins. [...]. Furthermore,
many diverse ethnic groups have contributed to the building of the
American economy, forming what Walt Whitman saluted as “a
vast, surging, hopeful army of workers” (Takaki, 12).
It is also important to mention that the issue of kingship
that helped me problematize the paper is renowned in traditional
African societies such as the Igbos in Nigeria who also believe in
it. A telling example is the marriage between Obi Okonkwo and
Clara in Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease (1961). In this novel
by a Nigerian male writer, the protagonist, Obi, goes to England
to pursue his studies. He obtains his Bachelor’s degree in English
and becomes westernized. Then, once back home, he undertakes
to marry Clara, a girl of his generation. Unfortunately, the whole
community rejects the marriage under the pretext that the girl he
wants to marry is an Osu an outcaste as is the case of Aissatou.
Then, marrying such girls is a curse to the clan because of cultural
taboos. They also take for granted that if Obi marries Clara, his
children will have difficulties in finding husbands in the society
because their father will be regarded as the one who broke the
tradition and insulted the clan.

Conclusion
On the whole, approaching Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter in the
context of globalization and multiculturalism is of paramount
significance in the analysis of the dialectic of tradition and
modernity particularly when focusing on women and culture.

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Using other texts by Takaki, Steger, and Cohen as a theoretical

framework enabled me to transcend the issue of culture in the
Senegalese society through a fictional work of one of its prominent
female writers. However, one can observe that the issue she
evokes, in regard to other theories of culture, can be interpreted
from different angles. Such a difference can be understood by the
fact that So Long a Letter is a product of imagination and the
author uses it as a springboard to sensitize her society about its
changes in the course of history.
The story that the female protagonist recounts in the form
of an epistolary novel is considered to be a vanguard for future
generations. At the outcome, the paper shows effectively a
domination and marginalization of women in the novel but
nowadays – if we look at the reality – things have changed much
and modernity has reached its peak inasmuch as women are free
and they continue to claim their rights. As a result, they are
emancipated and still continue to fight by means of political,
literary, and feminist movements that make the world hear their
voices. Also, a quite positive thing is that most of the types of
marriages I have focused on in the paper are celebrated now even
if there is a limit. In any case, it has given way and life to modern
people who are born out of the radical beliefs of the traditionalists
who, in turn, agree finally that such examples of marriages are
living legends of the hard battle: “Tradition vs. Modernity” that
ends through a compromise of modernity as a choice for alterity.

Notes

i
Steger and Homi K. Bhabha have the same vision of culture in so far as they
consider its evolution as a kind of “cultural dynamism”, which expresses
flexibility.
ii
Toucouleur is an ethnic group in Senegal. It’s the same as the Fulani tribe in
Africa.

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iii
Goldsmith is a caste (cultural group). Many societies in Africa are hierarchical
and divided into different sub-groups that identify themselves with what they
practice as a main social or professional activity. Within the same ethnic group
like Toucouleur/Fulani, there are lots of castes (cultural sub-groups) such as
goldsmiths, fishermen, Carpenters, etc. There is one group that is pejoratively
called “Slaves” because their ancestors used to be in the houses of chiefs to
work as servants. During ceremonies, they are assigned to look after
organization and everything related to workforce.
It is also important to know that some ethnic groups do not have this
discriminatory social class division. For example, the Joola society in Senegal
does not have it. They democratically believe in an egalitarian society.
iv
The main problem in this marriage is that the man (Mawdo Ba) is married to
a woman (Aissatou) of another ethnic group or clan while they belong to the
same religious group and almost the same culture. However, the obstacle is that
there are cultural taboos/stereotypes over the issue of kinship. If two lovers do
not belong to the same clan, they are likely to fail their project of marriage
because of the customs, but religion does not prevent it at all.
v
This is a Wolof word (national language in Senegal). It is commonly used in
Senegal by the different ethnic groups even if each of them has its own
translation of the word. Terranga means hospitality and denotes the cultural and
social atmosphere that prevails in Senegal. It means a high sense of hospitality
and people in Senegal are regarded as hospitable ones. Thus, Terranga also
becomes universal in its use among the different ethnic groups that compose the
population. Hence, they call Senegal the “Country of Terranga” meaning the
“Hospitable Land/ Country”. From this civilization, it becomes an integral part
of the tradition to take care of foreigners or others in general with convenience
and a lot of sense of hospitality.
vi
It is Aunty Nabou and Aissatou who are of different generations.
vii
This is my opinion and emphasis to better show the dichotomy in Aunty
Nabou’s character. Mariama Bâ uses her as an embodiment of the tradition
objecting modernity, but she is rather a subject and object of the very
tradition.
viii
This type of controversial love affair is apparent in some post-independence
novels like No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe and Sous l’orage by Seydou
Bodian.
ix
It is true that Aunty Nabou is respectful and respectable according to the
tradition and also thanks to her age which gives her such status among her peers.
Despite all this, the position she has vis-à-vis Aissatou is not appreciated by
modern young girls who want to live freely and enjoy their rights, then fight all
kinds of violence and discrimination against women. In so-doing, it will be
contradictory to find so a strong and influential woman like Aunty Nabou who
defends the tradition to the detriments of her peers.
x
She is weak because she an outcast and that may psychologically beat her.
The opposition of AuntyNabou to her marriage with her son is an example.
xi
This is a telling example of the counter discourse I mentioned.
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xii
This is my emphasis and it is related to the dichotomy/counter discourse
which is another aspect of the dialectic.
xiii
This statement is based on the period between the dates of publication of the
two novels: 1962 and 1979.
xiv
Actually in Senegal, girls attend school more than boys do according to
statistics and these beliefs are old-fashioned and run down. Modernity has run
over these obstacles, which opens the doors to the dialogue of cultures. As a
result, the rate of girls who attend school in Senegal in the twenty first century
is getting higher and higher and it overrides that of boys. Moreover, in terms of
political strategy to encourage and promote girls’ education, Senegal has typical
girls’ middle and high schools (there are three which are dedicated to the
education of girls only: two of them are in the capital city in Dakar one of which
is named after Mariama Bâ and is located in the Goree Island). All the other
schools in the country are mixed ones.

References
Achebe, Chinua. [1961-1975]. No Longer at Ease. London:
Heinemann Educational Books.
Aschroft, Bill et al., (Eds.). (1995). The Post-colonial Studies
Reader. New York: Routeledge.
Bâ, Mariama. (1981). So a Long a Letter. Trans. Modupé Bodé-
Thomas. London: African Writers Series.
Badian, Seydou. (1963). Sous l’orage. Paris: Présence Africaine.
Bhabha, Homi K. ( 1995). The Location of Culture. London:
Routeledge.
Cohen, Robin. (1997). Global Diaspora. Seattle: University of
Washington Press.
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou. (1963). Ambiguous Adventure. Trans.
Katherine Woods. London: Heinemann.
Steger, Manfred B. (2003). Globalization: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Takaki, Ronald. (1993). A Different Mirror: A History of
Multicultural America. New York: Back Bay Books.

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