Krisha Patel
Van Dam
GESM
9 May 2018
Let’s Abandon Labels
In our nation's history, we have seen several oppressed communities rise above for their
equality. The countries of Africa are no different. The people as a
...
Krisha Patel
Van Dam
GESM
9 May 2018
Let’s Abandon Labels
In our nation's history, we have seen several oppressed communities rise above for their
equality. The countries of Africa are no different. The people as a whole fought the oppression of
western colonization, many struggled with their identities after this. Women fought to reclaim
their bodies from African gender norms and now the LGBTQ community fights to be accepted as
well. Both communities have struggled in their own way but both have dealt with this struggle
emotionally and physically. Through Ken Bugul’s The Abandoned Baobab we see the struggle of
an African Woman accepting her body and her blackness in the western world and through
Valerie Mason-John’s What’s in a Letter? we receive a glimpse into the life long struggle of a
queer women as she faces confining labels and stereotypes while navigating her life. Both stories
focus on the effects and limitations of labels on the identity and mental health of these African
women.
Both Ken Bugul and Valerie Mason-John had mental struggles when it came to finding
their identity. For Ken it was because she was a women living in a westernized world that fails to
accept her as an equal, she is left without a home country that she perfectly fits into. Similarly, in
the same way that Bugul doesn’t fit into one country's standard, Mason-John struggled to find
herself among several labels that never completely fit. Both women struggle with the label of
“black woman” in a similar way while they are in foreign countries in the western world. Mason
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