Postcolonial Feminism in Calixthe Beyala’s Femme nue femme noire Novel

Abstract

The feminist movement, which has spanned from the 19th century to the present day, aims to eliminate all forms of inequality against women and thus fight for women's rights in many areas such as political equality, fair access to education and equal pay. These demands form the fundamental driving forces behind the feminist movement. 21st century post-colonial theorists such as Gayatri Chakra-vorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha and Edward Said emphasize that the feminist move-ment has only fought for the rights and freedoms of white Western women and has failed to address and combat the problems of black African women includ-ing racism, marginalization, gender dis-crimination, isolation, and educational inequality. These theorists reject the no-tion of Western feminism as universal and emphasize the need to highlight the struggles of women living in third world countries. Calixthe Beyala, a leading fig-ure in contemporary French postcolonial feminist literature, is notable for giving voice to African women in her works. In many of her novels, the author deals with women's issues such as love, the search for identity, migration, the female body, sexuality and the patriarchal system. The aim of this study is to analyze the themes of patriarchal motherhood, female power, and the female body in Beyala's novel Femme nue femme noire within the con-text of postcolonial feminism, using a literature review method. The study con-cludes that Black women, in particular, need to have the courage to reveal their own experiences, to break free from their secondary position, and to fight for their individuality and independence.