In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

One of Àjf’s most signi¤cant jobs is enforcement of the laws of the earth. Given the stunning, astounding, and daring works of historical women such as Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Madame Tinubu, and the Igbo women warriors, who battled patriarchal tyranny, slavery , and colonialism, it is logical that contemporary African literature re®ects Àjf’s political acumen. As a result of segregation, economic deprivation, and choice, African Americans often ¤nd themselves living in self-governed societies that are nearly or fully autonomous. In addition to all-Africana towns such as Eatonville, Florida; Mound Bayou, Mississippi; and Princeville, North Carolina; there are scores of inner-city urban and rural communities where the Africana population is high and a non-Africana presence of authority is rare. Parliament ’s song “Chocolate City” paid homage to such cities and communities , especially the U.S. capital, saying, “God bless Chocolate City and its vanilla suburbs!”1 The unrecognized mayors and administrators of those towns and communities are often Africana women. And just as African life and literature inspire one another, historical women such as Rebecca Jackson, Harriet Tubman, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Barbara Lee, and Maxine Waters boast kinship with such literary ¤gures as Baby Suggs, Aunt Haydee, Sapphira, and Mama Day. This chapter will examine literature’s most impressive and perplexing wielders of neopolitical Àjf: Mama Ruby of Mary Monroe’s The Upper Room and Madame Koto of Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Songs of Enchantment. Although each woman’s place of origin and application of Àjf is unique, Ruby and Koto have many similarities. Both women are born 8 Twinning across the Ocean Twinning across the Ocean The Neo-Political Àjf of Ben Okri’s Madame Koto and Mary Monroe’s Mama Ruby Àjf, and this force is manifest in their actions and their physical appearances . Ruby and Koto are both obese and can be hideous: Madame Koto is likened to a rhinoceros without a horn; Mama Ruby is said to resemble “Godzilla in a half-slip.” However, juxtaposed to descriptions of their unsightliness are elaborations on their magnetizing sensuality . In addition to alternately evoking feelings of disgust and desire , both are charismatic leaders who attain unquestionable supremacy in their communities by successfully applying their Àjf and bending alien political agendas to ¤t their needs. Using their Àjf to ensure community stability, leisure, and enjoyment, Ruby and Koto are respected political powerhouses and feared “elders of the night.” However, both women are held in check, if only partially, by spiritual children who are at once their totems and holders of their life energies. THE MAMA’S MAMA In the Africana worldview, spiritually endowed children are often marked as such at birth. Cauls, the placement of the umbilical chord, tooth and hair growth, and multiple births all portend speci¤c spiritual destinies. Ruby Jean Upshaw is perhaps the most marked¤gure in literary history: Lightning struck the house that night and I was born, premature. I had a full set of teeth . . . scales on my hands and feet like a serpent. I had webbed toes up until I was ¤ve and Mama got me operated on. They say when I got old enough to talk, I had the voice of a man. . . . I was marked by [a] stole Bible. That con®icted with me bein a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and havin healin hands. When I was two, I told Papa to his face I was the devil.2 With a pilfered Christian “good book” foretelling her destiny, Ruby burst into the world with a blink from Sàngó, wriggled from the womb like Damballah, and when she spoke, she did so as Àjf: “Mother who speaks out with the voice of a man.”3 As the novel progresses, she takes on nearly all oríkì Àjf, including “Mother who kills her husband and yet pities him.”4 Weighing from 300 to more than 500 pounds, Mama Ruby is also large enough to hold the power of many Òrìsà in her frame. She takes on the attributes of Qsun, giving life with healing hands, and she protects her children in the way of Yemoja. In addition to her birthmarks, the order of her coming is also important to Ruby’s vast power and her composition. In Mama Ruby, we¤nd a reconstitution of the “seventh son of the seventh son” motif. This important motif recurs in African American literature and cul246 l àjf in africana literature [18.218.209...

Share