Education of the Deprived: Anglophone Cameroon Literary Drama

Chapter Three. Bole Butake – Empowerment of Women and the Masses

35 Chapter Three Bole Butake – Empowerment of Women and the Masses A lthough from their impressive output female African writers have made great strides in fictional writing, making it henceforth impossible for readers and critics to ignore them, African literature, as it now stands, is still largely the business of male African writers whose works reflect male-dominated societies. With the notable exceptions of such works as Ousmane Sembene’s God’s Bits of Wood (1962); Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross (1982); Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino (1966); Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah (1987); and Fale Wache’s Lament of a Mother (1990), in which women play prominent roles, African male writers seldom present women in roles other than those limited to motherhood, marriage and related domestic concerns, while scenes for great social events are the exclusive domains of the male characters. It is in this context that we must situate the unique theatrical contribution of a Cameroonian male playwright, Bole Butake. The publication of Bole Butake’s Lake God and Other Plays (1999), by Editions CLE Yaoundé, confirms him as one of the two giants of the Anglophone Cameroon literary theatre today. Whether drawing from a mythic imagination or from the contemporary social scene, Butake succeeds in making his plays scathing commentaries on contemporary social life both in Cameroon, in particular, and Africa in general; especially where there is irresponsible political leadership, unconscionable dictatorial rule, rapacious greed, corruption, immorality and the misuse of power. This malpractice by the elite in control of the reins of power provokes the justified anger of the oppressed masses who advocate a change of the status quo, a protest in which women play a primordial role. For in most of Butake’s dramas women have moved from their traditional backseat role of passive players to the foreground as a powerful force to be reckoned with if any significant social change is to take place. 36 Education of the Deprived: Anglophone Cameroon Literary Drama The six plays in the collection handle various themes and social issues: the eternal conflict between traditionalism and modernity (Lake God); dictatorial rule in a local chiefdom, the use or misuse of power, as well as the powerful role of women in combating the forces of evil (And Palm Wine Will Flow); insatiable greed and the human exploitation of a human situation (The Survivors); the negative effects, on the civilian population, of military dictatorship (Shoes and Four Men in Arms); a classic illustration of the maxim that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Dance of the Vampires); and corruption and the travesty of justice (The Rape of Michelle). Early in the play entitled Lake God1 two lines of action developing into major conflicts can be discerned already. One concerns the perennial clash between traditionalism and modernity. There is, on the one hand, a modern, western-educated chieftain, (Fon2 ), who, having espoused Christianity, makes a clean break with the heathen past of his people, annulling traditional practices and annual rituals to the Lake God. On the other hand, there are Shey Bo-Nyo, the Chief Priest of the Lake God, and the Kwifon and the Fibuen3 , respectively male and female secret cults that defend the age-old traditions of the land. To ensure the fertility of the land they uphold the yearly sacrifice to the Lake God. The other line of action deals with local women whose crops have been destroyed by the cows of the Fon’s protégé, Dewa. The women arrest, bind and carry Dewa to the Fon for severe sanctions to be meted out to him. However, the Fon expels neither the cattle owners nor the cattle themselves; so the women’s problem remains unsolved. Far from giving up, however, the enraged but determined women are ready to fight for their cause. To battle with the Fon they resort to an imaginative strategy. Like the Athenian women of Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata, they take a secret oath of sealed lips to go on a sexual strike and also to starve their husbands until the latter bring pressure to bear on the willful Fon. In effect the women resolve to punish their menfolk in two ways: sex and food. By so doing they could not have devised a more powerful weapon with which to combat the men. The effect of their unprecedented action is felt palpably and almost immediately by their husbands as revealed by the frustrations of the following men...