Cape Verdean and Mozambican Women's Literature: Liberating the National and Seizing the Intimate

In Mozambique and Cape Verde, writing in Portuguese by African women has directly engaged political reconstruction by denouncing colonial oppression and embracing national freedom. This article addresses the recent history of Lusophone African women's fiction, which has been pivotal in inscribing the intimate arena of sexuality and motherhood into power relations and has also revealed ways in which the domain of violence intersects with private lives. By focusing on two novels that exemplify this trend, this article demonstrates links between the political and the intimate. It also shows how Lusophone African authors contribute to healing social conflict through their narratives, and draws some conclusions about gender relations in the Lusophone African experience and across the continent.

Au Mozambique et au Cap Vert, les écrits de femmes africaines en langue portugaise ont participé directement à la reconstruction politique en dénonçant l'oppression coloniale et en adoptant les principes de liberté nationale. Cet article aborde l'évolution historique récente des romans d'écrivaines africaines de langue portugaise, qui ont été essentiels pour introduire les domaines privés de la sexualité et de la maternité dans l'arène publique des relations de pouvoir, et pour révéler les