Taboos and Their Subversion: Reconceptualizing the Proper African Woman in Oluremi Obasanjo’s Autobiography Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo

Abstract

This essay explores Oluremi Obasanjo’s reconceptualization, in Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo, of the culturally defined proper African woman. Published at the pinnacle of her husband’s life as a respected political leader in Africa, the text is a compendium of personal details of their marital life. The study examines how the author-protagonist defies culturally imposed restrictions on female expression by engaging instances of male abuse, neglect, and marital infidelity.

Keywords:

• African
• woman
• taboos
• autobiography

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Garritano, “Intersection”; Watson, “Unruly Bodies”; and Peterson “Casting Characters.”

2 See Miller, “My Mothers/My Selves”; and White, “Familial Influence.”

3 Kuzwayo, Call Me Woman.

4 Davies, “Private Selves,” 205.

5 Hitchcott, “African “Herstory”: The Feminist,” 16–33.

6 Miller, “My Mothers/My Selves,” 12.

7 Howden, “Revealed.”

8 Miller, “My Mothers/My Selves,” 13.

9 Ebila, “A Proper Woman,” 146–147.

10 Oyèwùmí, The Invention of Women, 41.

11 Oyèwùmí, The Invention of Women, 41–42.

12 Ọlájubù, Women, 31.

13 Fámilúsì, “African Culture,” 303.

14 Fámilúsì, “African Culture,” 304.

15 Mákindé, “Motherhood,” 165.

16 Agbájé, “Foreword,” ix–x.

17 Musisi, “Gender,” 184.

18 Musisi, “Gender,” 175.

19 Davies, “Private Selves,” 195–196.

20 Fálétí, “Uses and Abuses,” 23.

21 Fálétí, “Uses and Abuses,” 25.

22 Chigidi, “Shona Taboos,” 177.

23 Ọdẹ́jọbí, “An Overview,” 222.

24 Fámilúsì, “African Culture,” 303.

25 Adéòtí, “Narrating the Green Gods,” 13.

26 Obasanjo, My Watch.

27 “Master of Deception.”

28 Obayiuwana, “Bitter-Sweet.”

29 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 5.

30 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 8.

31 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 12.

32 “Master of Deception.”

33 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 74.

34 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 91.

35 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 92.

36 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 83.

37 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 125–126.

38 Almeida, “The Concept of Choice,” 171.

39 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 71.

40 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 74.

41 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 122.

42 Obasanjo, Exemplary Youths, v.

43 Agbájé, “Foreword,” vii.

44 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 67.

45 Hess, “Confessions,” 154.

46 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 59.

47 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 129.

48 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 64.

49 Obasanjo, Bitter-Sweet, 66–68.

50 Agbájé, “Foreword,” vii.