Djaili Amadou Amal is a Cameroonian writer, and feminist activist.
She is a Fula, native to the Diamare in the Far North region of Cameroon. She grew up in the region’s principal city, Maroua. She writes of the Fulbe culture and explores the social problems of both a contemporary and a traditional nature. Her work confronts the problems of women in Fulani society, as well as social problems in her region, the Sahel, especially the discrimination against women. Among her novels is Walaande, which is a Fulfulde word for conjugal unity, addressing the issue of polygamy among the Fulani who commonly practice polygamy. Walaande tells the story of four wives who have conceded to “the art of sharing a husband.”
Two of her other novels are Mistiriijo and La Mangeuse d’âmes (in English, The Eater of Souls). She writes mostly in the French language.
(Wikipedia)
Amadou Amal on Tiredness and Waiting
If anything here it is the male figures who are ghostly, insubstantial, even inscrutable, for all their visibility and volubility.
I HOPE TO HAVE AT LEAST A ROUGH CUT OF THIS VIDEO BY THE WEEKEND. IN THE MEANTIME, YOU CAN VIEW THE TRANSCRIPT, BELOW.
- Amadou Amal, Djaïli. The Impatient. Trans. Emma Ramadan. New York: HarperVia, 2022.
With Djaïli Amadou Amal
A conversation about The Impatient, with the author, Djaïli Amadou Amal
Amadou Amal Videos
Interview with Djaïli Amadou Amal:
NDI 2021 – Grand entretien avec Djaïli Amadou Amal:
A must read book from Djaili Amadou Amal:
Ramla and Hindou’s father “calmly sips a cup of clove tea” as he gives his daughters parting advice just as they are about to leave his household: “Patience, my girls! Munyal! [. . .] That is the true value of our religion, of our customs, of pulaaku—our Fulani identity.” The women’s double wedding “is in full swing” (3), but it is a Moslem wedding, and as such free of alcohol and so also a suitable context for the dispensing of sober advice—not least the advice to remain sober, to suppress desire, and to respect boundaries. Cloves lack even the modest stimulant properties of caffeine, though they have been used as a mild analgesic (or painkiller) for minor irritations such as toothache. So although they are a classic spice, long traded and transported from Indonesia’s “Spice Islands” (the Moluccas), where they were originally to be found, they are famous more for adding a delicate flavour and aroma than for any “spiciness,” in terms of either heat or provocativeness. Both their analgesic qualities and their unobtrusiveness (as well as their rumoured properties as appetite suppressants) might recommend them to the armoury of the ideal wife, as she is envisaged by the father with his tea.
Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (Official Video):
Barbra Streisand Neil Diamond - You Don't Bring Me Flowers:
Amadou Amal Questions
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Freedom/Escape:
Was there anyone in this book who was ever really free to make a different choice?
Did any of them ever truly escape at any point? Will these women ever be free?
Do you think Ramla finally succeeded, or like, just from one cage to another, maybe a little bit better cage, but still a cage?
Reading this as someone who comes from a culture where arranged marriage is also common, I kept thinking about how much choice actually matters in marriage. So my question is, do the women in The Impatient ever truly have agency, or are they just learning how to survive within a system they didn’t choose?
On Tradition
So I researched briefly the makeup of Cameroon and it is 30% Muslim. My question would be are these traditions enforced by actual state law all over Cameroon or maybe just in the Fulani region, or are they purely cultural traditions so entrenched that people do not even question them?
I would like to explore in class whether you see any of these endings as hopeful, or is the whole point that “patience” just keeps reproducing the same cycle?
On the Men:
Are these men throughout history all so insecure that they are so eager for power and control and have to position women as inferior to them to trap them forever as they cannot find another way to escape their made up vulnerability of being in solitude and get a sense of status/validation? Or are they all driven by lust and greed and their delusion of being entitled to whatever they are able to get a hold of?
Which character did you guys feel the most sympathy for? Do you feel sympathy for the men as well, that their culture and systems have set them up to be emotionless and controlling?
Read the following passage and consider how you believe Alhadji Boubakari justifies this to himself? Does he justify his actions? “O my father! You say you know Islam like the back of your hand. You force us to be veiled, to say our prayers, to respect our traditions, so why do you deliberately ignore the precept of the Prophet which stipulates that a girl must consent to her marriage?”
Other
What are your thoughts on how the concept of “protection” was used in the book?
Why does Ramla leave while Safira stays, and does the novel suggest that one of these choices is better than the other?
How do you like this book? The Hindou section is sooo depressing in my opinion.
