In her highly anticipated new book, V.Y. Mudimbe : Les Africaines, le genre et l'ordre social, Gertrude Mianda, a professor in the Gender and Women's Studies program at York University's Glendon Campus, takes a feminist perspective to analyze the novels of the Congolese author V.Y. Mudimbe. She is the first researcher to examine in a book - or even in an article - the feminist positions taken in the novels of Mudimbe.
Mianda's study of gender relations in Africa highlights the author's descriptions of the intersections between race, class and sexuality. She focuses on the main characters in Mudimbe's works to underline women's experiences of oppression within patriarchal systems.
The researcher emphasizes what she calls "the double patriarchy: the complex situation of African women who are confronted by the weight of tradition and the colonial order."
Mianda's examination of Mudimbe's works shows how the novelist radically approaches the subject of women's liberation by challenging economic, social and cultural structures in the hope of creating a more equitable society.
Not only is Mianda's book groundbreaking for its feminist approach to Mudimbe's works, it also unravels the novelist's perspectives on the colonialist oppression of African women, namely how colonialism exacerbated racial capitalism by treating Africans as subordinate to whites and by marginalizing women.
Her study of Mudimbe's works goes beyond a simple literary analysis, and emphasizes the researcher's unique and valuable multi-disciplinary approach to all her projects. For example, one of Mianda's other research projects on immigrants to Canada from sub-Saharan Francophone Africa also addresses the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, language and colonialism.
Mianda dedicates much of her research to examining the marginalization and discrimination experienced by people of African origins, particularly racialized women and Francophones. Across all her diverse projects, she explores issues around the impacts of colonization and capitalism on racial discrimination, gender, class and sexuality.
Issues of equity, inclusion and diversity in Canadian society are also integral to Mianda's teaching. "I make respect and human dignity central to my teaching and research, and to all my relationships, because I am sensitive to inclusion, diversity and equity," she says.
Having a sense of tolerance, humility, and respect for others regardless of age, race, class, sexuality and ethnicity, are common values in all of Mianda's research and teaching.
