Postcoloniality In Rigoberta Loomba

Ania Loomba displays how “women’s struggles for equality continue after formal independence and define the nature of postcoloniality” (Loomba 188). Loomba indicates that the nature of postcoloniality is that women are “cast as mothers or wives and are called upon to literally and figuratively reproduce the nation” (Loomba 180). This is shown in the novels, Xala by Ousmane Sembene and the autobiographical I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Elizabeth Burgos-Debray. Both characters are expected to be mothers and wives, it is expected that the character in Xala; Rama will marry and have children, however, she resists the representation of her mother, who is in a polygamous marriage. In I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala;

Both believe that there is the “absence of women’s voices…” which implies that women’s opinions do not matter due to the notion that women are not as intelligent as men. Rama and Menchu both resist the idea that women are not supposed to have aspirations. The only goal in a postcolonial society for a woman is marriage, Menchu renounces marriage while Rama believes that her fiancée will not be a polygamist. These women participate in a larger goal that is much more important than a single serving person. The goal is to achieve equality amongst everyone. Menchu is shown to have achieved this due to her Nobel Peace Prize, while Rama was still resisting. These characters are also different in many ways. Rama has had an education and goes out with Pathe in public as well as fighting for her own language; Wolof. She translates from French to Wolof so her people would not read and write in the colonizer 's language. While, Menchu is not educated, but has taught herself Spanish, also she is not even allowed to talk to men on the street since this causes women to be ‘dirty.’ Menchu is shown to have more hardships due to her growing up poor and having to work for everything. Rama does not really know the life of a poor person because she grew up in a wealthy