Colonialism and Neocolonialism based on Gender and Class in Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy

The central concerns of Aidoo's novel are the dilemma of the woman who has views of her own, and the determination not to dissociate the personal and the political. This aspect of Aidoo's text clearly echoes the warnings of Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth that decolonization would not lead to liberation for the African people if this process merely involved the replacement of a ruling colonial white bourgeoisie by a new postcolonial black bourgeoisie with basically the same values. "Into a Bad Dream" is set in Ghana and details Sissie's preparation to leave for Germany. This section immediately introduces many of the important issues of the book, particularly the problem of ongoing neocolonial domination of Africa by Europe. Intellectuals believe that the only road to progress in Africa is the European road, based on the concepts of "universal truth, universal art, universal literature and the Gross National Product." The narrator calls such intellectuals "dogs" whose masters are in the West, making clear her disdain for their Eurocentric modes of thought. "The Plums" is set in Germany and details Sissie's reaction to German culture and her relationship with Marija, a lonely German housewife. "From Our Sister Killjoy" describes Sissie's stopover in England and her meetings with African expatriates, including her own lover, living there. The last section, "A Love Letter," consists primarily of Sissie's farewell letter to this lover, written aboard the plane on her way back to Ghana. Together, these sections allow Aidoo to present the impact on Sissie's consciousness of a number of crucial issues relating to colonialism, neocolonialism, and gender.