Abstract:

Bessie Head (1937—1986) was a female Botswanan writer. In the short story collection The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (1974), Head portrays different types of images of African female images, which I propose to research from the feminist perspective using postcolonialism theory, among other research approaches. It can be seen that there are three profiles of the diachronic extension of Botswanan women’s lives in Head’s short stories. The first involves rural female villagers who were affected by Botswana’s rural traditions and colonially oppressed communities in the conservative state of Botswana; the second refers to female prisoners who used violence as a weapon to fight against male domination in prisons and to escape colonial oppression in Botswana, and the third depicts the “new women” who participated in writing and the construction of identity in the beneficial aftermath of ideological edification in Botswana. In general, Head draws on images of women such as villagers, prisoners, and new women to depict these women’s unrelenting efforts and struggles of women in Botswana who were attempting to find themselves and to gain power in society. Head aims to build a stairway to the stars and to speak for silent African women through her autobiographical writing; in doing so she also constructed independent and creative female identities.

Keywords: Bessie Head; Botswana; The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales; African female images; identity construction; postcolonialism; feminism

摘要：

博茨瓦纳女作家贝西·黑德在小说集《珍宝收藏者及其他博茨瓦纳乡村故事集》（1974）中，塑造了博茨瓦纳从殖民地走向独立建国的过程中涌现的多种女性形象。本文运用女性主义、后殖民主义理论及其他研究方法，通过考察发现，贝西·黑德在这部小说中主要描绘了3类女性形象：在守旧状态中屈从于乡村传统和殖民地压迫的女乡民；以暴力反抗男权统治、逃离家庭束缚的女囚犯；获得教育机会、学会阅读与写作的新女性。贝西·黑德借助女乡民、女囚犯和新女性等形象，描摹了博茨瓦纳女性顽强抗争、发现自我、争取权力的艰难历程。通过带有自传性的写作，她为沉默的非洲女性发声，建构了追求独立自主、具有创造力的非洲新女性身份。

关键词: 贝西·黑德, 博茨瓦纳, 珍宝收藏者及其他博茨瓦纳乡村故事集, 非洲女性形象, 身份建构, 后殖民主义, 女性主义