Dambduzo Marechera has sometimes been criticized for his representation of women, with some observers accusing him of misogynism and calling into question the need to include the examples of sexual violence in his work. In this interview, Dorothée pushes back against this kind of criticism, arguing that in works like The House of Hunger and short stories like 'The Christmas Reunion' and 'Thought Tracks in the Snow', Marechera actually displays a progressive attitude towards his female characters. Dorothée also considers the ways in which Marechera embraced a kind of 'gender bending' in his life and work, critiqued the prevailing attitude towards masculinity, and was often a champion of African women's writings.
Dorothée Boulanger studied at Sciences-Po Paris, in France, where she graduated with a BA and a MA in International Relations focusing on post-conflict reconstruction in West Africa. After a year living and working for an NGO in Benin, she embarked on a MSt in Gender, Globalisation and Development from the London School of Economics. She then moved to Angola, where she was a lecturer at the Pontificia and Lusiada Universities in Lobito, in 2009 and 2010.
Dorothée’s research interests lie at the intersection of African literature, history and epistemology, highlighting how Western methodologies and academic disciplines fail to encompass the complexity of African fiction as an intellectual and political intervention. Based on her doctoral dissertation, her first book, Fiction as History: Resistance and Complicities in Angolan Postcolonial Literature (Cambridge: Legenda, 2022) examines Angolan novels as historical sources.
