La Bastarda: Love, Exile, & Identity

Book Review #07

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A simple, explicit, & controversial novel that defies the Fang tribal culture in the small country on the central west coast of Africa, Equatorial Guinea.

Let’s start with a history lesson shall we? Equatorial Guinea was the only area in Africa colonized by Spain, therefore they are the only African country with Spanish as the signature language.

Unlike the west, as a whole, Africans do not openly recognize the LGBTQ community; to do so is simply taboo.

But here, we have an author who challenges those ideas. She has made history in having been the first woman in her country to have their book translated into English. As a result her novella has been banned in her home country, her world changed due to publishing a book with only 100 pages!!

"The sexuality of the Fang woman does not exist. Neither does the straight woman have a right to her sexuality, the only thing expected of her is her reproduction, nothing more. My book promotes this right for women: the right to have a sexuality."

- Trifonia Melibea Obono

The novel’s protagonist, Okomo, is considered a bastard from birth since her mother passed away and her father is out of the picture for reasons her family doesn’t want to disclose to her, so she is determined to find him and those reasons on her own.

She is raised by her mother’s polygamous family; which is filled with strife due to the constant bickering between her grandmother and her grandfather’s second wife.

What is a girl to do when she doesn’t want to wear make-up, braid her hair, or take ‘her place’ within her social structure that requires her body to be used only for a man’s sexual pleasure & childbearing? How do you even describe yourself or how you feel when there isn’t a word in your language that defines you?

So she looks for guidance in the only person who has shown her love, her uncle. Except he is an outcast amongst their people due to his sexuality, thus she is forbidden to see him…..

This isn’t your typical ‘coming of age’ story, especially not one that was released almost a decade ago. Imagaine reading this when it was released in 2016 — LGBTQ literature is no longer a genre that comes to us in scarcity. Everyone has a story that should be shared.

When a person hides their true self it can become a burden. Trifonia not only revealed herself to the world, but she also made room for others within her community to do the same. Hopefully the world will have more access for her writings when they are translated into English.

Quotes 💬

“Don’t forget that your mother is dead, your father is a scoundrel, and you’re a bastarda.”

“Your opinion doesn’t count; your elders are always right.”

“Dina is on the brink of old age—she is eighteen years old and has no husband!”

Author Spotlight 💡

Trifonia Melibea Obono is a journalist and political scientist who researches women and gender in Africa. She was a professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences department of the National University of Equatorial Guinea from 2012-2023.

Her short story “La Negra” was included in the anthology Voces feministas de Guinea Ecuatorial (Barcelona: May 2015) and her first novel, Herencia de bindendee, was published by Editions del Auge (Madrid: 2016).

She has received three awards: the 2018 International Prize for African Literatures “Justo Bolekia Boleká” for her work Las mujeres hablan mucho y mal; the 2019 GLLI Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Award for La bastarda; and the 2023 Periplo Prize for her latest work, La hija de las mitangan.

Additional Sources 🔍

• https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-with-trifonia-melibea-obono/