The public-ation of domestic violence in Calixthe Beyala’s Le Christ selon l’Afrique

Beyala’s novel presents a public forum of competing voices in a postcolonial African city. Those voices lay claim to a knowledge of the sacred and seek to dominate this forum while trying to legitimise domestic abuse and the public shaming of women. The novel Le Christ selon l’Afrique provides an incisive analysis of the ways in which the discourses of the sacred in postcolonial African society expose some women to violence while depending on other women for their support.