Sociology and literature: a theoretical exercise about agency, ruptures and reproductions in niketche: a story of polygamy

Abstract

This essay is a theoretical exercise that attempts to use a literary text as a window to access and analyze social dynamics and to think about agency in Practice Theory. To begin with, we briefly discuss the difference between a sociological approach of literature and literary criticism. Then, using the notion of Practice Theory by Ortner we analyze the literary work Niketche: a story of polygamy and discuss the journey of the main character, Rami, which oscillates between ruptures with and reproductions of the social role of Mozambican women. Even though Niketche is a work of fiction – or maybe precisely because it is fiction! – it is a doorway to understanding and discussing gender relations in Mozambique.