Faceless

• During the progression of the novel, Darko skilfully reveals details about Baby T’s life through the eyes of her younger sister, Fofo, herself a street child.
• Darko reveals how violence shows itself in women’s experiences of gender inequality and impacts on their children.
• An understanding of its complexities is needed for societies to achieve social justice for women and children.

Who is Amma Darko?

• In her novels, Darko focuses particularly on how women navigate the world, reflecting common Ghanaian life experiences.
• After spending her formative years there, Darko moved to Kumasi where she obtained her diploma in industrial design in 1980.
• She returned to Accra in 1987 to study accounting and continue writing novels that explore the impact of gender inequality on women’s lives and choices.

Gender and choices

• Despite Ghana’s free education policy, gender plays a key role in access to formal education in a country where there still exist several factors that impact the education of adolescent girls.
• But in the cities, there is a fragmentation, which results in behavioural flexibility.
• Mute takes on Fofo’s case, unravels the mystery of the death of Baby T, and eventually rehabilitates Fofo.
• Children like Fofo have had to grow up too quickly in order to assume the responsibilities their parents have abandoned.

Tackling social ills

• Darko unapologetically and courageously tackles the not-so-often talked about social ills that are persistent in many communities.
• The general population and government behave as if they do not exist, as if they are invisible, faceless.
• Puleng Segalo receives funding from the National Institute for the Humanities and the Social Sciences.