A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF THE DEPICTION OF PAIN IN STELLA NYANZI’S NO ROSES FROM MY MOUTH

Abstract

This study responds to the relative lack of sustained psychoanalytic scholarship on Stella Nyanzi’s No Roses from My Mouth (2020), where discussions have largely focused on her political activism rather than the inner workings of trauma and repression in her poetry. The objective is to examine how Nyanzi poetically articulates pain, both personal and political, as a response to trauma, loss, and authoritarian governance, and how her poetry becomes a site of emotional and psychological resistance. Adopting a Freudian psychoanalytic framework, particularly the concepts of the unconscious, repression, and defence mechanisms, the study employs a qualitative textual analysis of three poems: “No Padlock on Your Loins,” “Feminists in High Heels,” and Joyously Dance Again.” The analysis reveals that Nyanzi transforms individual and collective suffering into metaphoric expressions of psychological fragmentation, anger, and desire, demonstrating the complex interplay between the personal psyche and political oppression. The findings show that pain in Nyanzi’s poetry transcends physical suffering and embodies alienation, resistance, and the unconscious negotiation of trauma. The study contributes to trauma studies and gender discourse in African women’s poetry by foregrounding psychological self-expression as both a literary strategy and a form of resistance against authoritarian regimes.