Deconstructing Feminist Positions in Unigwe’s “Possessing The Secret Of Joy” and Aidoo’s “The Girl Who Can”

Confidence Gbolo Sanka(1*), Peter Arthur(2), Samuelis Gracious Abla(3),

(1) Department of English, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, GHANA
(2) KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI, GHANA, WEST AFRICA
(3) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


For many years, African women have been blaming men for the inferior position of the female gender in African societies. In this blame game, the patriarchal and cultural stipulations of societies are not left out since they present the male gender as superior. This observation is emphasised by the myriads of texts on feminism which largely present discourses that highlight the roles of the male gender and patriarchy in perpetuating female otherness. In doing so, the females are portrayed as mere victims who do not play any active roles in this ordeal and are therefore exonerated from blame. This notwithstanding, a close study of events in patriarchal societies and the evolving contemporary current of thought in feminist domains questions the portrayal of women as helpless victims of patriarchy. By using the theories of feminism and deconstruction and by focusing on the themes and language of the stories, this paper seeks to unearth some patterns in Unigwe’s “Possessing the Secret of Joy” and Aidoo’s “The Girl Who Can” which speak to the involvement of women as agents of patriarchy. It also argues that some of the time too, men can be victims or subjugates of patriarchy in the African context. The paper concludes that the fight against patriarchy remains the lot of both genders and not in the blame game.


Keywords


Agents; Feminism; Deconstruction; Patriarchy

Full Text:

PDF

References


Acholonu, C. O. (1995) Motherism: The Afrocentric alternative to feminism, Owerri: Afa Publications

Ademiluka, S. O. (2018). Patriarchy and women abuse: Perspectives from ancient Israel and Africa. OTE, 31(2), pp.339-362.

Adichie, N. C. (2006) Purple hibiscus, Abuja: Farafina

Aidoo, A. A. (2002, a). The girl who can and ther stories. Oxford: Heinemann, pp.27-33.

----- (1985, b). Anowa. New York: Longman Publishing Group

.----- (1985, c). The dilemma of a ghost. New York: Longman Publishing Group.

Al-Ali, N. (2020). Covid-19 and feminism in the global south: Challenges, initiatives and dilemmas. European Journal of Women Studies, 27(4), pp. 333-347.

Annapurany, K. (2016). A prospective study of feminism waves, phases, issues and critical analysis. International Journal of Applied Research, 2(5), pp.424-426.

Asaah, A. H. (2007). Between the assumed fatality of violence and the cry for justice. Annales Aequatoria, 28, pp.333-355.

Awogu-Maduagwu, E. A. and Akindele, A. A. (2016). Exploring gender journeys: A review of Achebe's Anthills of the savannah , Aidoo's Changes: A love story, and Adichie's. Purple hibiscus." Global Journal of Applied, Management and Social Sciences(GOJAMSS), 13, pp. 198-204.

Azuike, M. A. (2009). Women’s struggles and independence in Adichie’s Purple hibiscus and Half of a yellow sun. African Research Review: An International Multi-Disciplinary Journal, 3(4), pp. 79-91

Bâ, M. (2008). So long a letter. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited

Boonzaier, F. & De la Rey, C. (2004). Woman abuse: The construction of gender in women and men's narratives of violence. South African Journal of Psychology, 34(3). pp. 443-463.

Chitando, A. (2015). Portrait of courage: Women and survival in Tagwira’s The uncertainty of hope. Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(1-2), pp. 216—224.

Derrida, J. (1967). Of grammatology. (Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, trans.), Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1976.

Eke, G. O. and Njoku, A. (2020). African women in search of global identity: An exploration of feminism and Afropolitanism in Chimamanda Adichie's works. Journal of Gender and Power, 13(1), pp. 151-169.

Ezeigbo, T. A. (1990, b). Traditional women’s institutions in Igbo society: Implications for the Igbo female writer. African Languages and Culture, 3(2), pp. 149-165.

Ezeigbo, A. (2012, a). Snail-sense feminism: Building on an indigenous model. Lagos: University of Lagos.

Ibeku, A. I. (2015). Adichie's Purple hibiscus and The Issue of Feminism in African Novel. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 5(6), pp.426-437.

Kolawole, M.E.M. (1997). Womanism: African consciousness. Princeton, NJ: Africa World Press

Matandela, M. (2020). Policy brief: Addressing gender justice and colonialism through transitional justice in Africa. Centre for the study of violence and reconciliation (CSVR), pp.1-14,

https://media.africaportal.org/documents/Gender_Justice_Policy_Brief_2020_002.pdf, accessed on 12/11/2020.

Mba, N. C. (2018). Representation of the female body in Adichie’s The thing around your neck, Lapai Research in Humanities, Vol. 5(1), pp. 155-166.

Mbiti, J. S. (1976). African religions and philosophy. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

Mudau, T. J. and Obadire, O. S. (2017). The role of patriarchy in family settings and its implications to girls and women in South Africa. Journal of Human Ecology, 58(1-2), pp. 67-72.

Musila, G. (2007). Embodying experience and agency in Yvonne Vera’s Without a name and Butterfly burning. Research in African Literatures, 38(2), pp. 41-63.

Mkhize, Z. (2017). Patriarchy: A catalyst for gender violence and discrimination. Daily Maverick, September 18, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/yc2srjya

Nkealah, N. (2013). The multiple faces of patriarchy: Nawal el-Sadaawi’s Two women in one as a critique of Muslim culture. ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 44(2-3), pp. 221-238.

Nnaemeka O. (2003). Nego-feminism: Theorising, practising and pruning Africa’s way. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 29(2), pp.357-385

Odhiambo, T. (2006). Writing alternative womanhood in Kenya in Margaret Ogola’s The river and The source. African Identities, 4(2), pp. 235-250.

Ogundipe-Leslie, M. (1994). Recreating ourselves: African women and critical transformations. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press

Olanipekun, S. (2013). Women and patriarchal society in the works of feminist writers. Open Journal of Social Science Research, 1(6), pp. 124-127.

Opara, C. (2005). On the African Concept of transcendence: Conflating nature, nurture and creativity. Journal of Philosophy and Religion, 21(2), pp. 189-200

Sanka, C. G. (2019). The contribution of patriarchy to the concept of manhood in African societies: A Marxist reading of Isidore Okpewho's The last duty. Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2), pp. 111-123.

Signorella, M. L. (2020). Toward a more just feminism. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(2), pp. 256-265.

Steady, F. C. (1996, a). African feminism: A worldwide perspective. In Women in Africa and the African diaspora: A reader, 2nd edition, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn and Andrea Benton Rushing, (Eds.) 3-12. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Steady, F. C. (1981, b). The black woman cross-culturally: An overview, in The black woman Cross- culturally, Filomina Chioma Steady, (Ed)7-41, Rochester, VT: Shenkman Books

Stern, B. B. (1996). Textual analysis in advertising research: Construction and deconstruction of meanings. Journal of Advertising, 25(3), pp.61-73

Subba, S. (2014). Journey from resistance to freedom in Ngozi Adichie’s Purple hibiscus. Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), 2(3), pp. 185-188

Tyson, L. .(2006). Critical theory today. NewYork: Routledge.

Unigwe, C. (2005). Possessing the secret of joy. Wasafiri, 20(46), pp. 27-29, DOI: 10.1080/02690050508589980.

Ulmer, G. (1988). The Puncept in grammatology. In On puns: The foundation of letters, Jonathan Culler, (Ed.), New York: Basil Blackwell, pp. 164-190

Yankah, K. (1995). Speaking for the chief: Okyeame and the politics of Akan royal oratory. Indianapolis; IN: Indiana University Press.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v21i2.2971

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal of Language and Literature (JOLL) is published by  Prodi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

JOLL is indexed in:

       


This journal is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License 

View My Stats