Womenpressionism and the Reading of Buchi Emecheta’s The Slave Girl

E.A. Omoruyi, R.J. Julius-Adeoye, S.O. Badeji, D.M. Babarinde, S.O. Eyeh

Abstract

It has been observed that only few scholars pay significant attention to the study of women to women oppression in the novels written by African women in spite of the prevalence of this subject within the continent and the world at large. Therefore, this study aims to draw attention to the issue of women oppression by women that are becoming a common subject in African women literature. It seeks to argue that women oppression of women is an obstacle to women aspiration for change to patriarchal hegemony. This study deploys womenpressionism as a theoretical framework in the analysis of oppression as found in the language and action of women characters in the novel The Slave Girl. The novel is selected for its title, the fact that it is the author’s reflection of the life of her mother and for the representation of powerful women in Nigerian during the period of colonialism. Based on our finding, we argue that in order to have an equitable measure of gender balance in any society, women must collectively discourage women oppression of women as the way of dismantling the structure of patriarchy.

 

Keywords: womenpressionism, patriarchy, oppression, Ogbanje.

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.63.4


Full Text:

PDF


References


ADEOLA, A., & ETIEBET, D. (2019). Women Like Olabisi: The Understated Significance of Nigerian Market Women. The Republic. Retrieved from https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2019/significance-of-nigerian-market-women/

ADISA, T.A., MORDY, C., SIMPSON, R., & IWOWO, V. (2021). Social dominance, hypermasculinity, and career barriers in Nigeria. Gender, Work & Organization, 28(1), 175-194. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12537

AFIGBO, A.E. (1972). The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria 1891-1929. London: Longman.

BURROUGHS, R.M. (2015). Suppression of the Atlantic slave trade: abolition from ship to shore. In: BURROUGHS, R., & HUZZEY, R. (eds.) The suppression of the Atlantic slave trade: British policies, practices and representations of naval coercion. Manchester University Press. Retrieved from https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/1698/3/1%20INTRO%20RB.pdf

EBEKUE, E.O. (2017). Intra-gender subjugation among women in Nigeria: A study of Stephanie Okere's Dry. Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies, 11(1), 84-102. Retrieved from https://www.ajol.info/index.php/cajtms/article/view/165017

EMECHETA, B. (1977). The Slave Girl. New York: George Braziller.

FWANGYIL, G.A. (2012). Cradle to Grave: An Analysis of Female Oppression in Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero. AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies, 1(2), 15-28. Retrieved from https://www.ajol.info/index.php/laligens/article/view/106500

GEWALD, J.-B. (2007). Spanish Influenza in Africa: Some comments regarding source material and future research. Leiden: African Studies Centre. Retrieved from https://www.ascleiden.nl/Pdf/workingpaper77.pdf

ILECHUKWU, S.T.C. (2007). Ogbanje/abiku and cultural conceptualizations of psychopathology in Nigeria. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 10(3), 239-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13694670600621795

LIEBOW, N. (2016). Internalized Oppression and Its Varied Moral Harms: Self-Perceptions of Reduced Agency and Criminality. Hypatia, 31(4), 713-729. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12265

MADUMELU, J., EGBO, A., & OKEWORO, C.G. (2021). Women and Igbo cultural tradition: expanding our norms by incorporating esteemed and acceptable values. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on New Findings on Humanities and Social Sciences, Dublin, 20-22 August 2021, pp. 83-96. Retrieved from https://www.dpublication.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/H37-5046.pdf

OMORUYI, E.A. (2019). “Womanpressionism” in Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods. EDE: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(2), 13-25. Retrieved from https://edejournalofhss.com/index.php/ejhss/article/view/41

PALMER, G.L., FERŃANDEZ, J.S., LEE, G., MASUD, H., HILSON, S., TANG, C., THOMAS, D., CLARK, L., GUZMAN, B., & BERNAI, I. (2019). Oppression and Power. In: JASON, L.A., GLANTSMAN, O., O'BRIEN, J.F., & RAMIAN, K.N. (eds.) Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an Agent of Change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/oppression-and-power/

PIZAÑA, D. (2017). Understanding oppression and “isms” as a system. Michigan State University. Retrieved from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/understanding_oppression_and_isms_as_a_system

SINDHU, T., & SATHURAPPASAMY, G. (2019). Images of Women as a Slave in Buchi Emecheta’s The Slave Girl. Language in India, 19(3), 49-53. Retrieved from http://languageinindia.com/march2019/nesaroevercollege/sindhu1.pdf

TANKWANCHI, A.B.S. (2018). Oppression, liberation, wellbeing, and ecology: organizing metaphors for understanding health workforce migration and other social determinants of health. Global Health, 14, 81. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0397-y

TAUBENBERGER, J.K. (2006). The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 150(1), 86–112. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720273/

YOUNG, I.M. (1990). Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.