Academic literature on the topic 'Stiwanism'

21st century Nigerian women poets have continued to utilise the aesthetics of literary devices as linguistic and literary strategies to project feminist privations and values in their creative oeuvres. There has been marginal interest towards 21st century Nigerian women’s poetry and their deployment of artistic devices such as satire, humour and parody. Unequivocally, such linguistic and literary devices in imaginative works are deployed as centripetal force to criticise amidst laughter, the ills of female devaluation in the society. The major thrust of the study, therefore, is to examine how satire, humour and parody are deployed in selected Nigerian women’s poetry to reproach and etch the collective ethos of women’s experience in contemporary Nigerian society. The study utilises qualitative analytical approach in the close reading and textual analysis of the selected texts focusing mainly on the aesthetics of humour, satire and parody in challenging male chauvinism in contemporary Nigerian women’s poetry. Three long poems: “Nuptial Counsel”, “Sadiku’s Song” and “The Sweet, Sweet Mistress’ Tale” by Mabel Evweirhoma and Maria Ajima respectively were purposively selected. The choice of the selected poems hinges on the artistic vigour, especially the evoking of laughter, mockery and condemnation of hegemonic strictures through the use of satire, humour and parody. The paper employs Molara Ogundipe’s Stiwanism, an aspect of Feminist theory in the analysis of the selected poems. The poets have shown the interventions of humour, satire and parody as linguistic devices in condemning and highlighting peculiarities of women peonage in Nigeria.

The intercourse of history and Drama is an age long phenomenon. On one hand, the evolution and the various developmental stages of drama find expression in history. On the other hand, historical occurrences provided and still provide raw materials for drama. Historically, women have been represented in drama since the beginning of literary tradition. Aristophanes (410 BC) represented Greek women, reflecting the strength and weakness of women and more importantly the role of women in nation building. Shakespeare and Webster portray women substantially in their plays. Nigerian playwrights are not left out in the scheme, as they employ the instrumentality of history to dramatise traits of legendry Nigeria women and thus preserve their heroic deeds for the prosperity of posterity. This paper interrogates the interplay of history and gender heroism in Ola Rotimi’s play, Hopes of the Living Dead. The framework for this discourse is “Stiwanism”, the African expression of feminism. The paper argues that Ola Rotimi, in a bid to celebrate African women does not create a fictitious personality with fabricated legendary deeds, but falls back on history to showcase the legendary and heroic nature of African women. History, therefore, enhances the tangibility of gender heroism as dramatised by Ola Rotimi in the play. We conclude that, in Hopes of the Living Dead, Ola Rotimi employs history to unearth the past, thereby reconstructing the present and taking a peep into the future about what is expected of the African women as leaders and co-workers in social and political re-engineering.

The research looked at the woman with regenerative potentials and how reliable mentors they are to the benefit of society using Ama Darko’s Faceless. The purpose of the study was to use Ama Darko’s Faceless to showcase the position of the woman with regenerative potential irrespective education because though Education empowers women to have regenerative potentials other women who are uneducated also exhibit such traits in our societies. A qualitative approach was employed to look at views related to the African woman with regenerative potential and also adopted the traditional library research approach through the use of books, articles, journals and publications in as much as they contribute to the worth of the study. It was in-formed by the stiwanist theory. The main findings of the study indicate that the woes of irresponsible mothers who do not responsibly take care of the results of their pleasure with men are being disapproved. This disapproval is as a result of the pitiful portrayal of women with destructive potential as against positive up lifting portrayal of women with regenerative potential and making them reliable mentors of society. This change has come about as a result of women’s quest to assert themselves through education and contribute towards freeing their families from cultural and societal dogmas in which women were treated to subjugation and marginalization. A remarkable observation was the intentionality of ascribing to female characters more respectable roles in novels by various writers as the years go by. A conclusion drawn from the study is that education is still a major weapon of enhancing assertiveness in women but it is not the ultimate.

In this thesis, the research focuses on the role and presentation of women in Zulu traditional literature. Employing feminism as a literary canon, the research investigates whether the perceived oppression of Zulu women is reflected in such Zulu folklore. The research aims to establish whether or not folklore was used as a corrective measure or avenue of correcting gender imbalances. This dissertation proceeds from the premise that the traditional Zulu society or culture attached to women certain stereo-typical images which projected them as witches, unfaithful people, unfit marriage partners on the other hand or brave care givers, loving mothers and upright members on the other hand. Using feminism as a scientific approach, the study investigates whether these projections were not oppressive on Zulu women. The study is scientifically organised into various chapters dealing with various subjects e.g. the feminist theory (chapter 2), portrayal of Zulu women in folktales (chapter3), in proverbs (chapter 4) and praise-poetry (chapter 5). The study concludes that the traditional Zulu woman felt depressed by this patriarchal discrimination especially in the marriage situation. In the day and age of African Renaissance, the study recommend that it is imperative for women to mould their children, especially their sons to adapt to the idea that women have changed, they have rights and priviledges which could intimidate their male ego.
African Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (African languages)

Chapter 1 is the introductory chapter which gives the aim of study, delimitation, scope and methodology. It further presents critical studies that have been done on Feminism. Chapter 2 is devoted to the Feminist theory, the origin of the term stereotype and the diverse schools of thought within the Feminist camp. Feminism from the African perspective, known as Womanism, has been deliberated on. Chapter 3 concentrates mainly on two women authors, Damane and Makhambeni. This chapter looks at how these authors have depicted their female characters. It also examines the stereotypes employed by these female authors. Chapter 4 is devoted to the writing of male authors. This chapter also concentrates on the stereotypes employed by them in their analysis of their female characters. Chapter 5, concludes the study and summarizes the main findings of this review.
African Languages
M.A. (African Languages)