‘Earrings and shields’: metaphor and gendered discourses in female genital mutilation songs in Kuria, Kenya
Abstract
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a global issue affecting women and girls in different parts of the world. Over 140 million girls and women have undergone FGM worldwide. In the UK, 130,000 girls and women live with the consequences of FGM (Reid 2014). In Kuria region of Kenya, 96% of women and girls have undergone FGM (Oloo et al 2010) despite its illegal status. FGM has been approached from the religious, medical and human rights perspectives but the linguistic perspective has not yet been considered. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this paper seeks to address the FGM issue from a linguistic perspective by analysing metaphors in female circumcision in Kuria Kenya. Focus is on how through discourse, gender inequalities are normalised and advanced within a sociocultural system and how this, in turn, contributes to legitimation of FGM. Findings show that metaphors function as discursive strategies for constructing and maintaining dominant patriarchal hegemonies and maintaining the status quo while reinforcing the perpetuation of FGM. I suggest that an understanding of the role of gender and discourse in FGM could influence efforts to end the practice and lead to positive change.
Download Media
PDF (Price: £17.50 )
DOI: 10.1558/genl.30330
References
Abudi, M., Yieke, F. and Kitetu, C. (2011) The discursive construction of gender among Dholuo speakers in Kenya. In D. Majstorovic and I. Lassen (ed.) Living with Patriarchy. Discursive Constructions of Gendered Subjects across Cultures 49–68. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.45.04abu
Alemu, A. (2007) Oral narratives as an ideological weapon for the subordinating of women: a case of Jimma Oromo. Journal of African Cultural Studies 19(1): 55–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/13696810701485934
Anderson, D. (2012) ‘Courting is like trading horses, you have to keep your eyes open’: Gender related proverbs in a peasant society in Northern Sweden. Journal of Northern Studies 6(2): 9–36.
Atanga, L. (2010) Gender, Discourse and Power in the Cameroonian Parliament. Bamenda: RPCIG.
Atanga, L. L. (2012) The discursive construction of a ‘model Cameroonian woman’ within the Cameroonian Parliament. Gender and Language 6(1): 21–45. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.21
Atanga, L.L. (2013) African feminism? In L, Atanga, S.E. Ellece, L. Litosseliti, and J. Sunderland (ed.) Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan African Contexts: Tradition, Struggle and Change 301-315. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.33.20ata
Atanga, L., Ellece, S. E., Litosseliti, L. and Sunderland, J. (2012) Gender and language in sub-Saharan African contexts: issues and challenges. Gender and Language 6(1): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.1
Baxter, J. (2003) Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501263
Cameron, D. (2003) Gender issues in language change. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 23: 187–201. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190503000266
Cameron, D. (2005) Language gender and sexuality: current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics 26(4): 482–502. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami027
Cameron, L. and Maslen, R. (2010) Metaphor Analysis: Research Practice in Applied Linguistics, Social Sciences and Humanities. London: Equinox.
Charteris-Black, J. (2005) Politicians and Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Metaphor. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501706
Connell, R. W. (1995) Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Deignan, A., Littlemore, J. and Semino, E. (2013) Figurative Language, Genre and Register. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diabah, G. and Amfo, N. A. A. (2015) Caring supporters or daring usurpers? Representation of women in Akan Proverbs. Discourse and Society 26(1): 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926514541343
Ellece, S. (2007) Gendered marriage discourses in Botswana: a CDA approach. PhD thesis, Lancaster University, UK.
Ellece, S. (2011) ‘Be a fool like me’: gender construction in the marriage advice ceremony in Botswana-a critical discourse analysis. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity 25(1): 43–52.
Ellece, S. (2012) The ‘placenta’ of the nation: motherhood discourses in Tswana marriage ceremonies. Gender and Language 6(1): 79–103. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.79
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (2001) Language and Power (2nd edition). London: Longman Group.
Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis of Social Research. New York: Routledge.
Hussein, J. W. (2005) The social and ethno-cultural construction of masculinity and femininity in African proverbs. African Study Monographs Journal 26(2): 59–87.
Kabaji, E. (2005) The construction of gender through the narrative process of the African folktale: a case study of the Maragoli folktale. PhD thesis, University of South Africa.
Kenya Population Census (2009) Kenya population and housing census by district. Retrieved on 20 September 2015 from www.knbs.or.ke/index.php?option=com_phocadownloadandview=categoryandid=100andItemid=1176.
Koller, V. (2004) Business women and war metaphors: ‘possessive, jealous and pugnacious’? Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(1): 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00249.x
Kosetzi, K. (2007) Representations of women in terms of gender roles and sexual practices in Σχεδόν Ποτέ (ΣΙΙ) (‘almost never’): the text and the audience. PhD thesis, Lancaster University, UK.
Kosetzi, K. (2008) Harnessing a critical discourse analysis of gender in television fiction. In K. Harrington, L. Litosseliti H. Sauntson, and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender and Language Research Methodologies 227–39. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kovecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Lazar, M. (2000) Gender, discourse and semiotics: the politics of parenthood representations. Discourse and Society 11(3): 373–400. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011003005
Lazar, M. (2005) Politicising gender in discourse: feminist critical discourse analysis as political perspective and praxis. In M. M. Lazar (ed.) Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender Power and ideology in Discourse 1–28. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lazar, M. (2007) Feminist critical discourse analysis: articulating a feminist discourse praxis. Critical Discourse Studies 4 (2): 141–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405900701464816
Litosseliti, L. (2006) Gender and Language: Theory and Practice. London: Hodder Education.
McGlone, S. M. (2007) What is the explanatory value of a conceptual metaphor? Language and Communication 27: 109–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2006.02.016
Mama, M. (2001) Talking about feminism in Africa. Agenda, African Feminisms 1(50): 58–63.
Mikell, G. (1997) African Feminism. The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Momoh, D. (2005). Female Genital Mutilation. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing.
Muwati, I., Gambahaya, Z. and Gwekwerere, T. (2011) African womanism and African proverbs: theoretical grounding of mothering/motherhood in Shona and Ndebele cultural discourse. Western Journal of Black Studies 35(1): 1–8.
Ntarangwi, M. (2001) A socio-historical and contextual analysis of popular music performance among the Swahili of Mombasa, Kenya. Cultural Analysis 2: 1–37.
Oloo, H., Wanjiru M. and Newell-Jones, K. (2010) Female Genital Mutilation Practices in Kenya: The Role of Alternative Rites of Passage: A Case Study of Kisii and Kuria Districts. London: Feed the Minds.
Onyango, O. (2008) The masculine discursive construction of rape in the Kenyan press. In E. Uchendu (ed.) Masculinities in Contemporary Africa 54–72. Dakar: CODESRIA.
Pragglejaz Group (2007) MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol 18: 125–46.
Steen, J., Dorst, A., Herrmann, B., Kaal, A., Krennmayr, T. and Pasma, T. (2010) A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.14
Sunderland, J. (2000) Baby entertainer, bumbling assistant and line manager: discourses of fatherhood in parent craft texts. Discourse and Society 11(2): 249–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Tam, K. and Yip, T. S. (2010) Gender, Discourse and the Self in Literature: Issues in Mainland China. Taiwan: Chinese University Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2001) Multidisciplinarity CDA: a plea for diversity. In R. Wodak and M. Meyer (eds) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis 95–120. London: Sage.
Van Leeuwen, T. (1996) Representation of social actors. In C. R. Caldas-Coulthard and M. Coulthard (ed.) Texts and Practices 32–70. London: Routledge.
Wambura, J. (2012) The language of Kuria proverbs: a powerful tool for exercising control over women. International Journal of Social Science and Interdisciplinary Research 1(10): 235–43.
WHO (1997) Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An Interagency statement by OCHR, UNAIDS, UNDP,UNECA,UNESCO,UNFPA,UNHCR,UNICEF,UNIFEM and WHO. Geneva: WHO.
WHO (2008) Female Genital Mutilation: Draft from WHO Technical Working Group Meeting on Female Genital Mutilation, July 18.Geneva: WHO.
Wodak, R. (2002) Aspects of critical discourse analysis. ZfAL 36: 5–31.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
