DE/CONSTRUCTING GENDER: THE LEGEND OF WEYZA-GOUNGOU, THE PRINCE/SS. A WOMANIST ANALYSIS OF BOUBOU HAMA’ S LA PRINCESSE ET LA JUMENT - L’AVENTURE DE WEYZA- GOUNGOU - (THE PRINCESS AND THE MARE - THE ADVENTURE OF WEYZA GOUNGOU)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61421/IJSSMER.2025.3203Keywords:
gender de/construction, feminist critique, womanism, Songhay-Zarma cultureAbstract
In many parts of the African continent, oral art is still highly valued for various reasons. Among such reasons, there is the fact that it plays a significant role in the lives of people, historically, culturally, and socially. This verbal art interestingly embodies the values which still make the identities of African people. For any given community, the different genres of the art convey the values assigned to men and women. In other words, they inform people about the construction of masculinity and femininity.
In the present article, we shall use one legend, La Princesse et la Jument - L’aventure de Weyza-Goungou, to analyze gender issues in the Songhay-Zarma community of Niger. The article, entitled, De/constructing Gender: The Legend of Weyza-Goungou, the Prince/ss. A Womanist Analysis of Boubou Hama’ s La Princesse et la Jument - L’aventure de Weyza- Goungou, aims at showing how the apparently overt patriarchal Songhay-Zarma culture, has a womanist dimension. The analysis of the story also demonstrates the dual task of revealing the construction of gender in the culture and how gender can be deconstructed through a womanist reading of the legend.
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