Uhakiki wa methali za kijinsia katika jamii ya Wanyankole: mtazamo wa kipragmatiki

Abstract

The Nyankole community has been propagating gender bias in their usage of proverbs from generation to generation because the Nyankole are basically a patriarchal community. This study is a critique of gender proverbs in the Nyankole community from a pragmatic perspective. The research objectives were firstly, to identify the gender proverbs in the Nyankole community in specific contexts. Secondly, to analyze the various meanings captured in the gender proverbs from the traditional and modern Nyankole communities. Thirdly, to assess the relevance of specific gender proverbs in the traditional and modern Nyankole communities. This study was guided by African Feminism theory and Deconstruction theory. African Feminism theory was instrumental in revealing how gender is captured in the Nyankole proverbs while Deconstruction theory was useful in validating the gender proverbs in terms of their meaning and usage in the traditional and modern Nyankole communities. 42 proverbs were purposively sampled and collected from two categories of the Nyankole community. The first one constitutes of men and women aged between 50 and 80 years who are conversant with the traditional Nyankole culture. The second group constitutes of men and women aged between 25 and 45 years representing the modern Nyankole community. The collected data was categorised in various Nyankole social contexts and analysed. The meaning and application of the gender proverbs were then critically analyzed from a pragmatic point of view. The study findings are as follows: Some gender proverbs enhance gender discrimination especially against women and hence should not be propagated in the progressive Nyankole community. Secondly, gender proverbs that enhance good morals in the Nyankole community should be retained for posterity. Thirdly, gender proverbs that are overtaken by time should be deconstructed and given new meanings in line with the socio-economic and political needs of the modern Nyankole community. From the study findings it can be concluded that although gender proverbs are an integral part of a community’s heritage, they ought to be interpreted from a pragmatic perspective as they are handed down from one generation to the other. This is because, as a social construct, gender proverbs are bound to acquire varied meanings with the passage of time and the context in which they are constructed and deconstructed. Future studies could focus on the analysis of proverbs or other genres in African oral literature in various aspects other than gender to assess the impact of rapid socio-economic and political changes on the African cultural heritage.