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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. |
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