Abstract:
Praise poetry is one of the genres of oral literature among the Abakuria people which narrates
their past and at the same time addresses their contemporary issues. Chanters of praise poetry in
various contexts are involved in portraying and narrating expectations of the culture of the
Abakuria people. By so doing, they play a great role in portraying patterns of power relations
between females and males. Hegemonic masculinities in oral literature of partriachal societies
such as Abakuria, is an issue which is not clear, more specifically, how it creates and maintains
gender inequalities. The objectives of the study were: to examine how praise poetry of Abakuria
creates, portrays and maintains hegemonic masculinities, to examine how history, ideology and
power relations play a critical role in creating and maintaining hegemonic masculinities in
communities with patriarchal system and the roles that praise poetry plays in establishing
ideologies of patriarchy. The study was guided by two theories: Ruth Wodak’s Discourse
Historical Approach (DHA) and Hegemonic Masculinities.. The research was conducted in
Tarime district in Tanzania. Four main clans were involved: Abairege, Abanyabasi, Abakiira and
Abagumbe. Purposeful sampling was adopted in selecting the four clans. Snowball or chain
sampling was used in selecting the twenty four informants and purposeful sampling was adopted
in sampling the thirty praise poems. The primary data of the study was the praise poems, which
were supplemented by oral accounts of the informants on various issues related the objectives of
the study. The data was obtained through the use of interviews, discussions with informants,
participant observation and oral narratives. Two analytic frames were adopted in analysis of data,
these included; content analysis and theoretical reflection. The analysis considered language
texts, discursive strategies, socio-political and historical contexts. The analysis revealed that
language, elements of power, history, beliefs and ideologies of partriarchy contribute to the
restoration and legitimization of hegemonic masculinities. It also revealed that male power
remains dominant in gender relations. The findings can be applied in an investigation of other
praise poems of different communities for comparison purposes.
