UCHANGANUZI WA UBABE-DUME KATIKA MAJIGAMBO (AMAIBAKO) YA ABAKURIA

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.