A Critical Analysis of Patriarchy and Masculinity in Kezilahabi's Rosa Mistika and Kichwamaji

Abstract

This thesis is titled: "A Critical Analysis of Patriarchy and Masculinity in Kezilahabi's Rosa Mistika and Kichwamaji", The hypothesis of the study is that the novels' main characters are best understood as victims of the ideologies of patriarchy and masculinity. It is noted that although the themes of patriarchy and masculinity pervade the two novels, Kiswahili literary critics have yet to link them to the tragedies of the main characters. This constitutes a critical gap in the overall appreciation of Euphrase Kezilahabi's novels - a gap that this study fills. A poststructuralist theoretical approach has been adopted for the study. Also known as deconstruction, the theory questions the view that meaning is fixed, and affirms the role of the reader in assigning meaning to texts. The study interrogates structuralist theories that have dominated past critiques of Kezilahabi' s novels, and which uphold traditional definitions of manhood and womanhood. The thesis explores the link between literature and social issues in light of emerging concerns for male responsibility in tackling gender problems.

Rosa Mistika (RM) and Kichwamaji (KM) are classic examples of how traditional manhood and womanhood enslave both men and women. In the novels, men like Zakaria (RM) and Kabenga (KM) beat their wives to assert their authority. Wives like Regina (RM), stay in abusive unions because their social status is hinged upon marriage. The main characters Rosa Mistika and Kazimoto (KM) commit suicide when they fail to measure up to social prescriptions of manhood or womanhood -like bearing sons to perpetuate their clans or getting husbands. While both men and women greatly value the institution of marriage, the novels show that women are more desperate to get husbands, although they have no say on who and when to get married. And, while men seek to marry virgins, they are driven by the ideology of masculinity to indulge in premarital sex, which undermines girls' virginity and lessens their chances of marriage. It is ironical that in spite of their apparent licence to indulge in liberal sex, men suffer just as much as women for their sexual excesses. Kazimoto commits suicide when he contracts an incurable disease that undermines his progeny. The novels show violence against women to be driven by deep-seated fears of failure to measure up to cultural prescriptions of manhood - like bearing sons as shown in the case of Zakaria.

The thesis finds that men's and women's fates are inextricably linked, and that they are both victims of an ideological value system that defin'es who they should be and how they should relate to each other. The system privileges men, sanctions violence against women, devalues unmarried and barren women as well as families without sons. It is a system that denigrates daughters and upholds negative masculinities, which drive men to reckless sex, including rape, which ultimately undermines the very foundation of the patriarchal order. The thesis reaffirms the literary critic's role in pointing out social anomalies, proposes a value system that recognises difference, upholds the dignity of men and women alike, and underlines the role of the men in ending gender violence and promoting social justice