The portrayal of womanhood in Tanzanian varieties of popular music lyrics: a critical Language study of Mipasho Taarab and Bongo Flava lyrics

This dissertation presents a study that critically examined the portrayal of womanhood in two Tanzanian varieties of popular music called Mipasho Taarab and Bongo Flava. The discussion centers on how such portrayal reflects on the extent to which existing dominant gender relations are contested or confirmed. It also examines the extent to which the language of the Mipasho Taarab and the Bongo Flava lyrics indicate that there has been change in gender relations since the beginning of the struggle for women emancipation in Tanzania in the early 1990’s.The lyrics were analyzed by using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a method modified by Fairclough (1989). The study reveals that Mipasho Taarab lyrics do, to at large extent, tend to legitimize the existing gender relations while Bongo Flava lyrics do, only to at a small extent, tent to boost up the legitimacy of existing relations while tending to a large extent to contest existing gender relations. The study also reveals that there are women whose language use would seem to suggest that they accept the stereotypical roles assigned to them by the dominant ideology while there are also women whose language use tends to suggest that they reject the stereotypical roles assigned to them.