Examining the influence of gender constructs in the search for identities in Elieshi Lema’sin the belly of Dar es Salaam.
| dc.contributor.author | Mgaya, Bilenjo | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-08-31T12:35:06Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-08-31T12:35:06Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
| dc.description | Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | This study examines the influence of gender constructs in the search for identities in Elieshi Lema’s novel, In the Belly of Dar es Salaam. Feminism addresses politics of gender constructs while psychoanalysis scrutinizes the question of identity. The study centers on the characterization of young boys and girls as they mature into adulthood. In the quest for realizing who they truly are, most of these characters are early detached from family ties and parental care. Childhood, being an initial stage from which formation of identity begins, is argued in this study to be predisposed to gender socializations which affect individuals’ identities. The study finds that gender constructs, embedded in patriarchal ideology, are portrayed to be unevenly influential to characters’ search for identities. It is also observed that, while female characters are conditioned by the ideology to succumb to numerous manifestations of objectification meant to justify their instilled dejection and dependence upon men, male characters are encouraged by the same ideology to be ambitious and dominant. This tendency is consequential to utilization of female characters’ potentials and so influential to perceptions of their own selves. The study discloses inconsistencies and frustrations resulting from the fallacy of this ideology regarding male characters as its perpetrators and beneficiaries. Patriarchy is challenged for ignoring diversities among male characters as some of them are controlled by others the same way they holistically exert their supremacy over female characters. The inevitable imbalance between sexes enhances gender gap whose filling becomes a necessity. Economic independence, unity, and emancipation of the female gender are considered as indicators for the hope to fill the existing gap and achieve desirable identities. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Mgaya, B. (2018). Examining the influence of gender constructs in the search for identities in Elieshi Lema’sin the belly of Dar es Salaam. Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://41.86.178.5:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/13473 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | University of Dar es Salaam | en_US |
| dc.subject | Elieshi Lema’s novel | en_US |
| dc.subject | Politics of gender | en_US |
| dc.subject | Gender constructs | en_US |
| dc.subject | Female gender | en_US |
| dc.title | Examining the influence of gender constructs in the search for identities in Elieshi Lema’sin the belly of Dar es Salaam. | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |