Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales
This paper examines gender role messages conveyed in Cameroonian folktales. Folktales promote women's rivalry and mask men's culpability in oppressing women by setting the stage for their jealousy, enmity and competition. Attention is drawn away from men's wrong doing toward women by...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nordic Africa Research Network
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of African Studies |
| Online Access: | https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/8 |
| _version_ | 1797698520693604352 |
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| author | Susan Weinger Lotsmart Fonjong Charles Fonchingong Robert Allen |
| author_facet | Susan Weinger Lotsmart Fonjong Charles Fonchingong Robert Allen |
| author_sort | Susan Weinger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This paper examines gender role messages conveyed in Cameroonian folktales. Folktales promote women's rivalry and mask men's culpability in oppressing women by setting the stage for their jealousy, enmity and competition. Attention is drawn away from men's wrong doing toward women by depicting women as conniving evil doers who sometimes use men as pawns to implement their plots. The women are deserving of punishment while men go free from any penalty. Dichotomous representations of women encourage women's rivalry and subordination to men. These repeated teachings convey that women are dangerous and that 'good women' embody all those characteristics that exalt and benefit men. Rivalry between women is augmented by men's comparisons between the 'good woman' and 'bad woman.' If women want to survive in a man's world, the message is unambiguous - be a 'good woman' by exemplifying absolute submissiveness and staying removed and disunited from their sisters.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:55:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0189585ac0ad48629311a96eebbd84b7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1459-9465 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:55:34Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Nordic Africa Research Network |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of African Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-0189585ac0ad48629311a96eebbd84b72023-09-03T11:54:47ZengNordic Africa Research NetworkNordic Journal of African Studies1459-94652018-08-0115110.53228/njas.v15i1.8Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian FolktalesSusan WeingerLotsmart FonjongCharles FonchingongRobert Allen This paper examines gender role messages conveyed in Cameroonian folktales. Folktales promote women's rivalry and mask men's culpability in oppressing women by setting the stage for their jealousy, enmity and competition. Attention is drawn away from men's wrong doing toward women by depicting women as conniving evil doers who sometimes use men as pawns to implement their plots. The women are deserving of punishment while men go free from any penalty. Dichotomous representations of women encourage women's rivalry and subordination to men. These repeated teachings convey that women are dangerous and that 'good women' embody all those characteristics that exalt and benefit men. Rivalry between women is augmented by men's comparisons between the 'good woman' and 'bad woman.' If women want to survive in a man's world, the message is unambiguous - be a 'good woman' by exemplifying absolute submissiveness and staying removed and disunited from their sisters. https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/8 |
| spellingShingle | Susan Weinger Lotsmart Fonjong Charles Fonchingong Robert Allen Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales Nordic Journal of African Studies |
| title | Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales |
| title_full | Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales |
| title_fullStr | Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales |
| title_short | Unmasking Women’s Rivalry in Cameroonian Folktales |
| title_sort | unmasking women s rivalry in cameroonian folktales |
| url | https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT susanweinger unmaskingwomensrivalryincameroonianfolktales AT lotsmartfonjong unmaskingwomensrivalryincameroonianfolktales AT charlesfonchingong unmaskingwomensrivalryincameroonianfolktales AT robertallen unmaskingwomensrivalryincameroonianfolktales |