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Some Language Issues in the Study of Gender

By Obododimma Oha Some people may be wondering why language study or linguistics has to carry its trouble to the study of gender. This lecture answers the query briefly and outlines areas that a language study of gender may be interested in. *** One area that excites language scholars in their research is interruption in discourse, which involves imposition of power. It is claimed that men tend to interrupt women who have the floor and right to speak. See this material, for instance : https://time.com/5898144/men-interrupting-women/#:~:text=A%202014%20study%20from%20George,as%20opposed%20to%20another%20man . The issue is that this tendency is -- widespread and universal -- psychological -- attempts by men to signify that they are superior or more important -- common in spoken discourse but suggested also in other media -- seen at the workplace where competence is at play but also present in other contexts   --  etc. Obviously, this is a fertile area to do research. The r
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Mythification and Gender

By Obododimma Oha INTRODUCTION I would like us to look at some narratives (stories) in culture and what they have to do with gender. We know that people like stories and pay great attention to what the stories are saying. They may not know when the stories try to seduce them, unless they are critical. Moreover, these stories are told to shape our thinking about some issues. So, they affect our lives in a special way. Some stories, too, are by nature viewed as divine truths. So, they are viewed as not just stories. They may appear to be stories but are something more. Myths are special narratives in culture. In this lecture, we briefly examine what gender has to do with myths. Myths of Gender as Explanations of Authentic Perception : Myths are ancient ways of explaining how and why things are as they are. In other words, they are pseudo-scientific explanations which assume that their audiences cannot question their logic. But thinking in society advances and changes. That is
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Some Local Thinking about Femininity and Masculinity

By Obododimma Oha INTRODUCTION Some of us make the mistake of thinking that there are no local thoughts on gender. Every society has philosophies and has ways of articulating and using them. It is important to remember this and probe local articulations of issues we are exploring. The main excuse sometimes is that they are not written and cannot be easily found. But they can and can be expressed in material culture, proverbs, tales, etc. There are some local ideas of gender, such Molara Ogundipe-Leslie's STIWANism and Catherine Acholonu's "Motherism." We also have Chinweizu's * Anatomy  of Female Power, * which is a masculinist interpretation of gender. But these are seen here as strands of European ideas on gender. Our focus is what local African cultures say about gender. It is far from being a comprehensive account as there are many more. What is rather important is how they have been used in managing gender relations in our context. In this lecture, we
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Scholarly Understanding about Language _Culture

Introductory Remarks : We wish to discuss what some scholars think or have said about how language and culture generally affect the behavior of people to things. Unfortunately, these are mainly European thinkers again. They are going to dominate discourse on it. Sad. Does it mean thinkers elsewhere are asleep or have said nothing? Not so! We should note that these attitudes are everywhere and there are thinkers everywhere. The languages and cultures of all could in a peculiar way shape attitudes, which is one reason we should not think that our ways are everybody 's ways and we should study other contexts, too. Simone de Beauvoire Although this is not a lecture on Feminism, it is necessary to bring in Simone de Beauvoire here. In her work, * The Second Sex * , which was published in 1949, she critiques patriarchal cultures for inferiorizing women. Such a culture that regards maleness as superior tries to format citizens to think this way and to enshrine this prejudice in langu
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Introductory Lecture

Introduction In this lecture, the design is for us to be fairly aware of where we are going. We need to know what the course is all about, what is required of us, the concepts and issues that we will likely encounter, some trajectories of its research, etc. In other words, it involves unrolling the map of the course. It is important to study this map and to get ready. So, what is the course description Course Description : The course is described as follows: This course will emphasise the relationship between language and gender; linguistic markers of gender discourse ; gender sensitive expressions; sexist language ; feminine linguistics; overt linguistic and visual representation of women in discourse  and  culture. In other words, we are expected to   - be familiar with the key issues in the concepts of language, literature, and gender.    - examine the relationship between language, literature, and gender. Our main course emphasizes language and literature. We need to see how gender
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