Amjad Alsyouf, Hegemonic in Archetypal African Novels

INFORMASI: Kajian Ilmu Komunikasi-ISSN (p) 0126-0650; ISSN (e) 2502-3837 Vol. 48. No. 2 (2018). Pp.169-179. doi: https://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v48i2.21657

HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY IN ARCHETYPAL AFRICAN NOVELS

Amjad Alsyouf [email protected] Ajloun University College Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan.

Abstract The study attempts to examine the concept of in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North (1966) and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958). To achieve that it deals with two concerns. First, it tackles the process of development of masculinity attempting to identify hegemonic masculinity among other stages within this process. Secondly, it investigates hegemonic masculinity as a concept occasionally occurs in popular African fiction with emphasis placed on its presence in Salih’s Season of Migration to the North and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The research concludes with a recommendation to focus more research efforts on literature that deals with , the stage succeeding hegemonic masculinity, as it needs immediate consideration due to its critical impact on contemporary world and audience.

Keywords: Hegemonic Masculinity, Season of Migration to the North, Things Fall Apart.

HEGEMONI MASKULINITAS DALAM NOVEL-NOVEL ARCHETYPAL AFRICAN

Abstrak Penelitian yang bertujuan untuk mengkaji konsep mengenai hegemoni maskulinitas di Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to The North (1996) dan Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) ini berfokus pada dua hal. Pertama, mengkaji proses perkembangan maskulinitas untuk mengidentifikasi hegemoni maskulinitas. Kedua, menginvestigasi hegemoni maskulinitas sebagai sebuah konsep yang selalu muncul dalam karya- karya fiksi afrika dengan penekanan pada Salih’s Season of Migration to The North and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Penelitian ini memberikan simpulan dan rekomendasi pada fokus penelitian selanjutnya yang berkaitan dengan hipermaskulinitas, seperti suksesnya hegemoni maskulinitas yang perlu dipertimbangkan penelitiannya karena dampak yang kritis dari dunia dan audiens saat ini.

Kata Kunci: Hegemoni Maskulinitas, Season of Migration to the North, Things Fall Apart.

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who often suffer silently and sorely. The INTRODUCTION males’ pursuit of domination is frequently achieved through violent actions. The The reception of Africa as mysterious and they practice is either physical, as savage continued until the nineteenth century portrayed in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, when Europe beheld it as a dark continent. or sexual as reflected in the speeches and Its interior was unjustifiably predicted as actions of certain male characters in Season murky, obscure, and dangerous; its inhabit­ of Migration to the North. ants were characterized by otherness and inferiority. Those negative notions have long The authors’ parallel thematic orien­ affected the world’s perception of Africa tation is demonstrated in the image of the and its people, and influenced the literature subordinate African female who the novels written to depict its life. Different works of introduce as persecuted and reluctantly fiction, as some of Joseph Conrad’s and J. absent. The subordination and exclusion M. Coetzee’s narratives, have portrayed the imposed on women occasionally trigger African life as savage, harsh, aimless, and particular reaction. The feminine reaction frequently connected with gender however is not identical in the two novels. and patriarchal dominancy. The African The pervasiveness of the masculine powers novelists, in like manner, have reflected a and dominance in Season of Migration to the parallel gloomy view of their continent in North provokes particular female characters their writings. Two major examples in this to make hard attempts, even drastic ones, respect are Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to resist male’s dominancy. The feminine to the North (1966) and Chinua Achebe’s resisting reaction stimulated to challenge the Things Fall Apart (1958). masculine dominating practices in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is however peaceful and The treatment of the African life in nonconfrontational. Salih’s and Achebe’s novels, particularly their presentation of the African people and the Both Salih and Achebe were influenced male/female relationships, is determined by the western thought and literature that by the authors’ analogous celebration of the formed part of their artistic and literary patriarchal authority in the Sudanese and Igbo consciousness. Salih “was well-versed in societies respectively, the identical themes English literature and thought,” and his they address in the novels, and the influence novel Season of Migration to the North western thought and literature exerts on the reflects the influence of Fanon and Freud on writings of the two novelists. These factors his perceptions and writings (Viene 2017). play a fundamental role in determining “Achebe was influenced by several factors the gender roles and relationships in the such as the Western literary tradition, traditi­ novels, and locate the African fiction within onal African stories, Western education and an increasing universal writing trend of Christianity…” (Bamisile 2008, 255). Wes­ hegemonic masculinity. tern literature and thought have become dis­ tinguishing features the two novels reflect Salih and Achebe interestingly share as they have major impact on their writers. comparable fictional presentation of the These features have supposedly helped the male/female relationships manifested in works to be well-received by the western their creation of superordinate male charac­ audiences and have placed them among the ters whose dominating powers nourish the major works of fiction introduced in the suppression and exclusion of the subordinate modern era. female ones. The fictitious superordinate males passionately accept the privilege of Against this background this paper aims mascu­line supremacy bestowed upon them to examine the presentations of aspects of as it arouses their confidence and delight masculinity and femininity in Salih’s Season to the detriment of the suppressed females of Migration to the North and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart with an attempt to define

170 Amjad Alsyouf, Hegemonic Masculinity in Archetypal African Novels the gender roles in the novels. This will be hence a comprehensible understanding of achieved through placing particular emphasis the concept is potentially developed. on the concept and practices of hegemonic One way to understand masculinity is masculinity as metaphorically displayed by through the examination of its progress. the two novelists who are considered major It has practically gone through four stages African literary voices. The paper will make of development in literature. The first use of the cultural perspective in its efforts and earliest stage is masculinism where to explain, and broaden the examination of, a dominant male figure/s often plays an the concept of hegemonic masculinity by essential role in the development of the tracing its emergence and development, thus plot through exercising supreme masculine determining its position as subsequent to powers over other characters. Ferrell masculinism and masculism, and precedent Christensen (2005) defines masculinism as to hypermasculinity. the promotion of the attributes of manliness (in Honderich, 2005, 528). Different authors LITERATURE REVIEW have shown inclinations to this central-hero pattern from early periods of the history of From Masculinism to Hypermasculinity literature. Old English literature is a case in Cultural history offers adequate support point. Beowulf is a perfectly masculine world for the research efforts sought to identify the that ignores the role of women as social nature and development of masculinity in beings in a society structured on the belief literature. The examination of the progress in the heroic attributes of its male warriors of world thoughts and cultures manifests whose action is the only determiner of the the universalness of the treatment of aspects progress of events. Unlike their role in later of masculinity. Certain cultural historians literature, women at this stage do not need argue about the inevitability of its occurrence to engage in a perpetual encounter with men in humans’ thoughts and actions. Cultural as a way to experience the negative effects historian Richard Tarnas (1996) places of masculinity on them; the fate of women, emphasis on the pervasiveness of the powers men, and even of the world at this phase is of masculinity and its impact on the western entirely determined by the masculine hero. thought. We read in his book The Passion The second stage is masculism. of the Western Mind that “the masculinity Christensen (2005) defines masculism as of the Western mind has been pervasive “promoting­ the interests or rights of men” and fundamental, in both men and women, (2005, 528). This stage is a transformation affecting every aspect of Western thought, of the previous one, and has contributed determining its most basic conception of to later periods of literary production. The the human being and the human role in the powers that determine the role of males world” (Tarnas 1996, 441). So far as Tarnas’s and females in the society at this stage view is concerned, masculinity is perceived as are nourished by a masculine tendency to a prevailing hard-to-localize power. It stresses promote the importance of the presence of the need for a universal examination of its men and negligence of women in the public applications and effects. Tarnas highlights the sphere. In her argument over the gender roles strong influence masculinity has over human in seventeenth-century England, Gabriele thoughts and actions disregarding gender or Rippl (2011) states that location. His argument calls for an analytical investigation of the nature, background, and It is clear that seventeenth-century progress of the concept. English literature can England fostered gender roles that function as a threshold in this context due to were linked to two complementary but separate emerging spheres: the public the universality it enjoys. Its body contains and the private. The public sphere the necessary knowledge needed to identify belonged mainly, but not exclusively, early stages of masculinity in literature; to men, whereas the private sphere,

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the space of the home, of childbearing masculinity is “widely used in South African and simple piety, was considered to be gender research” (12). Masculinity has feminine preserve. (Rippl 2011, 71) explicitly developed and travelled in the Rippl’s view places the British women of twentieth century to localize in African the seventeenth century, most probably those literature after proving former presence in who are not aristocrats, within a limited, or other certain cultures. even hidden, domestic sphere of household Jeff Hearn (2004) has also investigated and childbearing on the one hand. On the the concept of hegemonic masculinity. other hand it stresses the strong public He offers a comprehensive examination presence and freedom seventeenth-century of masculinity and its treatment within men enjoy compared to women. The role the field of critical studies on men. Hearn of the male at this stage has changed from distinguishes different modes of men’s power determining the fate of his world to publicly in the process of analyzing gendered power disclosing his interests and likes, a privilege and men’s relations to power and dominance; of which women are deprived. nevertheless he has not clearly displayed the The exclusion of women and prominence chorological development of those modes or of men in the public sphere has continued their sequential presence in early and later to nineteenth-century England. Alfred, literature. We read in his work Lord Tennyson’s narrative verse “The lady of What is at issue here is the persistent Shallot” is a significant representation of the presence of accumulations of power concept of masculism in this context. The and powerful resources by certain men, work is centered around the Lady of Shallot the doing of power and dominance in who is not permitted to enjoy or even have many men’s practices, and the pervasive a look at the external public world where association of the social category of men men and aristocrats spend merry times. with power. Men’s power and dominance Tennyson’s fictitious work reflects a realistic can be structural and interpersonal, view of the Victorian age, and introduces public and/or private, accepted and the reader to a late example of masculism in taken-for-granted and/or recognized and resisted, obvious or subtle. It also literature. includes violations and of all Hegemonic Masculinity occupies the the various kinds. (Hearn 2004, 51) third stage of the development of the appli­ ca­tions and practices of masculinity. Several Hearn’s classification of the modes of attempts have been pursued by different men’s power and dominance corresponds scholars to examine and identify this concept. to the three stages of the development of Robert Morrell, Jewkes, and Lindegger (2012) masculinity already treated in this research, in “Hegemonic Masculinity/ where masculinism is reflected through in : Culture, Power, and Gender the structural and interpersonal modes of Politics,” define hegemonic masculinity in power and masculism through the public. academic work as the concern with “acknow­ Hegemonic masculinity in this context is ledging the power that men had over relevant to all the modes proposed in Hearn’s women” (Morrell, Jewkes, and Lindegger study. 2012, 11). They highlight its association with Hearn’s modes of men’s power and “oppressive attitudes and practices” (2012, 11). dominance have become misleadingly prac­ At this stage of literary production the male ticed and illusively re-presented in late dominating characters are no more content twentieth and twenty-first centuries’ writings. with having their attributes and interests A new stage of the development of masculinity promoted, but tend to exercise effective has been sought then, especially with the hegemonic practices over females as a way emergence of Hypermasculinity. Ronald O. of im/proving masculinity. Morrell, Jewkes, Craig (2009) defines hypermasculinity as “an and Lindegger (2012) add that hegemonic adoption of extreme in males” (in

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Gabbidon, and Greene 2009, 366). The new pro­cesses of gendered identities within principal authority governing all modes of the West/non-West context in tandem power and the men really practicing them, with EU’s competing notions of security. and those charged of abusing them, at this (Bilgic 2015, 1) stage has come to be the media and particular The reconstruction of gendered iden­ fictional works. They have occasionally tities within the West/non-West context has played a misinforming role where the for its main objectives reconstructing the distribution and localization of men’s power world-view of the non-Western ordinary and dominance in the world has been blurred to be rather received as hypermasculinized, and confusing to determine. Literature and characterized by terrorist behavior and media, consequently, have manipulated the practices. Contemporary fiction about belief in hypermasculinity by reconsidering terrorism is a clear manifestation of this the powers certain men display as devastating conception,­ and a practical example of and terrifying. The discourse they create hypermasculinity – the contemporary phase unjustifiably and suspiciously re-presents of masculinity. the hypermasculine powers as exploited by particular groups around the world for goals serving certain agendas. METHODS In “Criminal Justice Implications of The paper focuses on the presentation the Macho Personality Constellation” Matt of the male/female relationships, roles C. Zaitchik, and Mosher (1993) argue that and place in the narration of the novels. hypermasculinity is associated with the Their speeches, silences and actions will be macho personality construct that “consists examined with reference to the concept of of the view of violence as manly, the view hegemonic masculinity that will be culturally of danger as exciting, callous sexuality approached and investigated. The paper toward women, and toughness as self- therefore makes use of the cultural studies so control” (Zaitchik, and Mosher 1993, 227). as to clearly define the concept of hegemonic These aspects have been manipulated by masculinity. It will identify the different world media and literature either to focus stages of its development, and determine its on the hypermasculinity of certain targeted position among other relevant notions. After groups apart from its existence in others, the concept of hegemonic masculinity is well or to attribute them to particular races or studied and defined, the paper will deal with organizations for national or international the novels by examining their contextual security purposes. This notion has been treatment and involvement of hegemonic the subject of A. Bilgic’s (2005) “Hybrid masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity of the EU before and after the Arab Spring: A Gender Analysis of Euro-Mediterranean Security Relations” in RESULTS AND DISCUSSION which he writes Hegemonic Masculinity in Season of Migration to the North and Things Fall After the Arab Spring, the EU [European Apart Union] has been determined to maintain the status quo by re-constructing these In the process of its development formerly gendered power relations [between the investigated, masculinity has changed and hybrid hegemonic masculinity of the travelled in the twentieth century to localize EU (bourgeois-rational and citizen- in African literature. Modern African fiction warrior) and the subordinate (both has substantially contributed to the emer­ feminized and hypermasculinized) gence and identification of hegemonic Southern neighborhood]. This gender masculinity. Salih’s Season of Migration to analysis contributes to the literature on Euro-Mediterranean relations through the North and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart its specific focus on the (re)construction represent two examples of fictional works 173 INFORMASI Kajian Ilmu Komunikasi Volume 48. Nomor 2. Desember 2018 that demonstrate hegemonic masculine narrator adds that he often recounts “to tendencies through highlighting the pervasive people the details of his intimacies” with presence of superordinate male characters in his wives (1976, 79). Building on his speech the African literary body. Hearn’s modes of and attitudes, marriage for Wad Rayyes is power and dominance are practiced by the by no means sought for domesticity, but hegemonic masculine characters of Salih’s rather a way to please his sexual desires and a and Achebe’s works, particularly the two revelation of his love for hegemony. major characters Wad Rayyes and Okonkwo Wad Rayyes furthermore deals with who, respectively, embody the concept of marriage as a manifestation of a firm belief in hegemonic masculinity in the novels. the worth of hegemonic masculinity. A proof The hegemonic tools used in Salih’s and is found in his insistence on marrying Hosna Achebe’s novels vary between the exercise of Bint Mahmoud, the representation of the sexual, or of physical violence over female rebellious-victimized female in the novel, characters. is a determining who turns his proposal down. Wad Rayyes element that controls the thoughts and comments on her refusal actions of male characters in Salih’s Season ‘I shall marry no one but her,’ he said. of Migration to the North, while physical ‘She’ll accept me whether she likes or violence is a dominating power characterizing not. Does she imagine she’s some queen certain male characters in Achebe’s Things or princess? Widows in this village are Fall Apart. These hegemonic tools are the more common than empty bellies. She subject of the argument of the cultural critic should thank God she’s found a husband Friedrich Nietzsche (1969). In his book Thus like me. (97) Spake Zarathustra Nietzsche comments on the arguing that “man shall be trained for war, and woman for the recreation He consequently represents a fanatic of the warrior” (Nietzsche 1969, 52). patriarchal society impatient to women’s Although his view could be an articulation self-reliance. His attitudes show gendered of a particular situation, still it is valid to discrimi­nation, desire for domination, determine the of man and woman oppressiveness, and hegemonic tendencies. in world literature as it is widely adopted in While the Sudanese woman in Salih’s literary works including Salih’s and Achebe’s novel is a victim of masculine sexual desires, novels. The character of Okonkwo in Things the Igbo woman in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Fall Apart is a reflection of the Nietzschean suffers of a patriarchal physical violence. oppressive warrior, whereas Salih’s Wad Chimalum Nwankwo (2001) argues that “the Rayyes is more satisfied with the delight nature of the crisis in society determines the brought by the Nietzschean woman. character of representation. In the case of Wad Rayyes is a controversial character the traditional Igbo society, the concept of that conceivably stands for the concept of power and the modes of power are essential” hegemonic masculinity in Salih’s Season (Nwankwo 2001, 82). Nwankwo’s argument of Migration to the North. The reader can recalls Hearn’s modes of power that are recognize in this aged man a seeker of embodied in the character of Ukonkwo, the sexual pleasure. The narrator comments protagonist of Things Fall Apart and the on his demeanor telling that he “had been representative of the concept of patriarchal much married and much divorced, taking authority in the Igbo society. Like Wad no heed of anything in a woman except that Rayyes, he is an obvious articulation of the she was woman, taking them as they came, concept of hegemonic masculinity and and if asked about it replying, ‘A stallion suppression of femininity. His character plays isn’t finicky’” (Salih 1976, 79). Wad Rayyes’s the most essential role in the development of statement signifies his obsession with the the plot through the tendencies he reveals for subordination and wielding of women. The subordination of females, and even of males

174 Amjad Alsyouf, Hegemonic Masculinity in Archetypal African Novels who show feminine inclinations. and silenced in Things Fall Apart” (in Ukonkwo’s hegemonic violent desires Whittaker, and Msiska 2007, 104). Women appear early in the novel, and early in his life. do not enjoy significant involvement in the He has brought honor to his village when he cultural, political or social aspects of the life was young by beating “Amalinze the Cat” in of the novel. They are even forbidden from a wrestling contest. This incident on the one contributing to activities regarded as their hand demonstrates Ukonkwo’s possession of personal concern. Rose Ure Mezu (n.d.) violent powers. On the other hand the use of draws attention to the misery of the absent the name “Cat” is not incidental; it is a clear African female in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. symbol of femininity. The fighting scene We read in her work therefore is an implication of Ukonkwo’s It is an andocentric world where the man early and serious attempts to subordinate is everything and the woman nothing… femininity in the novel’s world. African women languished on the fringe Ukonkwo’s attitudes in the novel also of their universe– neglected, exploited, reveal a misogynist character. He is presented degenerated, and indeed made to feel in different places beating his wives “heavily” like outsiders. They were not invited for trivial causes. He believes that violence to stay when men were engaged in any and oppressiveness are an expression of discussion… (Mezu, n.d.) masculinity, and feelings of sympathy are The trial scene is evident in this regard. signs of weakness and femininity, and even The novel narrates “It was clear from the way a source of dishonor. He could hurt himself the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony as a retribution for allowing any feminine was for men. There were many women, but attributes to steal into his thought. The they looked on from the fringe like outsiders” scene of killing Ikemefuna in this respect (Achebe 2008, 62). The scene metaphorically is an obvious manifestation of his belief in illustrates the formation of the structure of the value of hegemonic masculinity, and power in the society where the women play a rejection and hatred for femininity. Debbie very insignificant role. O’Neill (n.d.) states that The picture of the women forced to Behind his (Okonkwo’s) facade of hide from the world of Things Fall Apart confidence in his male resolve he is mirrored in Season of Migration to the is profoundly uncomfortable in the North. The narrator of Salih’s novel doesn’t presence of femininity... Ikemefuna’s wait for long to inform the reader that the obvious artistic abilities and lively world of the novel is entirely masculine. He temperament would only exist for a claims the superiority of men right from time before Okonkwo would be forced to the first line where he addresses his speech repress them for fear of them becoming specifically to them; “It was, gentlemen, womanly. (O’Neill, n.d.) after a long absence…” (Salih 1976, 1). The In this context, the ritualistic event of narrator re-emphasizes the masculinity of killing Ikemefuna in the novel is perceived as the novel’s world once again when he later an allegorical extermination of femininity in claims men as his sole audience calling them favor of the rise of the patriarchal authority, “dear sirs.” The novel’s dominating character thus a metaphorical triumph of hegemonic Wad Rayyes also helps the narrator in his masculinity. efforts to establish a masculine hegemonic The attempt to terminate the feminine world that positions women on the margins presence in Achebe’s novel is also promoted of power. In his commentary on the issues of by employing metaphors of female absence. the village Wad Rayyes brags “in this village Florence Stratton (2007) pinpoints that the men are guardians of the women” (1976, “women are largely absent from positions 98), a statement Mahjoub, a friend of the of power and are consistently marginalized narrator, clarifies saying “you know how life is run here… women belong to men”

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(99). The men of the novel enjoy a game of Rebellious Femininity power monopolization aiming to construct a On the ground that African women in hegemonic patriarchal world. Season of Migration to the North and Things In “Sexual Politics: Women in Season of Fall Apart are victims of the suppressive Migration to the North” Evelyn Accad (1985) practices of hegemonic masculinity, they stresses the patriarchal nature of Salih’s novel occasionally show resisting reaction. The stating that “women remain the real victims feminine resistance in the novels is often of… games of power and seduction” (Accad peaceful. John Wakota (2014) distinguishes 1985, 55). The terminology the narrator two categories of reaction the African rebel employs to describe women in this context is female produces in fiction works to resist significant in nourishing notions of absence male dominancy: and subordination. Women are introduced in the novel as objects that “belong” to men, The first category is manifested “servants” of them, and incapable of making through female characters’ running decisions on their own. They are even forced away from oppressive situations… The second category has characters that, to do what the male characters exactly desire, as a way of bargaining, ply between though reluctantly, such as the case when submis­siveness and rebelliousness and Hosna Bint Mahmoud is forced to marry eventually graduate in one of the two Wad Rayyes. groups. According to the advocates Like Salih’s Season of Migration to the of the bargaining approach reviewed North, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart nourishes above, submissiveness or rebelliousness notions of negligence, degradation, and is a matter of choice by the character, dehuma­nization of women in favor of provided it is part of their self-realization hegemonic masculinity. Females in the project. (Wakota 2014, 34) novel are bought and sold to marriage. In However, the observer of Salih’s Season one incident a marriage proposal turns to of Migration to the North would identify a a commercial bargain. A suitor proposes third category where women’s rebelliousness to marry Akueke, the beautiful daughter often becomes self-destructive. of Okonkwo’s best friend Obierika. While The mentality of men who belong Obierika and his eldest brother Machi to patriarchal societies is drastically negotiate Akueke’s bride-price, it turns to a unchangeable. This calls some women to bargain in which Machi claims they do not drive the wheel of change and construct a want “to go below thirty” (Achebe 2008, 51). struggle for self-realization. The African He adds “but as the dog said, ‘if I fall down women the novels present seek a rational for you and you fall down for me, it is a play’” process of change that aims at saving the day (Achebe, 2008). The bargain goes on to be and preserving the family. Nevertheless, the finally settled at “20 bags of cowries” (2008, absence of the familial structure would not 51). He acts as a trader exposing cheap goods help women to steer clear of violence. The to sell. Machi insists again that “marriage family therefore is a stabilizing force in the should be a play” (51). After the deal is done, novels. This point is clear when the character women of the household come to serve of Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s wife in Things Fall drink and food. The scene brings dishonor Apart, is compared to Hosna Bint Mahmoud, and humiliation to women, and reflects the the widow who turns down Wad Rayyes’s arrogance of men. Men negatively determine humiliating marriage proposal in Season of women’s fate; in the meantime women just Migration to the North. While Ekwefi works say nothing to contribute to theirs, and hard to save her family bonds, Hosna would are content to serve and please men. This pay no attention to the consequences of a scene is crucial in solidifying the powers of possible radical reaction against Wad Rayyes hegemonic masculinity. who is in no means a significant person in her life.

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Hosna is a free woman who believes in and integrity, and the wind of change that marriage as a stabilizing bond based on love seeks to uproot the patriarchal hegemonic and domesticity. She refuses to become a conventions. Wail S. Hassan (2003) points victim of Wad Rayyes’s manly hegemonic out that: desires. Mahjoub portrays his behavior in Hosna dares the unthinkable—and, an interesting manner: “Wad Rayyes will for the villagers, the unspeakable. certainly become obsessed with some other Her retaliation against the abuses of woman. Let’s suppose, at the very worst, —her and killing she marries him; I don’t think he’ll live of Wad Rayyes, who represents the more than a year” (Salih 1976, 103). Hosna, worst aspects of traditional culture— a revolutionary figure committed to her is payback in kind for her own genital cause as a woman and as a human being in mutilation, which until then had been the first place, symbolically kills him and the subject of casual remarks and jokes then herself in a rebellious manner. Her for the village patriarchs, though a rebellion is aggressive and fatal, and brings taboo subject in Arabic literature and disaster to her life. The violence she displays, in public discourse generally. (Hassan however, essentially targets the social tenets 2003, 87) of patriarchy rather than the man as a flesh. A confirmation of the feminine rejection It aims at reestablishing the foundations of of the hegemonic masculine tradition in the gender roles and relations in her society. novel in this regard is articulated through Although homicide and suicide are Bint Majzoub, Wad Rayyes’s elder wife, who irrational and self-destructive, they are shows no affections for his death. metaphorically reasonable in the context of Ekwefi, just like the other African women, the novel. Mona Takieddine-Amyuni (1985) does not take part openly in the public affairs. depicts Hosna as a representation of the Her disposition is often tranquil and peaceful. positive change of the place of woman in Nevertheless Nnaemeka portrays her as a the patriarchal societies after long time of distinct example of a female’s rebelliousness suppression and subordination. She argues in African literature (Nnaemeka 1995, 92). In that: times of adversity she would spare no efforts Hosna is the precursor of the future to overcome the bottleneck. Chimalum woman of the Sudan, for she is not allowed to Nwankwo (2001) argues that “when the live her present, to live her life. She is treated traditional Igbo woman decides to act, she as an indecent, mad, citified woman by a acts” (Nwankwo 2001, 82). Ekwefi in this conservative male society that condones Wad context develops a reaction relevant to the Rayyes’s senile demands over her. (Amyuni life situation she encounters. E. N. Njaka 1985, 35) (2001) comments on the behavior of the Igbo Jalāl El-’Ashrī (1981), in the same vein, women stating that they “must not sit quietly treats the character of Hosna as a symbol when the Constitution is violated and the land of the new civilized world that refuses the goes ablaze” (in Nwankwo 2001, 82). Perils negative hegemonic masculine practices. motivate the African woman’s intervention, Hosna kills Wad Rayyes thus as a revolt a behavior perceived as rebellious by the against all outdated traditions of patriarchal African Igbo society. Compared to Hosna hegemony in modern societies (El-’Ashrī however, Ekwefi’s rebellion is different. She 1981, 165). reacts with relevant violence only in cases of defending her family and saving their lives. From one point of view, Hosna is a representation of the anxious African The loss of Ekwefi’s daughter Ezinma female who bears the burden of hegemonic is a case in point. Ekwefi reveals a feminine masculinity and finds herself obliged to reaction that is not specifically rebellious fight against its forces. From another point to hegemonic masculinity, but alert to the of view she is the feminine voice of freedom endangering situations threatening her

177 INFORMASI Kajian Ilmu Komunikasi Volume 48. Nomor 2. Desember 2018 family. She decides to follow Chielo the on post-hegemonic masculinity, earlier goddess who has taken her daughter away, called hypermasculinity, as it has become an though violating the will of her husband influential power in the recent times. and the local gods, only to save the life of Hegemonic masculinity needed parti­ Ezinma. This incident does not only prove cular consideration at a certain period of time, the incredibleness of Okonkwo’s perception specifically before the recent insanities of the of femininity as weak and untrustworthy, 21st century world. It has exerted influence but also demonstrates the feminine over specified societies and females groups, qualities repressed by powers of hegemonic whilst entire countries currently suffer under masculinity; qualities that women can the yoke of hypermasculinity. The practices employ in times of distress and dangers for and texts reflecting hypermasculinity have the good of the family and the society. developed an emergent need for immediate consideration as they critically affect the CONCLUSION present world contrasted to aspects of hege­monic masculinity which impact is Hegemonic masculinity is a stage of a limited nowadays. Focusing more research developing process of a universal masculinity. on hypermasculinity has been therefore Scholarship dealing with it can assist the necessary to help the scholars and populace to research efforts to better recognize male/ develop improved perspectives of life aiming female relationships with the goal of solving to make it possible in a hypermasculine gender debate issues. Nonetheless aspects tyrannous universe. of hegemonic masculinity are essentially centered in the African world so far as REFERENCES the twentieth century novel is concerned. Accad, Evelyn. (1985). “Sexual Politics: therefore need to develop a Women in Season of Migration to the comprehensive view based on the fact of the North”. In M. T. Amyuni (Ed.) Season of perpetual change and progress of masculinity Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih: A that has been adopting new phases over Casebook, edited by Mona Takieddine time. Perhaps the need of a particular age Amyuni, Beirut: American University for research on masculinity is determined of Beirut. by its peculiar aspects basically reflected in Achebe, Chinua. (2008). Things Fall Apart, the works of its contemporary writers. Those Nairobi: East African Educational works are verbal manifestations reflecting the Publishers Ltd. necessity to treat new phases of masculinity so as to deal with critical questions related to Bamisile, Sunday Adetunji. (2008). “Socio- the age. Cultural Commitment in Things Masculinity is a growing system not Fall Apart”, Africana Studia: Revista restricted to hegemonic masculinity which Internacional de Estudos Africanos, is but one tile in the mosaic structure Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 247-264. of masculine practices reflected in life, Bilgic, Ali. (2015). “Hybrid Hegemonic literature and other writings. Masculinity has Masculinity of the EU before and after been probably adopting more devastating the Arab Spring: A Gender Analysis tools as it advances in time and geography. of Euro-Mediterranean Security When comparing the recent irrational Relations”, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. hegemonic practices that belong to times 20, No. 3, pp. 322-341. of post-hegemonic masculinity to aspects of Hassan, Wail S. (2003). Tayeb Salih: Ideology twentieth century hegemonic masculinity & the Craft of Fiction. New York: as gender roles and patriarchal practices Syracuse University Press. we conclude that it is crucial to call for concentrating appropriate research efforts Honderich, Ted. (2005). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford:

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