\\
The Gender Dimension of Songs in
Maragoli Marriage Ceremonies /J
by
Jane
u.~wonya
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Arts in Literature,
Dept. of Literature
University of Nairobi
P.O. Box 30197
NAIROBI
September 1998
ABSTRACT
The marriage song in the Maragoli community has been the monopoly of women over the
years. There are various reasons why women playa central role in the marriage song.
In
the first instance, the culture requires a woman to leave her parents' home and join her
husband's
family when she gets married. The composers of the marriage song, being
themselves women,
artistically portray this cultural requirement
by highlighting
woman's fears, anxiety and insecurity at the prospect of going to the unknown.
the
These
feelings are revealed in the sad moods and gloomy atmosphere created in some of their
songs on an otherwise festive and happy occasion such as a wedding.
The women's reaction to the society's gender roles is another reason for their domination of .
the marriage song. They see the society's distribution of gender roles as oppressive to them
and since the very society has denied them a forum to air their views, they utilize the
marriage ceremony to raise gender issues. They use satire to bring out the futility of the
society's failure to revise its economic empowerment of the man.
Besides, in their clever use of paradox, the women highlight the complexities of life in
marriage relationships. This enables the propective bride to stop idealizing marriage and
come to grips with the realities of life. Morever, the women carefully choose to use a wide
range of words including foreign ones for aesthetic and cathartic effects. Through semantic
oddities and punning, women not only relieve the sad moods in the songs but they also
underline the continuity of feminine gender roles. The study therefore shows the extent to
which the marriage song in the Maragoli community subtley raises gender issues.
viii