NAME: OKEH, BENITA OLUCHUKWU

MATRIC NO.: 170102126

FACULTY: ARTS

DEPARTMENT: ENGLISH

PROGRAM: FULL TIME

COURSE CODE: ENG316

COURSE TITLE: RESEARCH METHODS

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: SELECT A RESEARCH TOPIC IN LANGUAGE OR

LITERATURE, AND USE IT TO DEVELOP A MINI PROJECT. OUTLINE THE

MAJOR STEPS USED IN CARRYING OUT THE RESEARCH AS DISCUSSED IN THE

COURSE. PROVIDE RELEVANT CITATIONS AND REFERENCES TO SUPPORT

YOUR WORK.

LECTURERS IN CHARGE: PROF. TUNDE OPE-DAVIES

DR. SHODIPE MOJI

BASIC COMPONENTS USED IN CARRYING OUT RESEARCH

A. SELECTION OF TOPIC

RESEARCH TOPIC: CULTURE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN

EMECHETA’S THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD AND ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS

B. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Throughout history women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than

men, wifehood and womanhood were considered as women’s most significant professions, and

they were long considered naturally weaker than men. Their rights and being were taken for

granted.

Culture and Discrimination against Women can be described as the cultural practices against the

female folks that support men. Discrimination against women has become customs passed from

generations to generations. Married woman could be replaced at anytime by their husbands

because culture supports that men could marry many women. Female children are not always

given the best upbringing; they are trained in the kitchen, instead of school. Male children are

brought up well because they are known to be the people who will uphold the family name.

Therefore, with the use of Buchi Emecheta’s novel, The Joys of Motherhood, many

discriminatory acts against woman will be analyzed; to signify the cultural practices

discriminating against women. Also, through Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus,

discrimination against women will be identified. This study shows that the texts selected by its

thematic preoccupation and character delineation show culture and tradition as strong factors in

sex differentiation, creation of gender identities and power sharing.

C. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Over the years, the major challenge facing the female folk is discrimination and unfair treatment

in the society. It is discovered that several cultural practices discriminate and oppress the female

folks. Such practices are identified in the selected texts for this work and critically examined.

There is also a problem of literary representation of female characters as “second class citizens”

who are mostly being denied of their individual and naturally rights. Equally, in African literary

work, female characters are mostly victims of discrimination as an appendage to male characters.

Therefore, this research work seeks to investigate the manner in which female children are

discriminated in African society as a result of culture.

It is hoped that an awareness of such practices will eventually eradicate the social inequalities

that are engendered by such practice in the African society.

D. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to describe the existence of cultural issues in the African novels and its

depiction in Buchi Emechetta’s The Joys of Motherhood and Chimamanda Adichie‘s Purple

Hibiscus. This research is premised on the fact that literature is a chronicler of society through

which societal issues are analyzed with a view to making the society better.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: The objectives of this research work is to specifically

ascertain why women are being discriminated in African society using Buchi Emecheta and

Chimamanda Adichie; The Joys of Motherhood and Purple Hibiscus.

To examine and investigate how culture affects women in African fiction.

To also examine the effect of culture and discrimination against women

E. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The violence in Purple Hibiscus and The Joys of Motherhood took several forms such as

physical, psychological, and emotional. Physical violence was represented by the brutal assaults

(kicking, beating, and flogging, slapping, burning, and Cutting off). While the psychological

violence was depicted by perpetual fear, anxiety, and Depression. Emotional and mental violence

was reflected in oppression, repression, abuses, and assaults. All these forms of violence were

based on religious fanaticism, cultural norms, and colonialism.

F. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The researcher finds it difficult to bring out so many cultural practices discriminating against

women, as a result of limited time coupled with the ongoing pandemic and financial constraint.

As such, this work will analyze culture and discrimination against women only in two selected

novels. The research will also limit its scope on some materials from the internet, and the two

selected novels: The Joys of Motherhood and Purple Hibiscus by Buchi Emechetta and

Chimamanda Adichie respectively.

G. METHODOLOGY

This research work uses qualitative research methods to carry out an investigation on culture and

discrimination against women, through the proper analysis of two carefully selected novels

Buchi Emecheta and Chimamanda Adichie: The Joys of Motherhood and Purple Hibiscus

respectively. In analyzing these books, radical feminism will be used. The researcher will use the

two novels as a primary source of information, while sources like the internet will be used for

more collection of data.

H. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
The following are the different socio-cultural areas where feminist Ideological issues are

expressed in the text:

Gender Violence: In both novels, Women are presented as people that could be beaten at will. In

The Joys of Motherhood, Nnaife goes out to play guitar with his friends and on returning he finds

a bowl which is carefully covered and thinks that it is his food, but that is not the case. He locks

up his wife and beats her up. In Purple Hibiscus, domestic violence is the most common form of

gender abuse. Beatrice experiences this abuse in the hands of her husband and bears it in silence.

He beats her to the extent that she loses her babies and always has one injury or the other.

Dominance and Control (Patriarchy): This is another important feminist issue in the novel, the

Hierarchical relation between men and women is revealed. Women, in The Joys of Motherhood

and Purple Hibiscus are seen as appendages of men. In these novels, it is the men who dictate or

rule over the women, and as a result, the women have no option than to succumb to the dictates

of the men. Coupled with the cultural practices, the women are remote-controlled and as such,

they do not have any choice that leads to their fulfillment.

Lack of Freedom: African women lack freedom, they are prisoners in their own households.

This is what Emechetta projects in the text. This is symbolic of the fact that Nnu Ego sacrifices

all that she has Including meeting the needs of her family. She effectively agrees that she has

become a prisoner throughout. Also in Purple Hibiscus, Adichie exposes the dilemmas in the

lives of her characters, whose troubles are originated through the clash between personal

expectations and strict social standards of demeanour. Kambili and her brother Jaja look like

programmed robots in their interactions with other people. They were exposed to extreme

Physical, psychological, and emotional violence. They don’t have the freedom to leave the

house as they please.

 I. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in the following ways; I) It reveals some cultural practices that affect

women. ii) The study reveals the root cause of these cultural practices. iii) It will help to

correct the negative portrayal of women as second class citizens in African literature. Iv) It

will also help to boost love and unity among both genders.

J. CONCLUSION

In this study, the researcher has analyzed the cultural and gender issues in Buchi Emecheta’s The

Joys of Motherhood and Chimmanda’s Purple Hibiscus. The study also resolved that the feminist

theory enabled linguists and sociologist to better understand the socio-cultural factors affecting

women in the African society. Thus, this approach and the texts seek to create avenue to

empower women so as to ensure equality with men, and not to serve as an anti-male or anti-

culture approach.

REFERENCES

Adichie, Chimamanda. 2004. Purple Hibiscus. Lagos: Farafina.

Ali, Sarah. “Text Worlds in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus: A Feminist Stylistic Approach”.

Researchgate.net : 4-7. Web. 2017.

Buchi, Emechetta. 1979. The Joys of Motherhood. Nigeria. Allison and Busby.

Jegede, Rotimi. “Interface of Religious Fanaticism and Tolerance: A Reading of Chimamanda

Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus.” (2017).

Mar, Camarasa, and Daniela, Heim. Theoretical and Methodological Framework. Associació de

Dones per la Inserció Laboral. September, 2007. Web.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1994) ‘Editorial: discourse analysis as social analysis’, Discourse & Society, 5

(2): 163