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Chapter 1. Issues of language and gender in iweto marriage as practised by the Kamba in Kenya

  • Catherine Wawasi Kitetu and Angelina Nduku Kioko
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Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan Africa
This chapter is in the book Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This chapter examines how, in the discourse of iweto marriage (where a childless hetero-sexual woman among the Kamba of Kenya marries another childbearing one), gendered subject positions are constructed, and how issues of power are played out. The study explores the roles and identities created via naming terms; the correlation between language use and how individuals construct their identities and accommodate (or resist) societal roles; and the social relations and identities that are thus constructed. Data on naming conventions was obtained through interviews of women who are in an iweto marriage or their close relatives. The findings show that language plays a central role in the mapping of gendered subject positions, that is, roles and identities which are reflected and constructed, sustained and resisted in the naming conventions of the iweto marriage.

Abstract

This chapter examines how, in the discourse of iweto marriage (where a childless hetero-sexual woman among the Kamba of Kenya marries another childbearing one), gendered subject positions are constructed, and how issues of power are played out. The study explores the roles and identities created via naming terms; the correlation between language use and how individuals construct their identities and accommodate (or resist) societal roles; and the social relations and identities that are thus constructed. Data on naming conventions was obtained through interviews of women who are in an iweto marriage or their close relatives. The findings show that language plays a central role in the mapping of gendered subject positions, that is, roles and identities which are reflected and constructed, sustained and resisted in the naming conventions of the iweto marriage.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements xi
  4. Gender and language in sub-Saharan Africa 1
  5. Part 1. Gender and linguistic description
  6. Chapter 1. Issues of language and gender in iweto marriage as practised by the Kamba in Kenya 29
  7. Chapter 2. Language, gender and age(ism) in Setswana 53
  8. Chapter 3. Variation with gender in the tonal speech varieties of Kera (Chadic) 79
  9. Part 2. Public settings and gendered language use
  10. Chapter 4. Language, gender and social construction in a pre-school in Gaborone 97
  11. Chapter 5. Variation in address forms for Nigerian married and unmarried women in the workplace 117
  12. Part 3. Mediated masculinities and femininities
  13. Chapter 6. A new South African man? 131
  14. Chapter 7. The ‘Tinto’ image in contemporary Tswana songs 149
  15. Chapter 8.Language and gender in popular music in Botswana 177
  16. Part 4. Gendered struggles and change
  17. Chapter 9. Sex discourses and the construction of gender identity in Sesotho 205
  18. Chapter 10. Student Pidgin 217
  19. Chapter 11. Gendered linguistic choices among isiZulu-speaking women in contemporary South Africa 233
  20. Chapter 12. Homophobic language and linguistic resistance in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 253
  21. Chapter 13. “I cannot be blamed for my own assault” 275
  22. Part 5. Epilogue
  23. African feminism? 301
  24. Gender, sexuality and language in African contexts 315
  25. Contributors 325
  26. Index 327
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.33.03waw

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements xi
  4. Gender and language in sub-Saharan Africa 1
  5. Part 1. Gender and linguistic description
  6. Chapter 1. Issues of language and gender in iweto marriage as practised by the Kamba in Kenya 29
  7. Chapter 2. Language, gender and age(ism) in Setswana 53
  8. Chapter 3. Variation with gender in the tonal speech varieties of Kera (Chadic) 79
  9. Part 2. Public settings and gendered language use
  10. Chapter 4. Language, gender and social construction in a pre-school in Gaborone 97
  11. Chapter 5. Variation in address forms for Nigerian married and unmarried women in the workplace 117
  12. Part 3. Mediated masculinities and femininities
  13. Chapter 6. A new South African man? 131
  14. Chapter 7. The ‘Tinto’ image in contemporary Tswana songs 149
  15. Chapter 8.Language and gender in popular music in Botswana 177
  16. Part 4. Gendered struggles and change
  17. Chapter 9. Sex discourses and the construction of gender identity in Sesotho 205
  18. Chapter 10. Student Pidgin 217
  19. Chapter 11. Gendered linguistic choices among isiZulu-speaking women in contemporary South Africa 233
  20. Chapter 12. Homophobic language and linguistic resistance in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 253
  21. Chapter 13. “I cannot be blamed for my own assault” 275
  22. Part 5. Epilogue
  23. African feminism? 301
  24. Gender, sexuality and language in African contexts 315
  25. Contributors 325
  26. Index 327
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