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Images of Women in Amharic Oral Narratives: Construction of Identity and Social Reality, A Ph.D Proposal

by Mulumebet Zenebe
Addis Ababa University, Centre for Research, Training and Information on Women in Development (CERTWID)

Project Outline

The aim of this project is to conduct a detailed analysis of the images of women in Amharic oral narratives (e.g., folktales, legends, myths, etc.). Oral tradition is a large but untapped resource for the study of the literary and cultural expression of the rural people of Ethiopia. The rich tradition of oral narratives could give valuable information about the lives of Ethiopian women and their identity. Since women constitute over half of the Ethiopian population and the majority live in rural areas, a study of the images of women in rural Ethiopia could be of great importance not only in its own right, but also to the development programme currently under way in the country.

The majority of Ethiopian women suffer from poverty. The economic and cultural situations that cause this suffering need to be carefully identified. It is only after a proper identification of problems that feasible solutions can be found, and these solutions must be based on the knowledge of the people themselves. A study of the images of women in Amharic oral narratives could thus add a vital element to current explanations of the position of women among the Amhara.

The present project intends: a) to identify the images of women in Amharic oral narratives by bringing out rural people's (both men and women) perspectives on gender relations; b) to single out the social and cultural determinants that influence the lives of the Amhara women; c) to obtain gender-related information useful to the country's development process.

Background to the Project

This project intends to analyse the images of women in Amharic oral narratives that are important sources of cultural knowledge and understanding. The study of images of a social or gender group in a society's literature can be revealing of the cultural and social codes which exist in that society. These will not only show certain conventional traits that are characteristic of genres of literature or narrative, but will also form a reflection of underlying social relations and world views, specific to gender, social class or perhaps religious group. By implication, an analysis of such cultural and ideological images also has relevance for issues of socio-economic development.

Ethiopia possesses both written and oral literature (e.g., folk tales, legends, proverbs, and myths). The country's written literature is relatively well known, but the oral literature is far less appreciated and studied. This project attempts to analyse the images of women in one form of oral literature: oral narrative.

Ethiopia is a country of many ethnic groups with diverse traditions. The country is one of the least developed countries in the world, with high rates of population growth and of maternal and infant mortality. Civil war, famine and displacement have plagued the country and put its people in situations of ever-increasing adversity. Women, who make up more than half of the Ethiopian population, suffer the most. Both poverty and the country's cultural past have affected their lives, and because of this they are often given a low status in their societies.

Gender-differentiated resource allocation and prevailing social norms prevent Ethiopian women from actively participating in the development process of the country. Women have a low level of participation and performance in education, and they are less involved in decision-making. Gender-related stereotypes do exist within the society, and women are often viewed as bearing negative character traits. This research will reflect on some aspects of the construction and presentation of gender and social reality in oral narratives.

The narratives to be collected and analysed are those told by the Amhara, the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, with an estimated population of 15,879,326 million, of which 7,967,005 are males and 7,912,231 females. The Amhara population is largely concentrated in the central highland plateaus of Ethiopia, especially in the former provinces of North Shoa, Gondar, Gojjam and Wollo, forming the Amhara National Regional State. The Amharas are also widely dispersed both in urban and rural parts of Ethiopia.

The main livelihood of the Amhara society is mixed agriculture and more than 90% of Amharas are farmers. They farm crops and raise cattle, and their farming technology relies mainly on ox-drawn ploughs. They speak Amharic, which is the official language of Ethiopia. The language belongs to the Ethio-Semitic language group in the Semitic language family of Afro-Asiatic phylum.

Amharic has a long history of literary production, e.g., historical chronicles, narratives, poetry, drama, novels (since the beginning of the 20th century), and songs. However, it is mostly the written forms of Amharic that have been recorded and studied. Apart from the use of Amharic as a general language of literary and other expression among the majority of Ethiopians, it is necessary to look at the rich and complex oral literature of the Amhara people, which has not yet been thoroughly documented and studied.

The study of Amharic oral narratives could give valuable information on the Amhara people's needs and self-perception. It will give clues as to how the Amhara understand human relations in their own ethnic group. Their attitudes towards gender relations are also clearly exhibited in their oral narratives. The study of these narratives could thus add an important element to the explanations of the position of women among the Amhara.

Even though cultural differences are worth considering, the different regions of Ethiopia have similarities due to their geographic, cultural and economic proximity. A study conducted on the images of women in the oral literature of the Amhara could yield useful source material for comparison with other Ethiopian ethnic groups.

There is also a link to the effort to arrive at a better understanding of the challenges and problems of Ethiopian (in this case Amhara) rural society. Gender problematics are now beginning to be widely recognised as a critical issue in Ethiopia. Development strategists and policy makers are becoming aware of the need to include women's views and experiences in their efforts, but so far, in-depth research that has been undertaken has been relatively limited and often inadequate. Existing studies have tended to describe the socio-economic roles and status of Ethiopian women without thoroughly analysing the variables and dimensions that shape their situation and their self-identity.

These studies seldom address how cultural dynamics affect gender relations in Ethiopia. However, the customs and beliefs inherited from the past have bearing on the lives of Ethiopian women. Solutions to gender-related problems in this largely non-literate rural society could be reached by analysing both the personal and public life that defines the values, attitudes and behaviours through which women are perceived. Oral literature is one of the main sources from which the knowledge of the Amhara peasantry, specifically the women, could be drawn, and it is to address this point that the present project has been initiated.

The Main Goal of the Project

Research that has been undertaken on women in Ethiopia is relatively limited. The studies that do exist chiefly try to describe the socio-economic roles and status of Ethiopian women. Most of them are sample surveys on specific topics such as education (Genet 1991); health (Adanech &Azeb 1991); and legal status (Daniel 1979).

Although these studies give useful information, most of them describe the situation of Ethiopian women without deep analysis of the variables that create or shape the situation. They do not try to find out how the cultural dynamics affect gender relations in Ethiopia. The main limitation of these studies is that they do not seriously consider the knowledge of the rural people in finding solutions to the problems of women. In other words, the studies try to suggest solutions to the problems of Ethiopian women without including the voice of the people, especially women. As Almaz has stated: "The desired changes are usually driven by international social and economic trends which are far removed from the personal and public life that defines values, attitudes and behaviours by which women are perceived" (1997: 573).

Without identifying the real causes of gender inequalities by using the knowledge of the people themselves, few valuable results can be obtained. The peasants' attitudes to and perceptions of life should be carefully considered in order to identify problems and find possible solutions. For instance, rural people have their own responses to natural disasters. Famine-inspired oral poems are good examples of these (Fekade 1994). They have their own ways of resolving conflicts and solving different kinds of problems. They attach value to their attitudes, beliefs and thoughts, and use these to overcome their difficulties. It is with this point in view that gender-related problems in Ethiopia should be approached and handled.

The folk-tales, legends, oral poetry and so on, embody and express the culture and history of the society, as well as the people's philosophy of life. These different forms of expression are untapped sources that give invaluable information about the peoples of Ethiopia. This information includes attitudes towards gender relations. Thus, oral literature could be a major source in identifying and resolving gender-related problems.

In countries like Ethiopia, where the majority of the population are illiterate, it is not written but oral literature that plays a significant role. Compared to formal settings and language, attitudes and thoughts are more freely expressed in the different forms of oral literature, in spite of the fact that oral narratives have their own narratological structure, with codes of dissimulations and allusion well-known in Amhara culture (such as the "wax-and-gold" discourse; see Livine 1965 for a classic description), which should be analysed.

The people divide their oral narratives into genres they themselves have created and named. The present project attempts to closely analyse the oral narratives of both women and men of the Amhara. It will try to display the beliefs, concerns and feelings of Amhara women, whose voice has been ignored in studies of oral literature in Ethiopia.

This project attempts to answer the following questions.

· What are the images of women in Amharic oral narratives?

· What are the similarities and differences between oral narratives by men and women?

· How are these images perceived among the Amhara of different social position, sex, or age?

· What are the socio-cultural determinants that have an influence on the lives and self-identity of the Amhara women?

Literature Review

There are a number of studies on Ethiopian women that mainly deal with gender and education, history, culture, politics, land rights, and employment. Most of these studies paid little attention to oral literature in general, and oral prose narratives in particular. Compared with the number of studies done in other African countries, there are very few studies on the images of women in Ethiopian literature.

The research that has been done in other parts of Africa confirms that literature reflects society's attitudes towards gender relations; it also confirms that notable biases are revealed in literature, depending on the speaker/narrator's social or age group. In African myths, fairy tales and other stories, a woman is, on the one hand, often portrayed as a witch, a negative power and a dangerous force. On the other hand, the mother figure is usually revered and almost unassailable (Schippler 1987). Based on cultural and social differences, there are thus significant variations of opinions concerning the role and experiences of women in Africa.

Kabira draws attention to the images of Gikuyu women in oral narratives, and notes that the narratives portray women negatively. Furthermore, Kabira says, "The narratives themselves contribute to social gender constructs that call for control of women in society and legitimise male dominance" (1994: 84). Chesaina examines the images of women in African oral literature, specifically the Kallenjin and Maasai oral narratives. The author concludes that "The images that emanate from the two societies show that women occupy very low social status and are viewed as bearing negative character traits" (1994: 91).

Sidikou analyses the verbal art of women from Niger, Mali and Senegal and says: "women appear to be creating a ritual space that serves as the locus of both their creativity and their efforts to negotiate power, as well as affirm their own selfhood. Sidikou concludes "…the verbal art of women from the Sehel and Savanna indicates that scholars in both African literature and feminism need to enlarge the parameters and redefine the nature of these fields to include those female voices that have not been heard until now" (1997: iv). In Kikuyu Gender Norms and Narratives, Brinkman argues that stories offer the best prospects for interpreting the imaginations of gender norms and sanctions (1996: 98).

There are only a few studies that deal with the images of women in Ethiopian oral literature. A survey of the existing Ethiopian literature on the subject reveals the following.

Tadesse listed Amharic proverbs that show women's secondary position in the Ethiopian society. These proverbs tell of women's limited participation in social and political activities (1980). Molla tried to identify the images of women in Amharic jokes. According to Molla, love and marriage are the main themes, and women are negatively portrayed in these jokes (1994).

The number of studies that concentrated on the images of women in Ethiopian written literature is also very small. Three B.A. theses have been written on the portrayal of women in Amharic novels and plays. Askale asserts that women are presented in Amharic literary works chiefly only in their relationships to men (1988).

Jemanesh (1988) and Yeshi (1986) both deal with the images of women in Ethiopian plays. These researchers confirmed that the playwrights failed to portray women's different personalities. They also noted that women in these plays are depicted largely as sensual lovers and mothers, and criticised the writers for undermining the various other social roles played by women.

Zerihun Asfaw's paper deals with the women characters of Bealu Girma, a renowned Ethiopian novelist. In his conclusion, Zerihun states that Bealu's women characters are strong and rational (1993). He wrote another paper on the images of Ethiopian women in 292 Amharic short stories. Unmarried girls, wives, mothers, prostitutes, solitary women and maids are depicted in the short stories, and the majority of the women are presented in relation to their male counterparts (1997).

Meseret Akele is the only one who has tried to analyse the images of women in Amharic poetry. In these poems, women are portrayed as submissive, cruel and irrational. According to Meseret, the story is different in the works of Ethiopian women poets, who try to show positive images of women (1995). Mulumebet's thesis is a comparative analysis of the images of men and women in the works of some Ethiopian women writers. Mulumebet asserts that the female writers tended to show sympathy to their women characters, and criticised the culture of the society for suppressing women (1996).

Fekade's paper is the only theoretical work that discusses the factors that influence the portrayal of women in Ethiopian literature. This paper explains how the culture of the society shapes the writer to depict his/her characters in a certain way. Fekade discusses four factors that determine the way an author portrays his/her characters. Oral traditions, written literature such as the Bible and the Q'ran, modern education and civilisation are the factors that mould the mind of the writer.

The above review gives evidence to illustrate the point that the images of women in Ethiopian literature have not yet been thoroughly studied. In particular, the literature of the majority of the people, the oral literature, is almost ignored. The narratives by women especially should be examined in order to demonstrate the impact that these narratives have on the lives of women. The main limitation of the studies on oral literature in Ethiopia undertaken so far is that the voices of the women are almost totally ignored. Oral literature by women is relatively unknown because women are too often believed to be inferior to men (Sidikou 1997: 4).

Methodology

The data will be collected from primary as well as secondary sources. As materials on the images of women in the Amhara region are almost non-existent, a proper investigation requires extensive fieldwork. To this end, two field trips are planned to the Amhara region, during which oral narratives will be recorded. The work will start with a pilot survey in the study area and will be followed by the main fieldwork.

The Amharas live in many parts of the country and it is difficult to cover the whole Amhara society. It is therefore necessary to select a representative area, and in this context, Misrak Gojjam Zone will be selected for the study. Using purposive sampling, knowledgeable informants (both women and men) will be selected to elicit information on the various customs and traditions. Texts (folktales, legends, myths, etc.) will be recorded on tape, and verbal data will be converted to written media. Participant observations will be made to learn about the Amhara society in general, and the role of women in the Amhara society in particular.

Before the first field trip, the investigator intends to make a careful study of the existing literature on Ethiopian women and on rural socio-cultural development. The study of the literature on the social and cultural situations of the Amhara will help to better understand and interpret the oral narratives. Even though there are cultural differences, much could be gained from the studies done on the images of women in the oral narratives of other African countries.

The oral narratives will be analysed from a feminist perspective. In the analysis of oral literature, there is a need to focus on the dynamic relationship between men and women, and address oral literature from gender point of view. Feminist theories of literary criticism provide a framework for understanding gender-specific oral prose narratives in any given society.

Studies conducted so far on the images of women in literature prove that women are portrayed negatively. Because women are too often believed to be inferior to men, oral literature by women is relatively unknown. Scholars who write on African literature show little interest in/pay little attention to oral literature by women (Sidikou 1997: 4). It is important to ask why the oral tradition of women has been neglected for decades.

The study will attempt to identify and analyse oral prose narratives in the cultural context of the society. It will try to employ functionalism and contextual approaches. The presentation and (re)-construction of the cultural and social contexts will be used as a background for the understanding of the narratives. The systems of ideas, symbols and behaviours of the group in which particular oral narratives are found will be analysed in order to uncover deeper layers of meaning. Attempts shall be made to see how men perceive women, and, even more importantly, how women themselves perceive their roles in society.

Words are just the bare bones of oral literature. Since narrative discourse is an interactive event, which takes place within a socio-cultural (and political) context, emphasis will be given to all crucial aspects of the performance of the narratives -- individuals concerned, audience, situational aspect, and setting. "To ignore these in an oral work is to risk missing much of the subtlety, flexibility, and individual originality of its creator and, furthermore, to fail to give consideration to the aesthetic canons of those intimately concerned in the production and the reception of this form of literature."
(Finnegan 1970: 12).

Narratives are performed in specific social contexts constituted by a specific group of people and by a specific physical and symbolic environment, the issue of how these social contexts shape the use and inform upon the meaning of narratives will be a major focus of the research.

The following are some of the basic questions about the aspects of communication in oral narratives that will be addressed:

Who is the narrator of the story?
How does the narrator (male/female) relate to the character(s) as far as the gender perspective is concerned?
Who among the characters "speaks" in the text?
What roles are distributed according to gender?
What methods are used in the narration?
What message does the narrative have? (cf. Ojwang 1995: 67)
Do men and women narrate similar stories?

Social Relevance of the Project

In the era of political change after 1991, efforts are being made to improve the legal and social status of women as evidenced by the articles in the new constitution. The government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has announced a new women's policy which aims at giving equal opportunity to women to participate in all spheres of life. It has also opened a women's Affairs Office with branch offices in the regions.

The office is given the responsibility to promote women's issues and it is actively working to this end. But the unavailability of information on Ethiopian women is one of the major problems of the office. Due to the scarcity of well-planned research projects and publications, valuable data on the socio-economic situation of women are absent.

Ethiopian women live in deplorable conditions of poverty. They are not much affected by the attempts at social and economic change though development projects. Women in Ethiopia suffer from the burden of disparities and of an inequitable gender division of labour, income and access to service (Almaz 1991: 1). These conditions have become constraints on women's self-enhancement and productivity.

Not only economic but also cultural changes are needed to improve the lives of Ethiopian women. Attitudinal changes are very crucial. According to a recent survey, all ethnic group respondents stated that decisions should be made only by males. They believed men should be the major breadwinners, while women should bear and rear children (Hirut 1997).

The study of the oral narratives could give valuable information on the people's needs and self-assessment. It will give clues as to how the Amhara understand human relations in their own ethnic group. Their attitudes towards gender relations will also be clearly exhibited in their oral narratives. The study of these narratives could thus add a critical element to the explanations of the position of women among the Amhara. It will also enhance the transmission of the cultural heritage of the ethnic group. "The collection, study, and valorisation of the many different forms of African women's art will enable researchers to refute and rectify some of the conventional images of African women" (Sidikou, 1997: 11).

To work towards minimising social norms and practices that subordinate Ethiopian women to oppressive conditions, the economic, social and cultural problems of women should be clearly identified. These problems are well expressed, without any inhibition, in the oral literature of the people. Solutions could also be drawn from the literature. These are solutions that are based on the lives of the people themselves. Current data on the images of women in rural Ethiopia are valuable to planners and decision-makers because they could use this information to the advantage of the new development process in the country.

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