Open AccessGender Role Perceptions in Selected South-African Folktales
Author(s) -
Mehari Yimulaw Gebregeorgis
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
folklore
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1406-0957
pISSN - 1406-0949
DOI - 10.7592/fejf2022.85.gebregeorgis
Subject(s) - stereotype (uml) , dynamism , narrative , character (mathematics) , ideology , gender studies , sociology , perception , hegemony , aesthetics , history , literature , political science , psychology , politics , social psychology , art , philosophy , epistemology , law , geometry , mathematics
The objective of the study was to unpack gender role perceptions in selected South-African folktales. To this end, 65 purposefully selected folktales which reinforce character roles were analysed and interpreted, using narrative analysis. With the exception of a few that are used as instruments of contestation, the studied South-African folktales mainly serve as a tool to confirm the entrenched hegemonic philosophy of patriarchal communal life in terms of marriage, work, character traits, and authority. The rebelliousness of female characters against the patriarchal system in some folktales indicates that there is an emerging dynamism of discourse which aims at transforming the gender stereotype ideology inculcated in the folktales.