The monster within the hidden side of motherhood

This idea of subject is modern, and has been a venue for criticisms and deconstructions for over two decades. 318).Дў Obviously, the West, as we know, has carved for itself a niche of sovereign subjectivity through a cultural representation which sees the Other as inferior. To marry and mother a child (a son preferably), entitles a woman to more respect from her husbandвЂ™s kinsmen for she can now be addressed as вЂmother ofвЂ¦ (emphasis in the text) (As quoted in Eviweihoma, 2007, p. Motherhood, then, is crucial to womanвЂ™s status in African society. In many African societies, motherhood defines womanhood. Considered within the same line of thought, Davies (1986) had averred that: Viewed from this angle, if a woman is married and bears no child (male child in particular), she is not yet вЂњa real mature womanвЂќ (Romito, 1997, p. Therefore, Adebayo (1996) asserts that вЂњthe myth of the omnipresent nurturing mother is everywhere pervasive because of the reproduction service a woman performs in the societyвЂ¦вЂќ (p. That is, womanhood in Africa can only be attained through motherhood. In view of this, in virtually every place and time, two words have been employed to denote and qualify the African woman: marriage and maternity. Tucked away in the inner fold of this socio-cultural over-decorated fabric, however, the African traditional view of womanhood configures the social construction of African woman and the role-participant carved for her in her society.

It is this thought-flow that informs the tapestry of African cultural and traditional embroidery.

1 Perhaps, it is fitting to begin this discourse by stating that reality in African cosmological view is steeped in African metaphysics or ontology which вЂњdoes not see things as separate but ontologically linked with each otherвЂќ (Nwakaeze-Ogugua, 2007, p.

The monster within the hidden side of motherhood