Examination of the Representation of Masculinity in Ebrahim Hussein’s plays.

John, Yohana (2023) Examination of the Representation of Masculinity in Ebrahim Hussein’s plays. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study was motivated by the necessary need to re-define masculinity as an aspect of gender, distinctly from sex, and to portray how it is represented in Ebrahim Hussein’s plays in order to prove Butler (1990) and Mahonge’s (2016) statement that gender and sex are different.Therefore, the study sought to critically examine the representation of masculinity in Hussein’s selected plays namely KwenyeUkingo wa Thim and Kinjeketileas its main objective. The specific objectives were: to examine male and female characters’ representation of masculinity as performed in the plays, to examine characters’ indications of patriarchy and masculinity in the plays, and to examine the relevance of the representation of masculinity in the plays to the Tanzanian and Kenyan society.This is a qualitative study that adopted Connell’s (1995) Gender Order Theory and Butler’s (1990) Theory of Gender Performativity. The study employed a constructivist paradigm, a method that comprised several stages, including identification of the plays as the primary texts, a close reading followed by a content analysis of the plays, and a review of literature on the gendered representations in Hussein’s plays.The study finally found that masculinity is not as natural or in-born as one’s sex is. It is fluid, circumstantial, contextual and socially constructed. The study recommends that every effort made for the purpose of empowerment of people should aim at empowering both women and men since the study reveals that women contribute to men’s masculinity and vice versa.The study contributes to significant knowledge on issues of gender and sex, and to the theories of gender. Key words: Gender, masculinity, femininity, patriarchy.

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