Gender, Conflict and Human Rights in Northern Nigerian Novel

Authors

  • Joyce Agofure Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria
  • Murjanatu Rilwan Muhammad Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v2i3.48

Keywords:

Gender, Conflict, Human Right, Northern Nigeria, Africana Womanism, Justice, Harmony, Yar’fari

Abstract

This paper investigates the question of gender, conflict and human rights in northern Nigeria society using the novel Yar’fari (2020) by A’aisha Abdulkareem. The study seeks to delineate the critical need for gender equity, peace and conscientization towards human rights for females in northern Nigeria in particular and other regions at large. Consequently, this study opens up how Nigerian literature plays a vital role in explicating the gap between men and women, boys and girls generated by cultural restrictions and patriarchal constructions which often translate to gender conflict. Using the theoretical tool of Africana Womanism as propagated by Clenora Hudson-Weems, this paper addresses gender, conflict and the necessity to take action and create harmony, balance, justice, complementarity among sexes geared towards strengthening human rights and fundamental freedom. Put together, the text Yar’fari signifies a coherent engagement to challenge gendered conflicts, oppression and human rights encroachment in all forms.

References

Abdulkareem, A. (2020). Yar’fari. Kraft.

African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. (1981). Retrieved from http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/au_charter.html.

Duton, C. (1977). To discover woman: The novels of Calixhe Beyala. Wright Derek in Contemporary African Fiction. Bayreuth African Studies.

Hudson-Weems, C, (1998b) Africana womanism: Reclaiming ourselves. Bedford.

Hudson-Weems, C. (2004a). Africana womanist theory. Africa World Press.

Human Rights. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/documents/events/whrd/womenrightsarehr.pdf .

Kolawole, M. M. (1997). Womanism and African consciousness. Africa World Press.

Makama, A. G. (2017). Patriarchy and gender inequality in Nigeria: The way forward. European Scientific Journal, 9.

Mohammad, S. (2021). New directions in Northern Nigerian women’s writings: A study of Zaynab Alkali’s The initiates and invisible borders. Gombe Savannah Journal of Language, Literature and Communication Studies (GOSAJOLLCOS), Department of English, Gombe State University.

Millennium Development Goals 3. (2015). Retrieved from https://www5.worldbank.org/mdg/

Neil, J. (1982). Gender role conflict and strain. Springer.

Ogundipe-Leslie, M. (1994). Recreating ourselves: African woman and critical transformations. Africa World Press.

Phillips, L. (2006). The womanist reader. Routledge: New York.

Saidu, A., & Muhammad, B. (2016). Writing Performance and Literature in Northern Nigeria Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Northern Nigerian Literature, Bayero University, Kano.

Ujowundu, O. C. (2013). Undermining patriarchal ideology in African Literature: A study of Ngozi Chuma-Udeh’s Echoe’s of New Dawn. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2(6).

Uko, I. (2006). Transcending the margins: New directions in women’s writings Emenyonu Ernest, New Directions in African Literature. Heinemann.

Umar, A. (2016). The burden of womanhood: The role of Northern Nigerian woman in family and nation building: A womanist reading of Veronica Phebi’s The Hound and Rezinat Mohammed’s Habiba. Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(1).

UN Women. (2015). Gender mainstreaming in development programming: An issues brief. Retrieved on February 8, 2022. http://www.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/how%20work/unsystemicoordination/gendermainstreaming-issuesbrief-en%20pdf.pdf .

Wa Thiong’O, N. (1982). Home-coming: Essays on African and Caribbean literature, culture and politics. Heinemann.

Downloads

Published

2022-05-01

How to Cite

Agofure, J., & Muhammad, M. R. (2022). Gender, Conflict and Human Rights in Northern Nigerian Novel. Canadian Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 2(3), 72–83. https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v2i3.48

Issue

Section

Articles