Satire, Agency and the Contestation of Patriarchy in Ibibio Women’s Songs

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article explores the way Ibibio women in Akwa Ibom State, South-eastern Nigeria use satirical songs to challenge (or endorse) conservative gender ideologies and stereotypes in a bid to access power and agency within their patriarchal society. Drawing on ethnographic qualitative data sourced through participant observations, semi-structured interviews and metalinguistic conversations with twenty participants, and analysing a corpus of fifteen songs, the study demonstrates – from an ethnopragmatic paradigm and an African feminist perspective – that satirical songs are creative cultural resources that speak to the dynamics of women empowerment. The article identifies three main tropes in which the songs are framed: social challenges of marriage, asserting agency and contesting patriarchy. The study concludes that satirical songs represent cultural material with which marginalised women express their views and exercise agency against cultural forces that often subjugate them. In this way, these songs provide a veritable site for expanding the frontiers of feminism.