"Amari-Akaghi"—The Knowledge of the Unknown

Women and Masquerade in Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11856430
AutoresBernard Eze Orji (0009-0000-8235-6534, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen53
Número2
Páginas148-163
Fecha de publicación2022-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaResearch in African Literatures (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044
EditorialIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/ral.2022.a884544
OpenAlexW4386777215
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4

The phrase "amari-akaghi" in my Akpoha, Igbo village, is tied around the metaphor of women and masking culture in Igbo society. This phrase alludes to women's knowledge of the workings of masquerades yet they cannot talk about it openly. I have weaved this paper around the perception of the "knowledge of the unknown" as touted and exemplified by Okonkwo's wives in Achebe's Things Fall Apart . Achebe in his seminal work revealed the position of the egwugwu masquerade tradition vis-à-vis women in Umuofia. Literatures on masquerade and women also suggest that women know much about the inner workings and secrecy associated with masquerade but cannot openly discuss it. However, no known effort has been dedicated to investigating this phenomenon in Achebe's Things Fall Apart against the reality of the concept of "amari-akaghi" in Akpoha, Igbo village. This paper, therefore, subjects Things Fall Apart to textual analyses through deconstruction of the narration. I conclude with valid interrogation of works, including the primary resource of this paper, that women in many Igbo villages of old and those represented in Achebe's Umuofia have always known and thought about the inscrutability of masquerades but have constantly kept to themselves to avoid upsetting the peace of their society and attracting ugly repercussions. This knowledge of the unknown exhibited by women in both societies, as investigated in this essay, had ensured cordial shared gender roles, which guaranteed peaceful coexistence in Igbo society

Aesthetics · Alienation · Art · Epistemology · Igbo · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Narrative · Political science · Premise · Sociology · Theology · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

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