Ethno-pragmatics of Ońunwa performance of the Igbo of Nigeria

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12890333
AutoresInnocent Chiluwa (0000-0002-4420-9709, Covenant University, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume4
Fascículo3
Páginas279-295
Data de publicação2009-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Multicultural Discourses (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1744-7143 • E-ISSN: 1747-6615
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17447140903388923
OpenAlexW1976001774
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas9

This study examines how cultural practices and belief systems are constructed in Ońunwa performance – a popular infancy-rites ritualistic lyrics of the Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria. The study applies a combination of discourse approach, ethnography, and pragmatics in the analysis of data, showing how discourse, is representational of sociocultural experience, identity, and social relationships. The discourse of Ońunwa features mostly poetry as song texts (lyrics) and dance and exhibits some traditional patterns of behavior and worldview. Data comprise 10 translated texts that were rendered in songs and performed during a session of Ońunwa dance of the Ngwa tribe of the Igbo. The study demonstrates that the infancy rites songs generally performed by women, re-enact some culturally determined gender roles as opposed to western popular advocacy of gender equality. Masculinity and femininity in this context are perceived as divine and unchanging, while traditional womanhood is natural, legitimate and inevitable and women affirm, defend and indeed perpetuate it. Ońunwa rejects radical feminism and gayism and maintains the cultural position that there is a biological difference between a man and a woman. In all, this study shows how culture permeates our everyday discourses and argues that discourse is indeed a cultural practice

Aesthetics · Art · Context (archaeology · Dance · Femininity · Igbo · Linguistics · Literature · Lyrics · Pragmatics · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Tribe · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Gender Studies in Language · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy