Kitchen Martyrs?

Abstract

The project explores constructions of household dependencies in Nigerian novels and cultures. On the one hand, the work focuses on Lagos, Nigeria, by paying attention to representations of roles, status, and functions, and critically interrogate concepts, such as masculinities as intersections of various geographical markers of social relations and inequality. On the other hand, it reads selected contemporary novel genre by interrogating how African (feminist) writers show and contest the expected roles of women (as wives and mothers, for example) by portraying how the projection of such roles often hinders women from exploring alternative aspects and capacities in life, such as leadership and political roles. The projects shows further complex nuances and calls for exploring the "hidden" or "veiled" aspect of the household. For instance, while the theme of gender inequality seems to pervade the postcolonial context, there is the need to explore beyond gender dichotomy, since other factors, such as age, race, roles, status, sex, sexual orientation, and so on, also serve as thematic determinant of inequality and dependencies. The interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches thus demonstrate how interrelationships between texts, historical and cultural contexts enable a rich engagement with concepts of inequalities.