Debunking Stereotypes: Gendered Women’s Roles in Wedding Songs of the Nyiha of Mbozi in South-western Tanzania

Abstract

Wedding songs, as a genre of oral literature, entertain, instruct, and spread cultural values such as civility, respect, and environmental conservations in different traditional societies, including the Nyiha of South-western Tanzania. Although these songs have attracted the attention of many scholars, many of the scholars have focused on their performative roles during wedding ceremonies and neglected the representation of gendered roles of women in these songs. In this regard, the cultural representation of social beliefs and attitudes towards married Nyiha women is a contested aspect which the present article investigates. Informed by African feminism, this article contextually analyses wedding songs using data obtained through observation, which entailed systematically selecting, watching, listening to, and recording songs. Subsequently, through close listening and reading of the transcribed songs, the article analysed the lyrics translated into English. The article found that Nyiha wedding songs situate married women in a position where they are obliged to serve their families and take care of their husbands throughout their marriage life irrespective of their age. On this account, the article argues that Nyiha wedding songs portray a woman as a provider, a role that she assumes from the first day of her marriage. The songs paint a married Nyiha woman as the only individual in the family who is accountable to ensure the survival if not success of the marriage institution.