Representation of masculinity in Goretti Kyomuhendo’s fiction

Abstract

The dissertation presents a study on the representation of masculinity in Goretti Kyomuhendo’s fiction. The study pays attention to the representation of the male characters, while examining the injustice, dominance, and the discrimination against women by men. Although past scholars like Peter Nazareth, Abasi Kiyimba, Florence Stratton, Ogundipe Leslie and Mineke Schipper have studied masculinity, they have not consciously labeled it. This study gives masculinity its surname and explores performance of masculinity in writing by a Ugandan female writer. Kyomuhendo rewrites the experiences of Ugandan women which had been omitted or misrepresented due to the absence of women voices in the Ugandan literary scene in a highly patriarchal society. By deliberately creating female protagonists, Kyomuhendo gives them agency; despite this however, they are at the mercy of the decisions made by the male antagonists. This study is qualitative in nature and the novels studied for this research are: The First Daughter (1996), a story about Kasemiire, a young woman of fifteen who conceives a child while still in school. The child's father does not support her, and she is disowned by her own father. In Secrets No More (1999), Kyomuhendo details the sexual violence experienced by the women during the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s. Waiting (2007) is a story that explores the evils experienced by common people during war time at the hands of patriarchal authority and state power. The study is guided by two objectives: To examine the representation of the different forms of masculinity and to highlight masculinity as a performance in three selected novels by Goretti Kyomuhendo, and to investigate how through characterisation, story arrangement, plotting and narrative focalisations, the concept of maleness as indication of strength and power is represented in Kyomuhendo’s fiction. This study has employed R.W Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity. The findings of the study highlight the different forms of masculinity; hegemonic and non-hegemonic. The study establishes that the author endeavors to center men as powerful while also exposing the ugly picture of violence they perform on women. The study recommends a closer look at men and the challenges they confront while displaying certain norms that are considered hegemonic. This study will encourage Ugandan female writers to create characters of men that are more convincing and inspirational for a better representation in their fiction.