The Portrayal of Women in Dhaabaa's Selected Oromo Prose Fiction
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Date
2004-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study is an attempt to analyze the portrayal of women in Dhaabaa
Wayyeessaa's selected pro se fiction . A s discussed in the introduction part and
the first section of the second chapter, creative writing in Oromo language is t h e
recent phenome no n . Besides , almost no a s rious study as faras the researcher
knows , is undertaken in the works under discussion. More specifically , the
portrayal of women in these works has not been touched upon . Therefore ,
exa mining ho w wome n are portrayed in these selected prose fiction arises from
this fact. In this study , three Oromo prose fiction of Dhaabaa, which a re believed
to be thematically important are select ed for analysis.
This thes is is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the
background of the study, the reason why the texts are selected, the objectives ,
scope and methods of the stud y.
Chapter two discusses two aspects. The first o ne is assessing th e historical
overview of O romo creat ive wri tin g. Second ly , it discusses the theoretical
frameworks of femini st lite rary criti c is m from glob al and black co ntexts.
The third chapter cri ti ca ll y exa m ines the diverse p rob lems of wo men characte rs
based on th e te xts a nd interv ie ws co ndu cted regarding Gumu z wo men . In th e
former's reg ard , how a sin glecharacter passes thro ugh both positi ve and
n egative stereotype s is examin ed i.e. a nalyzing in detail of how a female
character is depicted as victim of m ale violence , object of sex and marriage by
exchange , home lessness , poverty and at ti mes exe rcis es her own agency in
changing her life. Moreover, responses from the intervie w c ondu cted are also
used to support the evidence from the text. This is done to cross check to what
extent the author depicts the female characters in the text Gurraacha Abbayyaa
for its setting is in Gumuz ethnic group and the author is an Oromo. In the last
chapter a brief conclusion based on the analysis is given. Lastly, the appendix,
which presents the full text of the interview conducted with selected Gumuz
people, is attached .
In the study most women characters are depicted to be the victims of male violence,
homelessness, poverty and subordination. On the other hand, some of these women
characters are revealed as agents that exercise their power, determination and courage
either to overcome or get rid of the oppression or burden imposed on them.
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Keywords
Selected Oromo Prose Fiction