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Abstract
This paperinterrogates the institutions of polygamy and polygyny as cultural artefacts that inform patrilineal and patriarchal beliefs; as well as nostalgic practices that impact negatively on African women's identities. The paper advocates the portrayal of women characters positively in African literature, instead of the prevalent 'otherisation' that can be seen in most existing African texts through an extensive textual analysis; and as evident is some works of Chinua Achebe, Onuora Nzekwu and others which do not only castigate polygamy, but also failtorecommend it to anyone concerned. The assertion made is that scholars and writers need to be conscientised on the role of literature as a tool of fossilizing the negative while playing its role of educating, informing and entertaining the public, with respect to the portrayals of African women.
Keywords: Polygamy, Polygyny, African Women, Cultural Artefacts, African Literature.
Introduction
Polygamy is the blanket term used to describe any form of multiple marriage, perhaps with the exception of bigamy, in that bigamy can occur without some partners knowing, while polygamy generally is classified by all partners knowingly being involved in a multiple marriage. Similarly, while polygamy is often thought of as applying to a man with multiple wives or "polygyny," it also can include a woman with multiple husbands, or "polyandry."
Polygyny is much more widely practiced around the world and has its basis more in survival than in religion such as in Islam, which only served to codify the practice where a man is permitted to marry up to four wives. When women are prohibited from working, the task of caring for them falls on the men, and thus the system to dispense of excess amount of females in a tribe, became polygyny. It also serves to bolster the number of surviving children. If a tribe has fewer males, they can split their time between multiple females, thus increasing tribe numbers and the amount of viable offspring that might reasonably grow up and prosper. Societies that restrict women often show this practice, since it puts women into an acceptable "marriage" even if there are not enough available men to be matched to women.
This practice is widespread, growing and thriving in African communities. The African social-realist novel especially when it is woman-authored, creates...