NARRATIVES OF IDENTITY, POWER AND GENDER: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI’S WIVES BY LOLA SHONEYIN

Abstract

African literature has a long history of interrogating the intersections of identity, gender and power, frequently bringing polygamy to the center of women's negotiation of their roles and agency. In her book, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, Lola Shoneyin provides a satirical but impactful commentary on patriarchy by highlighting the contradictions of male power and the strategies women use to survive being wives in a polygamous context. This study has used Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model to investigate how discourses of gender, identity and power are created as well as how women in the text negotiate survival, resistance and agency. The text was examined closely paying attention to language, imagery and silences that illustrated the ideological underpinnings. The analysis has found that even when the authority of Baba Segi was premised on traditional ideas of virility and wealth, his authority was tenuous and undermined by illiteracy, lack of fertility and ignorance. Conversely, the wives have obtained agency through economic control, silence, manipulations and education. These discursive negotiations speak to women’s multiplicity of identity in polygamous contexts and demonstrate women’s resilience to patriarchal control. The study ultimately has demonstrated how Shoneyin’s work serves both as a critique of gender inequality and an example of women’s ingenuity, contributing to a rich coral of African feminist literary discourse.