Patriarchal ideologies and female un-femininities in a contemporary feminist writing: A gender-oriented and critical discourse analysis perspective

Abstract

Drawing on the Critical Discourse Analysis grid put forth by scholars such as Van Dijk (2001a&b, 2004, 2006), Fairclough (1989, 1995, 2001, 2003), Van Leeuwen (1996, 2008), Meyer (2001), Caldas-Coulthard & Coulthard (1996), Wodak (2001), the current paper exuded how institutional social power is deployed to naturalize ideologies as common sense or common knowledge in a sample text drawn from a contemporary feminist novel, notably Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come (2006). It also tried to unravel how, through discursive structures and properties, the womenfolk resist or/and transgresses the established sociocultural norms and conventional ideologies as regards gender, role assignment and power. Finally, it advocated the view that only gender-balanced power relations between men and women can ensure a fair social justice and peaceful society.

Key Words: Critical Discourse Analysis, feminism, gender, ideology, patriarchy, power