Between Elkanah And The Contemporary Male: History, Her(Story) And The Demythification Of Otherness In Osammor\'s <i>The Triumph Of The Water Lily</i>

Abstract

he insistence on social construction of roles for the sexes has for centuries privileged the male human person while the female is conceived as the Other. This work examines the concept of otherness and uses Stella Osammor's The Triumph of the Water Lily to propose a new direction for gender relations in Africa.

KEY WORDS: Elkanah: The husband of Hannah and Penninah in 1 Samuel, Chapter one. He represents the male legacy in literature or the male response to reality.

Myths:The beliefs and norms of a people which are often exploited by the status quo to oppress or marginalize a segment of the society.

Demythify: The process of explaining, destroying and correcting the falsehood which goes with myths.

Otherness: The act of conferring a second class status on a person and the insistence on confining that individual to the realm of irrationality.

Sex Difference: The use of biological differences between male and female to fragment humanity along gender roles.

Global Journal of Humanities Vol.3(1&2) 2004: 39-44