A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender Representation in Selected Ekegusii Contemporary Songs

Abstract

The study focused on a Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender representation in selected Ekegusii Contemporary songs. It examined how language is used to portray men and women in Ekegusii contemporary songs. Moreover, the study investigated the similarities and differences in the representation of gender by both female and male singers. The study highlighted the representation of the females and males by a female artist Tabby Okeng‘o and a male band Bana Sungusia band. The thematic concerns analysed include education, leadership, immorality, family responsibility love, exploitation, women as insolent, women as materialistic, women as economically disempowered and profession. Further, the similarities and differences in the representation of gender by male and female singer in their songs under social, economic and political issues were analysed. The analysis of linguistic devices that are used to represent men and women in Ekegusii contemporary songs was done like parallelism,code-mixing,hyperbole,rhetorical-questions,enumeration,epipher and synaesthea. The researcher found out that, Tabby Okeng‟o has presented modern women as civilized due to schooling and some are in leadership positions in the community. She also portrays men that they are equally contributing to both domestic and community development. She calls for sanity and ridicules both men and women who are not embracing the modern changes. Bana Sungusia on the other hand portrays modern women as people who have been affected by modernization hence interfering with the fablic of the community which has led to family breakages. They associate men with high status in the community like being bosses. However, they ridicule both men and women who are doing contrary to the expectation of the community.