Excerpts of Adulations for Womanhood in Robert Ebizimor’s Songs: A Cultural Feminist Perspective

Abstract

Songs by Robert Ebizimor, an Izọn indigenous popular poet, is believed to be inclined towards addressing issues of women’s suppression and devaluation in society. However, his songs have since remained unexplored by scholars through this particular perspective. This paper focuses on investigating the treatment of women in selected songs by the singer. Through the qualitative analytical method, the paper carefully looks at images and ideas built around women, and seeks to explain how the images help the women course. Anchored on the theory of feminism, with specific reliance on the cultural feminist mode, the paper reveals that the songs are dominated by a strong feeling of opposition to the devaluation and denigration of women, noticed in the positive imaging, exaltation and a strong preference for the life, nature and role of the female sex over the male. It argues that this is based on a thoughtful re-examination of well-known potentials women are endowed with, dismissing premeditated and bias assumptions of patriarchy. The paper, therefore, demonstrates, conclusively, that the songs embody efforts aimed at the revaluation of women towards valuing and commanding respect for the agency of the totality of womanhood.