longwe&clarke1990

Longwe, Sara [Hlupekile] & Roy Clarke: Woman Know your Place. The Patriarchal Message in Zambian Popular Song. A Research Report from the Women in Music Project. Lusaka: Zambian Association for Research and Development, 1990. Reprint 1998. iii & 269 p. In English. Songs in Bemba, Nyanja, Senga, Tonga, and Tumbuka with parallel English translations. ISBN 9982-818-27-9

CONTENTS

Preface i
The researchers ii
List of tables iii

Introduction 1

1. The song of the male moraliser 15
Who is singing about whom 15
The portrayal of antagonism 19
The extent of moralising 20
Support for matrimony 23

2. The explicit image: woman as trouble 27
The gender division of misbehavior 27
The gender division as the source of marital problems 30

3. Recognising the underlying rules of gender relationships 33
The distinction between subject and object 33
The songs’ hidden agenda 36
Subject-object analysis of song performance 37
Positive and negative subjects 39
Overall analysis of song content 41

4. The songs’ patriarchal message: Woman know your place 45
Explicit and implicit male chauvinism 45
The image of the single woman 47
The image of the married woman 51
Contradictory examples of independent women 53
The image of the male singer  55
The image of the misbehaving man 56
The image as ideological message 59

5. Coercion and ideology in the service of patriarchy 61
Persuasion versus coercion 61
The song as coercive message 61
The problem of legitimation 63

6. The implications of the message 67
The ideological importance of the song 67
The domestic position of women 68
The implications for action 69

7. The extent of public awareness 73
Investigation of attitudes in three different areas 73
Listeners’ attitudes 74
Musicians’ attitudes 76
Press treatment 81

References 86

Appendices 87
A: Glossary of terms used 87
B: Findings from the attitude questionnaire 93
C: Example of an interview with a musician 102
D: Song texts (Vernacular and English) 103
E: List of song titles 265