The Woman the Child and the World An Ethnographic Study of Buchi Emecheta s Select Works

Abstract

This doctoral thesis captures the native cultural elements in select works of Buchi Emecheta, and provides an overview of an ethnographic study of Igbo community. Each chapter of this thesis analyzes Igbo women, children and men in her works, and shows how they represent their native culture. The study finalizes that although these characters deviate to western culture at some point of time in their life, they eventually return to their native culture and tradition and finally seek solace in their tribal life. Emecheta incorporates various myths and rituals, through which she shows that her works pertain to the cultural setting of Igbo society and its people. Thus, her works can be considered as apt representations of Igbo culture and hence perfect illustrations for an ethnographic study. The researcher s interpretations as a non-native Igbo form an integral part of this thesis creation. These interpretations are consciously cultivated while re-reading Emecheta s novels. The works of Buchi Emecheta play an integral part in its goal to make an accurate description of the cultural life of an ethnic community like Igbos. Unlike other ethnographic studies, Emecheta s works do this through an intriguing blend of characters and plot. newlineThis raises a number of questions which mirror the broader research problem: What is the relationship between ethnographic literature and the cultural reality? How does the experience of an individual observer get converted to facts in literary works? What is the evidence for it to be real? And what are the codes and processes the readers use to construct the cultural realities described in novels? In an attempt to answer these questions, the researcher analyses the women, children and men in Emecheta s works. newlineThus, through Emecheta s works, an understanding of Igbo culture is possible. The main objective of the present thesis is to interpret Emecheta s novels as a material for an ethnographic study. The eloquent authorial voice, the consistency of the characters and their culture,..