2.5 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NAMING?
2.5.2 IN AFRICA
In Africa as was reflected by various scholars the responsibility to name the newborn is often given to the father of the newborn. Biyela (2013:16) says, “The naming of a newborn is a vital rite of passage in many cultures and members of the community often congregate at the newborn’s home to congratulate both parents and to witness the official naming of the newborn.” Saarelma-Maunumaa (1999) reports that among the Ovombo of Namibia the father of the newborn bestows its name during a ceremony known as ‘eluko’.
Suzman (1994) says that among the Zulu all community members come with presents to give the child. Koopman and Zungu (2013) say that it is generally acknowledged that naming among the Zulu is a communal event and not just about the parents of the child and the individual child being named. They say that this is reflected in a well-known Zulu saying ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’ (a person is a person because of other people). Others also come to name the child but it is the principle that there should be a specific name coming from the child’s father. During the ceremony which will be punctuated with beer drinking the father gives thanks and then takes up the child to give it the name he wants his child to be called by and then he kisses the child.
Bryant (1949:613) quoted by Biyela also describes what he had observed in the official Zulu naming ceremony:
“While a fragrant odor was rising from the hearth (whereon an impepo plant was burning) and beer has been set before former midwives, the father and grandfather entered the hut to see the newborn baby, to congratulate its mother, and to feast…And Maziyana raised the infant in his hands and gave it a smacking kiss…When later, friendly neighbors flocked in to offer their congratulations, one of the first things they did, was to ask the baby’s name. Maziyana replied, uPumeni.
After the biological father of the child has publicly pronounced his child’s ‘true’ name then the entire house will applaud with great excitement. Bryant (1949) is of the idea that the father
46 was responsible for bestowing a name on a newborn baby’. Such insights are going to help the current study for it wants to establish examine the source of gendered names.
From Angola, the husband is given the honor to name the newborn and it also emerges that Ovimbundu women’s names convey thought patterns of a people. Makondo (2013) says among the Huli and the Wiru people of Guinea, naming is predominantly done by the father of the newborn.In addition, the Nyoro people of Uganda, being a patriarchal society, also give priority to men in the naming process
Nuessel (1992:3) says, “Those who give names often occupy positions of power and authority in their families.”Among the Zezuru, the person with power and authority in the family is usually the father. Nuessel quotes Bosmajian (1974a) who found out in his research that the ability to name is an important sign of power in society. Peter (2010) says that when you are named by someone who is in a powerful position socially, economically and politically it is most likely that the name-giver is always likely to exert some control over the existence of the person whom he or she will have named. Alford (1987) and Herbert (1999) say literature on naming seems to indicate that fathers are more likely to give names to sons and mothers are more likely to give names to daughters.The same scenario is found among the Zezuru where the boy child is given a lot of respect at the expense of the girl child. The views by these scholars on who is responsible for naming helped this research in that it gave a clue on why there are gendered names among the Zezuru. The reason might lie with the people who do the naming.
Bosmajian in Nuessel (1992:3) says:
“The power that comes from names and naming is related directly to the power to define others, individual race, sexes, ethnic groups. Our identities, who and what we are, how others see us, are greatly affected by the names we are called and the words with which we are labeled.”
While Bosmajian looks at the power that comes with naming in as far as they differentiate individuals on race, sexes and ethnic lines, the present research will want to find out how Zezuru personal names do reflect the gender status of their name bearers.
Among the Shona, in Zimbabwe, just like in other African societies, the naming of a newborn was predominantly a privilege given to the biological father. It was the right of the father to name the newborn. Other close relatives would take the responsibility of naming in the absence
47 of the biological father. Pfukwa (2007:45) states that the naming of a newborn has to be officiated over by the head of the household, who has an authoritative responsibility to tell the society about the newborn. Batoma (2009:19) adds that, as being a ‘family priest’, the father had to respectfully,” commit himself to his child’s metaphysical origins, mission in society and his or her personal development” for a communal approval of respect for and compliance with the social rules. Batoma (2009) goes on to say that breaching the principle of respect by the father is an unbearable shame and humiliation which might impact negatively on his personal profile and deprive him of the authorship of his child’s name. Zondi (2010) demonstrates how women from Zwelibomvu who are in polygamous unions find naming their children to be one of the strategies of dealing with what goes on on closed doors. Thus, through naming their children, they perceive themselves as empowered to have a say about their lives. In this community women are therefore given the right to name their children.
Joseph (2005) points that being named is “enacted identity” which is most relevant to the bestowal of the official name of a newborn by its father during a naming ceremony which is marked by the presence of the community who regulate the naming patterns and process. Biyela (2013:18) says, “Naming the child becomes an aspect of incorporating the child into the community of the living and the dead and also inculcating in the child a sense of acceptance related to its family and society of the living as well”. Saarelema-Maunumaa (2003:35) emphasizes that it is the father who affirm the child as a legitimate member of a group.
Pongweni’s (1983) grouping of personal names will also give direction to the present study because this study will want to know the people who were behind the naming and establish the gender status of the name givers. Kahari (1990) also built on Pongweni’s works and came up with other categories of personal names but what is very common in their researches is that the father of the child was always the main player in the naming process although other relatives could come up in the naming process. Among the Zezuru people, the naming of a newborn is normally the responsibility of the father. These, researches will be helpful in this study which is looking at how names reflect the gender status of the name bearers in that the gender status of the name bearers might have a bearing on the nature of the names,
2.6 GENDER, PATRIARCHY AND STEREOTYPING
“One is not born a woman but rather becomes one” Beauvoir (1952:249).
48 Lawson (1988) says, “Stereotyping is a general way of thinking about various objects, concepts, people, or ideas”. This way of thinking is at times subjective. Gender stereotypes are defined by Galombok and Fivus (1994) as “organised sets of beliefs about the characteristics of all members of a particular group”. Gender stereotypes according to Kwatsha (2009:130)
“Are sets of beliefs about what it means to be female or male and include information about physical appearance, attitude and interest, psychological traits, social relations and occupation? Most important, these various dimensions are interrelated; simply knowing that an individual is female implies that this person will have certain physical characteristics (soft voice, dainty, graceful actions and certain psychological traits like being nurturing, dependent, weak, emotional) and will engage in particular kinds of activities (childcare, cooking, gardening).”
Gender stereotyping is usually common in patriarchal societies.When discussing matters to do with gender stereotyping, patriarchy usually plays a very important role. In a patriarchal society like the Zezuru society which is understudy, gender stereotyping is very rampant. Pilcher and Wheelehan (2004:93) say that patriarchy literally means “rule by the male head of a social unit.” It also refers to the elder who has power over others in the social unit including other men, women and children. Feminists have used the term to refer to the social system of male domination over women Walby (1990) defines patriarchy as, “a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”. She identifies six situations in which patriarchy is often exercised namely: household production, paid work, the state, male violencend, sexuality and culture. Some of these structures especially sexuality and culture will inform this study which looks at how personal names reflect the gender status of the name bearer. Gender stereotyping is found in a cultureand it is often confused with sexuality; the two will come in handy in the discussion about the meanings of personal names in as far as they divide people along gender lines. Kambarami (2006) says that in Shona culture, patriarchal practises are so extreme that they are seen to shape and perpetuate gender inequality and strip women of any form of control over their sexuality to the extend of reducing them to the position of children in the family. According to Lightfoot-Klein (1989:47) cited by Okome, (2003:71):
“Custom in Africa is stronger than domination, stronger than the law, even stronger than religion. Over the years, customary practices have been incorporated into religion,
49 and ultimately have come to be believed by their practitioners to be demanded by their adopted gods, whoever they may be.”
Waikerdine and Lucy (1989:205) in Kambarami (2006) state that “patriarchy is not a
‘monolithic force which imposes socialisation on girls... [instead it] produces the positions for subjects to enter’. It is necessary therefore to bear in mind the notion that there are multiple discourses of masculinity and femininity”. Most of these discourses are relayed through the names which are given to individuals.The views by Kambarami (2006), Walkerdine & Lucey (1989) and Lightfoot- Klein (1989) about the power and influence of culture as enshrined in patriarchy will inform this study very much because this study which deals with how personal names can reflect the gender status of the name bearer will also be guided by the fact that the Zezuru through their personal names can as well reflect their cultural beliefs.
This gender stereotyping in most cases result in gender division of labour especially if people do differentiate their roles along gender lines. Marcus (1976) in Lawton (1988) emphasizes the power of the name stereotyping and how the perception of a name can influence the behaviour of an individual. The effect of stereotyping which comes through naming is clear. Gender stereotyping plays a major role in promoting social inequality. In life some people behave as to the dictates of their names. They even acknowledge that their way of living is greatly influenced by the meanings of their names.By doing so they will be creating a boundary between themselves and others (male and female). Among the Zezuru personal names are often used to communicate these gender differences.
Several empirical investigations have been carried out with the aim of finding out the relationship between naming and stereotyping. In Britain, Sheppard (1963) in Lawson (1988) confirmed the earlier work of Schoenfeld who looked at first names. Wober (1970) in Lawson (1988) looked at stereotypes of personality characteristics associated with some first names by English school girls. Stereotypes of names have at times been used in relation tothephysical appearance of the name bearer. Garwood, Cox, Kaplan, & Sulzer (1980) in Lawson (1988) proved that in the study on the choice of a campus beauty queen and it was found that a candidate with a beautiful first name received more votes. Results from this research come in handy for this study for it is showing that there are names which can be gendered.
50 Bruning and Husa (1973) in Lawson (1988) proved that children can rate names as early as the third grade. Busse and Helfrich (1975) showed the influence of name stereotypes with children in grades 2-11. Knechtel (1973) in Lawson (1988) was able to conclude that first names of college students can influence life roles of these college students to alarge extent. Marcus (1976) in Lawson (1988) proved that name stereotype has a great influence on the name bearer and how the perception of a name can change the behaviour toward the bearer of that name.
The investigation of Harari and McDavid (1973) in Lawson (1988) is very relevant to the current study which looks at how personal names among the Zezuru people in Buhera South reflect the gender status of the name bearer. Harari and McDavid (1973) in Lawson (1988) created a platform where essays allegedly written by ten-year- olds were graded. Each paper had attached the name of a conjured author depending upon the design of the project. It came out that essays which received higher grades were those with desirable names.These findings save to show that the meaning of a name has a lot in it. It can put you on an advantage or it can pull you down depending on its meaning. This research goes further than what was covered by these various scholars by looking at how personal names can reflect the gender status of the name bearer.
Garwood (1976) in Lawson (1988) carried out a research were teachers branded boys’ names as either desirable or undesirable. From the research, it came out that higher marks on objective measures of achievement and personality were significantly higher for those with names which were grouped as desirable. Nelson (1977) in Lawson (1988) was able to confirm Garwood’s research findings with women college students, but not with men. Busse and Seraydarian (1978) in Lawson (1988) established and confirmed significant correlations in elementary and secondary school children between name appeal and school vigilance, IQ, and attainment.
These researches are very insightful to the current research as they show that certain names can place a certain gender group at an advantage or disadvantage in various spheres of life. From the researches it also came out that there are names which are regarded as good and some bad and that stereotyping which comes as a result of certain names can also result can in behaviour change on the part of the name bearer and the way other people views and associate with the name bearer. Such ideas will also inform this study which is looking at naming and gender.
Treichler and Krammarae (1985) view gender as a social construction organized around biological sex. They go on to say that individuals are born eithermale or female, but they acquire over time a gender identity, that is what it means to be male or female and this is usually
51 acquired through socialization. This definition implies that there are two different kinds of relationship between two genders (masculine and feminine) and that between gender and society. Oyewumi (2011) says, “Social differences between males and females are located in social practices and not simply in biological facts”. Research has shown that differences interms of gender cannot be confined to nature but rather it is historical. In this respect the patriarchal aspect comes into play. This patriarchal aspect is the one which brings about gender stereotyping which is enhanced through personal naming among the Zezuru and is at the core of this present research.
Given the fact that gender is a society’s interpretation of maleness and femaleness that society will determine what should be male and female characteristics and roles, Hatfield (2000) says that girls and boys growing up in that society are therefore, encouraged to adopt these characteristics and to fulfill these roles. They will be rewarded for being appropriately feminine or masculine and this in turn helps to reinforce their behaviour. Hatfield (2000) goes on to define gender as that package of expectations which a society associates with each sex. In the Western society, which is predominantly Judeo- Christian, characteristics which are valued as male are assertiveness, dominance, aggression and logic. These kinds of behavior are nurtured in play and study, just as compassion, cooperation and emotion are rewarded in girls. Whilst a person might be born into a particular sex, people acquire and are socialized into a set of behaviors and characteristics which constitutes gender. Because socialization informs everything that we do and experience, such as through school, the media and community organizations, it has pervasive long-term effects which cross generations. Socialization among the Zezuru is made possible at times through personal names given to individuals at birth.
Showalter in Bannon and Correia (2006) says, “Gender was in use within the Anglo-Saxon discourse to stand for the social, cultural, and psychological meaning imposed upon biological sexual identity”. Oyewumi (2005) also says “gender refers to the non-physiological aspects of sex, a group of attributes and/or behaviors, shaped by society and culture that are defined as appropriate for the male and female sexuality”. The two definitions points to the same idea that gender is a social construction. Feminist theory views gender as an important category of analysis, one with cultural, political, anthropological, historical and other implications, depending on what on what aspects of gender the theorist is most interested in elucidating. For some feminists, gender is a system of meanings within cultures used to categorize male and sexuality in hierarchical terms. These feminists dispute that men supported by patriarchal
52 ideologies control women’s reproductive and sexual capacities to such an extent that, women are esnared by their biological anatomy and by a dogma of compulsory heterosexuality. This assertion seems to be in line with the Zezuru set up were men are at the apex in determining the values to be observed by entire society. In the Zezuru society, men call the shots in as far as determining what is to be adhered to by the society at large. This study will be looking at how personal names can reflect gender differences among the Zezuru people.
Muhwati (2004) views gender as mainly used when refering to socially given attributes, roles, activities and responsibilities connected to being a male or a female in any given society. He goes on to say that gender relations refer to relations between men as a sex and women as a sex as well. Oyewumi (2011) realised that in most societies gender has been seen as a play of power relations between men and women that offers men’s and women’s activities as public and domestic respectively. Such a mentality has been seen as a major reason why the organization of production and labor being turned into male and female categories thus giving rise to division of labour along gender lines. This way of thinking is strongly reflected in the Zezuru naming trends. These definitions of gender are pointing to the fact that gender is a creation by society and as such society can create gender through the names given to boys and girls. These definitions on gender will obviously give direction to the present study which is looking at how personal names given to individuals reflect their gender status.
Bannon and Correia (2006) say a central premise of gender and development discourse since the 1970s has been the way in which women are dominated by men through the use of power gien to them by the patriarchal set up resulting in inequalities, discrimination, and the subordination of women. Gender as a way through which certain social structures and authority give men power over women, is found to be a major cause for the marginalization of women in various circles of life. Momsen (2004) views gender as a socially acquired notion of masculinity by which women and men are identified. Momsen (2004) goes on to add that gender identifies and is flexible therefore it is prone to change. Giddens (2009) also views gender as one of the reasons why there are different social roles and identities between men and women. It has been that differences in terms of gender are never neutral and that gender is one of those forms of social stratification which perpetuates inequality between men and women. Giddens (2009:614) says, “Gender is regarded a critical factor in structuring the types of opportunities and life chances faced by individuals and groups, and strongly influences the roles they play within social institutions from household to the state”. In light of such assertion this research is poised to assess the extent to which names given to individuals in Zezuru society