Proverbs, power, and the feminine: A literary-discourse study of imaginaries of womanhood in selected Akan proverbs

Journal of Language, Literature, Social, and Cultural Studies, Volume 4 Number 1 (Mar 2026), p. 1-11 e-ISSN: 2986-4461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.58881/jllscs.v2i2 https://ympn.co.id/index.php/JLLSCS Proverbs, power, and the feminine: A literary-discourse study of imaginaries of womanhood in selected Akan proverbs Anthony Kwarteng Addai-Amoah Department of Arts Education, Faculty of Education, Catholic University of Ghana Email: Email: Abstract - Proverbs, as key forms of Akan oral literature, are not merely wise sayings but cultural texts that use literary-discursive strategies such as metaphor, imagery, symbolism, simile, hyperbole, and mystification to encode gender ideologies. This study examined how women are portrayed in selected Akan proverbs through a feminist literary-discourse approach. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from published Akan proverb collections and oral accounts of two Akan elders. The proverbs were grouped thematically into four categories: women as dependents, as dangerous figures, as custodians of lineage, and as ambivalent beings. The findings show that Akan proverbs present women in paradoxical ways — at once central to lineage and family, yet also portrayed as dependent, dangerous, or subordinate. From a literary perspective, the study shows how figurative language functions as a discursive strategy that both conceals and reinforces power relations. However, feminist reinterpretation of these metaphors and symbols opens possibilities for reclaiming proverbs as tools of empowerment rather than subjugation. The study concludes that Akan proverbs are a contested site where cultural memory, literary artistry, and gender ideologies meet. It recommends that educators, scholars, and cultural custodians preserve proverbs and encourage reinterpretations that affirm the dignity and agency of women. Keywords: Akan proverbs; African oral literature; feminist literary discourse; gender representation; patriarchy; metaphor and symbolism; women in literature; discourse analysis 1. Introduction Proverbs, as repositories of communal wisdom, play a crucial role in shaping and reflecting cultural values, social norms, and gendered expectations within African societies (Finnegan, 2003; Mieder, 2004). In the Akan oral tradition, proverbs are not mere embellishments of speech but authoritative statements that encode societal ideologies and regulate behavior (Appiah, Appiah & Agyeman-Duah, 2001; Dundes, 1980). These proverbial expressions often embody deeply entrenched perceptions of masculinity and femininity, thereby sustaining patriarchal power structures and influencing gender relations across generations (Oduyoye, 1979; Hussein, 2005). As Achebe (1960) observed in his reflection on Igbo culture, “proverbs are the palm oil This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 1 Journal of Language, Literature, Social, and Cultural Studies, Volume 4 Number 1 (Mar 2026), p. 1-11 e-ISSN: 2986-4461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.58881/jllscs.v2i2 https://ympn.co.id/index.php/JLLSCS with which words are eaten,” underscoring their centrality to African modes of communication and worldviews. Scholars have demonstrated that, like many African communities, Akan proverbs are highly gendered. They often portray men as rational leaders, providers, and custodians of authority, while women are represented as dependent, submissive, or even disruptive to social order (Diabah & Amfo, 2015; Gyan, Abbey & Baffoe, 2020). Studies such as Mariwah et al. (2023) and Diabah & Amfo (2018) have shown how proverbs sustain hegemonic masculinities, while others (Hussein, 2009; Anderson, 2012) show how women across Africa are discursively constructed as either domestic caretakers or as threats when they transgress social boundaries. Therefore, the Akan proverb tradition is a fertile site for interrogating how language functions as a vehicle of power, gender ideology, and cultural reproduction (Fairclough, 1992; Baxter, 2003; Sunderland, 2004). Despite these important contributions, much of the scholarship has privileged analyses of masculinity (Mariwah et al., 2023; Connell, 2005) or examined proverbs mainly as reflections of patriarchy without sustained attention to how women’s representation can be reinterpreted through a feminist literary-discursive lens. For instance, Diabah and Amfo (2015) explored women’s depictions as “caring supporters or daring usurpers,” while Gyan et al. (2020) linked proverbial discourse to broader systems of patriarchy. However, these studies tend to either foreground masculinity or approach women’s roles only as secondary reflections of male-centred narratives. What is missing is a focused feminist critical discourse analysis that brings women to the centre of inquiry, not as passive subjects of proverbial wisdom, but as discursively constructed figures whose representations reveal the deeper dynamics of gender, power, and cultural identity. This study, therefore, sets itself apart by combining feminist literary criticism (Guerin et al., 1992; Lazar, 2007) with critical discourse analysis (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002) to interrogate how Akan proverbs frame and fix the identities of women within oral literature. Unlike previous works that emphasise proverbs as linguistic or cultural artefacts, this research treats them as literary texts whose figurative, metaphorical, and narrative dimensions must be unpacked to reveal hidden gender ideologies (Honeck, 1997; Cameron, 2005). In so doing, the study highlights the dual role of proverbs: as instruments of 2ategorized2o (Grant & Asimeng-Boahene, 2006; Okrah, 2003) and as contested sites where feminist reinterpretations can challenge patriarchal meanings. This study uses Moral or Ethical Criticism, especially in its Neo-Aristotelian form, as its theoretical framework. This approach, based on Aristotle’s ideas of poetics and rhetoric, sees literature not just as art but as a tool for teaching moral lessons, shaping character, and guiding ethical behaviour (Shen, 2013; Ford, 1993). Neo-Aristotelian criticism builds on these classical ideas and applies them to modern contexts, showing how story, structure, symbols, and the author’s intentions can communicate ethical messages and encourage readers to reflect on virtue and right conduct (Gregory, 2010; Zhang, 2024). An important idea in this framework is collective phronesis, or practical wisdom. It suggests that literature, including oral forms like proverbs, can model ethical reasoning for everyday life (Kristjánsson, 2022). Texts can guide people to act responsibly, support community values, and live ethically. Neo-Aristotelian criticism also considers the relationship between the implied author, the audience, and the historical and cultural context, showing that moral meaning comes from how texts are r (...truncated)