Female Early-Marriage in Nigeria: A Poststructuralist Feminist Reading of Social Disability inTume’s “Not That Woman”

Abstract

This study aims to explore and offer a deep understanding of female experiences of disability in Nigeria as portrayed in Tusin Jobi-Tume’s play Not That Woman (2019). It inspects the social as well as the physical aspects of disability that female characters encounter in the play pertaining to the cultural practice of early marriage. In Nigeria, this long-standing custom denies girls their fundamental right to acquire formal education, imprisons, and silences their bodies, and most importantly prevents them from becoming active and independent agents in mainstream society. Therefore, this study argues that the cultural practice of early female marriage, which is motivated by traditional, economic, and legal systems in Nigeria, is a disabling practice. It also investigates the intersection between early-marriage and poverty in this setting as the latter becomes the major drive behind this practice. Moreover, since the present study employs a feminist approach to scrutinize female experiences of disablement in the play, the French Poststructuralist feminist Helene Cixous’ theory of ‘feminine writing’ is applied to explain how the disabled and silenced young Nigerian girls use their imprisoned bodies to restore their voices and speak a language that is typically feminine in revolt against their repressive patriarchal society.dy aims to explore and offer a deep understanding of female experiences of disability in Nigeria as portrayed in Tusin Jobi-Tume’s play Not That Woman (2019). It inspects the social as well as the physical aspects of disability that female characters encounter in the play pertaining to the cultural practice of early marriage. In Nigeria, this long-standing custom denies girls their fundamental right to acquire formal education, imprisons, and silences their bodies, and most importantly prevents them from becoming active and independent agents in mainstream society. Therefore, this study argues that the cultural practice of early female marriage, which is motivated by traditional, economic, and legal systems in Nigeria, is a disabling practice. It also investigates the intersection between early-marriage and poverty in this setting as the latter becomes the major drive behind this practice. Moreover, since the present study employs a feminist approach to scrutinize female experiences of disablement in the play, the French Poststructuralist feminist Helene Cixous’ theory of ‘feminine writing’ is applied to explain how the disabled and silenced young Nigerian girls use their imprisoned bodies to restore their voices and speak a language that is typically feminine in revolt against their repressive patriarchal society.