MOTHERING AND THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE FEMALE BODY: matriarcal centrality in “The Joys of Motherhood” by Buchi Emecheta

Abstract

The scope of this review aims to reflect on the social construction of the Nigerian African woman, influenced by the Igbo ideal of motherhood and the natural use of women's bodies for this purpose. We focus on the correlation between female characters, whose lives are interweaved in the cultural context, and the challenges they face with British colonization. Through critical and qualitative study, we seek to understand the bodily, subjective, and interpersonal transformations that compose Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta's writing in The Joys of Motherhood, a novel first published in 1979. It is evident that the author emphasizes the naturalized imposition on women's bodies, presenting them as having the vital strength to bring forth other lives. The analysis allows for a certain displacement of the author's fleeting memories, as the book's title connects with her own history, highlighting the positive side. However, the oppressive and violent surroundings, along with the questioning, silenced by the specified culture, are also emphasized. In the act of writing itself, the maternal role sparks discussions that cut across gender, prompting us to consider ethnic-racial, feminine, and bodily intersections, among other aspects. In this sense, the results obtained in this maternity workshop, although set in an African country, exhibit some similarities with the Western world that constructed the concept of the ideal woman and mother.