Abìyamọ (Constructive Mothering) and Abiyaya (Destructive Mothering): Dynamics of Gendered Parenting in a Globalised Yorùbáland and Indigenous Feminism
Abìyamọ (Constructive Mothering) and Abiyaya (Destructive Mothering): Dynamics of Gendered Parenting in a Globalised Yorùbáland and Indigenous Feminism

Summary/Abstract: Using the notions of abìyamọ and abiyaya, we examined the dynamics of gendered parenting in a globalised Yorùbáland and indigenous feminism, basically as encapsulated in Yorùbá orature. More often than not, parental mannerism and ethical instruction among the Yorùba is dispassionately imbued with gender control. Yorùbá orature is replete with proverbial directives that epitomise parental nobility in constructive child training. A parent is either referred to as abìyamọ, when the child is adequately trained or abiyaya, which is a derogatory connotation of the term abìyamọ to depict the antithesis. The authors elucidate that although abìyamọ grammatically applied as a feminine term, it can be used to represent all genders and also is not limited to fecundity. Several theories and viewpoints attempt to explain the multidimensional process of motherhood and child training. In this paper, we purposefully adopted the feminist theories of motherhood and the Durkheimian socio religious analysis of religion to interrogate data. It was concluded that the ethics of abìyamọ must be upheld and sustained in order for the vast majority of social evils associated with globalising influences to be ameliorated.

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