Discourse on Gender: Historical Contingency and the Ethics of Intellectual Work

Abstract

The family being the primary social unit in the African community structure, discussion of matters pertaining to it must be carried out with some seriousness and due regard for its integrity. Gender relations, the manner in which men relate to women and vice versa, is one such matter, one that has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Like discussions on other aspects of African life that on gender and family relations has been subject to assumptions, intentional or otherwise, of modern Western normativity, the assumption that the modern Western way is the correct way and all others are malignancies. Moreover, examinations African relational practices and their rationales too often tend to be undertaken from already constituted positions that predetermine the nature of the findings.