AAS 17 Lecture 2: 1-17-18
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
1/17/18 – Film Discussion
Characters
• Amaka
o Main character
• Nonso
o Amaka’s husband
• Nonso’s mother
• Chima
o 2nd wife-to-be of Nonso
o Nonso’s mother wants Nonso to marry Chima. Circumstances changed of why Nonso
should marry Chima changed after Nonso’s younger brother dies. Nonso is the last male
heir and his mother wants him to have a son to carry on the name.
• Ijeoma
o Amaka’s and Nonso’s daughter
o From the beginning she rejects sisterhood. She wants a brother b/c grandma says its
better and she wants the better thing. Doesn’t want a sister b/c doesn’t want to share
her things.
▪ Girls are taught at a young age that boys are better and that every girl for
themselves.
• Joy
o In-and-out surrogate mother
B for Boy
• Set in Nigeria, and shows Igbo ethnic group.
• Movie is fictional but many women are desperate in real life for male heirs or children and will
do almost anything to have a child.
o Pressure for a male heir is very real.
• Consanguinal relationships always trump conjugal relationships.
o Why Nonso did not put his foot down when his mother brought Chima.
• Patriarchy will not disappear just b/c they live in the city and away from the village. Patriarchy
still exists b/c women don’t see e/o on the same side.
• Film getting us to look how the burdens of patriarchy depend not only on the males, but on
women not working together and seeing e/o as the enemy.
Polygamy
• Historically, Africa has high rates of polygamy.
• If patriarchy is responsible for polygamy, why don’t we see similar rates of polygamy
everywhere? If not the same everywhere that means something else is going on. Maybe
different impacts of patriarchy or different challenges. Patriarchy is not the sole answer.
• Need to understand what marriage is to get a sense of why we have different kinds of marriages
in different places.
Document Summary
Characters: amaka, main character, nonso, a(cid:373)aka"s hus(cid:271)a(cid:374)d, no(cid:374)so"s (cid:373)other, chima, 2nd wife-to-be of nonso, no(cid:374)so"s (cid:373)other (cid:449)a(cid:374)ts no(cid:374)so to (cid:373)arr(cid:455) chi(cid:373)a. cir(cid:272)u(cid:373)sta(cid:374)(cid:272)es (cid:272)ha(cid:374)ged of (cid:449)h(cid:455) no(cid:374)so should (cid:373)arr(cid:455) chi(cid:373)a (cid:272)ha(cid:374)ged after no(cid:374)so"s (cid:455)ou(cid:374)ger (cid:271)rother dies. No(cid:374)so is the last (cid:373)ale heir and his mother wants him to have a son to carry on the name. Ijeoma: a(cid:373)aka"s a(cid:374)d no(cid:374)so"s daughter, from the beginning she rejects sisterhood. Polygamy: historically, africa has high rates of polygamy. If not the same everywhere that means something else is going on. Maybe different impacts of patriarchy or different challenges. Patriarchy is not the sole answer: need to understand what marriage is to get a sense of why we have different kinds of marriages in different places. Marriage: human societies marry even when there is no love, marriage is a universal institution. Rethinking marriage: sex, love, and marriage are related.
