What is it about?
The study is about how female disputants in managing communicatively difficult speech acts such as disagreements, complaint narratives, requests, and denials, employ communicative strategies that differ from those of men. We discovered that despite the fact Akan language ideology assumes that women are not as communicatively competent as men in juridical genres, women often gain advantage over men in the customary courts because female and male disputants use language differently and for different purposes.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The study educates us about the interlacing of/between language, law and gender. Particularly, it teaches us about how and the extent to which Akan customary juridical discourse is influenced by the sociopolitical and cultural contexts in which the discourse takes place, as well as language and cultural ideologies, participants' goals, and intended outcomes.
Perspectives
We gained so much traditional knowledge and wisdom about Akan jurisprudence and how those who access justice through the traditional courts (also referred to as Native Courts or Customary Courts) 'negotiate' justice via the lenses of power, wit and language use.
Distinguished Professor Samuel Gyasi Obeng
Indiana University System
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Women's Voices in Akan Juridical Discourse, Africa Today, January 2002, Indiana University Press,
DOI: 10.1353/at.2002.0008.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
