Citation: Abdullahi, B. & Soba, M.G. (2026). Gender Role Interpellation in Hausa Traditional Drama: Wasan 'Yar Tsana as a Case. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 5(2), 115-121. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2026.v05i02.013.
GENDER ROLE INTERPELLATION IN HAUSA TRADITIONAL DRAMA: WASAN
'YAR TSANA AS A CASE
BY
Bala Abdullahi
and
Mubarak Galadima
Soba
Department of Hausa, Federal University
Dustinma
+2348033961626
galadima.mubarak46@gmail.com
Abstract
Societies tend to imbibe and inculcate different ideologies
through several media, as ideology does not operate in a vacuum. Since ideology
refers to that human condition under which people operate as conscious actors,
it becomes a veritable medium through which human consciousness works; as such,
our conception of religion, politics, morality, art and science is deeply
influenced by our ideology. Louis Althusser, in his theory of interpellation,
explains how societies are subject to various ideologies through what he refers
to as Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). These ISAs, such as the religious
ISA, educational ISA, the political ISA and the cultural ISA, are veritable
tools that subject people consciously or unconsciously, thereby creating an
identity for them. The cultural ISAs, which include the family, educational and
religious institutions like the mosques and churches, are responsible for
inculcating morals, norms and values in the society to which people are
expected to accept. These cultural ISAs also spell out gender roles according
to the tenets of the society. Men and women, boys and girls grow up with the
ideas of the kinds of roles they are expected to perform, and anything contrary
will be termed as unacceptable. It is against this backdrop that this paper
argues that the ‘Yar Tsana traditional performance, which functions as a
cultural ISA subject, little girls to gender roles like nurturing babies,
cooking, other house chores and general home management. The paper exploits the
content analysis approach to establish that the Hausa Traditional Drama- ‘Yar
Tsana, which is performed by little girls of Hausa extraction, depicts gender
roles that are an exclusive preserve of the female gender in the Hausa society.
Keywords: Gender Role, Interpellation, Traditional Drama, ‘Yar
Tsana
1.0 Introduction
Gender roles are actually the responsibilities that are
assigned to the male and female genders in society. These roles differ
according to the norms and values of a particular society, as what a particular
society will term as an unacceptable role for a particular gender may be
acceptable to another. In the African setup, gender roles are quite homogeneous
as men are naturally expected to go out and work to provide for their families,
and men are expected to act and dress in a certain way that portrays and recognises
their gender. The men are also seen as the leaders and protectors of the female
gender. Also, the African society stipulates that women are the managers and
maintainers of the homes, they bear children and nurture them as well as
performing house chores like cooking, washing, cleaning and the general care of
the house. In other climes, these roles are not mutually exclusive, as men
could perform the roles that are termed as female roles and vice versa.
However, in the Hausa socio-political and socioeconomic
setup, gender roles are strictly adhered to, and this could be evident in the
literature of the people. The Hausa Traditional Drama embodies the philosophy,
the worldview and even the cultural sensitivities of the Hausa people. Wasan
‘Yar Tsana is a traditional Hausa drama which is performed by little girls
between the ages of 5-10, depicting how a young girl performs the roles of
nurturing her baby, engaging in house chores like cleaning, cooking, washing,
sweeping and general maintenance of the home. These roles are exclusively
preserved for the female child in the Hausa society; as such the intent of the
‘Yar Tsana traditional performance is to instil and inculcate
this ideology into the psyche of the female child at formative stages so much
so that when she is mature for marriage, she naturally embraces and carries out
her responsibilities as stipulated by the Hausa norms and values. This paper, therefore,
employs Althusser’s theory of interpellation to critically analyse Wasan
‘Yar Tsana, which functions as a cultural ISA. It seeks to bring to the
fore how young girls unconsciously accept some gender roles in society by
depicting them in the ‘Yar Tsana traditional performance.
1.1 Theoretical Framework
This paper will adopt the theory of interpellation to
critically analyse how ideology operates within a certain medium and subject
people unconsciously or by sheer force through the Ideological State Apparatuses
(ISA’s), thereby creating new identities for them. For context, the ideology that
operates is the specific gender roles, while the medium is the ‘Yar Tsana
Traditional performance, and the identity created is women and girls who
unconsciously accept these roles as their sole responsibility in society.
a) Althusser and Interpellation
The theory of interpellation explains how ideas get into
people’s heads and have an effect on their lives, so much so that cultural
ideas have such a hold on the populace that they believe they are theirs. It is
a process in which people encounter their culture’s values and internalise them.
Furthermore, the theory of interpellation, according to Althusser (1972), works
in a manner much like giving a person a name or calling out to them in the
street. That is, ideologies ‘address’ people and offer them a particular
identity which they are encouraged to accept. However, one is not forced to
accept that role through violence because these roles are offered to people
everywhere they look or even assigned to them by culture; they are presented in
such a way that people are encouraged to accept them. This works best when it
is an invisible but consensual process.
To Althusser (1972), ideologies play a crucial role in
constructing people’s identities and giving them a particular place in society.
To say that someone is fully interpellated is to say he or she has been
successfully brought into a certain role or that he or she has accepted values willingly.
To place people in their proper place in society, Althusser (1972) puts it that
assimilation happens in two ways: through repressive and ideological means. One
happens through force and the other through ideas.
b) Ideology
Ideology refers to that aspect of the human condition under
which people operate as conscious actors. Ideology is the medium through which
human consciousness works. Our conception of religion, politics, morality, art
and science is deeply influenced by our ideology. In other words, what we see
and believe largely depends on our ideology, ideology being the medium through
which we comprehend and interpret reality. Reality itself exists objectively
outside our consciousness and independently of any particular individual, but
how one sees and interprets it depends in part on one’s level of ideological
development.
c) Repressive State Apparatuses (R.S.A)
These are mechanisms of power that force people into their
place. These mechanisms operate through threats of punishment or through the
explicit demonstration of power. Repressive State Apparatuses include: armies, police, prisons or any outright threat of violence.
Repressive State Apparatuses are infrequent; force is not the most effective
means of maintaining power.
d) Ideological State Apparatuses (I.S.A)
Ideological State Apparatuses work by manufacturing consent
among individuals. It operates through ideas and representations that people
encounter throughout their lives, training them and conditioning them certain
attitudes and behaviours that people are led to believe are natural.
Ideological State Apparatuses include large social institutions that train
people in thinking in a certain way and bring them into ideology: schools,
families, churches, art, toys, movies, books, advertising, music, television,
fashion, games, technology, etc. All these sources of power provide people with
certain attitudes, behaviours,
ideas, perceptions, feelings, values, etc. Interpellation is more about how
larger cultural values are shared.
In this analysis, wasan ‘Yar Tsana is treated and
viewed from the prism of cultural ISA. The performance’s narrative content,
prescribed actions and exclusive participation by girls are examined as
interpellative calls that offer a specific gendered identity
(wife-mother-homemaker) for acceptance.
2.0 Hausa Traditional Drama
Traditional Hausa performances have elements of imitation of
real-life experiences for the purpose of education, entertainment and even
admonition. These performances are exclusive to some gender, age bracket and
even occupation. However, Yahaya (1978), Umar (1982), Dangambo (1984), and
Gobir & Sani (2021) hold the opinion that the Hausa traditional drama has
been in existence from time immemorial. The Hausa traditional drama is an age-long
tradition that has existed so much so that it will be difficult to ascertain
the exact period it came into being, but there is a veritable claim that
centuries before the coming of Islam in Hausa land, there were local
performances like Shan-Kabewa, shanci, and bikin buɗar dawa, girka,
hawan ƙaho and
others.
These performances are considered to be in tune with drama
in all ramifications because they constitute an imitation of real-life
situations. Some of these performances in later times have been considered as
traditional drama by literary scholars so as to distinguish them from other
forms of drama which later came into existence as a result of colonialism and
modernity. Therefore, the Hausa traditional drama is largely performances that
are unscripted but imitate real-life situations. Some of the Hausa traditional
dramas include: Wasan Kalankuwa, Wasan Gauta, Wasan Takkai,
Wasan Bori, Wasan Dokin-kara, Wasan Giwa- Sha- Laka and Wasan
‘Yar Tsana and many more.
2.1 Wasan ‘Yar Tsana: A Synopsis
Wasan ‘Yar Tsana is a dramatic performance that is
mainly carried out by little girls of Hausa origin to depict roles and
responsibilities that are expected of the female gender in society. According
to Bambale (2019), he considers Wasan ‘Yar Tsana as an important element
of the Hausa Traditional Drama. He further explains that the ‘Yar Tsana
drama is usually performed by little girls of Hausa extraction in the home. As
explained by Sani & Gobir (2021, pp. 354-356), the girls, who largely carry
out this drama, do not attain puberty; they are at the formative stages of
their lives. The major dramatis personae, who is a little girl, tries to
imitate the roles and responsibilities of a woman who is in charge of
maintaining the home and nurturing the children until they attain a certain age,
where they attain a level of independence. Furthermore, Bambale (2019) holds
the strong view that it is as a result of the importance attached to nurturing
babies in the Hausa society that little girls are encouraged to perform Wasan
‘Yar Tsana, to imitate the various methods of nurturing and inculcating
morals to little children in a dramatic manner. Also, to teach these little
girls who perform the drama the roles and responsibilities of maintaining the
home when they are mature and married off.
Contrastively, Mohammed (2019) describes Wasan ‘Yar Tsana
as whatever children consider a doll which is used to play with. The drama is
largely performed by a female child, and if she gets hold of a doll, then she nurtures
it the way a baby is taken care of in reality. The girl who performs the drama
continues to imitate how a baby is being fed and bathed. The young girl also
dresses up the doll in beautiful adornment with pieces of material used by a tailor
to sew, and it gets to a time when the little girl will claim that her doll has
matured and attained the marriageable age. Therefore, it is expedient for the
society and parents in particular to allow the female child perform this drama
owing to its importance in the psyche of a little girl. This would enable the
girls to grow up with the norms and moral stipulations of the culture as to the
roles and responsibilities of the female child in her matrimonial home. This
culture encourages the girl child to be abreast of societal expectations as to
her role and responsibilities a long time before she attains puberty and is married
off. The Hausa people have continued to encourage and inculcate these morals
into the female child, and as such, it has been passed down from generation to
generation. This is why the culture of inculcating gender roles in the Hausa
societal setup is quite entrenched using various media.
While Bambale (2019), Mohammed (2019), and Sani & Gobir
(2021) usefully describe the ‘yar tsana performance, this paper analyses
it as an interpellative mechanism to establish how the dominant ideology in the
performance unconsciously subjects little girls of Hausa extraction, and in the
process helps create an identity for them. The girls who at formative ages
become aware of their roles and responsibilities through the medium of ‘yar
tsana performance accept them as such and naturally embrace them right to
their matrimonial homes.
3.1 Analysis
The motif of this paper is to conduct a critical content
analysis of the ‘Yar Tsana structure and implied narrative. This is to
do an explainer of how the performance is being carried out by the little girls
and then provide tenable argument from the philosophy that the performance
embodies and how it subjects and create identities for little girls of Hausa
extraction.
The
proponent of the theory of interpellation, Althusser (1972), succinctly states
that the unconscious acceptance of an ideology through a medium, thereby
creating an identity amount to interpellation. When one accepts an ideology
consciously or through acts of repression, the person becomes a subject of that
particular ideology, and in the process, a new identity is created. Therefore, interpellation
from the viewpoint of the French philosopher
constitutes the operation of ideology, subjectivity and identity formation.
Furthermore, these ideologies operate through what Althusser refers to as state
apparatuses, which are categorised into two: the ideological state apparatuses
and the repressive state apparatuses. One happens unconsciously, and the other
is through the use of force. Ideological State Apparatuses include institutions
like schools, family, religious centres, media, movies, etc. While the
Repressive State Apparatuses are instruments of coercion like the police, army,
prisons, courts and other authorities that wield power and can mete out
punitive measures to any voice of dissent or opposition.
Hausa traditional drama like ‘Yar Tsana is an
aspect of Hausa drama which is performed by little girls of Hausa extraction
between the ages of 5 and 10. The drama portrays the girl child as a potential
mother who is saddled with the responsibility of nurturing and taking care of
the home. The intent of this drama is not just for entertainment but to instil
and inculcate societal expectations as the role and responsibilities of the
female when she grows up and begins a new life of matrimony. In the drama, the
little girl gets her clay and tries to shape it into an image of a being (baby).
The doll is dressed up with pieces of material sourced from the tailor, and the
girl then piggy-backs the doll, imitating how mothers back their babies. It is
interesting how the little girl begins to unconsciously subject to the idea of
being a mother as a result of the drama. Also, the little girl who performs the
‘Yar Tsana drama imitates how a woman cooks with a small pot and
fire, and in the process inculcate the idea that it is the role of a woman to
cook for her family after the man has provided the food. The crux of the ‘Yar
Tsana drama is that the girl child is learning to be a wife and a mother
when she grows up. From the drama, it is evident that it outlines in clear
terms what the roles and responsibilities of a female child are in the Hausa
societal setup. Some of the roles from the drama include:
House chores and general cleanliness of the home- The Hausa
social setup stipulates that it is the sole responsibility of the female gender
to do all the house chores like sweeping, washing of plates, tidying the
environment and maintaining a general cleanliness of the homestead. This is
according to the Hausa norms and values, as it has specific roles and
responsibilities as well for the male gender. The man is naturally the head of
the home, who not only provides leadership but is also completely responsible
for the general upkeep and well-being of his family. The man goes out to work
or provide services in his line of trade or occupation, and the proceeds are what
is being used to cater for the family. The drama ‘Yar Tsana is an apt portrayal
of the role a woman plays in her matrimonial home regarding house chores and
maintaining the general cleanliness of the home. According to Bambale (2019)
and Umar (2019), the little girl who performs the ‘Yar Tsana drama
imitates a woman who ensures that the house chores are done and the general
cleanliness of the home is maintained. Little girls of Hausa extraction who
perform this drama will grow up with the ideology of being responsible for the
house chores and general cleanliness of the home. This gender role, as depicted
in ‘Yar Tsana, is a reflection of acceptable norms and values of the
Hausa people; as such, little girls imbibe and inculcate it in their psyche
through the medium of Hausa traditional drama like ‘Yar Tsana.
Looking closely, from the structure of the ‘Yar Tsana
performance, it is evident that the little girl who performs the play denotes
that the act of shaping the baby from clay is not merely play; it is a symbolic
rehearsal of creation and responsibility, hailing and interpellating the girl
into the subject position of creator cum nurturer. The deduction from this is
that the little girl of Hausa extraction who performs the play becomes a
subject of the idea that it is the role and responsibility of the female gender
to procreate and nurture the baby from birth until they can be independent. By
depicting these roles in ‘yar tsana, the process of subjectivity and
identity creation is brought to the fore, thereby falling in line with the
principles of Althusser’s theory of interpellation.
Furthermore, the use of real scrap materials from the tailor
by the little girl to adorn the ‘yar tsana doll blurs the line between
the play and real-life world labour, this process interpellates the little girl
into a gendered economy of domestic management. The little girl in the ‘yar
tsana performance makes use of scrap material to clothe and beautify her
baby doll as such this depiction subjects the little girl as a proponent of
domestic management. This singular act is in tune with processes of operation
of ideology, subjectivity and identity creation.
Also, the ‘yar tsana performance audience is
exclusively female and juvenile, creating a closed circuit of ideological
reinforcement where peers monitor and validate the correct performance of the
gender. This gives further credence to the claim that depiction of the gender
roles in the performance subtly interpellates not just the girl who performs
the play, but also her audience which are of the always of the same gender. The
process of interpellation is always subtle and unnoticeable and by this
performance, the little girl is subjected to the dominant ideology of gender
roles like nurturing the baby, cooking and other house chores alongside her
audience as well.
In addition, The female gender, biologically, is the one who
carries the baby in her womb until delivery after nine months. It is also the
responsibility of the female gender to breastfeed, nurture and care for the
child. In the Hausa culture, after a child is delivered, the woman naturally
takes up the responsibility of nurturing the baby. This is aptly portrayed in
the drama ‘Yar Tsana where the little girl who performs it imitates how
a woman cares for her child by piggybacking her doll. The interesting scenario
here is that the little girl is imbibing the role of a nurturer and a caregiver
to her baby right from her formative years until she is mature enough for
marriage.
Cooking, which is depicted in the ‘yar tsana
performance, is the role of the female gender in the Hausa society. Just as it
is the role and responsibility of the male gender to provide food for his
family, the Hausa cultural norm also stipulates that it is the responsibility
of the female gender to cook the food. In the traditional setup, cooking used
to be the exclusive preserve of the female gender. However, in recent times,
owing to the influence of modernity, the male gender has also taken up the role
of cooking either as a way of offering support to the wife or as a means of
livelihood. The cooking role, as depicted by the little girl who performs the ‘Yar
Tsana drama, is an exclusive preserve of the female gender. In the
drama, the little girl imitates how a mother cooks for the family by using
little clay pots that are mounted on a tripod of little stones, with fire being
lit. The intent is to prepare young girls psychologically and mentally for
marital life. Therefore, it is safe to say that cooking is a role that is
reserved for the female child in the Hausa societal setup, as portrayed by the
little girl who performs the ‘Yar Tsana drama.
The ‘Yar Tsana drama inculcates the ideals of
femininity in the girl child. A girl of Hausa extraction through the ‘Yar
Tsana drama is inculcated with the conduct and ethos of how a girl child
should carry herself. It is no coincidence that the drama is performed by girls,
as such an attempt to feature a male child in it is considered unacceptable.
Therefore, the girl grows up with the idea of focusing on her roles and
responsibilities when she is mature and married off. The traits she exhibits are
reflective of those of a female child in the Hausa societal setup, which
includes being responsible and industrious, a caregiver, nurturer and home
maker, etc.
In the final analysis, one can categorically state that the
dominant ideology from the ‘yar tsana performance constitute interpellative
function of subjecting little girls into accepting roles that are an exclusive
preserve of the female gender. The gender roles of nurturing babies, cooking
and general house chores etc being depicted in the performance, which are
largely carried out by little girls with an audience that are of the same
female gender has the ability to unconsciously subject them. The girls in their
psyche willingly come to see the roles as depicted to be exclusive to their
gender as such, they grow up as female subjects who are obedient, domestic by
default, self-sacrificing in the sense that they put the needs of their spouses
and children to be of utmost priority. This ensures that the family system
within the Hausa societal setup is not only strengthened but remains in tune
with the tenets and values of the Hausa social and traditional institutions.
3.2 Conclusion
The ‘yar tsana traditional performance depicts and
imitates real-life situations of motherhood, matrimony, and femininity. The
little girl who performs the play situates gender roles within the context of
the traditional performance and, in the process subjects herself to the
dominant ideology of carrying out gender roles like nurturing the baby, cooking,
and other house chores. From the act of shaping the doll from clay which is a
direct representation of constituting the girl into subject position of a
nurturer, to the use of real scrap materials from the tailor to adorn the clay
doll which interpellates the girl into gendered economy of domestic management
and also the subjection of the audience which is largely female, brings to the
fore how the cultural ISAs function in the societal set up.
Ideology operates through various media, even though this
paper focuses on the medium of unscripted drama, like the ‘Yar Tsana
traditional performance, it relays and depicts gender roles in the Hausa
societal setup. The drama, which is not only gender specific, also goes to show
how little girls should begin to act responsibly to cater for their family when
they are married off to begin their matrimonial journey. Therefore, female
children of Hausa extraction naturally grow up to accept these roles as they
are being depicted in Hausa traditional drama like ‘Yar Tsana.
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