2. Portrayals of Good and Bad Women in Hausa Home Video Productions

Aminu Fagge Mohammad

The new styles of Hausa video drama have featured the travails of young people who found themselves in love. These young men and women (especially the latter) often face oppositions from the extended family in trying to materialize their love affair into marriage. Aminu Mijin Bose and Jamila ta Jamilu (featuring Ibrahim Mandawari) appear to be the first Hausa soap operas that may be said to have laid the track on which the Hausa home video (films) were to follow (Mohammad, 2004a). These love themes and the subsequent melodrama they invoke are often built around a conception of women as either unstable and evil creatures or as men’s subordinates and, therefore, good. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the ambivalent roles that women are given in Hausa home video. The stereotypical roles will be employed in analyzing the conceptions of women by male producers, actors, and directors in the Hausa film industry, popularly known as Kannywood. The implications of these roles for women at the end of the narratives will be drawn at concluding sections of this chapter.

The Soyayya (Love) Narrative

When reviewing the contents of many Hausa video films, we can observe that the issues and obstacles surrounding the youthful love affairs have led to a strong tendency for resistance to parental influence on the choice of whom to fall in love with and, subsequently, marry. It is not a mere coincidence that by the early nineties another genre of Hausa narrative in the form of Hausa novels began to focus on the concept of Soyayya (love affairs). The central theme is usually the travails of young people who fell in love and nurtured this love against a background of obstacles, notably from parents, members of the community, friends and/or co-wives. It is this form of Hausa narrative (dubbed as the “Kano Market literature”) that gave rise to a series of debates focusing on the importance or desirability of the new type of Hausa literature. Abdallah Uba Adamu, Ibrahim Malumfashi, and Ibrahim Sheme have taken up the gauntlet and become contributors to this debate. However, the substance of the debate is beyond the scope of this chapter.

The new Hausa novel, which emphasized the theme of Soyyaya, has provided the stuff with which the first generation home videos (Hausa films) were produced. Some of the Hausa novels adapted in the home videos include Ina Sonsa Haka, Kara Da Kiyashi, Muguwar Kishiya, Ki Yarda Da Ni, and Alhaki Kwikwiyo. Ibrahim Mandawari has been the major star in some of these productions; his popular name now is Baban Soyayya (Father of Love). Women writers-turned-producers have been behind some of these productions. They include Balaraba R. Yakubu, Bilkisu Funtua, and Zuwaira Isa. Several men have also become actively involved in the writing and production of Hausa home video. They include Bala Anas Babinlata and Ado Ahmed Gidan-Dabino.

The earlier version of television drama, which appeared before the advent of Hausa video films, had featured family stability, community harmony, and maintenance of the status quo in a traditional setting. Some of these soap operas often end in court sessions or in the presence of the Maigari (the village head), where the perennial conflicts are resolved to the benefit of the community or its leaders. In contrast, the new genre of soaps, which use love (Soyayya) as their main ingredient, seem to articulate a kind of, resistance by the youths against the old order (notably the extended family). Women in these later narratives appear as irrational subordinates of their men folk, who have to be forced into a decision or face the consequences.

Women in Mass Media

In the western Christian cosmology, the woman is defined in ambivalent terms: “Woman is the sublime, the perfect, the beautiful; she is the awful, the stupid, and the contemptible…Incapable of rational moral judgment…(She) is desirable, fascinating, and wonderful, yet extremely destructive and dangerous” (Ruth, 1980, p. 86). In feminist discourse, these definitions have led to assertions about how patriarchal values are imposed on society and how this has led to the exploitation and oppression of women. The view often held is that women receive less pay, less access to productive resources, and less attention or participation in decision-making. Women are treated this way, so the argument goes, because patriarchal values assume that they are biologically different and, therefore, inevitably inferior to men. This is why most feminist scholars are also advocates of women’s rights to financial independence, education, and entry into the professions. In developing societies (e.g. Nigeria), they may also be interested in fighting harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), women trafficking, and child labor.

Feminist narratives have also been part of media studies that are concerned with the plight of women, especially how gender norms are upheld or projected in popular films/media. Analyzing the contents of popular films in the USA, Thumim (1992) has argued that screen representations between 1945-1965 have performed “a repressive function in respect of women: There are simply no depictions of autonomous, independent women either inside or outside the structure of the family, who survived unscathed at the narrative’s close” (Thumim, 1992, p. 210). In spite of this observation, changes had begun to take place in media representations of gender, especially in the late 1960s when feminism as an ideology began to take shape. There was still a dominance of patriarchal values in media representations in 1970s, but by the 1980s and 1990s media studies discovered more varied and less stereotypical depictions of women. As feminist theories and agitations grew, media representations of women also began to reflect the advancement of women, which is a major achievement of feminism in the last decades (Curran, 2002).

Feminist theories that emerge from the western world appear to have undergone changes or local transformations at different levels and periods. For example, black women in the United States were involved in the search for an alternative theory that addresses fully the peculiar problems facing black women. In this way, the emergence of black feminism somehow led to the birth of “womanism,” which became involved in the struggles against racial and class oppression (Adeleke, 1996, p. 32). Womanism as an ideology of African women’s liberation contains both woman-consciousness and race- or color-consciousness. This ideology marks a breaking away from a separatist concept of feminism, which disregards colored women’s peculiar oppressions. This perspective represents the concern of female writers who see no reason to hate their men. It is a kind of black feminism that is concerned with both women and men (Adeleke, 1996).

Women in Hausa Films

The genre of Hausa home video has emphasized themes related to the budding love affairs of young people, who have to face stiff opposition from their parents (often the extended family). Other related themes are courtship, marriage, and family settings. Within these settings, women have been given central roles, which are often ambivalent and include retributive justice exacted against the women at the end of the narratives.

Women have appeared in Hausa home video in variegated roles. However, these representations show a consistent view of women as men’s subordinates in a patriarchal world. Women are also depicted as irrational, unstable, competitive, and destructive. Often they are responsible for marital instability (as a co-wife, mother-in-law, or aminiya {friend}) and are capable of deceit or treachery. They almost always resort to the Shaman (Boka) for a deadly charm to eliminate a co-wife or any other obstacle. They may conspire among themselves or with other men to execute deadly plots (Makirci). In this subaltern and decidedly negative view of the woman, she is made to pay the price (having been found guilty through her role) by going mad, getting divorced, losing the lover, or losing her life.

In the bad woman or bitchy (Tsiwa) role, the woman exhibits various attitudes that reflect her as awful, contemptible, and extremely destructive and dangerous. In Adali, the bad wife in the second household (the bad household) is depicted as a nagging, slovenly woman and a bad housewife who causes so much instability in the family that the husband is led to decide to marry a second wife. Of course, she “did not take kindly to a co-wife. The news and the eventual arrival of the junior wife sent her into an overdrive of more bitchiness” (Adamu, 2003, pp. 1-2).

Another aspect of the bad wife character is shown in Furuci, where the wife of the Alhaji pretended to be pregnant and finally deliver a bouncing baby boy to the gullible Alhaji. The baby was actually donated by the Alhaji’s ever-loyal sidekick (Ali Nuhu), who persuaded his wife to sacrifice her baby to the Alhaji’s family on the promise that he would not bring in a co-wife (Kishiya) for her. Halfway into the narrative he not only broke the promise, but also ended up divorcing the wife. As the editors of the Tauraruwa magazine observe, there are no methods of deceit and trickery that make it possible for a woman to pretend pregnancy (using rags) for nine months without the husband finding out. The wife of Alhaji in Furuci actually delivered a baby boy (Aliyu) in the bargain; a fact which made the Alhaji extremely happy (Tauraruwa; June 2003, p. 10).

This type of representation of Hausa women is found in several films; the aim is to show the woman as evil, destructive, and dangerous. The Hajiya in Furuci was able, single-handedly, to destroy both families in the film: her own family headed by the Alhaji and the other headed by his slavish client. In the end, when the lid was blown off (surprisingly by a woman journalist) Hajiya attempted to murder both the baby and its mother. In a similar vein, the Hajiya in Ukuba (Torment) was responsible for spoiling her son, Momoh (best actor in 2001), and together they unleashed mayhem on her stepdaughter (Abida Mohammed). Momoh, who won the award in his role as a drug addict, became an enfant terrible through the evil and destructive influence of his mother; she actually won the best mother award in the same film.

Wasiyya is another Hausan epic narrative on the dangerous and destructive role of women. It centers on a conflict of integrity between a stable and strongly united family (headed by Sarkin Noma-Tahir Fagge) and another, which is headed by an evil rich man (Kasimu Yero), whose ruthless son (Ligidi) was exposed and subsequently jailed. In a high-strung plot of terrible scheming, the Alhaji’s daughter was set up to marry one of the brothers of the Sarkin Noma for the sole purpose of splitting and destroying the closely knitted family. The Alhaji had earlier refused to allow the marriage because of the conflict between the two families. The only lesson of the narrative, then, is on the ability of the Alhaji’s daughter to single-handedly exact vengeance on the good family. She finally succeeded in scattering and destroying her husband’s family. Even the acts of her terrible father and his terrible son faded into insignificance when compared to the acts of scheming, treachery, and destruction perpetrated by the female lead in the film. Similar acts of scheming executed in Rawani I and II show Hauwa Ali Dodo and Hajara Usman setting up an arranged marriage between Baballe Hayatu and Fati Baffa. The sole aim of the affair was to kill the Alhaji and his only daughter (Fati Baffa), thereby taking over control of the Alhaji’s wealth.

Religion and Hausa Women

The role of the Shaman (Boka), or his counterpart the local “Malam,” in setting up his evil spirits to hurt or destroy an opponent is a necessary corollary of evil and destructive women in Hausa films. In the Hausa home video, women (either a jealous co-wife or an overbearing wife) are notorious for their endless trips to the Boka in order to get the magic formula to get rid of an existing obstacle or an impending rival. In Sangaya, the dejected princess, Hauwa Ali Dodo, employed deadly charms obtained from the Boka to turn the favored heroine (Fati Mohammed) into a pigeon, thereby winning the heart of the prince, Ali Nuhu. Dan-Adam Butulu, represented the vivacious Tsigai (of late memory) as the evil wife of a rich man (Hamza). Using black magic, she cast a deadly spell on the husband, and turned him into a zombie. Even members of his extended family are not spared her black magic, thus they dare not talk about her without being hunted by her evil spirits. Tsigai’s role in the above film may appear to be an exaggeration of the “woman-shaman alliance” found in the Hausa home video. However, in some films, such as Kara da Kiyashi, Zarge, Allura da Zare, Tsumagiya, and Kasko, women have been represented as jealous co-wives or terrible mothers-in-law, who utilized the deadly spirits of the Boka to chase out or destroy their rivals.

In Kasko, the jealous wife (Daso) and her evil friend (Lubabatu) contracted the services of evil spirits from a Malam. These spirits turned the young co-wife into a lunatic and the husband (Nakwango) was forced to divorce her. This trend has portrayed women as irrational and unstable individuals who solicit the services of the Boka (or Malam) in order to get rid of an existing or impending rival. Rarely do we see men in Hausa films consulting the Boka in order to get rid of rival contestant for a girl’s affection (Adamu, 2003). In the final analysis, the services of the Shaman, witch doctor, or the Malam are always reserved for women for whom the films makers have found a role for scheming and destruction. The editorial comments of Garkuwa (March, 2000, p. 5), a Hausa magazine, lament the immense power given to the Boka in Hausa films. Thus, Bokaye   (sg. Boka) in Hausa films are portrayed as having unlimited magical powers to solve all types of problems with an easy rapidity. In these films, therefore, a form of supra-religious identity is adopted, in which religion or magic is held as the only solution to any threats or problems being faced by the individual, especially women.

In some films, however, women have appeared in redemptive roles. In Aisha I, the central character (Aisha) made many sacrifices to help her paralyzed husband (Zik). In a fit of jealousy, the helpless husband divorced her; he finally discovered his mistake after she had remarried. In a similar film, Karima, the heroine (Karima) entered into the competitive world of men and succeeded in being rich and famous simply to help out her handicapped husband (Tahir Fagge), who had been unjustly retrenched. These two films, and others like them, have portrayed women in a constructive and positive role. The struggles of the two heroines may have reflected some of the challenges to women in a patriarchal society. However, the plots in the two films will be more meaningful when viewed from the perspective of womanism, rather than feminist perspective. The women were simply concerned with the welfare of their husbands, rather than their own personal progress or struggles.

The Bad Woman

One of the most important representations of women in Hausa film is their portrayal as the evil woman at the end of the narrative. Because of this conception of the evil nature of women who refuse to accept an inferior status, Hausa films tend to portray women as the guilty party. They may be made to suffer severe consequences for their evil tendencies. Making the women characters pay for their “sins” may appear to be a form of retributive justice. In Gashin Kuma, two women (the good and the bad) played major roles in two families. The bad woman ended up being irrevocably divorced, while the good woman (after getting divorced) married another husband (the former husband of the bad wife). However, the bad husband (Iyan Tama) of the good wife simply married another wife, who forced him only to stay at home and take his meals regularly. In many Hausa films, women who played the “bad woman” role often ended up paying a heavy price: They get divorced, lose their lover (or husband) to another woman, become mad, are sent to jail, or die. The men, however, rarely have to pay any heavy price and when they do it appears small in comparison to the woman’s fate. In Wasiyya, the evil young bride, who caused the destruction of the family of the Sarkin noma, was ultimately framed for murder. She was given a life sentence and delivered her baby while languishing in prison. In the final scenes of Ukuba, Hajara Usman mistakenly shot dead her only son, Momoh. In Rawani II, she was shot to death by the assassins she hired to kill the Alhaji and his daughter (Mohammad, 2004b, 2007).

In Western Christian cosmology, the images of women indicate an undercurrent of ambivalence and contradiction. The woman is depicted as tender, beautiful, and sublime. She is also a treacherous, manipulative sneak who tricks her man under the guise of affection. For Ruth (1980), the contradictory and conflicting stereotypes of women represent outward expressions of male attitudes toward women. Even though the woman is recognized for her tenderness, vulnerability, and fun, she is still considered evil and dangerous. In Hausa films, this ambivalence is perhaps projected in the representations of women as both a good wife and a bad wife. She is a home keeper who diligently looks after the interest of her husband and that of the family; she is also a destroyer of all that is good in the community. It is thus a fait accompli that a “guilt burden” is reserved for women in Hausa films; following this verdict, they are then made to face the music for their evil tendencies. (Mohammad, 2004a, 2007)

The relationship between gender and witchcraft is shown by Dolan (2002) to be a factor in the contest for resources and power in the modern post-colonial state. Her analysis shows that witchcraft is flourishing because it is employed by women as a means to redress interpersonal hostilities and jealousies. She discovers that among the Meru of Kenya, witchcraft is a premeditated act, where supernatural entities or substances are manipulated by malicious people with the aim of causing harm. Dolan also contends that among the Meru, women are often regarded as the perpetrators of intra-household witchcraft, seeking to revenge husbands, co-wives, and children. In Hausa society, women also employed magic and witchcraft to forestall the coming of a co-wife or destroy the co-wife and her children (Mohammad, 2004b and 2007).

Hausa women seem to accept the view that they should behave with cutthroat competitiveness and petty jealousies (Kishi) as a means of getting the attention of their husbands or winning a favor. This is due mainly to the polygamous and strongly patriarchal nature of Hausa society. In an interview with Tauraruwa magazine (June 2003), a budding young actress was asked about the effect of her victory in the auditioning of a new film. She told the reporter that:

Really there has been a lot of talk. You know (we) women lack Tawakkali (acceptance of fate)… Women, we are envious: myself, I will do the same thing… even if someone likes you, he must show envy. (Tauraruwa, June 2003, p. 16)

The import of these words, coming from a very young star, shows the cultural expectations placed on Hausa women. The actress was responding to the question about the difficulty she faced after winning the auditioning of a new film out of about ten women actresses, some of whom came into the industry before her. In everyday interaction, Hausa women accept Kishi (envy, jealousy, and rivalries) as an aspect of their attitudes, especially within a polygamous household. Within the process of their socialization, they would have been taught not to accept fate; they should rather struggle to change it, most often through the agencies of the Boka or any other supernatural ways. In the end, the society, as in the Hausa films, will have ample reasons in the behavior pattern of women to hand down a guilty verdict for which punishment (or retributive justice) should be meted out accordingly.

In their efforts to maintain continued co-operation from their husbands or to become the favorite wife in a polygamous household, some Hausa women appear to resort to the magical powers given out (for cash) by the Shaman (Boka) or the local Malam (Adamu, 2000). In essence they may employ the powers of “Rubutu” (inscriptions), “Laya” (amulets), “Magani” (herbal concoctions), or, sometimes, local aphrodisiacs (tsimi, tukudi) to obtain the support or compliance of their husbands in their wishes and aspirations for favorable treatment. Women who have succeeded in these endeavors will be said to have dominated (ta mallake shi) their husbands. As a result of this “mallaka” (literally, owning), some husbands become “Mijin Hajiya” (Hajiya’s husband) or “mijin tace” (“husband of she said” – metaphor for a husband who does the wishes of his wife) (Mohammad, 2004b).

Conclusion

It is a major argument of this paper that women have been badly shortchanged in the types of roles they are made to play in Hausa films. Women in Hausa society are considered to be men’s subordinate, required to be obedient and good to their husbands. In reviewing some Hausa films, we discover that women have been portrayed in ambivalent and contradictory roles. They are both projected as good (i.e., a good wife) and bad (i.e., an evil woman). This negative role has been a key link in the way religion is employed to make women appear as the guilty party. At the end of the narrative, the women are depicted as irrational, unstable, destructive, and dangerous. They are capable of deceit, treachery, asiri (black magic), destruction of families, and sometimes murder. In these bizarre roles of women, the society (in Hausa film) appears to hang the sword of Damocles over their heads: their evil deeds often catch up with them; they are then found guilty and punished severely.

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