"Sharing a Husband": The Representation of Polygamy in Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood (1979)

ABSTRACT:In approaching the topic of polygamy and how it is discussed in Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood (1979), this article uses two central concepts: firstly, María Lugones's idea of "world travelling," which emphasizes the need to understand the plurality of women's perspectives, enabling the decentering of feminist debates; and secondly, Marilyn Frye's idea of the "loving eye," closely connected to Lugones's concept, which calls for us to see other worlds and see other women from within their worlds—that is, from within their specific sociocultural contexts. Using these two concepts to analyze Emecheta's novel and its representation of polygamy, I argue that polygamy is as valid as monogamy and posit that no useful discussion of polygamy can take place from within a Eurocentric worldview. I also highlight the role of empire more generally in denigrating unfamiliar customs and traditions in various parts of Africa by framing them as illegitimate. This illegitimacy still affects representations and perceptions of polygamy today, as a form of marriage that (it is implied) has no place in a "civilized" world.