DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i05.007

Pages: 990-996

Ritual is a cultural system of symbolic communication. Rituals have a binding effect of the person and the ritual content. This paper looks at ritual discourse and the construction of hegemonic masculinities with a specific focus on the use of language in Khuvita; a ritual amongst the Bukusu community of Western Kenya. Using the discourse historical approach, the study is concerned with analysing the ways in which dominant thinking and structures of inequality between men and women inflect and are reproduced and naturalised through discourse. The study explored the fine details of content and discursive strategies in the discourse of the ritual Khuvita among the Bukusu of Kenya, which involves both the context of use and the genres. Using video recording and interviews, the researcher focused on how particular episodes position the oral artists and the audience, what they include and exclude and how the audience try to understand events, individuals, identities and social roles. The findings reveal that Khuvita ritual supports the elaboration and magnification of the differences between male and female. The women’s role in Bukusu community is seen as subordinate to men. Hegemonic masculinity can be identified as a risk and a limiting factor for both men and women. The findings may be used in practical applications to combat all forms of social discrimination through language.