Making Men: Portrayal of Masculinity in Nigerian Children’s Literature

The portrayal of boys and men in children’s literature in Nigeria has received scant scholarly attention. In this article, three randomly selected Nigerian children’s narratives are selected: Ifeanyi Ifoegbuna’s Folake and Her Four Brothers (2004), Anthonia Ekpa’s Edidem Eyamba and the Edikang-Ikong Soup (2009), and Chinelo Ifezulike’s Chima Laughs Last (2014). A textual analytical approach is adopted to explore how masculinity is portrayed in the selected texts. Findings indicate that masculinity, as portrayed through the male characters (boys and men), reinforces messages of male dominance, female subjugation, and gender inequality; the narratives reinforce masculine ideologies and ideas that represent particular ways of being “male” in Nigeria, and, by extension, in Africa.