Prof. Dr. Eyo O. Mensah

CV

PhD in Linguistics with specialisation on Anthropological Linguistics – University of Calabar, Nigeria. (2008)

Masters of Arts (Linguistics) Anthropological Linguistics. University of Calabar, Nigeria. (2002)

Bachelor of Arts (Linguistics) 2nd. Class Honours (Upper Division), University of Calabar, Nigeria. (1996)

Selected Publications

• Mensah, E. O.  2021.The Englishisation of personal names in Nigeria. English Today 37(3), 1-13. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-today/article/abs/englishisation-of-personal-names-in-nigeria/98587E15C0F8245223A6EFD7AD7BA00C

• Mensah, E. O.  2021. To be a man is not a day's job: The discursive construction of hegemonic masculinity by rural youth in Nigeria. Gender Issues 38(1), 1-23. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12147-020-09271-2

• Mensah, E. O.  2021. He has committed a drinkable offence: The discourse of alcohol consumption among rural youth in Nigeria. Linguistics Vanguard 6(4), 1-15. https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/lingvan/6/s4/article-20190036.xml

• Mensah, E. O., Inyabri, I. T and Nyong, B. O.  2021.Names, naming and the code of cultural denial in a contemporary Nigerian society: An Afrocentric perspective. Journal of Black Studies 52(3), 248-276. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934720980097

• Mensah, E. O.  2021. He looks so cute: The discourse of heterosexual relationship initiation by female youth in Nigeria. Sexualities 24(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460720961295

FRIAS Research Project

Husband is a priority:  Gender roles, patriarchy and the naming of female children in Nigeria

In onomastic practices of some traditional societies in Nigeria, stereotyped gender roles and patriarchy are deliberately perpetuated in the naming of female children, thus using naming traditions as weapons against women. In these cultures, names like Tokósori ‘Husband is a priority’, Úgióukiémá ‘The wife values her husband’, Omomunigbón ‘Child rearing teaches wisdom’ and Olomoewo  ‘One who has a child is recognised’ are bestowed on female children to align with existing sexist norms and gender ideologies in which the namer is dominant and the named is subservient. This project explores, from an ethnographic qualitative approach, the politics of this naming practice in two cultural traditions in Nigeria: Bete-Obudu (South-east), and Owe (North-central), and their role in the reproduction of inequality. It considers the implications of this regime of names on name-bearers’ personhood from the theoretical perspective of gender performativity, a tool of postmodern feminism which tends to deconstruct fixed boundaries and rigid gendered identities. In the study, I aim to demonstrate how personal names are overtly used to enact conformism to patriarchy and heterosexuality, and the results show that this essentialist ideology of gender binary tends to underestimate women’s roles and reify their marginalisation.  It further closes up space for agency and autonomy, legitimises name-bearers’ auxiliary roles and deemphasises their femininity.