Orality and Sublimation of Repressed Desires

The Renaming of Everyday Phenomena by the Luo Women of Kenya

Abstract

The psychoanalytic theory of sublimation within Freudian conceptualizations involves the channeling of socially unacceptable behaviours into approved ones for social cohesion. The human mind, in this context, is capable of protecting itself from painful experiences by repressing unpleasant experiences into the unconscious and sublimating the same safely onto socially correct overt expressions. For Freud, the repressed desires can be unearthed from dreams. Like dreams, myths, legends and other folklore material as works of the human imagination can help unearth the repressed desires of a people. Although repression and its attendant sublimation act as an institution of social propriety and harmony, understanding its underlying presence is important in the interrogation and possible explanations of conflicting undercurrents that may be perceived in society. This paper looks at the renaming of varying objects and ideas among the contemporary women in rural Luo Nyanza as subversions of western feminism. The argument is that the renaming of obvious objects and ideas within the woman’s area of socio-cultural operation is a code that she uses to sublimate her desired expression of sexuality. The phrases used to rename phenomena are analyzed within Freudian theorizations of sublimation as society valuation acts, but which nevertheless exhibit underlying contestations of western feminism by the modern Luo woman.  The study focusses on one ethnic group as the issues raised can be interpreted within their conceptualizations of gender relations that subvert the woman’s occupation of power roles and covert suppression of the same. The phrases analyzed are in constant use among the rural Luo women, but some have been appropriated by both men and children. The analysis points to these as creative constructions which belie psychological symbolisms and which can be read as contemporary strategies to resist popular expectations by feminist liberality.