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How does Maya Angelou perceive the African female body?

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Abstract

Not seeking to gain privilege for the Black community, Afrocentrism seeks to speak the truth about the suffering of racial discrimination and enslavement. Feminism exposes the stereotypes surrounding Black women due to sexism, racism and capitalism. Silence only serves to increase fear and to diminish the power of oppressed Black women. Investigating the theme of African women in poetry became central to contemporary literary studies. This study analyzes Maya Angelou’s use of imagery and body-oriented conceptual metaphors in her poetry in order to compare her perception of the African female body to that of other African poets, using LIWC-2022 and conceptual metaphor analysis. Angelou’s poems, often pessimistic, focus on societal power. Stylistically, Angelou overuses personal pronouns and does not tend to utilize impersonal pronouns. Her poetry is sentimental and emphasizes the role of the family in accordance with her understanding of the external world. Metaphors such as “Nation is a body,” “Nation is a family,” “Nation is a person,” “Social group is a fabric” and “Body is a container for emotions” are common within her oeuvre. The metaphoric understanding of “Body is a container for emotions” was most salient to understand frequently used conceptual metaphors like “Anger is the heat of fluid in a container.” However, in her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” the most detected conceptual metaphors are “Social groups are complex structures,” “Social group is a family” and “Community is a family”. Angelou’s style of writing and the psycholinguistic content of her work exerts a powerful influence over her readers. She focuses on society, family, the struggles inherent within social networks and the paths Black women chose to follow during these struggles.

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Correspondence to Bacem A. Essam.

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Appendix 1 LIWC Analysis

Appendix 1 LIWC Analysis

Parameter

Angelou

Giovanni

Whittier

Walker

Dickinson

Analytic

75.87

58.44

93.95

77.0225

79.83

Clout

76.91

71.28

82.05

71.1175

54.23

Authentic

57.82

38.34

12.03

38.3825

45.34

Tone

42.45

64.74

40.29

47.33

41.84

Six-letter words

14.76

13.15

15.24

14.54

15.01

Function Words

48.37

52.74

45.59

49.1875

50.05

Pronouns

14.62

15.29

9.24

12.7475

11.84

Personal Pronouns

11.71

10.48

6.19

9.0625

7.87

I

4.92

4.17

0.56

3.25

3.35

We

1.38

1.54

1.28

1.24

0.76

You

2.95

2.25

1.59

1.9425

0.98

She/He

1.32

1.39

1.95

1.6925

2.11

They

1.13

1.13

0.81

0.9375

0.68

Impersonal Pronouns

2.90

4.79

3.04

3.675

3.97

Articles

7.31

7.37

9.32

8.445

9.78

Prepositions

12.85

11.66

14.59

12.8925

12.47

Auxiliary Verbs

5.62

8.52

3.72

6.005

6.16

Adverbs

3.34

4.22

2.55

3.6

4.29

Conjunctions

5.97

6.82

6.72

6.7725

7.58

Negations

1.73

2.14

0.92

1.6025

1.62

Verbs

12.91

16.67

8.63

12.6075

12.22

Adjectives

4.47

4.20

5.22

4.545

4.29

Comparisons

1.57

1.63

1.78

1.785

2.16

Interrogatives

1.43

1.75

1.82

1.7625

2.05

Numbers

0.77

2.20

0.88

1.2075

0.98

Quantifiers

1.34

1.72

1.19

1.4425

1.52

Affect

6.79

5.42

7.79

6.3075

5.23

Positive Emotions

3.84

3.72

4.28

3.725

3.06

Negative Emotions

2.92

1.66

3.47

2.555

2.17

Anxiety

0.56

0.23

0.57

0.465

0.50

Anger

0.77

0.43

0.79

0.56

0.25

Sad

1.00

0.44

1.10

0.8275

0.77

Social

11.85

11.56

9.57

10.15

7.62

Family

0.90

0.79

0.34

0.545

0.15

Friends

0.23

0.25

0.17

0.225

0.25

Female

1.32

1.33

0.78

1.15

1.17

Male

1.52

1.23

2.14

1.6075

1.54

Cognitive Processes

7.03

11.24

4.94

8.0525

9.00

Insight

1.51

2.09

0.89

1.5225

1.60

Causal

0.88

1.28

0.57

0.945

1.05

Discrepancies

0.83

1.99

0.52

1.175

1.36

Tentative

1.29

2.35

1.08

1.77

2.36

Certainty

1.26

1.54

1.09

1.265

1.17

Differentiation

2.00

3.38

1.71

2.5975

3.30

Perceptual Processes

5.32

4.03

4.45

4.36

3.64

See

2.16

1.46

1.90

1.78

1.60

Hear

1.56

1.35

1.24

1.2225

0.74

Feel

1.27

0.80

1.18

1.04

0.91

Biological Processes

4.55

3.25

3.02

3.5225

3.27

Body

2.60

1.11

1.76

1.7875

1.68

Health

0.78

0.47

0.66

0.6625

0.74

Sexual

0.28

0.13

0.12

0.1625

0.12

Ingest

0.72

1.21

0.39

0.7225

0.57

Drives

7.14

7.16

7.86

6.92

5.52

Affiliation

2.67

2.85

2.21

2.3425

1.64

Achievement

0.98

0.97

0.99

0.9925

1.03

Power

2.74

2.16

4.03

2.815

2.33

Reward

0.83

1.25

0.68

0.875

0.74

Risk

0.54

0.43

0.59

0.545

0.62

Past Focus

3.22

4.53

2.54

3.51

3.75

Present Focus

8.14

9.81

4.55

7.2175

6.37

Future Focus

1.25

1.13

1.35

1.2475

1.26

Relativity

15.90

12.98

13.28

14.4175

15.51

Motion

2.72

2.56

1.96

2.415

2.42

Space

8.05

6.16

7.37

7.045

6.60

Time

5.47

4.54

4.10

5.2125

6.74

Work

0.84

1.24

1.00

0.94

0.68

Leisure

1.12

1.86

0.69

1.0775

0.64

Home

0.64

0.70

0.40

0.595

0.64

Money

0.51

0.48

0.71

0.495

0.28

Religion

0.89

0.38

2.38

1.2475

1.34

Death

0.56

0.30

0.61

0.55

0.73

Informal Language

0.60

0.56

1.02

0.6575

0.45

Swear

0.17

0.05

0.09

0.085

0.03

Netspeak

0.25

0.24

0.41

0.245

0.08

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Khalifa, H., Essam, B.A. How does Maya Angelou perceive the African female body?. J Afr Am St 26, 203–220 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-022-09581-7

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