Maternidade etnorreligiosa em Fique Comigo, de Ayobami Adebayo

Abstract

This dissertation examines ethnoreligious motherhood as a literary analytical category, represented in the Anglo-Nigerian work Stay With Me, by writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (2025), published in 2017. The corpus presents a female subject, represented by the protagonist Yejide, whose motherhood is constantly permeated by ethnic, religious, and contemporary values. In this category, we understand that women's roles as mothers are guided by specific traditions. To deepen our analysis of the work, we first present an overview of the Yoruba peoples, bringing African voices to bear on the historiography, which includes ethnic and religious aspects. To this end, we draw on the discussions of Abiodun Adediran (1984), Saburi Biobaku (1958), Cheikh Anta Diop (2014), and Wande Abimbola (1981). In the same chapter,

we also included Oyèrónké Oyewùmí's (2021) theory of the de-gendering of pre- colonial Yoruba peoples, in which she argues for the existence of a unique social

organization among these peoples based on seniority and lineage. At the same time, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf's (2004) critical contributions to Oyewùmí's theory are also included. In the following chapter, the discussions engage with the themes of African feminisms, gender, polygamy, and ethnoreligious motherhood by authors Awa Thiam (2025), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2014), Ifi Amadiume (1997), and Amina Mama (1995). Finally, we analyze the category of ethnoreligious motherhood in the work Stay With Me, using the 2025 edition translated into Portuguese. In this analysis, we examine how the character Yejide's maternal experience is shaped by a complex web of cultural norms, family pressures, and spiritual beliefs. We observe how Yoruba values directly influence the perception of fertility, sterility, and the social legitimacy of motherhood, transforming it into a field of meanings. Critical reading reveals that ethnoreligious motherhood is not simply a personal or natural attribute of the protagonist, but a social practice permeated by relationships of seniority and rigidity.