But within Yoruba oral tradition, the very act of addressing a woman publicly as a moral equal — as a “sister” whose opinion is presumed — is . In many patriarchal folk forms, women are sung about (as beauty, as temptation, as mother-goddess). “My Sister, I” sings to her.
“My Sister, I” occupies a middle register. She is not his mother (too authoritative), not his lover (too possessive), but . In extended versions of the chant, the man lists her roles: bearer of children, keeper of the compound’s peace, trader at the market, priestess of the family shrine. By calling her “sister,” he disarms the romantic gaze and instead invokes kinship responsibility . My Sister I
But then, there is the phrase