DOMESTIC REBELLION: HOW WOMEN WEAPONISE DECEPTION AS FEMINIST RESISTANCE IN THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI’S WIVES BY LOLA SHONEYIN

Abstract

This paper explores how weaponised deception functions as a calculated form of feminist resistance within the patriarchal household in Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. Moving beyond traditional critical evaluations that mischaracterise co-wife rivalries as moral failings or domestic malice, the study applies James C. Scott’s framework of infrapolitics alongside Obioma Nnaemeka’s Nego-feminism to map the subversive operations of the Alao household. It examines how the senior wives utilize systemic paternity fraud, capital siphoning, and performative flattery within micro-spaces like the kitchen to quietly undermine the patriarch's authority and reclaim reproductive autonomy. The analysis further traces how the fourth wife, Bolanle, acts as an accidental catalyst whose demand for modern scientific transparency collapses these protective illusions. Ultimately, the paper argues that Shoneyin validates duplicity as a legitimate postcolonial survivalist methodology, transforming a strict patriarchy into a renegotiated space of shared female authority.