Change and Resistance: A Reflection on the Aba Women Insurrection in Nigeria
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Date
2022
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Publisher
the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Culture
Abstract
This study revisits the resistance of women against the British colonial government’s introduction
of its taxation system in eastern Nigeria and focuses on the problematized relationship between
culture and history. Although historical studies have been carried out to explain why women
resisted change and why men were largely absent from the struggle against in the colony of eastern
Nigeria, new studies on the subject have provided vital information on how women responded
to the colonial imposition of tax and how cultural dynamics spurred the women’s revolts. Data
adopted for the study were taken from primary sources consisting of archival records, participant’
observers’ reports, as well as information on secondary sources such as journal articles and books,
in order to explain the ethnography and culture of the Igbo society. This paper argues that women
mainly resisted colonial tax imposition without strong involvement of the men, and expressed
their anger against the Native Court and Warrant Chief systems, which were, exclusively, male
dominated. It concludes that women were not passive victims of colonial intimidation and
oppression, but were vanguards of resistance against a hostile and brutal colonial regime in
Eastern Nigeria.
Description
Keywords
taxation, warrant chiefs, native authority, indirect rule, women's revolts, ethnographic, survey, cultural change, eastern Nigeria
Citation
22. Afolabi, A. S. & Abiodun Akeem Oladiti, (2022) Change and Resistance: A Reflection on the Aba Women Insurrection in Nigeria, Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies, 37: 41 - 61