Tax and Women: A Review of the 1929 Owerri Province Insurrection in Colonial Nigeria
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Date
2022
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Publisher
Uchitel Publishing House
Abstract
The present study examined the causes, course and consequences of the
Aba Women revolts in colonial Nigeria (West Africa). Using a combina tion of primary and secondary historical sources, the study found that
a multiplicity of remote and immediate factors were responsible for
the revolt. While taxation of men and rumored extension of same to
women was the immediate cause of the revolts, the factors such as low
price of palm produce/high cost of imported goods, discontent arising
from persecution and corruption from native courts system, and
change in the method of buying produce (from buying by measure to
buying by weight) were also significant. The study revealed that the
well organised women's revolts were targeted at the native courts,
warrant chiefs and foreign business interests. The study also found
that the seat of the revolts was not Aba, but Oloko, and women from
many parts of the province participated. Lastly, the study established
that the revolts changed the dynamics of colonial administration in
Owerri Province as it led to changes in administrative modalities. The
study concluded that women were not passive victims of colonial op pression but active collaborators in the resistance to oppressive and
repressive colonial policies.
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Keywords
taxation, warrant chiefs, women, indirect rule, owerri province
Citation
23. Afolabi, A.S. (2022): Tax and Women: A Review of the 1929 Owerri Province Insurrection in Colonial Nigeria. Social Evolution and History, 21 (2): 13 - 32