Change and Resistance: A Reflection on the Aba Women Uprising in Colonial Nigeria

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.