Igbo Man Research Articles

Romance, Parenthood, and Gender in a Modern African Society

Young Igbo men and women in Nigeria increasingly insist on choosing their marriage partners and ideas about love are shaping Igbo constructions of marriage. But the viability of marriage still depends on fertility. This article examines the divergent consequences for men and women as they negotiate the transition from the role of romantic lover that now commonly characterizes courtship to the roles of mother and father embedded in webs of kinship that characterize marriage. (authors)

‘Islam Does Not Belong to Them’: Ethnic and Religious Identities Among Male Igbo Converts in Hausaland

AbstractBefore the civil war, conversion to Islam for Igbo men resident in the predominantly Hausa city of Kano in northern Nigeria usually meant becoming Hausa. More recent converts, however, have retained their Igbo identity and created an organisation, the Igbo Muslim Community. Three case studies from the first group detail the process and criteria of becoming Hausa, including immersion in Hausa economic and social networks; three case studies from the second group demonstrate that, while Hausa-centred networks remain important, converts have worked to construct new, Igbo-centred support structures. The watershed in the changing relationship between religious and ethnic affiliation for Igbo converts is the end of the war in 1970 and resultant changes in Igbo perceptions of Muslims, and changes in Igbo community structures.

Young Converts: Christian Missions, Gender and Youth in Onitsha, Nigeria 1880-1929

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Church Missionary Society missionaries, both of African and European descent, became interested in gaining converts among Igbo-speaking women in southeastern Nigeria. Schooling was an integral part of the conversion process. This article contends that separate body/mind disciplines for Igbo "youth" were not only based in European gender categories but helped to develop a separate category of personhood among Igbo themselves: ndi kris , the Christian people, who marked gender dichotomies differently than their unmissionized compatriots. The article discusses what the development of this socially separate, gendered, and youthful category of persons meant for Igbo society, and offers a way to consider how gender is necessarily part of the historical construction of "youth" in colonial contexts.

Enhancing the role of women in crop production: A case study of Igbo women in Nigeria

Available reports indicate a shift in conventional gender roles in agricultural labor among the Igbo of Nigeria. This study shows that the participation of Igbo men in nonfarm activities and waged employment has resulted in an increased workload for women in food crop production as well as a breakdown of the gender division of labor in agriculture. Igbo women now undertake some of the conventional male agricultural tasks in addition to those in the female domain. In spite of this, women experience greater constraints in access to production resources. These issues should be addressed by appropriate policy measures.

“Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women

Colonialism resulted in the loss of political position and power for Igbo women in Nigeria; the Victorian assumption on the part of the British colonial administrators that women were incapable of political leadership resulted in the failure of the administrators to preceive the traditional role played by women in Ibgo political life and eventually led to the British imposition of political institutions on the Igbo which provided political roles for men only. In the traditional culture there was a balance of power between men and women. Issues relevant to men were decided by concensus of all the men in the village. Women ran their affairs through the womens town meeting where they also arrived at decisions through consensus on such matters as trade farming and family relationships. If the womens decisions were not accepted by the men the women took group action such as publicly berating a or beating on his house until he repented or by conducting a village-wide cooking strike if the men refused to clear the paths to the market. These forms of collective action were referred to as sitting on a or on the man and were viewed as legitimate by the men in the community. When the British extended their control over Igbo they viewed the diffuse authority patterns of the Igbo as a sign of anarchy and proceeded to divide up the region into districts and arbitrarily appoint natives usually someone predisposed to the British position as the warrent chief for the district. These chiefs were given complete authority and the traditional decision making power for both sexes was ignored. The women responded by holding a town meeting and deciding to make war on the repressive warrant chiefs. In towns throughout the region the women congregated at the administrative centers burned the buildings and berated the new chiefs. The British responded in typically ethnocentric fashion; they failed to perceive the traditional system at work and quelled what they considered to simply be unruly mob behavior. Later reforms lead to the restoration of political pwer for Lgbo men but not for the women. Missionaries also contributed to the decline in political power for women. They viewed the womens town meeting as a pagan ritual and reserved job related education for Igbo men only.

An English-Igbo Translation of Palm Oil Production and Processing Terms for Human Development

The Igbo speaking people are well known for Palm Oil production and processing in Nigeria. This occupation is one of the lucrative ventures among other trades or occupations for which the Igbo man expresses himself. With the recent technological advancement in the method of production and processing of palm oil, more English terms that do not exist in the Igbo language create communication problems. It is expected that Igbo farmers of South Eastern Nigeria be equipped with the Igbo equivalents of both the new and old terms involved in this venture for a balanced and free flow of communication. To achieve this objective, the technical terms involved in palm oil production and unit operations are documented (translated) from the English to Igbo language with the aid of different translation techniques. Method employed is a survey research. Data was also collected from five states of the South Eastern Nigeria, namely: Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi states respectively. Findings of the study indicate that some English terms have no Igbo equivalents, which calls for the documentation of terms in this area. Again, some mediocre translators create terms indiscriminately without following the morphological rules involved in the process thereby making it difficult to comprehend. Moreso; some terms do not have its equivalents in the target language (Igbo). Based on these findings, it is recommended that the federal government of Nigeria should give the needed support for research development; the mass media should help in making newly created terms popular; translators involved in terminology should register with international organizations for unification of terminological neologism, etc. This research will be of great importance to farmers of palm oil production and processing, teachers and students in the area of study, the mass media and the general public for free flow of communication. The study was concluded based on the findings with summary, conclusion and suggestion for further studies.