Abstract: This paper considers the masculine views of a cross-section of Nigerian youths or, more precisely, undergraduates, to determine the forms of masculinity among youths. Drawn from different ethnic groups the masculine notions of the category of young men represented in this study show both similarities and differences. Influenced by the university environment, which promotes cross-cultural mingling and exchange of ideas, the views of the study participants are combinations of indigenous and non-indigenous masculine notions but reshaped by the economic and social changes that have taken place in the last two to three decades in the country. Youths aspire to project an ideal masculine identity as they grow older. They regard their educational pursuits as a preparatory phase for actualizing their dream personality. A pointer from this study is that masculine gender expressions cannot be generalized. Individual views can vary widely and are strongly affected by traditional practice as well as environmental and other realities.
Abstract: During the three decades following the end of the Nigerian civil war little attention has been given to the children who lived through the hostilities. This article on the recollections of present-day adults who experienced the crisis in their childhood, gathered by means of a qualitative research methodology, tells the story of the Nigerian civil war as the narrators perceived it in their childhoods. It probes their feelings and responses to the conflict, their lives under hostilities and some of the effects of the war on child survivors.
Abstract: Some communities in Anioma - the Igbo area west of the River Niger - have a firmly established female chieftaincy institution dating roughly to the end of the fifteenth century. Until 1990 female chiefs in Anioma called Omu were very old women knowledgeable in the traditions of their people, and charged with certain ritual and secular duties. This paper has a double agenda. It investigates the historical origin of the Omu institution in Anioma, which so far has not received any academic attention, and also discusses the unequal power relations of Anioma male and female chiefs. It argues that chieftaincy status for women necessitated the appropriation of masculine personality with the conferment of nearly all the rights and privileges enjoyed by biological males. But, these did not negate gender inequality in Anioma’s political structure and in the overall relations of members of the two gender categories in that section of Nigeria. The present study enhances scholarly knowledge of female chieftaincy institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa by focusing on aspects of its manifestation in Anioma, Nigeria. In some respects the paper also provides a re-assessment of popular views on the Omu.
Abstract: The Nigerian polity is a conglomerate of ethnic groups with differing religious ideologies. Interactions among people of non-identical or contradicting belief systems in the country have not been entirely free of volatile and violent eruptions. The root causes of these negative reactions are both the results of misunderstandings of each other’s faith and systems of worship. In other instances they are the product of sheer religious chauvinism. Recently, religion is emerging as the principal detonator of crises in the country. It is possible that the spate of these eruptions could be kept to a minimum and out-rightly arrested. This can be achieved in a number of ways: by religious leaders adopting a new approach: teaching and emphasizing those aspects of their beliefs that make for peaceful co-existence in a plural society; and by states desisting from interfering in religious matters. These and others, which will be discussed herein, will help create an atmosphere of tolerance in the nation that will sustain various efforts at nation building.
Abstract: The resilience and adaptability of Igbo culture to western influences was amply demonstrated during the last century following the British conquest of Nigeria and the attendant imposition of western culture. In its various facets Igbo culture has been able to reasonably adapt to western impositions except in regard to women participation in political process and governance. Indeed, Igbo women’s political status may have declined and their capacity for “sitting on a man” considerably whittled down. Thus, while women have achieved reasonable progress economically as well as in education, choice of marriage partners, and widowhood, for instance, they have made little significant headway in politics and governance in the face of a tradition that claims that “women do not sit with men to discuss the affairs of state.” This article examines the political status of women in contemporary Igboland and analyses the hurdles to their meaningful participation in governance. It is argued that culture has been an impediment to their visibility in politics and governance.
