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The Igbo are a people in Nigeria with a tradition | The Igbo are a people in Nigeria with a tradition that combined stateless communism with patriarchy and slavery. In the 1830s, when they first had contact with the Europeans, there were 5 million Igbo. They lived in decentralized, autonomous communities. They had three classes: free-borns, slaves and outcasts.<ref>Emmanuel C. Onyeozili and Obi N. I. Ebbe, “Social Control in Precolonial Igboland of Nigeria”, ''African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies'' (2012), http://www.umes.edu/assets/0/22/7883/ed29161b-c310-44f6-9e4b-e11246babcb7.pdf.</ref> | ||
=Culture= | =Culture= | ||
The Igbo traditionally had a patriarchal and patrilineal culture, where the “authority of the father was not questioned by anybody in his family”.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.</ref> The novelist Chinua Achebe describes the centrality of dominance in the traditional Igbo concept of masculinity, in his novel ''Things Fall Apart'': “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.”<ref>Chinua Achebe, ''Things Fall Apart'' (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), 53.</ref>. | The Igbo traditionally had a patriarchal and patrilineal culture, where the “authority of the father was not questioned by anybody in his family”.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.</ref> The novelist Chinua Achebe describes the centrality of dominance in the traditional Igbo concept of masculinity, in his novel ''Things Fall Apart'': “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.”<ref>Chinua Achebe, ''Things Fall Apart'' (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), 53.</ref>. | ||
To resist abusive men, women had a tradition called "sitting on a man". When a man abused his wife, the women | To resist abusive men, women had a tradition called "sitting on a man". When a man abused his wife, the women assembled outside the man's house and yelled at him. If he did not apologize, the women “might destroy the fence around his house and his outlying storage buildings. If his offense were grievous enough, the women might even storm into his house, drag him out, and beat him up.”<ref>Peter Gelderloos, [[Anarchy Works]].</ref> | ||
Moreover, there's documentation of an Igbo locality forming a women's council to protect certain rights of women: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
"Amadiume (1987: 66-7) describes the Inyom Nnobi (the 'Women of Nnobi') - a traditional all-female council among one group of the Nigerian Igbo. A kind of women's trade union, it was headed by the Agba Ekwe, 'the favoured one of the goddess Idemili and her earthly manifestation'. She carried her staff of authority and had the final | |||
word in public gatherings and assemblies. Central among her tasks was to ensure men's strict observance of woman-protective taboos - for example, the | |||
two-year ban on sexual intercourse with a nursing mother. She was equally | |||
alert to reports of sexual harassment of young girls when travelling along | |||
bush-paths. In this rather male-dominated society, the community of | |||
women were aware of their strong communications network, and took full | |||
advantage of it. 'What the men feared most', the ethnographer adds (p. 67), | |||
'was the Council's power of strike action'"<ref>Chris Knight, ''Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture'' (New Haven: Yale University Press), 140.</ref> | |||
When the council declared a strike, the women refused to perform normal domestic duties and refused to have sex. Sometimes they would temporarily leave town, bringing only suckling babies. When pressed, they would even attack men. In one instance, they razed down a man's house in order to punish him for deliberately killing a python, an animal sacred to the goddess Idemili.<ref>Knight, ''Blood Relations'', 140.</ref> | |||
=Decisions= | =Decisions= | ||
Each community was autonomous and controlled its affairs with | Each community was autonomous and controlled its affairs with five major institutions. People made decisions at general assemblies, which were convened by a town crier who went around the village sounding a gong. To this day, assemblies are a major part of Igbo life. The community's decisions were implemented by the council of elders, the age grades, and the secret societies. Finally, a women's council known as the ''umuada'' could veto any decision that directly affected women and children. <ref>I.E. Igariwey and Sam Mbah, ''African Anarchism: The History of a Movement'' (Anarchist Library, 2009), https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/sam-mbah-i-e-igariwey-african-anarchism-the-history-of-a-movement.</ref> | ||
=Economy= | =Economy= | ||
The precolonial Igbo had “communal ownership of land.”<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.</ref> They grew food using communal labor.<ref>''African Anarchism''.</ref> | The precolonial Igbo had “communal ownership of land.”<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.</ref> They grew food using communal labor.<ref>''African Anarchism''.</ref> | ||
=Crime= | =Crime= | ||
The Igbo employed a variety of diffuse sanctions to punish people who committed offences against communal law. Punishments for serious offences included restitution, temporary exile and public beatings. The pre-colonial Igbo did not have prisons or a death penalty.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, | The Igbo employed a variety of diffuse sanctions to punish people who committed offences against communal law. Punishments for serious offences included restitution, temporary exile and public beatings. The pre-colonial Igbo did not have prisons or a death penalty.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."</ref> | ||
There were four levels of courts. First, at the household level, the male head would punish women and children for transgressions of his rules. He would sometimes convene a court of his wives and oldest children. Punishments included denial of meals, beatings, and, for repeat offenses, rubbing hot peppers in the offender's eyes. Second, each village had a council of elders that tried cases at the village level. Third, the council of elders would sometimes appeal to the village's diviner,in order to determine the identity of an offender. Finally, the council would sometimes ask the village's oracle, whose decisions were final.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."</ref> | |||
Onyeozili and Ebbe write, “Up till today, very few criminal cases reach the post-colonial court system. Many criminal and juvenile delinquency cases are disposed informally in towns and villages. The Council of elders serves as the trial courts and, the age grades serve as the main enforcement arm of the village justice.”.<ref>Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."</ref> | |||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
Latest revision as of 06:24, 19 February 2022
The Igbo are a people in Nigeria with a tradition that combined stateless communism with patriarchy and slavery. In the 1830s, when they first had contact with the Europeans, there were 5 million Igbo. They lived in decentralized, autonomous communities. They had three classes: free-borns, slaves and outcasts.[1]
Culture
The Igbo traditionally had a patriarchal and patrilineal culture, where the “authority of the father was not questioned by anybody in his family”.[2] The novelist Chinua Achebe describes the centrality of dominance in the traditional Igbo concept of masculinity, in his novel Things Fall Apart: “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.”[3].
To resist abusive men, women had a tradition called "sitting on a man". When a man abused his wife, the women assembled outside the man's house and yelled at him. If he did not apologize, the women “might destroy the fence around his house and his outlying storage buildings. If his offense were grievous enough, the women might even storm into his house, drag him out, and beat him up.”[4]
Moreover, there's documentation of an Igbo locality forming a women's council to protect certain rights of women:
"Amadiume (1987: 66-7) describes the Inyom Nnobi (the 'Women of Nnobi') - a traditional all-female council among one group of the Nigerian Igbo. A kind of women's trade union, it was headed by the Agba Ekwe, 'the favoured one of the goddess Idemili and her earthly manifestation'. She carried her staff of authority and had the final word in public gatherings and assemblies. Central among her tasks was to ensure men's strict observance of woman-protective taboos - for example, the two-year ban on sexual intercourse with a nursing mother. She was equally alert to reports of sexual harassment of young girls when travelling along bush-paths. In this rather male-dominated society, the community of women were aware of their strong communications network, and took full advantage of it. 'What the men feared most', the ethnographer adds (p. 67), 'was the Council's power of strike action'"[5]
When the council declared a strike, the women refused to perform normal domestic duties and refused to have sex. Sometimes they would temporarily leave town, bringing only suckling babies. When pressed, they would even attack men. In one instance, they razed down a man's house in order to punish him for deliberately killing a python, an animal sacred to the goddess Idemili.[6]
Decisions
Each community was autonomous and controlled its affairs with five major institutions. People made decisions at general assemblies, which were convened by a town crier who went around the village sounding a gong. To this day, assemblies are a major part of Igbo life. The community's decisions were implemented by the council of elders, the age grades, and the secret societies. Finally, a women's council known as the umuada could veto any decision that directly affected women and children. [7]
Economy
The precolonial Igbo had “communal ownership of land.”[8] They grew food using communal labor.[9]
Crime
The Igbo employed a variety of diffuse sanctions to punish people who committed offences against communal law. Punishments for serious offences included restitution, temporary exile and public beatings. The pre-colonial Igbo did not have prisons or a death penalty.[10]
There were four levels of courts. First, at the household level, the male head would punish women and children for transgressions of his rules. He would sometimes convene a court of his wives and oldest children. Punishments included denial of meals, beatings, and, for repeat offenses, rubbing hot peppers in the offender's eyes. Second, each village had a council of elders that tried cases at the village level. Third, the council of elders would sometimes appeal to the village's diviner,in order to determine the identity of an offender. Finally, the council would sometimes ask the village's oracle, whose decisions were final.[11]
Onyeozili and Ebbe write, “Up till today, very few criminal cases reach the post-colonial court system. Many criminal and juvenile delinquency cases are disposed informally in towns and villages. The Council of elders serves as the trial courts and, the age grades serve as the main enforcement arm of the village justice.”.[12]
- ↑ Emmanuel C. Onyeozili and Obi N. I. Ebbe, “Social Control in Precolonial Igboland of Nigeria”, African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies (2012), http://www.umes.edu/assets/0/22/7883/ed29161b-c310-44f6-9e4b-e11246babcb7.pdf.
- ↑ Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.
- ↑ Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), 53.
- ↑ Peter Gelderloos, Anarchy Works.
- ↑ Chris Knight, Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press), 140.
- ↑ Knight, Blood Relations, 140.
- ↑ I.E. Igariwey and Sam Mbah, African Anarchism: The History of a Movement (Anarchist Library, 2009), https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/sam-mbah-i-e-igariwey-african-anarchism-the-history-of-a-movement.
- ↑ Onyeozili and Ebbe, ibid.
- ↑ African Anarchism.
- ↑ Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."
- ↑ Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."
- ↑ Onyeozili and Ebbe, "Social Control."
