The Women’s War of 1929: Gender and Violence in Colonial Nigeria

293 Pages·2012·3.848 MB·English

by  Marc Matera, Misty L. Bastian, Susan Kingsley Kent (auth.)

The Women’s War of 1929

The Women’s War of 1929
Gender and Violence in Colonial Nigeria
Marc Matera
Assistant Professor of History, Northern Arizona University, USA
Misty L. Bastian
Professor of Anthropology, Franklin and Marshall College, USA
Susan Kingsley Kent
Professor of History, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
© Marc Matera, Misty L. Bastian and Susan Kingsley Kent 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-30295-2
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First published 2012 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-33796-5 ISBN 978-0-230-35606-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230356061
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
In memory of Misty’s husband, John Svatek,
the reluctant Africanist

Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Chronology of Major Events ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Pre- and Early Colonial Igbo Worlds 15
Chapter 2 The British View: The Chaotic World of 45
Southeastern Nigeria
Chapter 3 The Twin Traumas of War and Influenza 78
Chapter 4 The Nwaobialaof 1925 108
Chapter 5 The Ogu Umunwaanyi 132
Chapter 6 The British Suppression of the Women’s War 163
Chapter 7 “More Deadly than the Male”: The Women’s War 188
in the British Imagination
Chapter 8 What the Women Wrought 218
Conclusion 235
Notes 240
Bibliography 265
Index 272
vii
List of Illustrations
“Station [Aba]”. Igbo peoples, Nigeria. 44
Photographer unknown, c. 1923–1925
Silver gelatin print, Igbo Photographic Album, c. 1923–1925
EEPA 1997-006-0015, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
“Bush Meeting”. Igbo peoples, Nigeria. 77
Photographer unknown, c. 1923–1925
Silver gelatin print, Igbo Photographic Album, c. 1923–1925
EEPA 1997-006-0160, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
“Road to Nobi. Onitsha” Igbo peoples, Nigeria. 107
Photographer unknown, c. 1923–1925
Silver gelatin print, Igbo Photographic Album, c. 1923–1925
EEPA 1997-006-0043,Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
“1923” [Massing of troops and band]. Igbo peoples, Nigeria. 161
Photographer unknown, c. 1923–1925
Silver gelatin print, Igbo Photographic Album, c. 1923–1925
EEPA 1997-006-0107, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
“Roadside Market” Igbo peoples, Nigeria. 162
Photographer unknown, c. 1923–1925
Silver gelatin print, Igbo Photographic Album, c. 1923–1925
EEPA 1997-006-0073, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
viii
Chronology of Major Events
1857 – first permanent mission in Igboland is established in Onitsha
by Rev. John Christopher Taylor, who was born in Sierra Leone of Igbo
parents
1865 – Church Missionary Society mission established in Bonny
1888 – Presbyterians set up a mission station to convert the Igbo
1902 – Aro-Chukwu Expedition, culminating in the destruction of
the so-called “Long Ju-Ju” oracle; sterling introduced as the official
currency of the area
1912 – the beginning of Lugardism and Native Administration in south-
eastern Nigeria
1915 – “Garrick Braide” movement begins
1918 – British attempt to abolish local currencies altogether
1924 – three thousand women “riot” in Calabar when a market toll is
required by the government
late 1925 – Nwaobialadancers appear in Owerri and present a message
to local warrant chiefs and elders
early 1926 – Nwaobialadancing gradually disappears; participants fined
1927 – British colonial administrators attempt to make an accurate
census count of Igbo men and their property for purposes of taxation
1928 – first direct taxation of men in southeastern Nigeria
October 1929 – Captain John Cook, temporarily assigned to Bende as
District Officer, decides to re-do the Bende censusand asks that women
and domestic animals be counted
mid-October 1929 – rumors begin to spread through women’s mkiri
that women are to be taxed
November 2, 1929 – Nwanyeruwa and Mark Emeruwa engage in battle
over “counting” in Oloko; Nwanyeruwa confirms to the Oloko women
that they are to be taxed
ix