Widowhood Practices in Africa [Igbo] Traditional Society: SocioAnthropological [Re] Interpretations
Journal Title: IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science - Year 2018, Vol 23, Issue 3
Abstract
Most African [Igbo] traditional practices have been misconstrued, misinterpreted or interpreted out of context. The consequence of this hermeneutical error is thedissemination of blurred knowledge and this affects not only modern scholarship adversely but also disfigures the people‟s worldview and undermines their personality definitions.These overly results to revolt, libelling and avid rejection of the culture and values of the people. The worst hit of this hermeneutical error in modern scholarship is the Igbo traditional widowhood practices. Thus, the feminists scholarly slant has staked their neck in an avid condemnation of the practices as they consider them obnoxious, de-humanizing, de-womanizing and complete vitiation on the rights and personality of the women. Against this backdrop, this paper is designed to reconsider these practices within their contextual framework and historical milieu. It adopted a socio-anthropological method as its main tool. Here, the work discovers that these widowhood ritual practices among the Igbo people aim at social stability, metaphysical integration of both the physical and spiritual worlds apart. It also notes that the practices were designed for the protection and preservation of the entire community and especially the widow, who through the loss of her husband was exposed to the cross-current traffic of the spiritual and physical worlds. The paper therefore concludes that those practices serve its metaphysical needs of the traditional society as it gave sound philosophical base for the definition of their reality.
Authors and Affiliations
Okoro Kingsley Nwannennaya, Nkama Chinyere Lilian
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP418518
- DOI 10.9790/0837-2303094254.
- Views 58
- Downloads 0
Some Theories In Conveying Hadith And Al Quran
Islam has two references that serve as the main source of teachings, namely the Qur'an and hadith.Hadith is as a reinforcement or explanation of Qur'anic verses. Because the source of Islamic teachings are both the Qur'a...
Safe Production using Supportive Leadership Principles
With the ongoing pressure on save production it is important to change the approach to save production. With the more focus and outside pressures on safety in Mines; it is important to find the correct actions to ensure...
Stress Triggers and Coping Strategies of Medical Students
Stress types are usually classified based on the source of stress, this is because not all potential stressors have the same force of impact or duration. The study analyzed stress coping styles in medical students. The t...
Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020 and Rural Development In Nigeria: Challenges And Prospects
The importance of agriculture in the development of the Nigerian economy cannot be overstressed. It is central to the economic activities of the rural sector. In an effort to strengthen the sector, the President Buhari l...
General Election Of The Regional Head In The Local Government System (A Study in Makassar)
The purpose of this research is to analyze the implementation of democratic regional head election in local government system and analyze and explain and find the factors that influence the implementation of regional hea...