Selected petitions and written correspondence between Igbo women and British officials between 1892 and 1960 shed fresh light on how...
Selected petitions and written correspondence between Igbo
women and British officials between 1892 and 1960 shed fresh light on how women
navigated male-dominated colonial institutions and structures of the time.
African women acted in varied and complex ways to the
situations they found themselves in. This ranged from subtle to overt
opposition, and sometimes violent resistance.
One response was through petition writing as women took to
the pen to articulate their concerns. In my research, I examined several
petitions written by Igbo women to British officials during the colonial
period. I found that petition writing was part of the complex power politics
between the women and the colonial state.
On June 5, 1885, Great Britain proclaimed Nigeria as a
colony. It declared a protectorate over territories on the coast between the
British Protectorate of Lagos and both banks of the Rivers Niger and Benue (The
London Gazette, June 5, 1885). Although treaties were signed with rulers by
1885, actual British control of northern and southern Nigeria was not attained
until 1900. Colonial rule lasted until 1960 and was resisted in various forms.
In Igboland, this included warfare, protests, tax evasion and petition writing.
The petitions enable us to understand the circumstances
under which women turned to the government for assistance and under which the
authorities granted or rejected their requests. Women opened up debates and
dialogues using petitions. This offers insights into their relationships with
indigenous men and with British officers.
The research
challenges the outmoded narrative of the passivity of African women in the
colonial power structure.
My research shows that petition writing granted women agency
and opportunities for far greater female assertiveness and civic engagement. In
this sense, petitions served a political purpose and proved a powerful tool for
the disenfranchised — a group that included more than just women.
The petitions
The political context of the time was that women were not
incorporated in colonial administration. Petition writing was therefore a means
by which women could influence, resist, negotiate and counteract policies
within the colonial framework.
It also challenged the outmoded narrative of the passivity
of women in the colonial power structure. They were actively involved as
individuals or groups in shaping public policies in the colonial era.
In Igboland, women regularly approached British officials
with personal requests and complaints. The focus of their petitions was on
socio-political and economic issues such as taxation, politics, policies, price
control, cost of living, family issues, representation, marriages and so on.
These excerpts are drawn from a pool of petitions which I
have dubbed “voices on ink”.
On September 12, 1928, Igbo women led by Madam Chinwe
petitioned the Lieutenant Governor of the Southern Provinces over the frustrations
that the colonial economy placed on them. (The British National Archives (TNA),
FCO 141/13669/2. Petitions and Complaints: Madam Chinwe)
In view of the fact that Aba women at the present time
suffer significant hardships regarding the high cost of staples, could you
consider fixing the prices of foodstuff at certain fixed rates? (Aba
Progressive Union – Petitions, 9/12/1928, National Archives, Enugu (NAE),
Abadist 13/12/15. File No. 99/28)
On November 16, 1937, Mary Nna of Ohambele petitioned the
Senior Resident, Owerri Province, concerning what she perceived to be an unfair
judgement against her in the group native court of Ikwueke. She wrote:
I respectfully submit that the annulment of the Native Court
judgment by the Reviewing Officer is bad in law … The evidence of the defendant
is a tissue of lies and the defendant set up the defence as an afterthought in
order to frustrate the course of justice and bring to ridicule and contempt
British justice and fair play. (Petition from Mary Nna of Ohambele, Aba
Division, 12/11/1937, NAE, Abadist 9/1/95, File No. OW. 3041/5)
On Sept. 7, 1940, Maria Olumo petitioned the Resident to
help restore her ownership of a piece of land that she alleged the Chiefs of
Umuezi had taken from her and unlawfully transferred to a European firm, the
United Africa Company. (Abadist 14/1/31. File No. 31 Vol. XVII. Maria Olumo
(F): Petitions and Complaints: General)
What the petitions
tell us
Petition writing demonstrates the “politics from below”
which regularly featured resistance by women during the colonial era. Women,
along with their male counterparts, took advantage of opportunities to seek
redress and inform the government of their needs and complaints.
Petitioning was an avenue to interact with colonial
authorities despite the social distance that separated ordinary subjects from
the colonial ruling elite. Seeking redress through petitions was a powerful
tool that helped bridge the gap between men and women in a rigidly patriarchal
colonial system. While women understood and respected this distance, they
certainly were not entirely powerless or voiceless.
Petition writing also offered a legal means to bridge the
gap. It gave female subjects, who generally had no other direct contact with
the authorities, a legal mechanism to press the government to fulfill its
obligations.
Additionally, they demonstrate that women were not passive
and voiceless subjects of the empire, as much of the colonial historiography
would have one believe. On the contrary, women understood their qualifications
as petitioners and their rights even as they stood before an administration
that was male dominated.
Petitioning allowed women to occupy (as much as possible)
colonial spaces that were constructed as quintessentially male. Since they
occupied substantially diminished roles, Igbo women evolved their roles into a
semblance of their precolonial expressions of political and socioeconomic
power. By petitioning, they could be heard in the corridors of power that were
otherwise unapproachable to them. Sometimes they managed to get the upper
levels of colonial government to address a manifest wrong.
Even when the administration did not resolve their problems,
analysis of these sources reveals a pattern of interaction between the
colonizer and colonized, one that hasn’t been recognized before.
Indeed, a study of “female voices on ink” demonstrates the
need to shift narratives and focus on neglected but unsung female heroes of the
colonial period. We must recognize these women for who they were – contestants
and agents of power in a male-dominated, British colonial society.
By Bright Alozie, Lecturer in History, West Virginia
University
Source
No comments