Abstract: African writers normally romanticize the past ontologies of African women contending that they held considerable social power. This overarching narrative obscures the gender imbalances in precolonial and post-contact Africa. The nd’ishi tradition of northernmost Igbo communities–generally called Nsukka–is a paradox that all pre-contact Africa had a fair deal for women.Among them, married women that engage in extramarital affairs or who assist their natal relatives without their husbands’permission become mentally deranged unless they confess early enough and certain purifications applied. Mainly, I discuss how entrenched male power structures in these areas deftly deploy the nd’ishi tradition to relieve women of control over their sexuality and material resources. Conversely, I show how through ritual “blinding” of the nd’ishi tradition, women have navigated these unequal relations, upholding their methods of subservience and resistance. “Our mothers are not Free” utilizes extensive ethnographical methodologies to unravel the intricacies of gender and social control that contrast the prevailing romanticizedview of gender balance across traditional African societies.

Ngozika Anthonia Obi-Ani is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her research is multidisciplinary, connecting history, sociology, conflicts, health, gender studies, as well as urban, cultural, and memory studies. My overall research is thinking globally about gender equality, reducing inequalities, sustainable peace, justice, and the role of stronginstitutions in ensuring equality. I have published articles and book chapters in reputable local and international journals and has attended numerous conferences both within and outside Nigeria.  Ngozika is an alumnus of Partnership for African Social & Governance Research, (PASGR) Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently a fellow of Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa, MIASA, working on,” Post-memory, Trauma and the Nigeria-Biafra War: A Case of Uju Anya’s Tweet on Queen Elizabeth 11”.

Press Releases:

• “Local practices, traditions demeaning women in Africa must be abolished” – MIASA Expert", Radio Univers, 14th July 2023