11:00 - 12:30
Room: Muirhead - Room 122
Stream: Women and the Environment in the African Arts
Chair/s:
Ijeoma Forchu
Conflict Resolution Principles and Practice in Igbo Music: Opi Women’s Music and Resolution of Sexual Molestation of Elderly Women
Felicia Ezeugwu
University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Generally, Igbo women occupy lower status than men. Social vices connected with urbanization and which defy modern conflict resolution approaches abound in contemporary Igbo societies. Women, as a result of their lowly status are very vulnerable to many of these social ills. Opi, an Igbo town in south eastern Nigeria, was in ferment for several months when elderly women were targeted and sexually molested in the farmlands as well as in their homes. Some of the women died as a result of the fatal injuries sustained. When all measures by the government and its security outfits were unable to contain the situation, the entire Opi women, undertook to fight the horrible menace through indigenous means. With the aid of indigenous musical arts – songs, visual art, dance and drama they succeeded, and Opi regained peace and tranquillity. This paper investigates how incessant sexual harassment of elderly women of Opi by some young men of that town was resolved using traditional musical arts coupled with the aid of indigenous environmental attitudes. The research employs the ethnographic and musicological methods. Fieldwork was done in which selected men, women and youths of the town who were directly and indirectly involved or affected were interviewed. Songs used in the incident were transcribed and analysed, while pictures of the costumes were collected. An important finding of this study, among other things, is that indigenous musical arts have assets which can be used to resolve conflicts in Igbo societies. This study offers an avenue through which a deeper understanding of the concepts and practice of indigenous African musical arts can be accessed. Thus, it makes a significant contribution to African humanities scholarship in general, and ethnomusicology in particular.


Reference:
We-A55 Women and the Environment in the Arts 1-P-002
Presenter/s:
Felicia Ezeugwu
Presentation type:
Panel
Room:
Muirhead - Room 122
Chair/s:
Ijeoma Forchu
Date:
Wednesday, 12 September
Time:
11:15 - 11:30
Session times:
11:00 - 12:30