Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine gender and rural economic relations of the Nrobo of Southeastern Nigeria. Specifically, the study was designed to examine the subsistence strategies, gendered role patterns and gender gaps in economic relations of the Nrobo.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used ethnographic methods of participant observation – adopting chitchatting and semi-structured interviews. Also, focus group discussion (FGD) was used to cross-check the validity of data from the other instrument.
Findings
This study found among other things, that although there is still verbal expression of gendered roles division, it does not mirror what actually obtains in society, except bio-social roles. Ideological superiority of men reflects the patrilineal kinship arrangement of society. Theoretically, some of the hypotheses of gender inequality theory were disputed for lack of adequate explanation of gender and economic relations in an egalitarian-reflected society such as Nrobo.
Originality/value
This study, to the best of my knowledge, is the first attempt to ethnographically examine gender and economic relations among this group. As such it adds to the corpus of ethnographies on the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria.
Gender inequality has generated a lot of debates among scholars across disciplines. Much of these studies have not explored a robust scholarship on the historical development of gender inequality by comparing different human societies and their subsistence strategies. This review study is designed to fill this gap, thereby contributing to corpus of literature on gender inequality in economic relations. As a historical research, the study uses secondary materials. These materials are mainly ethnographies of the societies under comparison. The study compares the roles of each of the gender categories in subsistence activities, in economic systems, to trace the sources of gender inequality in economic relations. Data available suggest egalitarian gender and economic relations. However, as societies evolved, there became a gradual decline in egalitarianism, leading to marked inequality. The inequality is relative to the complexity of social structure peculiar to the societies under review.
Cannabis use has been researched comprehensively, especially in the western societies. In Africa, there is also a corpus of literature on cannabis use. In Nigeria, particularly in Awka, southeast Nigeria, there is a dearth of qualitative empirical research on cannabis use among different classes of people. This study sets out to understand cannabis use motive in Awka and why cannabis users persist in using cannabis. In-depth interview (IDI) was conducted among 18 participants selected through snow balling. The interviews were conducted between November 2018 and June 2019. Data collected were transcribed and analyzed and two major themes of coping and enhancement were generated. Data showed non-medical use of the drug by the participants. Findings suggest among others that cannabis use has continued because it helps users to cope with life challenges. Also, cannabis is seen as a boost to strength among users, especially those who do jobs that demand sustained physical energy, among others, and enhancement functions users derive from it. Consequently, there is the need for practical policy to tame recreational cannabis use in this Nigerian City.
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