Ethnography of Kinship Constructions among International Returnees in Nigeria

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Nwaobiala

2019

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Even though the phenomenon of female family support may not be entirely new in Africa, breadwinning is the primary role of men in most African societies. However, as more women get education and enter paid employment, and some men lose jobs, traditional breadwinning roles are challenged and, sometimes, inverted as growing numbers of women become family breadwinners. Female breadwinning may not be without implications for family stability, however, as it confronts instituted normative gender order in patriarchal societies. While female breadwinners are increasingly common in industrialized societies, and literature exists on their trajectories in such contexts, more recent works are needed in Africa, particularly Nigeria. This article, therefore, examines the nexus of female breadwinning and family stability in Nigeria. This article is an important one on a growing phenomenon in Africa resulting from urbanization, industrialization and economic crises in certain regions of the continent. Guided by modernization and patriarchy theories, the study relied on qualitative method of data collection. Twenty in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted in contexts of female breadwinning families. Data were analysed and presented as interpretive narratives. An interesting relationship was found between female breadwinning and family stability in the setting. Generational influences and associated outcomes were also found and presented in this article.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing but Fragile: Female Breadwinning and Family Stability in Nigeria

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Nwaobiala

2019

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“…A lot of women operate in this informal sector, and we may liken it to the feminisation of the Nigerian informal sector. Many women thus inadvertently become the main breadwinners in some Nigerian cities today as opposed to previous epochs (Akanle and Olutayo, 2012) and they provide more financially for their families (Boushey, 2009; Drago et al, 2004; Meisenbach, 2010) while many still bear the burden of domestic chores (Bianchi et al, 2007; Budig and England, 2001). Hence, according to Friedman and Marshall (2004) even when some women are now breadwinners in their families, they still perform the traditional role of care-giving more than their male counterparts, who now perform even less, since women are taking over males’ traditional breadwinning roles (Gaunt, 2013; Vukovic, 2006) contrary to the conclusions of Solomon (2014) in the USA’s case.…”

Section: Theoretical Historicities Of Gender Relations and Breadwinnimentioning

confidence: 99%

Turbulent but I must endure in silence: Female breadwinners and survival in Southwestern Nigeria

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Adésínà

Nwaobiala

2016

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As Africa’s urban systems change and transform with more women becoming educated and getting work outside the home and more men are confronting unemployment and retrenchment, an emerging phenomenon has surfaced challenging common gender identities and roles in the context of families. Current livelihood realities reconstruct and renegotiate how household needs are met and who meets these needs, consequently questioning traditional patriarchal dictates. Increasing numbers of women in Africa’s urban centres play breadwinning roles and become lifelines for their families. Unfortunately, research and literature say little about the experiences of these women as they navigate unusual social spaces. This article investigates the challenges that breadwinning women face and how they cope with these challenges in a Nigerian megacity. Data were gathered through In-depth Interviews (IDIs) with 20 female breadwinning families and the theoretical framework adopted is a triangulation of modernisation and patriarchy theories. Data analysis was done through content analysis and presented as ethnographic narratives and summaries. Important findings were made and presented in this article.

“…We, thus, move from theoretical discussion to an important case-study example from Nigeria. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa (Akanle, 2011; Akanle and Olutayo, 2012) and it has one of the highest numbers of universities in Africa. According to the Executive Secretary of Nigeria’s National University Commission (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie, as at 2016, there are 141 accredited universities in Nigeria – 40 federal government owned, 40 state governments owned and 61 privately owned (NUC, 2016).…”

Section: Asuwada: Dependence and The Challenge Of Acceptancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aside from the challenge of Nigerian and African scholars to present a common positive attitude towards accepting and teaching southern interventions like the Akiwowo’s, the complex ethnolinguistic and cultural diversities of Nigeria is a major challenge. Nigeria is among the most ethnolinguistically diverse countries in the world with over 400 languages and cultures (Akanle and Olutayo, 2012). Even when it is commonly noted that there are three major ethnic groups in Nigeria – Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo in order of population dominance – there are hundreds of smaller ethnic groups subsumed under these dominant ones (Otite, 1971).…”

Section: Asuwada: Dependence and The Challenge Of Acceptancementioning

confidence: 99%

Asuwada Epistemology and Globalised Sociology: Challenges of the South

Omobowale

2017

Sociology

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Professor Akiwowo propounded the Asuwada Theory of Sociation in the 1980s as a contextual episteme to explain African social experience. The theory particularly attempts an indigenous postulation to social interactions among Africans in general and the Yoruba in particular. Its concepts attempt to emphasise contextual values of social beings who would contribute to social survival and community integration and development. This theory postulates that among Africans in general and the Yoruba in particular, the need to associate or co-exist by internalising and rightly exhibiting socially approved values of community survival and development, is integral to local social structure, as failure to co-exist potentially endangers the community. A deviant who defaults in sociating values is deemed a bad person ( omoburuku), while the one who sociates is the good person ( omoluabi). This theoretical postulation contrasts western social science theories (especially sociological Structuralist (macro) and Social Action (micro) theories), which rather emphasise rationality and individualism (at varied levels depending on the theory). Western social science ethnocentrically depicts African communal and kin ways of life as primitive and antithetical to development. Western social science theories have remained dominant and hegemonic over the years while Akiwowo’s theory is largely unpopular even in Nigerian social science curricula in spite of its potential for providing contextual interpretations for indigenous ways of life that are still very much extant despite dominant western modernity. This article examines the Asuwada Theory within the context of globalised social sciences and the complicated and multifaceted glocal challenges confronting the adoption of the Akiwowo’s epistemic intervention.