Judith Byfield. The Great Upheaval: Women and Nation in Postwar Nigeria. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press (New African Histories series), 2022. xiii + 334 pp. List of illustrations. Abbreviations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $36.64. Paper. ISBN: 978-0821423981.

Abstract

The Great Upheaval: Women and Nation in Postwar Nigeria was written by Judith Byfield, a scholar well versed in Nigeria's colonial history. Rooted specifically in the colonial history of Abeokuta, the book has six chapters. The first chapter covers "The Birth and Demise of a Nation: The Egba United Government." The second chapter looks at "Abeokuta's Centenary: Masculinity and Nationalist Politics in a Colonial Space." Chapter Three examines "Race, Nation, and Politics in the Interwar period." The fourth chapter deals with "Women, Rice, and War: Economic Crisis in Wartime Abeokuta." Chapter Five focuses on "Freedom from Want: Politics, Protest, and the Postwar Interlude," and the last chapter is titled "Daughters of Tinubu: Crisis and Confrontation in Abeokuta."Chapter One examines the growth of cultural nationalism and an emerging Christian state in Abeokuta during the nineteenth century, even before British colonialism. In this chapter, Byfield makes reference to women's work and economic independence (34), affirming how gender was construed in Abeokuta before colonialism. Yet, with the advent of colonial government, women were nevertheless excluded in the administrative setup of the Egba United Government (EUG) (39, 62).As British colonialism scuttled the ideals which made the Egba nation exclusive, the emergence of King Ademola II, the Alake, changed the dynamics of state-making. The author analyzes how taxation created a colonial capitalist system, with funds from taxation being used to build the Centenary Hall (65). The power of the kingship institution and the centralization of authority would later be reflected in the economic crises and class struggles that led to the "The Great Upheaval." The Great Upheaval, according to Wole Soyinka, was the crisis that forced the Alake (the king) to vacate his throne, and it was aided by the alliance of market women and educated women in Abeokuta (2). Each of the chapters presents episodic events, revolving from the Abeokuta centenary celebration in