“We Women Are Like Trees Which Bear Fruitâ€: A Critical Analysis Of The 1929 Women’s War

Abstract

This article contributes to the existing literature on the Womens War, through a critical analysis of womens motivations for participating in the war, an emphasis on the womens own words and perceptions, the conflicting interpretations by Igbo and Western scholars alike, and finally, the embedded presumptions that shaped these interpretations. This article attempts to answer the following questions: What does the 1930 Aba Commission of Inquiry reveal about womens motivations for participating in the Womens War? How does this compare and contrast to the existing secondary literature on the Womens War? How have scholars interpreted the war? and finally, What do these interpretations reveal about their perceptions of Igbo women?