Abstract
Women deal with patriarchy, gender restrictions and social expectations, African women confront poverty, child bearing and sometimes help in bread winning, this happens despite the categorization of women as weaker sex. Additionally, Isoko women encounter gerontocracy, a system of government and social order that dictates, not just men but elders’ rule. Eweya is Isoko women organization, where they come together to deliberate on personal and social issues. Through Eweya, Isoko women circumnavigate gender concerns, and confront social agency to achieve social relevance. Eweya’s ontological activism enables women to achieve social change, as they deploy the cosmic force of justice, to scale obstacles, become stake holders, and achieve self-actualization. This paper used the framework of Ubuntu, Bantu theory of force and Nguni notions of togetherness to interrogate Eweya. The objective is to examine Isoko women’s ontologico-communal approach that helps them navigate gerontocracy, it critically analyses how Isoko women bridge the gender concerns, and confront agency, to attain social relevance. The paper employed literature review, ethnographic debates and critical elucidations. It recommends and concludes that women can continue to replicate ontologico-communal activism, by employing their body as a tool of social change. It advocates that women stimulate their nature for social intervention and active restoration. As Eweya, and other women organization understand the force of body not for objectification, sexuality and gaze, but as a means of restorative social change and progressive development in Africa.
Authors:
Isoken E. Onoyona-Ekeocha (PhD)
Lagos State University
ekeochasoky@gmail.com
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