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Thread of things Nigerians swear are 'African'/fight 4, which probably have non-African/colonial origins.
Feel free to add to this thread.
Feel free to add to this thread.
1. Covering up as a sign of modesty. Has it's roots in Victorian/Colonial English culture, which was obsessed with hiding a woman's body...
...probably also linked to Judeo-Christian religious origins. 1st Colonial arrivals considered Africans 'savages' partly because of this.
2. A woman taking her husband's name. Most Nigerian tribes didn't practise this until colonization. A woman would often be preferred to as..
'Daughter of', 'mother of' and 'wife of'. Her lineage was never erased by forcing her to drop her father's name.
3. Completely patriarchal political power systems. Most Nigerian societies pre-colonialism had women either on a chief's council or as a...
...women's council that advised kings/chiefs, protected women and generally kept the men in check. (The Umuada are still feared in Igboland)
4. Staying a marriage you don't want. Most Nigerian societies pre-colonialism didn't consider marriage a contract one couldn't get out of.
There were laid-down processes for leaving a marriage, for both men and women, that could be triggered by either party. Getting remarried...
...after leaving such a marriage was also pretty common. Divorce was even encouraged in cases of persistent domestic violence.
A woman's family wud return brideprice in cases of persistent domestic violence cos it was considered shameful for a man to be so inlcined
5. Rigid sexual rules. Many Nigerian societies pre-colonialism didn't necessary frown on the idea of married men and women having concubines
...as long as everyone was discreet. Most of what we consider 'African moral rules' around sex came from missionaries and the evangical...
...zeal to wipe out what they considered savage vices or the locals. Victorian/Judeo-Christian mores of d time completely superseded ours...
Our colonizers were very effective in both subliminally and forcefully replacing entire thought processes and values with theirs.
Monotheism (tnx @Tunmbiornotobe); the idea of one solitary God is an unAfrican as it can get. Most Nigerian societies had numerous deities
...for dif reasons. Infact, these deities were almost workman-like in their practicality; fertility gods and farming gods existed together
And while these gods were given their due reverence, they could be easily dethroned; gods could be discarded after too many bad harvests.
Ironic dt the British essentially said, "your gods are terrible. Takes ours instead." And we believed them, accepted theirs, discarded ours.
