9,419
Views
23
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
ARTICLES

Repositioning culture for development: women and development in a Nigerian rural community

Pages 334-350 | Received 21 Oct 2013, Accepted 23 Jul 2014, Published online: 24 Nov 2014
 

Abstract

Most studies on women have ignored women's view of themselves in relation to their roles in community development. This study uses interview and ethnographic data from Nigeria to investigate women's narratives of themselves concerning their position in a rural cultural space in relation to community development. It explores ways of repositioning patriarchal or gender unresponsive cultures for eliciting women's potentials in community development. It emphasises how women's cultural constrains in a patriarchal community have led to a rare survival strategy – that is, the evolution of an invisible matriarchy. As a recommendation, it presents a framework for culture repositioning and a map of actors' responsibilities for its achievement. It contributes to ongoing debates on women in rural community development. It raises conceptual questions about customary practices that affect women's values in communities in Nigeria's rural areas. Finally, it presents three main lessons that can be drawn by women (and men) in traditional communities in non-Western societies.

En la mayoría de los estudios sobre las mujeres no se ha considerado la opinión que ellas tienen sobre sí mismas en relación con el rol que ejercen en el desarrollo comunitario. Este estudio utiliza entrevistas y datos etnográficos de Nigeria para investigar la visión que tienen mujeres sobre ellas mismas, con respecto a su posición en un espacio cultural rural en relación al desarrollo comunitario. El documento también explora maneras en las cuáles culturas patriarcales, insensibles a los desafíos relacionados con el género, puedan permitir la realización de los potenciales de las mujeres en el desarrollo comunitario. Se hace hincapié en cómo limitaciones culturales de la mujer en una comunidad patriarcal han dado lugar a una estrategia de supervivencia peculiar – es decir, la evolución de un matriarcado invisible. Como recomendación, se presenta un marco para el reposicionamiento cultural y un mapa de responsabilidades de los principales actores. Se hace también una contribución a los debates actuales sobre el rol de la mujer en el desarrollo comunitario rural y se plantean preguntas conceptuales sobre las prácticas tradicionales que afectan a los valores de las mujeres en las comunidades en zonas rurales de Nigeria. Finalmente, se presentan tres lecciones primordiales que pueden ser extraídas por mujeres (y hombres) en comunidades tradicionales en las sociedades no occidentales.

Notes on contributor

Dr Uchendu Eugene Chigbu is a faculty member at the Chair of Land Management, Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany. His main research interests focus on land management, land tenure, land use planning and rural development approaches. His most recent work is, Rurality as a choice: Towards ruralising rural areas in sub-Saharan African countries, published in Development Southern Africa. He has been lecturing graduate-level courses on rural development, village renewal and land management at TUM for the past 5 years.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 492.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.