In the essay “Sitting on a Man: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women,” historian Judith Van Allen shows that British officers and missionaries viewed African women as “invisible” and thus not a threat to the operation of colonial rule. She reminds us that one rationale for colonialism was that western influence would liberate African women from oppression. The Aba Women’s War of 1929 challenges the assumption that African women had no authority in African society and it reveals how British colonialism had a negative affect on the ability of women to exercise power and influence. Read Van Allen’s essay. What you do you learn about the nature of female authority in Igbo society? Why was the Aba Women’s War such a flashpoint for Igbo women in their resistance to colonialism? Why did women become “invisible” again after the moment of visibility during the rebellion?
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