‘Nneka’ – And Why Igbos See “Mothers as Supreme”

In a post here on LinkedIn, a comment from a member made it look like ancestral Africa was all against women. While every culture has many regrettable components (think of killing of twins, slavery/imperialism of Europe, etc), I will like to note, on many instances, that Africa actually treasured women and put so much power in the hands of women, despite men appearing to be in charge.

In the Igbo Nation, a mother is supreme. That is why the Igbos name their daughters “Nneka”. The peerless Chinua Achebe wrote “a man belongs to his fatherland and stays there when life is good, but he seeks refuge in his motherland when life is bitter and harsh.” So, if things become hard, you run to your mother’s place.

And when you get there, things open up. When a man arrives at his mother’s birthplace, he automatically assumes rights over most indigenes. If you check, as elders break kola nuts and drink palm wine, they first ask “do we have nwa-ada [child to our daughter] here?” If there happens to be nwa-ada, they will acknowledge him, and once after taking the palm wine, they will give him over the sons of the soil. The idea is this: no matter what brought you to your mother’s birthplace, you are welcome! We will feed you before we eat!

And those daughters – Umu-ada (some communities use Ndi Ada Nwanyi)- have an unusual influence in their fatherlands despite being married many miles away. In Ovim, my village, you are better off dealing with the Nigeria Police than them because with them, you have no chance. The anticlimax of a troublesome man happens when the elders (men) invite Umu-ada to come and help. 

Let us not see globalization as all evidently pure with the mindset that Africa’s culture is all primitive. Many practices were bad and those cut across all cultures including Europe, Asia and Africa. This is the key – we need to push for an equal world on gender, race, nationality, etc.

My agric science teacher made raising organic chicken, goat, etc as being “bad” [they’re small, take years to grow, etc}. But when I got to US, I noted that only the “rich” actually eat organic because they are expensive.  Africa has got many things right even before the world comes along. The Igbo Apprenticeship System is the ancestral version of the stakeholder capitalism we preach today in Wall Street.

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Comment: The rights/priviledges of the “child of a daughter” is news to me given that married daughters do not seem to hold privileges even in their compound. I guess the principles are different across villages.

My Response: That is one distortion of African culture which many push, comparing it with the European model, without taking a wholistic viewpoint. A daughter does hold rights in her father’s compound and land. When a lady is being married, families sell properties, take loans, etc to buy her things which will help her begin a new life in the husband’s place.  They do this to make sure her standard of living does not degrade after the marriage.

Boys do not get that. And when the parents die, they automatically assume what remains. Sure, you can argue that the sons get more. But understand that the daughter’s husband assumes his own parent’s which seems to balance out, under the ancestral agrarian system. What we can say is this: African culture is unfair  to unmarried daughters who get nothing!

Every daughter in the ancestral Igbo nation holds “privileges even in their compound” and that is on display on her Igba nkwu day (traditional wedding) as the family shares her “inheritance”.  Sure, because we have shares, bonds, etc as assets now, those have to be updated. But no one should accuse ancestral Africa of discriminating against daughters.

Comment 2: Apt! Umu-ada is indeed a very powerful traditional institution in Igbo land till date. However, I’m not quite sure as to the extent our modern day umu-ada particularly the ones that live in Lagos, Abuja, and other cities recognize and play their roles in those families and villages they come from.

We must sustain our rich traditions as we outplay each other in effort to perfect the imported ones white men foisted on us!

Nneka – “Mother is Supreme”

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