WOMEN AND HERITAGE PRESERVATION IN OLD NSUKKA DIVISION

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><div><b>Introduction</b></div><div><br></div><div>Feminist Archaeology is an aspect of archaeology that many archaeologists tend to ignore or study selectively. Most archaeologists have focused their attention and research on Iron smelting, public archaeology, cultural resource management without paying much attention to the gender and feminist aspects of these studies.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the most striking changes in humanities in 1980s is the rise of gender as a category of analysis (Showalter 1990:1).Without gender there could not have been the existence of feminism. Feminism has placed gender on the academic agenda and this has generated a lot of arguments in the field of archaeology. Many archaeologists have argued on the issue of women’s contribution to archaeological thought which they saw to be minimal and are being minimized by historians of archaeology, while some never recognize their contributions in the field. In most cases their works are being neglected, not well regarded, thereby making the roles of these women not clearly defined. This has restrained the knowledge about women’s role in the past. Recently, some feminist archaeologists have decided on rediscovering and re-writing this issue of feminism in order to reflect the achievements of women in archaeology. The purpose for this is to present the past, the way they were, the roles of these women in the field which need to be greatly recognized and never neglected. In recognizing them, it encourages these women in their effort and also inspires the young women archaeologists in putting their interest and contribution to the field to see that archaeology attains high level, achieves its goal and becomes known to the society.</div><div><br></div><br><div>In addition, feminists have also argued on the ideology that women have been neglected and this has resulted in their exploitation and inequality with the men (Conkey 1976:552); while some were against the opinion that this ideology has resulted to a great problem in the society at large and also in the field of archaeology. The bias has been shown to be particularly striking in the ethnographic and archaeological study of gender, which has overlooked or ignored the activities, roles and perspective of women in the community (Conkey 1976:552)</div><div><br></div><div>Historically, many feminists have understood women differently mostly as a gender term that depends on social and cultural factors (like social position) not as a sex term that involves biological features like chromosomes, sex organ but as a social factor like social roles, position andbehaviour or identity.Women are accorded a very low status in the society. This poor perception of women has resulted to multiple factors like tradition, value, culture, religion, history and ideologies etc. all channelling to produce very low image of women. The very basic social position occupied by women is as a result of men’s very low perception of them. Traditionally, women were perceived as weaker, inferior and subordinate sex. This low perception of women is one of the strongest factors that have influenced women worldwide. If women were accorded any dignity or recognition by the society, the problem they are facing today would not have been there. Despite the positions occupied by women and their indelible contributions in the society both in the past and contemporary period,there are still elements of gender segregation. In this case, women are seen as inferior to men in all aspects of life such as social, economic, education, political and religion. Thus in all, the role of women in the society has been understood by some cultures and sectors at different times.</div><div><br></div>Just like other communities in Igbo land, it is obvious that the daughters of the lineage known as <i>Umuada</i>&nbsp;or <i>Umuokp</i>u constitute a formidable political group to control the activities of women in the community within their traditional.... <br><p></p>