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Men & Women in Ihechiowa
Michael Okorie Okwara
The film was carried out in Umuzomgbo Ihechiowa, Nigeria. The Ihechoowa people are among the Igbo speaking people who constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. Located in the Southeast within latitude 5and 7- degree north and latitude 6 and 8- degree east. They are roughly bounded in the east by the Ibibio people, in the north by the Igalla, Idoma and Ogoja people, in the south by the Ijo and in the west by the Edo. Today the Igbo inhabit the entire Imo, Abia, Anambara, Ebonyi and Enugu states in present day Nigeria. The film is a collection of two major events within the Ihechoiwa community which shows how material conditions and political realities shape the practices that woman and men forge. The first major event is the New Yam Feast which is an annual thank giving ceremony involving mask dance and other ritual practices common among the Igbo and other ethnic groups within Nigeria and other part of West Africa. It is dominantly a male event because the Yam itself is attributed to the male child due to it socio-cultural and economic values.The second event is the Iheciowa women annual meeting which
group together all the women within the community. During the meeting they had confrontation with both the local and paramount chiefs demanding the recognition of their role in fostering unity, peace and progress in the community.
Copyright: 2002 Visual Cultural Studies, University of Tromsø
For distribution, please contact:
Gøril Skotnes
Marit Gjertsen
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