Women and Masquerade Traditions in Africa: Insight from the Ikeji Masquerade Cult of the Post-Colonial Igbo Society, Nigeria

The masquerade is a traditional mask festival and celebration for native Africans and an integral part of African culture and traditions. One example is the Ikeji masquerade tradition, celebrated by the Aros and their neighbors in the post-colonial Igbo society of Southeast Nigeria. According to the literature, extant cultures forbid women from participating in the Ikeji masquerade cult, and some other masquerade cults in parts of Africa. However, the results of a pilot study contradict this assertion. Using an ethnographic approach, including autoethnography, with participant observation and key informant interviews in seven traditional Nde-Eni Asaa communities in the Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, this study established that women play a significant role in relation to the Ikeji masquerade cult in Nde-Eni Asaa communities. Moreover, propositions of postmodern feminism aided the study in further establishing that specific examples (and not general assumptions) should be considered for women among Nde-Eni Asaa communities and in some other traditional communities in post-colonial Igbo society. This study makes significant contributions to the existing knowledge and literature on the position of women in the preservation of African culture and traditions in the twenty-first century and relevance of women in post-colonial Igbo society and other parts of Africa, where the positions of women in culture and tradition are still contentious. KCI Citation Count: 0