THE ROLE OF NNEWI MARKET WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY SINCE THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The role of Nnewi women in African historiography has become a topic of interest in contemporary history. Despite the quantity of writing about women and women's history, the evidence available indicates that these women are still either rarely or wrongly portrayed as leading figures in works of African history literature. The few existing works tend to capture or portray them as innately passive, inferior and subordinate, suffering under male oppression forever. Against this backdrop, the paper will showcase the relevant roles Nnewi market women have played in the development of historiography. The question is, what have Nnewi Market women contributed to developing historiography as a discipline.What were the specific roles these women played in the study of history. The paper establishes that through their economic activities, political struggles, and socio-cultural activities, Nnewi market women have challenged and, by extension, encouraged the reevaluation of traditional narratives that portray women as passive actors in the spheres, as mentioned earlier, despite the diverse challenges they experience. As a means of examining the role of Nnewi market women in shaping gender discourses in African historiography, this paper relied on primary and secondary sources such as oral interviews and scholarly works on African women's history/studies in books, journal articles, internet materials, and etcetera. It adopts the qualitative method of historical research(descriptive essay) in its approach to data analysis and strongly argues that greater diversity and inclusivity of gender in historical reconstruction will promote justice and fairness in African society and advance the development of historiography.