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Accepted Paper:
Gender, sexism and the contestation of reconfiguration in select indigenous female dance costumes of Nigeria
Casmir Onyemuchara
(Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike, Ebonyi State Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
Dance costumes reflect the dress culture, social and economic status of a people . Costumes are gendered and reflect shared roles includng the aesthetic and cultural values of a people. Nkwa umuagbogho is identified for study because of the contestation in its reconfiguration in recent times.
Paper long abstract:
Over the years, costume has become an integral cultural identifier that characterizes the indigenous peoples’ dress culture. These costumes shape the gender narratives and role performances between the different gender groups. Nkwa umu agbogho costume has continued to evolve due to modernization and this has affected its cultural importance. There is therefore the need study the historical trajectory of the costume, meaning and the socio-cultural significance of this costume. The study will also look at the gender roles and contribution of the costume in the contemporary times. The emergence of western ideologies has contributed in the shift of the cultural believes of the people hence the spate of contestations in the reconfiguration of the dance costume today. This study contends that since the world is in a continual flux, mutation which will result to reconfiguration and transmogrification of this dance costume is inevitable and concludes that the ‘marriage’ of the two (old and new) will create an aesthetic balance.