Intrahousehold relations and environmental entitlements of land and livestock for women in Rural Kano, Northern Nigeria

Gender relations mediate access to the environment in a variety of ways, through formal institutions such as customary law or informal social norms operating at the household level. This is particularly so in rural areas of the global south that are highly dependent on natural resources for livelihoods. The environmental entitlements framework is useful in examining the influence of informal institutions on access to environmental resources among differentiated social actors. In this paper, we use the environmental entitlements framework to map entitlements to land and livestock, and explore the capabilities they provide for women in rural northern Nigeria. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of social norms governing marriage and inheritance on women’s entitlements to land and livestock. The study methods were qualitative and used in-depth interviews and household case studies. We find that environmental entitlements of land and livestock for women are mediated by their relationships to men, through marriage or kinship, and through the different intra household arrangements within marriage, including seclusion, non-seclusion, and polygyny. Women are able to gain command of natural resources through negotiations within these relationships and within the wider social norms governing Hausa society. While these institutions can restrict the capabilities women derive from natural resources, women may delay or forgo entitlements as a means of enhancing their wellbeing

A 'safe space' to debate colonial legacy? The University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the campaign to return a looted Benin altarpiece to Nigeria

In February 2016, students at the University of Cambridge voted unanimously to support the repatriation to Nigeria of a bronze cockerel looted during the violent British expedition into Benin City in 1897. Rather than initiating a restitution process, however, the college response saw the cockerel, known as Okukor, temporarily relocated to the University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. This article outlines the discussions that took place during this process, exploring how the Museum was positioned as a safe space in which uncomfortable colonial legacies, including institutionalized racism and rights over cultural patrimony, could be debated. We explore how a stated commitment to post-colonial dialogue ultimately worked to circumvent a call for post-colonial action. Drawing on Stoler’s and Edwards’ discussions of colonial aphasia, this article argues that museums of anthropology risk enabling such circumvention despite, and perhaps as a result of, a commitment to confronting their own institutional colonial legacies

Prevalence, types and demographic features of child labour among school children in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: To determine the prevalence, types and demographic features of child labour among school children in Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional interview study of 1675 randomly selected public primary and secondary school pupils aged 5 to less than 18 years was conducted in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria from October 1998 to September 1999. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of child labour was 64.5%: 68.6% among primary and 50.3% among secondary school pupils. Major economic activities included street trading (43.6%), selling in kiosks and shops (25.4%) and farming (23.6%). No child was involved in bonded labour or prostitution. Girls were more often involved in labour activities than boys (66.8% versus 62.1%, p = 0.048): this difference was most obvious with street trading (p = 0.0004). Most of the children (82.2%) involved in labour activities did so on the instruction of one or both parents in order to contribute to family income. Children of parents with low socio-economic status or of poorly educated parents were significantly involved in labour activities (p = 0.01 and p = 0.001 respectively). Child labour was also significantly associated with increasing number of children in the family size (p = 0.002). A higher prevalence rate of child labour was observed among children living with parents and relations than among those living with unrelated guardians. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that smaller family size, parental education and family economic enhancement would reduce the pressure on parents to engage their children in labour activities

Theorising age and generation in development: A relational approach

This introduction outlines the analytical approach informing the articles presented in this special issue. The project of ‘generationing’ development involves re-thinking development as distinctly generational in its dynamics. For this, we adopt a relational approach to the study of young people in development, which overcomes the limitations inherent to common categorising approaches. Concepts of age and generation are employed to conceptualise young people as social actors and life phases such as childhood and youth in relational terms. Acknowledging the centrality of young people in social reproduction puts them at the heart of development studies and leads the articles comprising this special issue to explore how young people’s agency shapes and is shaped by the changing terms of social reproduction brought about by development