Egalitarianism, Women and revisiting the breaking of Kola-Nuts (EVWE) among Urhobo people of Nigeria: A Christian Feminist ethical perspective

Abstract

Every human culture has beliefs, and cultural practices such as rituals, rites, customs, and norms, that govern how life should be lived. These cultural practices are sociological and arose as people tried to understand themselves and the world in which they live. Some of these practices have become sacrosanct that some persons feel they should never be questioned. But it ought not to be so for as human beings continue to understand their existence on earth, they should subject their beliefs and practices, and ensure they truly enhance human and ecological flourishing and also are in line with authentic humanistic flourishing. It is in this that this paper argues that the ritual of breaking kola-nuts in Urhobo culture should be revisited in the light of egalitarian and Christian feminist ethical perspectives. The paper uses critical analytic and hermeneutic methods to examine and evaluate the concerns of the paper. The paper positions that the breaking of kola nuts, which is restricted to only males in Urhobo culture, is discriminatory, violates the dignity of women and offends against egalitarian ethos. The paper concludes that access should be granted to females to break kola nuts even in public gatherings, etc.