Ibadan Market Women and Politics, 1900–1995

Mutitat Titilope Oladejo adds an important perspective from southwestern Nigeria’s regional powerhouse Ibadan. Moreover, by following market women’s involvement in local and regional politics from the colonial period to the more recent era, this study reveals more variety and complexity than comes solely from a focus on women’s anticolonial activism.... The insights of this book should be of interest to historians and others concerned with African women’s history, though in its details and other respects Ibadan Market Women and Politics is a book for specialists.... [G]iven the few existing studies focused on women in Ibadan’s past and especially its more recent present, this is a welcome contribution. * International Journal of African Historical Studies *
Based on an impressive set of data from Ibadan, the largest Yoruba city next to Lagos, the book traces the intersectionality between women and politics in the longue durée. It reveals how politics interacts with women’s business; how trade is shaped by non-market forces; and how daily activities cumulate into the architecture of national politics itself. From opportunities to profit, from resistance to rewards, from dialogue to negotiations, the work reveals changing contours of actions, events, and activities. -- Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin