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CULTURAL MOSAIC: COMPLEX GENDER IDENTITIES IN IGBO AND 

YORUBA LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 

 
  

1Chijioke U. Eze, 2Olumide A. Oni 
1,2Department of Philosophy, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10600346 

  
Abstract: This study delves into the intricate web of metaphysical identities imposed upon women in Africa, 

particularly exploring how these perceptions contribute to sustaining derogatory status within the cultural 

consciousness. Rooted in ancient African beliefs, shaped by ignorance, tradition, and confirmed through 

coincidences, the exploitation of women's sexuality through metaphysical lenses has persisted through the post-

colonial era. This enduring narrative is propagated by mental poisoning, instilling attitudes of uncontrollable fear 

and premonition. 

In the traditional African context, women's sexuality has been burdened with negative attributes, manifesting in 

concepts such as witchcraft and spirit-child, each reinforcing a detrimental metaphysical identity. These 

metaphysical attributions, often rooted in superstition, create stereotypes that significantly impact women's social 

relations. Notably, the widespread belief that women are responsible for societal evils perpetuates this negative 

metaphysical identity, as documented in various African cultures (Ogungbemi, 2007:128; Parrinder, 1974:124; 

Lawson, 1984:23-4 

As an illustrative example, among the Ga people of the Guinea Coast in West Africa, women are perceived as 

vessels possessed by evil demons, a condition inherited by their daughters upon death. This perspective posits 

that a woman exists with dual identities—the physical and the metaphysical. The ensuing sub-sections dissect 

these two identities, shedding light on the intricacies and implications of the metaphysical burdens placed upon 

women in African societies. 

This study aims to unravel the historical roots and contemporary repercussions of these metaphysical identities, 

providing insights into the complex interplay between cultural beliefs, gender roles, and societal expectations. By 

critically examining the narratives surrounding women's metaphysical identities, this research contributes to the 

ongoing discourse on gender, cultural consciousness, and the need for transformative perspectives. 

Keywords: Women's Sexuality, Metaphysical Identity, African Cultural Consciousness, Gender Roles, Societal 

Expectations 

 

 

INTRODUCTION   

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The exploitation of women’s sexuality through metaphysical identities is one of the perceptions which still keep 

women in derogatory status within the trad cultural consciousness in Africa.  In ancient Africa, beliefs were birth 

out of ignorance, though governed by tradition and confirmed by strange coincidence. In post-colonial era, beliefs 

are entrenched through mental poisoning which inaugurates attitudes of uncontrollable fear and premonition. 

Women’s sexuality has been given negative attributes in African societies. The conceptions of witchcraft, spirit-

child were all attributes of negative women metaphysical identity. Metaphysical identity gives women a sort of 

stereotype that affects them in their social relations. Mbiti writes that witches who are mainly women are people 

with inherit power by means of which they can abandon their bodies at night and go to meet similar people or 

suck or eat away the life of their victims. It is widely believed in most African cultures that women are usually 

blamed for experiences of evil in the society (Ogungbemi, 2007:128; Parrinder, 1974:124; Lawson, 1984:23-4).  

Among the Ga people of Guinea Coast of West Africa, women are usually possessed by evil demons, which live 

in them and passed to their daughters at death. The implication of the above perspective is that a woman has two 

identities: the physical and the metaphysical. The two identities are presented one after the other in the next sub-

sections.  

  Physical identity  

 Identity can be understood from the perspective of sameness and otherness. Sameness connotes the nature of 

something without reference to another thing (Amaku, 2004:105). It connotes the autonomy of being as well as 

the point of departure and return in discussion of the nature of a particular being (ibid). The authors‟ daily 

experience and observation are such that teaches people that identity is connected by resemblance, contingency 

or causation (Hume, 1978:251-263). In this work identity here has to do with gender; anatomy or biological 

resemblance. Identity is inextricably linked to the sense of belonging. People perceive themselves through 

identity, and others see them, as belonging to certain groups and not others. Being part of a group entails active 

engagement (Díaz-Andreu et al., 2005:2). This resemblance necessitates the classification of one as a woman. 

Research reveals that human is made up of physical as earlier mention and spiritual otherwise referred to as 

metaphysical identity. The concept of metaphysical identity is point of discussion in the next sub-section.  

  Metaphysical identity  

 Metaphysics has to do with the study of what lies beyond the physical world of sensory experience (Popkin and 

Stroll, 2008:116). This metaphysical explanation of human identity includes the most general and fundamental 

characteristics of gendered identities both physical mental and spiritual. In this study the authors shall adopt 

spiritual to include the metaphysical.  Spiritual has to do with connections with the human spirit (Hornby, 

2000:1147), whereas identity means who or what someone is. (Hornby, 2000:953). Identity, therefore, is not a 

static thing, but a continual process (literally, that of identification (Hall and Du Gay, 1996). Identities are 

constructed through interaction between people, and the process by which people acquire and maintain their 

identities requires choice and agency. Through agency people define who they are. They are potentially able to 

choose the groups they want to identify with, although this selection is always constrained by structures beyond 

their control such as boundaries and their own body. The active role of the individual leads to identities being 

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historical, fluid, subject to persisting change. They are also socially mediated, linked to the broader cultural 

discourse and are performed through embodiment and action. The concept of identity deployed in this volume, 

therefore, is not an essentialist, but a strategic and positional one (Díaz-Andreu et al., 2005:3). Identities can be 

hybrid or multiple and the intersection between different types of identities is one of the most enriching aspects 

of this study.  

It means that metaphysical identity is what someone is in relation to his /her spirit. This is contrasted from physical 

identity. Women‟s spiritual and metaphysical identity means what women are in connection with their human 

spirits. It is thus described as a complex and challenging interactions between internal (self) and external (spiritual 

or supernatural) forces within an individual. This issue of spiritual identity may be properly considered as a 

phenomenon of human nature, worthy of examination. If we can determine its cause, an addition is made to human 

wealth of knowledge; if not, it must be held as part of our usual constitution.  

African concept of identity  

Within African traditional belief systems, it is generally believed that humans are both biological and spiritual 

beings; the biological is expressed in the physical world whereas the spiritual is expresses in the non-physical 

world. There are also two ontological realms of existences; the supernatural (invisible realm) and the natural 

(visible realm) (Nwala, 2010:46).  

The belief is allied with the ontological conviction that life exists beyond the physical and extends to the spiritual. 

In order words, the ontology of any distinctively African world-view is replete with spirit: spirit is the animating, 

sustaining creative life-force of the universe. Spirit is real. It is as real as matter. It reality is primordial and it is if 

not superior at least as primitive as that of matter. In its pure state it is unembodied (Idonibiye, 1973:83).   

The physical world is real as well as an intimate part of the spiritual world. Thus, African thought system cannot 

condone regimentations because there is a continuous interplay, intermingling and interdependence between spirit 

(forces) and material world. Okoro also emphasized that Africans consider humans and society to be embodiments 

of spirituality and physicality (Okoro, 2011:7), thus:  

Wisdom consists in the harmonization of the compositions of man and his society. This is usually done in a 

hierarchized order with the singular purpose of unifying the horizontal and vertical factors in man and in the 

society (Okoro, 2011: 8).  

Humans maintain relationship in the physical world through  the  human  body  and the unseen world of gods and 

spirit through their spiritual aspect. The African world could best be describes in what Nwọga (1984:25) captured 

as; a multidimensional field of action admitting of three types of reality; physical, spiritual and abstract … they 

acknowledge that things may change their nature ... a world view that provides the framework for the goals of 

community and for the hopes and aspiration for the good life of the individual persons.  

Thus the traditional African cultures evolved world views, which are categorised within traditional cosmology as 

world-views which produce a way of life based on man‟s spiritual needs; a socio-religious well-ordered 

communally integrated way of life. There is no sharp distinction between the religious and the secular, between 

the natural and the supernatural. Thus cosmological relativism underlies the African worldview. It has be 

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expressed that African traditional religion is excessively pragmatic and utilitarian, as their primary motivation of 

the traditional human religiosity was purely spiritual (Ekwuru, 1999:75), aimed at striking a balance in 

relationship, particularly with humans and spirits. The implications of these is that culture can be true and genial; 

it can be false and hostile (Eboh and Idika, 2019:24). But then, culture embodies morality, creativity, collection 

of wisdom and world-views.  

 Justification for the study  

Contemporary study points to the fact that in this era of modernization and Christianity, maintaining a balance 

between humans and spirits in Igbo and Yoruba traditions is highly branded especially in dealing with spiritual 

identities and their rituals of healing. The identities of women are being presumed through spiritual and 

metaphysical stereotypes. This is so because Western religious consciousness has become the ideal and those 

traditional beliefs are assumed fetish, irrational and superstitious. This is in the form of positive affirmation which 

could affect women, men and humanity. Again, this is a way of calling for new spiritual orientation which will 

foster tolerance and embrace the respect and recognition among and between sexes.  

The authors chose to discuss this issue of women‟s spiritual identities under philosophical anthropology. This is 

because philosophy is distinct in its use of method of rational reflection in an attempt at discovering the most 

general principles underlying things. Philosophy appeals to the very nature or essence of things. One of the 

presuppositions of philosophy is its attempt at discovering the most fundamental or underlying and general 

principles of reality in its various dimensions (Ukpokolo, 2004:5). Philosophy has been described as the principle 

of explanation that underlines all things without exception, the element common to gods and men, animals and 

stars, the first „whence‟ and the last „wither‟ of the   whole cosmic procession, the conditions of all Agoyi and 

Osuji knowing, and the most general rules of human action (James, 1970:11). This means that philosophy tries to 

understand what is beyond the foreground of the life situation. Philosophy by interrogating the spiritual identities 

of women in two cultures (Igbo and Yoruba) deals with the fundamental issues and pursues certain varied but 

connected inquiries; what is spiritual Identity? What are the nature and connection(s) of the spiritual with the 

physical? What are the grounds for valid belief in the spiritual? How do we know?  

This is why the idea of women‟s spiritual identity as perceived in the languages of the people is best discussed in 

philosophical anthropology which is a discipline that seeks to unify the several empirical investigations of human 

nature in an effort to understand individuals as both creatures of their environment and creators of their own 

values… it refers to the systematic study of man conducted within philosophy (Ukpokolo, 2004:8).  

It is within this meaning that the idea of women spiritual identity has become a philosophical issue rather than 

religious issue. What is central here is the extent to which the study of women spiritual identities can be an object 

of systematic and scientific study. Philosophical anthropology involves a conceptual analysis of such issues as 

whether humans possess a specific human nature. Again it investigates the implications of human possessing 

diverse natures as in the case of spiritual identity. It is within philosophical anthropology that issues between 

fragmentation of knowledge and the human condition is discussed. This is why the study of women‟s spiritual 

identities is open for serious philosophical investigations. The kind of philosophical anthropology being proposed 

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here will therefore be based on the following assumptions; a human being is a unified biological organism, capable 

of action, which has evolved to produce culture and also to be shaped by it (Ukpokolo, 2004:15). This, more so, 

provokes some accounts on the biological „make-up‟ and gender behaviour. It also informs the search for 

sociobiological ideas about women as well as differences between men and women especially of any identifiable 

biological basis for female (human) behaviour. It will further question the roots of those spiritual differences and 

their divergences in the biological makeup of the two sexes. In the following chapter, metaphysical identities will 

be discussed from Igbo and Yoruba perspectives. This will be followed by cross examination of those cultural 

stereotypes then conclusion will come last.  

The Igbo conception of women’s metaphysical identity  

 In Igbo cosmological anthropology, there are different levels of interdependence; nothing is absolute  

“Everything, everybody, however apparent independent, depends upon something else; interdependence exhibited 

as duality or reciprocity, now as ambivalence or complementarities, has always been the fundamental principle in 

the Igbo philosophy of life” (Ifemesia, 1979:67-8). This interdependence of everything and everybody, more so, 

account for the traditional belief in the interdependence of humans and spirits Thus there are categories of spirits; 

(Anyanwu and Ruch, 1981:87; Iroegbu, 1995:339-41; Okoro, 2011:12) including powerful spirits, good spirits 

(mmuo oma), bad spirits (ajo mmuo, chi ojo) to mention but a few. Women also participate in this interdependence 

between the spirits and humans. However, this interaction could be negative or positive. When it is a positive 

interaction, it means it conforms within the ideals of communal life. But then when it is negative, it becomes 

problem to the society. In this situation the spirits provide opportunities for the malformation of ties forbidden in 

the purely human social filed. This function is discharge in two ways; first by providing non-human patterns with 

whom people can take up relationship forbidden with other human beings. Second, through the mechanism of 

possessions; by allowing people to „become‟ spirits and so to play nonhuman and unacceptable roles; they are 

debarred from playing as ordinary human beings. This is premised on the belief that being human is metaphysics 

and metaphysics here is a deductive system. The Igbo women‟s spiritual identity is a complex issue in Igbo 

culture. Sometimes, it is believed that women are usually possessed by strange and bad powers or beings that 

foster anti-social activities. This is traditionally understood in different ways; this manifest in their ways of life, 

characters and essentially behaviour. Within the Igbo traditional anthropology, humans are both social and 

spiritual. Being social is what distinguishes humans living within the community while being spiritual depicts 

that there is life beyond the physical.  

Uchegbue captured this believe in the spiritual as; (Hu)man consists of physical and spiritual (or immaterial) 

aspects and the (hu)man is made of physical and spiritual substances … (hu)man is a biological and spiritual being 

… this belief logically presupposes the allied ontological conviction that life exists beyond the physical world 

and extends to the spiritual. The basic social understanding of existence ... is the firm belief that a community of 

spirits and of the dead exist alongside the community of human beings and that there is a mutual partnership 

between them (Uchegbue. 1995:91).  

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The carnal of this is that there is extra-human and supernatural dimension of life and being human. The spiritual 

world is very real and intimate. The Igbo cosmology sees human as having more spiritual essence than biological. 

Humans, therefore, maintain relationship between the physical and spiritual. This relationship between human 

and the spiritual world is conceived and completely expressed in the sense of the normal social interaction within 

the extended family, through the transcendental, invisible and enigmatic way (ibid, 92).  

There are certain spiritual relationships which can endanger the goodness and fruitfulness of humans‟ lives on 

earth; those relationships are considered negative and abnormal.  

Women’s spiritual identities in classical Igbo language and culture  

 There are different forms of negative spiritual relationships among and within sexes and cultures. For the sake of 

this study, the authors shall limit their discussion on women. These negative forms of spiritual identities affect 

woman more than the man. It is diverse among traditions and cultures. These different forms of women spiritual 

identities in Igbo worldview include; the spirit-child (Nwa mmuo), the water lady (agbo mmiri), Spiritual 

playmates or comrades (Ogbanje, ojembe, ogbonuke), Nwanyi ihe na ákwà (woman of double personality), 

spiritual spouses (nwunyi mmuo / dimmuo) and witches (Amosu). These cases and categories of spiritual problems 

are usually dictated traditionally based on their menaces.   

The concept of the spirit-child (Nwa mmuo) is observed in an instance where a child who is usually an only child, 

well loved by the parents and relatives develops a complex health issues that could not be treated and will surely 

die leaving her biological parents poorer, childless and stressed. It is believed that the spirit-child is sent to a 

family to punish them. The child will not allow the biological parents to have another child through her spiritual 

powers and will definitely die unproductive before her parents. Within the Igbo cosmology, the concept of the 

spirit child is understood as a psychic pact between the specific girl and the spirit world, which is celebrated by 

oath-taking, representing the girl‟s acceptance of her mission on earth, who is the girl‟s parent, friends and 

relatives. This pact can be broken through the expertise of a strong medicine man (Dibia).  

The identity of the water-lady (agbo mmiri) is usually conceived by people who live around the river areas. The 

woman or young girl identified with this negative interaction is seen going to the stream or river at odd hours. 

She can be talking and smiling alone along or at the river. She sometimes displays negative attitudes against the 

normal social-cultural milieu of her traditional settings. She will definitely not get married; if she marries, she 

will die on the eve of her wedding day or during childbearing or her husband will die strangely. But then, if her 

husband is alive, she will not bear a child. Her barrenness will defy all medications and clinical diagnosis. They 

are viewed as odd especially in terms differing of healing and the inability of their healer to comprehend the nature 

of their illness. Thus this condition    is    theorized    as   anomalous   which   is   in opposition and conflict with 

normal life of the woman. It is within the cultural setting that she will be identified as possessed by water spirit 

and traditional prescriptions and rituals are done to separate her from such act and she begins to have her own 

children. Momoh expressed this reality in his doctrine of „existential reality‟ where in an environment 

characterized by water, spirit-beings of the water kingdom are usually the major channel of ritual, worship, 

explanation of reality, or used as an ontological background to the meaning of life. Thus, Momoh wrote; the 

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simple consideration is the pervasive and strategic role of which an existent plays or had played in one‟s life. 

Whether the existent is natural, fabricated by man or even a superstitious existent is beside the point. The simple 

question is: does or has the existent played any core or central role in the life of the individual or community? If 

the answer is positive, chances are that the individual or community will institute a religion or a ritual in honour 

of that existent (Momoh, 1998:38).   

This is to show that the conceptions of spiritual identity of women vary from culture to culture, from community 

to community. It is important also to note that the universal status of spiritual identity is always localized, 

generated and informed by surrounding and existential factors as well as coloured by peculiar epistemic contexts. 

Some things are similar with water-lady and spiritual spouses. It is believed that both case of identity will not 

marry since they are connected strongly with their spiritual families. It is believed that they have husbands, 

children and a functional family in the spiritual realm. And until they are properly cut off they will not have a 

good family life on earth.  

The case of Nwanyi ihe na ákwà (woman of double personality), is a situation where a young lady displays two 

different characters. It is believed that there are two spiritual personalities living in one body. When the first 

personality is in her, she behaves normally, when the second personality manifests, she behaves abnormally. This 

is seen in women that steal occasionally, fights furiously occasionally. And after each adventure, she apologizes 

and confesses that she does not know what happened to her. It is traditionally believed that there is the presence 

of strange personalities who did not fulfil their destinies before their lives were cut short by death; so they are in 

perpetual search of bodies to accomplish their destines. There are traditional means of removing the strange 

personality in her, and she becomes normal again.  

Spiritual playmates or comrades (Ogbanje, ojembe, ogbonuke) are of different forms. An instance of ogbonuke 

is when young woman is identified as having spiritual playmates through some of her attitudes. As a young child 

she will be crying excessively, uncontrollably and spontaneously without any overt cause sometimes.   

The young woman may be suffering from hysterical psychosomatic syndromes. The young woman may as well 

be excessively careless and causing accidents  as  a result of the presences of her spiritual playmates. She may 

still be bedwetting beyond childhood. She may find it difficult to live with others, since Igbo believe that to „we 

are therefore I am‟ (Unah, 2018:4; Oni, 2019: 169).   

Within the Igbo cosmology, the ogbanje is conceived as a spiritual group or association of children who are 

members of a group in the spiritual world. They have already taken a decision to be born in the human world in 

various homes.  

They also decide that they will live for a short time and die, all in a group, normally before reaching puberty 

(Uchegbue, 1995:95). They as well cause pains and shame to any member of their spiritual association that 

deviates from their covenant. There are preventive and curative rituals from the medicine man.   

There are also spiritual spouses (nwunye mmuo / dimmuo). The belief in marital relationship between human 

beings and spiritual beings abound among the  

Igbo. Uchegbue noted that;  

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This belief is inferred from the marital experience of particular individuals with spiritual entities who came to 

have sex with them at night, from some personal names, from certain propitiatory and matrimonial rituals 

performed by some individuals and from many Igbo folktales, oral and written (Uchegbue, 1995: 95-6).   

There are two identified phenomenon which inform the presence of spiritual spouse in a woman. The first is the 

case of the wife or husband of one‟s former life who either craves the continuation of the marital union from the 

spiritual world or seeks a redress or revenge for the injustice done to her or him in the former life by the living 

partner. The second is the belief that some gods or divinities have or seek to have marital relationship with human 

of opposite sex. Ezeanya opined that in those parts of Africa where deities are represented in human forms, male 

deities have their female counterparts as wives (Ezeanya, 1976:114). This is rooted in the Igbo cosmological belief 

that the happenings in the world of men are the reflections of the happenings in the world of the spirits. This can 

be seen as the thrust of the spirithuman relationship is best understood through our known human parlance. There 

are also preventive and curative rituals within the Igbo medical and psychological closures though it depends of 

what the spirit husband is asking for. For instance, in the case of an affective and love-seeking spiritual husband, 

two alternative rituals are performed; (a) a ritual of acceptance and (a) a ritual exchange. Both ways involve lots 

of demands in terms of both material and psychological.  

The other form of spiritual identity is the witches (Amosu). The term witch connotes a supernatural, mysterious 

power devoid of scientific explanation. It has been argued that to say that something is mysterious does not 

necessarily mean that it is beyond explanation. So the possibility of an explanation may exist at least in the future 

(Oluwole, 1989).  In  explaining  the  concept of 

witches Mbiti (1990:253) stated as follows; Witches, who are mainly women, are people with an inherent power 

by means of which they can abandon their bodies at night and go to meet with similar people (other witches) or 

„suck‟ or „eat-away‟ the life of their victims (1970:263).  

Table 1. Women‟s Spiritual identities and their menaces in Igbo perspective.  

 Spiritual identity  Menace  

 Ogbanje,  ojemgbe 

 (Spiritual playmates/ 

comrades)  

Hysterical psychosomatic syndromes, carelessness and accidents, incessant 

sickness, abnormal bed wetting  

Nwuye mmo (Spiritual Spouses)   
Loss and wretchedness, psychosomatic syndromes, disappointment in life, 

spendthrift, kleptomania, constant sexual intercourse in dreams.  

 Nwanyi ihe na ákwà (Woman of  

double personality)   
Stubbornness, excessively quarrelsome, outlaw, unusual behaviours  

(agbo mmiri) (water-lady)  Constant disappearance for days and weeks, soliloquizing,   

Nwa mmuo (Spirit-child)   Beloved child in wretched home, strange sickness, short lived.  

Amosu (Witch)  
Usually wretched, isolated, unfriendly, exhibiting bitterness at human 

progress and interactions.  
 

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He also wrote that sorcery is an anti-social employment of mystical power, the use of poisonous ingredients put 

into the food or drink of someone to harm people and their belongings and that it is mainly women who get 

blamed for experiences of evil kind (Ibid, 262); and many women have suffered and continue to suffer under 

such accusations. Within the Igbo cosmology, there are epistemic structures of knowing, confirming, preventing 

and curing these spiritual identities. It is generally believed that eighty per cent of victims are women; it is only 

on few instances that men are victims. Most of the preventive and curative prescriptions are traditionally rooted 

and has no scientific bases. These days with modernity and Christianity, the practices are seen as obsolete, pagan 

practices and lacking in orthodox means.  

One of the ways through which these spiritual identities are observed is through their behaviour, social menace, 

and attitude. It is generally believed that they show who they really are, that is their spiritual side through their 

behaviour, they as well exhibit odd attitude at unexpected times. Women with issues of spiritual identities are 

usually unfair to their relations, parents, spouses, friends of who that are their suppose victims (suffer misfortunes 

originated from them).  

Space will not allow the authors to discuss all these here and the traditional explanations of these spiritual 

identities. This paper moves with the ontological analysis rather than mere phenomenological narrative and 

description; Table 1 states the categories of their menaces and  curative  rituals;  their  curative  measures  are 

traditionally accessed and are in various forms; they are living their curative and preventive measures for further 

research and discussions. Now let examine spiritual identity from the Yoruba perspective.  

Yoruba conception of women’s spiritual identity  

 To understand the nature and status of women‟s identity in Yoruba, people must first understand that the identity 

of women in traditional thought is polarised. The polarity is evident in the philosophical and mythical saying that 

feature women attitude and contribution to the happenings in the immediate society as well as finding solutions 

to societal problems. Specifically the Yoruba view of a woman as a member of the larger community is seen in 

Yoruba mythological explanation of the woman in ẹsẹ ifá „  bàrà méjì‟; who they portrayed as betrayals, 

untrustworthy, have no endurance and sexually weak.  

Women as weaklings   

 Wádé Abíbọ lá (1978‟s)   bàrà Méjì the mthy on how   rúnmìlà dated   rọ  before getting married to her.   rúnmìlà 

did not haẹe a plesant eọperence after the marraige.This version goes on to portray women as beings lacking in 

enduring spirit.  

They are seen as beings that lack emotional and selfcontrol. This is captured in the relationship between  

Òrúnmila and his wife, Orò, as follows;  

 … He consulted oracle on behalf of Òrúnmila when he intended to have Olowo‟s daughter Orò as wife. Òrúnmila 

was away for economic reasons. Orò, the wife of  

Òrúnmila, after the birth of the third child, settled at Ife.  Òrúnmila was invited to Olokun, before leaving Ife; he 

settled the wife with enough provision and told her that he will be back on the seventeenth day. He gave her 

provisions enough to make her comfortable for some time. But after three months Òrúnmila did  not return, Orò 

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ran out of money and the provisions. Being a big woman, she never engaged in any economic activity. The 

problem became complicated with the indefinite absence of her husband. She joined women in the vicinity to 

collect firewood for sale to generate money. However, on one of the trips to the farm, as a beautiful woman, she 

befriended Ondááró who gave her a hundred thousand cowries. From their canal knowledge of each other, Oro 

was impregnated. Oridaro did not own up after finding out that she was Òrúnmila‟s wife. She became a single 

mother to Agbé. She lived on the hundred thousand cowries. After exhausting the money, she had to join others 

again in the old business, but was deceived by Oigoosun, who paid her two hundred thousand cowries. The union 

resulted in another pregnancy that produced Aluko. She suffered similar fate as with that of Ondááró, she could 

not discipline herself as in the third attempt to find money for her upkeep. She had a union with Olúúkọ ọ lọ , 

who gave her one million cowries. The union resulted her bringing forth Àgbìgbò, she also raise  

Àgbìgbò as a single mother…(Abimbola, 1978: 67-73).  

Both the spiritual and physical identity of women is already biased within the traditional society portrayed above. 

This is so because it has been integrated into our traditional folktale and myths in such a way that she is not free 

in the society. The female is defined as a being that stands in antagonistic opposition and reciprocity with the 

male gender. The idea of stereotypical women‟s identity is traditional and historical; this ideology has been 

transferred from one generation to another. Next is to consider women‟s spiritual identity in traditional Yoruba 

thought.  

 Women as Ęlęyę / Ìyà mi; (witches)  

 The spiritual identity of women within the Yoruba traditional thought is not very clear. Yoruba proverbs seems 

to be positive in the portrayal of women as witches, for example; Bóbìnrin bá pé nílé ọkọ a dàyḝ (a woman who 

lives long in the matrimonial home is always tagged a witch). This implies that it is not too common for a woman 

to endure matrimonial hardship till old aged. However the Ifa Oracle sees a woman as an ingrate and wicked 

spiritual being. This claim is captured in   bàrà  

Méjì;  

 A pá ńlá nigi Ájẹ   

Oṣè abìgi rẹ rẹ ẹ rẹ   

Adíá fún   rúnmìlà  

Ifá ńlọ lèé gbé  rọ    

Tíì ṣe ọmọ Olówu níyàwó… (Ibid, 67)  

 Big trees are witches abode Oṣè with big canopy   rúnmìlà consulted his oracle while on his bead to propose to 

rọ  

That is the daughter of Olówu …  

  The above quotation implies that Yoruba assumes that witches adorn big trees particularly Oṣè. Yoruba believed 

that the Ęlęyę ‘witches‟ were female beings that descended from heaven. They were among the four hundred and 

one spiritual beings recorded in Òsá Mejì, one of the Ifa verses thus;  

 Òòle‟ ló ṣẹ yìn gùnmọ lè   

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(The root of a house is with raise back)  

Bí ẹni arìnmọ rìn (Like a slow mover)  

Bó bá jà kó rìn (If broken it will move)  

A dúró sii (It is immovable)  

A dífá fún ọ kànlénú irúmọlé   

(He was the oracle consultants to 401 spiritual beings)  

Wọ n ńtọ run bọ  wáyé …  

(On their journey from heaven to earth…) (ibid, 84-87)  

 On the journey of all spiritual beings to the earth, all wore clothes. The witches were naked because they were  

ingrate and wicked. This is captured in the verse thus;   

 Gbogbo wọ n ló rí aṣọ bora       

They were all wearing clothes  

Ṣùgbọ n ihòòhò ni àwọn iyàmi wà      

But my mothers were naked …  

Nígbà ti wọn dé bodȇ   

On their arrival at the gate of heaven      

Wọn ò leè lọ mọ   

They were unable to precede the journey  

Ojú ńti wọn …  

They were feeling shy  

 The Ẹlẹyẹ „witches‟ pleaded with other spiritual beings to help them cover their nakedness but they all refused, 

only Òrúnmìlà offered assistance. But they refused to come out of Òrúnmila. They were feeding on his intestine 

and liver on arrival from heaven. Consequently, after consulting the Oracle, Òrúnìlà had to take them back to the 

gate of heaven where he met them. There are many arguments on why the female witches (Ęlęyę) came naked 

from heaven among other spiritual beings; the authors will not go into this argument in this paper.   

This goes to express how the society perceives this kind of spiritual identity mostly associated with women. The 

above account sees the women as ingrates.  However, scholars such as Ogungbemi present a defrent view of 

Yorùbá women spiritual identity. The scholar argues that witches in Yoruba belief were created to make Yoruba 

trust God and worship him; to him, without the witches, the Yoruba will not have recourse to worship the Supreme 

Being Deity because in Yoruba cosmology, witches are the major causes of misfortunes, illness, poverty and death. 

It is common to accuse old women of witchcraft. However no Yorùbá person dear addressed any woman, publicly, 

as witches instead, euphemism like awon iya wa („our mothers‟), or agbalagba („the elders‟) are used 

(Ogbungbemi, 2007:128).   

Yoruba believe the cult of witches is mostly women who pass their witchcraft spirits to their daughters not sons. 

This is expressed as „Fi gbogbo omo bi obinrin’,   

  

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‘Ęyę ń yí lu ęyę’ (she gave birth to only female children, which multiplies the witchcraft spirit). It is also 

traditionally believed that passing the art to their daughters will enable them to increase their population and give 

them their control of their guilds (Ibid, 129). Even though there are good and bad witches,  the  tensions  created  

in  families  

 and communities by the belief in witchcraft are polarizing the essence of human social relations and essence of 

communal living. This explains why witches are separated from physical human transactions in the society. The 

fear of attack and manipulation of innocent people informs the Yoruba believe as express in the traditional thought, 

that whatever belongs to witches is sacred; therefore set aside to avoid their wrath. This obedience to the 

wishes/the keeping of the witches taboo is captured in Òsá Mejì as;   The above demonstrates the ground of being 

a witch in Yoruba thought. The fact is that within the Yoruba cosmology, witches are separated from human 

 Otún ęyę kangó  The witches‟ right side are hard  

Òsì ęyę kingo    The left sides are hard  

Òòsa ló ní kéyę mó jowú òan    The gods forbids witches from devouring its special cotton 

cake  

… A díá fún Talàbí  He was Talàbí‟s oracle consultant  

Omǫ Òòsa  Consulted oracle on behalf of Òrúnmila  

ĺfá ḿbệ láàrin ipọ njú  Ifa was facing a great difficulty  

Ẹ ẹ rùn ló yán, Ni omí dòwọ n  It was dry season, There was drought  

Àwón Ęlęyę gbẹ  odòo ti wọn sílẹ   The witches dug a well.  

Àwọn èèyàn náà sì gbé ti won  Human beings also dug well.  

Ní àwọn Ęlęyę bá lagogo káà kiri pé  Witches made a decree,  

Kí awọn èèyàn ó má ṣe, dé ibi odò awọn o  that prohibited human beings from their water source  

Nígbà tí odó awọn   yàn ò lómi ńnú mọ   However, human water source dried up  

Ní Talàbí bá lọ pọnmi ní odò àwón Ęlęyę  Talàbí ventured to fetch from the witches‟ water source  

Agbe ni awọn Ẹlẹlẹyẹ sì fi ṣọ  odò  Agbe was employed by Ẹlẹyẹ as gate man to the water source  

Títí tí Tàlàbí fi pọnmi tán, Agbe ò jí  Talàbí successfully fetched water because Agbe was fast 

asleep.  

 jé kí Talàbí ó màa gbé agbè omi náà rú  Tàlabí‟s attempted to place the gorge of water on his head  

Ni àdá òòsa tó mú lówó bá lu agbè náà    But mistakenly hit the gorge with cutlass he was holding  

Ní Agbé bá jí     Agbe woke up  

Jíjí tí Agbe jí. Igbe ló fi bọnu  Agbé alerted the witches  

… Gbogbo àwón Ęlęyę ba tú jéde  All the witches came out  

… Talàbí hǫ  Talàbí took to his heels  

Awọn Ęlęyę gbá. Wọ n fi yá a…  The witches pursued him hard … (Abimbola, 1978: 88-9)  

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endeavours. The witches are sets of beings that are always obeyed to avoid their wrath. In   sá Méjì, every one 

obeyed Ẹlẹyẹ by abstaining from their water source. Anyone who disobeys them always incure their wrath; as in 

the case of Tàlàbí, that tried to fetch water from the witches separate water source: no body including Aláàfin 

Abíọ dún (the king) came to his rescue while he was pursued, until he got to Òrúnmìlà‟s abode. This goes on to 

show how the idea of the witch affects the psychology of the people and their way of life. Now let us examine 

another form of spiritual identity in Yoruba anthropology.  

The Emèrè cult  

Again, within the Yoruba cosmology, there are various forms  of  spiritual  identities.  They  are  peculiar  to  both 

sexes but more on women and female children. It is believe within the traditional ontology that women get in 

contact with the spirit in many ways, which could as well affect their children. Within the Yoruba cosmology, it 

is believed that a pregnant woman is not supposed to be out from twelve noon to one pm since it is the time 

spiritual entities come and interact and could enter the pregnant woman. The El  re (female) and Eméré (male) 

depicts the spiritual identities of humans in Yoruba cosmology. The Yoruba categorized the varying spiritual 

identities based on their traditional sources. Table 2 shows their sources and the place they have meetings.   

These are some of the various spiritual identities in Yoruba cosmology. In the case of the spirit child they usually 

die young. In some cases, they are given marks on their bodies when they die; and when another child is born, the 

child comes with the marks inscribed on the dead child. In such instances, a higher form of power is consulted  so  

as to stop  the  child  from  untimely  death. 

   This child is called abiku. This idea of abiku (re-occurring still birth) and spiritual identities is widely believed 

by Yoruba people. It has also given rise to the high attendance and patronage of the white garment churches in 

Yoruba land.  In Yoruba land, it is widely believed that Emere is the general name for spiritual identity pertaining 

to those that have their source from banana. There are various types of Emere spiritual identity. There is also the 

alujonnu and oro: They are spiritual identities pertaining to trees. Within the Yoruba traditional cosmology, it is 

Table 2. Names, sources and places of meeting of spirits in Yoruba cosmology.  

Place of meeting  mọ-omi or Olomi, emèrè-omi Omi (Water) note that they are bath with cold water when 

born Inside water  

Ogédé / emèrè 

Emere- ofurugu  

Banana, paw-paw 

They stay in the sky  

Under banana stalks 

Sky  

Apata   

Emere- awon  

Rock  

Refuge bins  

Flat rock  

Refuge bins  

Alujonnu and Oro and 

abiku  

Trees for example Agbalomo (cherry tree), Qparim   

(Bamabo) Ori Igi (Iroko) Oro lives inside 

(bewitched) trees.  

Big trees  

Aje  (witch)  Oludumare  Nocturnal meetings  
 

Name   Source   

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generally believed that alujonnu and oro do not harm people, but then there are wicked people who mix with 

them and use their influence to harm and initiate human beings. There are also the omo-omi (marine/ mermaid 

child) who does not harm people but they always have mission and thereabout to turn to females (human beings) 

in order to accomplish their mission.4 It is mostly those in the cult or who seek power or refuge from the sect who 

go down to the spirit world to associate with them.   

 Philosophy interrogates women’s spiritual identity in Igbo and Yoruba philosophy  

 From the exposition of the ontology, metaphysics and epistemology of women‟s spiritual identities among the 

Igbo and the Yoruba of southern Nigeria, one can inference that although they were conscious of the difference 

of gender, these two African nations in the precolonial times did not develop stereotypes in which ideally 

women‟s spiritual identities were outraged and mischievously exploited. The issues of spirit-child, spiritual 

spouses and spiritual comrades and their rituals of healing were not spitefully contrived to exploit femininity but 

are conceived as a way of solving socialspiritual problem. From our knowledge of spiritual identity, and from our 

everyday experience, we have many ideas and opinions about what these issues of spiritual identities are like. 

This is to say that these issues of spiritual identity and their ritual of healings were  direct response to perceived 

theological, spiritual and metaphysical problems of typical traditional settings within a specific time in history.   

Given this age of modernity, these ideas of spiritual identities reflect the need for identifying in contract to the 

true nature and socio-cultural „situatedness‟ of the women. Since spiritual identities in these cultures are 

stereotypes, it brings to the fore the need to reshape the social behavior of women especially those stereotyped. It 

more so calls for reconceptualization especially in terms of the foundations of learning, social, cultural and even 

legal and political relations. This is also suggestive of the idea of the comparative worth of women’s lives and 

personalities. Comparative worth defines women as people in need of protection because they are different from 

men and there is need to polish this principle of comparative worth beyond philosophical limits.   

It is obvious within these cultures that there is something true about their spiritual identities, studies on them have 

not been systematic and comprehensive. The understanding of them is still within the epistemic closures of 

cultures that practice them. For a clearer philosophical analysis of the challenges of women’s spiritual identities, 

we will discuss them under three headings; the problem of context, women’s spiritual identities and resistant 

culture and finally dealing with dilemma from a postmodernist perspective.  

Problem of context  

This study on women’s spiritual identities is contextual and relative, creating a perceptual problem within 

philosophy.  

The problem of women’s spiritual identity is that it is culturally oriented. Since there are variations of the 

conceptions of spiritual identities given these cultures, an examination of the problem of context is useful in 

understanding the cosmological basis these cultural practices are built on. Again, there are difficulties in 

attempting to use critical concepts, ideas, theories, terms to understand the nature of spiritual identities of the 

traditional woman.  It is more so difficult to prescribe alternatives   to   these spiritual   identity models.  These 

create gap in understanding and dealing with issues boarding on the reality and challenges of spiritual identities. 

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This deficiency is not grounded in women domination and oppression but serves as critiques that relates to 

contextualization of feminist issues. But then, it creates the ideology that sees men as fair, and more socially, 

spiritually and psychologically accurate. This is because the idea of spiritual identities between these two cultures 

pertains more to women than men. The fact that women were portrayed as oppressed stereotypes, gender 

minorities and inferior: Women’s spiritual identities add to this as well.   

This study also presents the problem of the pluralistic nature of women’s spiritual identities. This is because it 

dwells within our cultural setting, showing itself in various forms and types, making the problems of women’s 

spiritual identities subjective and relative. What is meant as spiritual identity varies within cultural settings as 

exemplified in Igbo and Yoruba cultural settings. Since the spiritual identities of women are cultural, it also gives 

rise to the problem of methods of explanation. There is lack of concepts with equivalent meanings when translated 

from source language to target language. This idea has either been over-simplified or lack correct words and 

connotations for in English language. Most times it is dismissed as superstitions and myths (Otakpo, 2016:28-9).  

Another problem generated by women’s spiritual identity is that it is controlled by a traditionally understood  

„Cause-effect mechanism. ‟ It posits the lack of scientific method of verification, testing of hypothesis, no 

controlling principles, laws or theorems, and moves within the concepts of epistemic closure or secrecy. This is 

to say that because of the varying cultural realms it operates, its activities are explained by reference to cause and 

effect within the particular culture: This raises the problem of explanatory models. It is worthwhile to note that 

women’s spiritual identities are not accounted for in critical literature. Thus, it exhibits the same proclivities of 

patriarchy that renders that account of human incomplete.   

The explanation to this is that women’s spiritual experiences are also part of human experiences and as such 

should be accounted for. The issue of context presents to us the need to censure the idea of spiritual identity as 

premised on a notion that people are mystified by conservative cultural ideology and consequently cannot remake 

the world until they see how contingent such idea is. Thus, it is built on the principle of error in that their version 

of stereotype by consent does not present a realistic picture of women domination by men or spiritual aspects and 

their psychological consequences.  

Women’s metaphysical identity and resistant culture   

The problem of spiritual identity is challenging the confidence of the traditional woman  in  her  development 

model. This is evident in the challenging population structure of traditional and cultural practitioners which vary 

and add to the high uncertainty in women‟s movement, social, political as well as women‟s rights groups. In 

Ekwuru‟s (1999:59) words; “… one thing I must tell you is that those things which the white men (modernity 

and Christianity) came to destroy are still with people and shame to them if they abandon the religion and practice 

of their fathers.” These controversial issues for women spiritual identities are part of the problems that escalated 

with the clash of cultures; what may be called the traditional Igbo / Yoruba verses the modern Igbo / Yoruba? is a 

struggle between deculturisation and depersonalisation.  

The place of women‟s spiritual identities in Igbo and Yoruba cultures are evident in the art and literature of each 

culture. Even with the influence of Western education and religion (Christianity and Islam), the problem of 

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women‟s spiritual identities still persist. The exigence of this situation of dual cultural existence puts the woman 

in a state of a tragic clash of values, and unconsciously imbues in their social personality a form of schizophrenic 

pathology with paranoid tendencies. This has brought the woman under a stereotyped socioanthropological 

surveillance. Part of the objectives of this essay is to propose a way to help women and the society at large re-

think and overcome these stereotypes. This research proposed three projects;  

1) Reconstruction of the existing culture (the culture of spiritual identity and its manifestations) through 

consolidation with a more rational culture. This is purely inventive not recovery moves.  

2) To make conscious efforts to enter into this discourse of spiritual identities (discourse on this area is 

minimal within scholarly writing) within indigenous belief systems; that is to mix with it, transform it to make it 

acknowledged instead of marginalized, stereotyped or suppressed or as forgotten history. This is because; some 

traditional women still holds this system tenaciously.   

3) It is time to put resilient culture towards a more integrative view of human community and human 

liberation.   

Dealing with dilemma from a postmodernist perspective  

To offer a simple solution to the dilemma of women’s spiritual identities is to think of a possible way of  

contradicting the message. It would be a capitulation of the Igbo and Yoruba ontology that we seek to destabilize 

in order to explain it. If one argues that spiritual identity is different from physical or intellectual identity then 

where is the place of the essential ingredients that constituent humanity such as human freewill, determinism and 

moral responsibility? Since humans are both Homo sapiens and rational, where is the place of self-consciousness 

and the basis of value? The problems of spiritual identities of women create paradox of existence. It also raises 

the problem of personality and division of the self. The problem of spiritual identity has to a large extent created 

polarity in human existence. This is because women do not live in the objective world alone. The world belongs 

both to men and women, other animals and things. Philosophically speaking, women’s spiritual identities raise 

issues in the conceptions of human nature, culture, destiny among others.   

It will be mistaken if these (Igbo and Yoruba) perspectives on women’s spiritual identities are dismissed. It will 

be novel if philosophical discussions on them are deepened. The task should not be to show how resolute the 

philosophical tensions between identity and women, but rather to consciously inhabit that very tension. This 

inspires a philosophical anthropology of reconstruction; an attempt to reconstruct women’s identity itself in the 

light of the difference cultural makings. Thus, history has shown that women’s spiritual identity can coexist 

happily with formal commitment to objectivity, neutrality and with old optimistic faith to reason, truth, blind 

justice and neutrality.   

Thus, this study prescribes intersubjectivity as a theoretical frame upon which human social-cultural relations 

can be built. Since human experiences and descriptions of spiritual identity thereof can no more be shown to 

correspond to such an „objective‟ description, (especially in contrast to the understanding normal identity), then 

there is need to accommodate these variations, not as stereotypes but as part of the human accounts of identity 

variation. It is also true that we cannot establish the „objectivity‟ of our experiences' content, there is need to 

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resist a slide into relativism by insisting that they are mediated by rationally delineated categories which 

supposedly assure the transcendental or universal nature of their form. This will provide an absolute standard 

against which we might check the veridicality of our descriptions of, and communications concerning women’s 

spiritual identities.  There is need to understand the interpersonal and intercultural states of women’s spiritual 

identity especially through communication. It is through the addition of various subjective accounts of spiritual 

identity that a proper understanding of women spiritual identity will be realized even beyond the two cultures in 

this study.  Spiritual identity as a complex and challenging interactions between internal and external (spiritual) 

forces between the individual agency and structure of power can be changed by reducing cultural essentialism 

and accepting Agoyi and Osuji universal truths and justice within the intersubjective frame.   

The idea of change must flow directly from a focus on ideology, which is a major weakness that separates the 

actual from the possible. The prominence of ideology is that it prevents people from thinking in terms that are 

less than human hence from implementing a freer social condition. Thus ideology is the first logical step to cancel 

stereotyping and yield social transformation. Not only that the idea of consciousness-raising on the implications 

and effects of modelling a woman‟s identity in the code of spiritual identity must have to be enlightened. This 

leads us to self-consciousness, and other parameter such as storytelling, awareness creation to combat this social 

stereotyping. It will involve a strategic thinking about the philosophical and social implication of the meanings 

and programmes we endorse in our cultures.   

For example, what are the implications of arguing for and against women‟s spiritual identity? If both have 

negative implications there should be suggestion in the need to reframe the issue; to ask previously unanswered 

question about the relevance or stability of spiritual identity.  

Critical thinking about norms and cultural practices should open up unexamined aspects of the cultural systems, 

conversations about altering norms; bring about new ways of reasoning, and taking definitions of existing terms. 

Also definitions must be justified by exploration of cultural contexts and experiences of existing but excluded 

voices and offering wholly new concepts, themes, theories, and terminologies.  

This work examines the complex women identity the scheme of things in Nigeria especially with the Igbo and 

Yoruba cosmology as perceive in the language use within each society. The research finds out that the way each 

linguistic group perceive women differs significantly. While the Igbos demonise the identity of women with 

exception talents as well as those who experience misfortune in marriages and life endeavours. The Youruba 

women spiritual identity is more libraries in that the good virtue is positively rewarded with kind words. The term 

ìyá mi „my mother‟ signifies a motherly attachment, honour and respect for the famine gender. Good mothers 

always protect the children but are always out to punish anyone who dears to take them for granted as in the case 

of Àlàbì in the myth. The Igbo society is not as tolerant in the treatment of women perceived to be connected to 

the so called spiritual world. In essence women identity in the two culture is complex. The contemporary society 

holds the traditional values in relating to women in the different cultural and religious gatherings. Therefore, by 

linking and pulling the contextual points of the two cultures together, the research presents conceptions of 

women‟s complex spiritual identity for the understanding of human nature more clearly from the cultural and 

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indigenous ideology. Analyzing, the perceived identity portals the contemporary relevance in the scheme of things 

in the larger society.    

This research attempts to open up the interested researchers‟ understanding of two Nigerian linguistic groups 

(Igbo and Yoruba) to how complexities within African and indeed Nigerian social and political culture have been 

made to question gender and identity.  It is assumed that understanding of the problem of achieving human 

solidarity and proper accommodation in a multicultural postmodern world can be approach through thorough 

investigation of the social cultural background as perceived in the language.  

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS  

The authors have not declared any conflicts of interests.  

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ISSN: 2994-0540 

Impact Factor: 6.91 

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