Social Integration of Women in Se’Wa-Tan Festival of Twins in Ekinrin-Adde
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Date
2023-06
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Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Choba
Abstract
Social integration, the process where various individuals and groups come together to form a unified society, has been identified as one of the dimensions to communal growth and development in any given society. Although, existing studies have discussed different fragments of social integration in diverse areas of human endeavour, the expanse of women’s contribution towards achieving it has been scantily explored. This study, therefore examines social integration of women in S’ewa-tan festival of twins in Ekinrin-Adde community, with a view to identifying key components of social integration used by women to perform their roles significantly during the festival. Emile Durkheim’s theory of social integration was adopted as framework for its accuracy and relevance to the study, while the descriptive design was used. Key informant interviews were conducted as primary source of gathering data, while non-participant observation method of research was employed as secondary source. Se’wa-tan festival of twins in Ekinrin-Adde was discovered to be an all-women affair as the constitution of its participants are mothers of twin babies in the community. Three major components of social integration were identified to foster women’s participation in Se’wa-tan festival. They are, inclusion, participation, and justice. Inclusion is demonstrated by the automatic membership and immediate enrolment of every woman who gives birth to twins within Ekinrin-Adde community. Participation is evident in the allocation of duties to individuals and clusters of women during the festival. Justice plays out in the method of money sharing and allocation of membership dues. Even though every member pays the same amount of money as dues, the manner in which the money made during the festival is shared is usually fair and just. The combination of the three key components of social integration evident in Se’wa-tan, contributes to peaceful co-existence, social interaction, growth and development in Ekinrin-Adde community.