The City-Village Interface in Ibadan (Nigeria)

Abstract

In general accounts of black soap production, it is traced to West Africa. And prominent across, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote de Ivoire and Nigeria. However, this paper examines the nature of entrepreneurship associated with black soap production and trade in Ibadan of the twentieth century. The work analyses how women dominated the industry and its interface between the village and Ibadan city markets. The work locates the characteristics of innovation and market development imaged by women to earn livelihoods in black soap trade in Ibadan city and village. The paper uses the Asuwada sociation theory to explain the entrepreneurial resilience of women in Olode village. The work uses the historical approach to examine the city-village interface. Oral interviews were conducted with women involved in production and trade since the early twentieth century.