Cultural practises contributing to gender-based violence (GBV) in Igbo land: An exploration of Buchi Emecheta's The Bride Price.

Abstract This paper examines how embedded cultural norms generate power imbalances and sustain gender-based violence (GBV) against Igbo women and girls. Despite governmental efforts to curb violence in Nigeria, implementation gaps persist, particularly within Igbo communities. The study attributes this failure partly to the state’s reluctance to confront harmful cultural practices, notably marriage customs such as bride price, which reinforce feminine commodification. Focusing on Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price (1976), the paper analyses how patriarchal ideology and cultural expectations intersect to normalise violence. Through context-based character analysis, it explores the experiences of Aku-nna and Ma Blackie as women navigating culturally sanctioned oppression. Anchored in Ogunyemi’s African womanist framework, the study demonstrates how social norms restrict female agency, limit educational and economic opportunities, and legitimise physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. It argues that African women’s writing reclaims literary space as resistance, exposing the psychological and social consequences of GBV while informing gender advocacy and social transformation in Igbo society.