Mar 1, 1984-1984
Nigeria
Ogharefe Women Nude Protest the Pan Ocean Oil Industry
Share
ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
Ogharefe Women of Nigeria
TARGET
Pan Ocean Oil
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
Land should not be forcibly confisticated from rightful owners for oil drilling. If it is confisticated, adequate compensation must be paid to the owners.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and Opponent: Pan Ocean Oil in Nigeria had seized land from the people without compensation and had caused pollution damage. The community did not have a reliable water well or electricity. Dilemma Action: 10,000 women of Ogharefe surrounded Pan Ocean’s Ogharefe Production Station creating barricades and threatening to disrobe if the director came appealing for negotiation. In several countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Trinidad, and South Africa, the public disrobing of women is thought to bring a serious and irreversible curse to those who see their nakedness. Any foreign man who sees exposed women is considered to lose his credibility in Nigeria as a result of the curse. Outcomes: When the company’s managing director and his team arrived, they found a throng of naked Nigerian women singing and dancing. They were shocked and quickly fled. Later they met most of the women’s demands.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Protest disrobings
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
6 / 12
(CONC) Concessions were made
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
0 / 3
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
Pyo, Yein. 2012. “Ogharefe women protest against Pan Ocean oil industry, 1984,” Global Nonviolent Action Database. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/ogharefe-women-protest-against-pan-ocean-oil-industry-1984).
Turner, Terisa. “Arise Ye Mighty People!: Gender, Class, and Race in Popular Struggles,” Africa World Press, Retrieved July 20, 2023.
Turcotte, Heather M. 2011. “Petro-sexual Politics: Global Oil, Legitimate Violence and Transnational Justice,” APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, August 1. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1902068).
Okwechime, Iwebunor. 2011. “The Impact of Globalization on Women Peasants and Traders in Nigeria’s Delta Region (1986 – 2002),” ResearchGate. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267940918_The_Impact_of_Globalization_on_Women_Peasants_and_Traders_in_Nigeria’s_Delta_Region_1986_-_2002).
Ukeje, Charles. 2004. “From Aba to Ugborodo: gender identity and alternative discourse of social protest among women in the oil delta of Nigeria,” Oxford Development Studies, January 23. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://doi.org/10.1080/1360081042000293362).
doi:10.1080/02255189.1993.9669525. Accessed April 15, 2022.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/10.1108/13563280710723769. Accessed April 15, 2022.
Federici, Silvia. 2004. “Women, land-struggles and globalization: an international perspective,” Journal of Asian and African Studies. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240728061_Women_Land-Struggles_and_Globalization_An_International_Perspective).
Turcotte, Heather. 2002. “Slippery Security: National, International and Global Security Issues within Petroleum Production,” Turkish Journal of International Relations. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/tjir/v1n4/tjir_v1n4tuh01.pdf).
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