Women who engage in the mati work are, as we have seen, thought to be carried by a strong, male god, an Apuku, who is jealous of his "child," the woman, engaging in permanent sexual relationships with flesh-and-blood males. The Apuku is believed to be so strong and demanding that his child will have difficulty relating to men and will be more attracted to other women. Anemic explanation of the mati work does not claim a core homo- sexual identity; rather, the behavior is conceived of as engagement in a pleas- ant activity, desired and instigated By one particular instantiation of the "I."
It is the Apuku who is sexually attracted to women, and there is no emic reason to privilege this instantiation of the "I" above others by making him the decisive, "truest" element of the self.Likewise, when women state that it is good for your "insides" to have sex with men at least once in a while, they are building on an understanding of multiplicitous personhood that temporarily privileges a female instantiation of "I," which desires a man.
when the battery of a wife by her husband is judged as being frequent and ‘‘unwarranted’’,the women within the community collectively rise up and retaliate on behalf of the victim by launching a physical assault against the abuser as a group. Furthermore, husbands who attempt to prevent their wives from partaking in the actions of the avenging women are seen by the society in a negative light. The Ngwa agree that battery inflicted by husbands is not committed against their wives, but against all women in that community.
When a woman’s ‘‘body’’ is given out inmarriage, it is made clear that only one right isbeing transferred to her in-laws: the reproduc-tive right to affiliate the children borne out ofthis union with their patrilineage. Importantly,this right is given to the community of her in-laws, rather than to an individual man or hus-band.
The individual is thus unable to pursue and realise all his/her rights by him/herself; rather, the community ascribes rights to the individual and confirms them.