by Helen Titilola Olojede and Ayodeji Felix Soyemi
Abstract
Care ethics, or the ethics of care, is a normative ethical theory that emphasises human relationships and understands individuals as interdependent, relational beings. It also highlights the importance of emotion-based virtues, including benevolence, mercy, care, friendship, reconciliation and sensitivity. This paper addresses the problem of care from an African feminist perspective. To address the paucity of African feminist ethical theory, it asks: how do ìtọ́jú, ìkẹ́, and ìgẹ̀ pan out in various care contexts such as ikẹ́ọmọdé (child care), ikẹ́arúgbó (care for the aged), ìkẹ́ òbí (parental care), ìtọ́jú aláìsàn (care for the sick), ìtọ́jú agbèegbè (environmental care), ìgẹ̀ ọkọ (care for the husband), ìgẹ̀ àgbàlagbà (care for the elderly), and so forth? Ìtọ́jú encompasses simple care or nurture. Ìkẹ́ represents pampering, indulgence, fussing, and pandering. Ìgẹ̀ is typically employed in relation to ìkẹ́, such as in ìkẹ́ ati ìgẹ̀ (pampering and reverence/showcasing). Ìgẹ̀, in addition to indicating pampering, also introduces the element of reverence in care relations. The trio emphasises human relationships and virtues such as care, compassion, and sensitivity, uncovering and recovering African women’s contributions to the care discourse and the ethics of holism. Do ìtọ́jú, ìkẹ́, and ìgẹ̀ contribute to or undermine economic power? This paper uses the philosophical methodology of critical analysis, argumentation, and the reconstruction of ideas to argue that the trio of ìtọ́jú, ìkẹ́ and ìgẹ̀ provides a holistic conception of care, nurturing, and healthy pampering applicable beyond the African context, as it incorporates not only bodily or physical care but also spiritual, emotional, social and environmental care of humans, fauna, and flora.
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04_FA2025_Vol6.3_Feature-4_Olojede-and-Soyemi