Igbo Culture

Previous studies on written Igbo poetry (WIP) which examines the belief of the Igbo were all based on
the content of the poem. There is yet to be research that examines the beliefs of the Igbo, based on the
form of the poem. A lot of people do not know that poets also mirror the belief of the people through the
lexical matching employed in their works. To this end, this study examines various Igbo beliefs that are
mirrored in the lexical cohesion employed by modern Igbo poets. Data for the study were elicited from
eight written Igbo poems and subjected to descriptive analysis. The study reveals that modern Igbo poets
achieve lexical cohesion through the superordinate arrangement of antonymous lexical items in
consecutive lines. This is done with a view to describing some structural reality of the Igbo cosmic
hierarchy. It was also observed that parallelism promotes lexical cohesion in WIP.
Keywords: Cohesion, Lexical Cohesion, Written Igbo Poetry

Throughout the history of mankind, preference and preservation of one's kin or kind has been evident, an up-close observation of this behaviour birthed such theories as kin selection, social identity theory, realistic group conflict theory and reciprocal altruism. The sense of ''weness'' and ''theyness'' has largely precipitated most devastating wars and conflicts that have besieged the world, though incompatible goals or scarce resources are usually fronted as responsible. Such wars and conflicts have been called by different names like racism, xenophobia, nationalism or ethnocentrism. The term xenophobia has particularly gained wide recognition most especially in the wake of South-Africa’s crisis in the past. Nigeria has equally experienced such conflicts in the past and still does, however the magnitude of the violence in Nigeria has been played down due to the term used to describe such violence; sometimes it is called prejudice or discrimination or sometimes ethnocentrism or hegemony. This paper makes the argument that the phenomenon of xenophobia exists in Nigeria, may be more common than we realise and also may be an adaptive mechanism employed by people for personal and group survival. Examples of xenophobic acts in Nigeria are discussed and theoretical explanations for their existence and perpetuation are addressed, together with recommendations of managing their occurrences.

קיימת טענה שהאיגבו מניגריה הם צאצאי בני ישראל. ישנם מיליוני תושבים באיבלנד ומחוצה לה המשתייכים למסורת האיגבו. הרבה נכתב על מסורות האיגבו, שמעיד על הטענה, לרבות יצירות היסטוריות ואנתרופולוגיות, המפרטות תיאוריות, מנהגים, סוציולוגיה, פילוסופיה והיסטוריה. למרות הוכחות חזקות לקשר שלהם לבני ישראל, עקב התנצרות כפויה, יש היום מעט רשויות רבניות שמחליטות שהאיגבו חייבים להתגייר או לעבור הליכים קפדניים, כדי להסיר כל ספק ולשלבם לחיק עם ישראל. מהי ההלכה לגבי הזהות הדתית של האיגבו והאם הם כשרים לבא בקהל ולהנשא עם כל ישראל?

Before their contact with Christianity in the mid-1800s, several Igbo communities practiced iko mbara, an institution where a married person openly had a paramour with the consent of their spouse. This practice was condemned by the Christian missionaries as further reflected in their use of the term during Bible translation. Therefore, this study poses the following questions: What did iko mean prior to its use in the Igbo Bible? In what ways is its use in the Bible different from its use prior to the Bible translations? How has its use in the Bible changed the perception of the term among Igbo speakers? What are the implications of these practices in contexts of translation in Nigeria? To provide answers to these questions, I compared the traditional Igbo practices that are designated with the term iko with the different contexts where the term is used in Igbo Bible translation. Findings show how iko was re-semanticized during Bible translation to now mean any form of sex outside a monogamous marriage framework, which includes concubine, adultery, fornication and prostitute. This ideological strategy was apparently aimed at giving iko a pejorative meaning, thereby discouraging Igbo Christians from the practice. I also conducted a survey (questionnaire) findings from which show how iko is perceived among Igbo speakers. This study contributes to research on the linguistic impact of missionary translations on African languages. Methodologically, it demonstrates how questionnaire survey could complement descriptive analysis in exploring the impact of translations in the receiving language and culture.

This study posits that the translation of the Bible into the Igbo language engendered the elaboration of the language to enable it express the ideas and concepts borne in the Christian religion. Language elaboration, as used in this work, refers to the expansion of the functions of a language, i.e. use of the language in new domains, introduction of new lexical and semantic elements to the repertoire of the language. Four research questions guided the analysis carried out in the work: What lexical processes were adopted in creating new terms in Bible translation into Igbo? What strategies were employed in representing Christian concepts in the Bible translations? How have these lexical and conceptual innovations evolved across the different translations? How have the lexical and conceptual innovations spread among Igbo speakers? To answer these questions, two types of analysis are carried out: a textual analysis of a corpus of terms created and introduced into Igbo through eight Igbo Bible translations, and an analysis of a questionnaire survey on the spread of some of these new terms and concepts in contemporary Igbo usage. Findings show that the Bible translations enriched the Igbo lexicon mainly through the processes of compounding, descriptive phrases and lexical borrowing. Secondly, the translations introduced Christian concepts into Igbo mainly by appropriating existing terms for Igbo concepts and giving them new significations in the Igbo Bible. Thirdly, later translations lexically and semantically differentiated Christian concepts from traditional Igbo concepts. They also differentiated two Christian concepts by representing them with distinct terms where the earlier translations represented the concepts with the same term, thereby facilitating the emergence of an Igbo Christian register. Fourthly, some of the Biblical innovations are restricted to use within Christian religious contexts, thereby suggesting the emergence of an Igbo Christian register. However, many others have spread into Igbo beyond their use in the Bible and some have acquired new meanings in the language and also got entries in Igbo dictionaries

This paper is a brief introduction to traditional music in Nigeria, particularly, amongst Nigeria's three major ethnic groups (Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba). It covers a very short span in the evolution of these musical genres. Nonetheless, the paper offers some useful insight into the functional, ceremonial roles of music in a typical traditional society in Nigeria.

The Igbo people have a lot of sacred symbols in their cosmology. Symbols play very important role in Igbo traditional religion that a non-Igbo may be dumb-founded if what the Igbo traditionalist would regard very significant may not be so for curious outsider. “The Igbo...” according to Adibe “are very down to earth with sharp but acute thinking. Their perception goes beyond natural environment to metaphysical realm.

For centuries African women were exploited, neglected and treated as outsiders. A study of gender politics highlights and discloses the gender discrimination in Igbo community in Nigeria. Igbo community as a whole represents all the cultural communities in the world which follows patriarchy as a dominant form of gender differentiation. Achebe’s description of feminist prospect of Igbo community represents Nigeria and all the African nations as a whole. The focus on muscularity, socio cultural states of male and female, deprivation of rights of women based on various roles and gender discrimination is quite visible throughout the novel. Achebe’s things fall apart gives a textual view of the issues that were faced on the name of gender. Things fall apart as a novel alert the readers to actually question, who is actually responsible for abuse of women? Is it clearly the people of Igbo Tribe which are actual source of abuse or is it the writer Achebe, who is knowingly or unknowing encouraging the abuse?  Moreover, the question that directed to gender politics is bound within the community or tribe or is it Achebe himself who is playing gender politics in his book? An attempt is made to focus on the consequences due to the absence of female principles that followed in Achebe’s friction.  This paper attempts to unmask the issues that women had to face based on their gender, although the community believes in giving importance to women but fails to follow it .

The now widespread Igbo belief in a Jewish ancestry goes back to the 18th century. However, it was during and after the Nigerian civil war (1967–1970), in which at least one million Igbo died in the failed bid for Biafran independence, that Igbo identification with and as Jews concretized. Igbo saw themselves as sufferers of genocide, like the Jews of World War II in Europe, and as inhabitants of a beleaguered plot of land surrounded by hostile forces, similar to the state of Israel. The civil war and its disastrous consequences initiated a still ongoing period of intense questioning among the Igbo concerning their history, present predicaments, and future prospects. A small number of Igbo began to question why, if they were in fact Jews, they should continue practising Christianity.
Their community now numbers between 2,000 and 5,000 people throughout Nigeria. There are three established Nigerian synagogues in Abuja, the federal capital, most of whose members are Igbo. The significance of Biafra, the centrality of the state of Israel, pride in Jewish ancestry and practice, and questions surrounding the range of Jewish skin colour, predominate in Igbo Jews' discussions of their identity. In contrast to the vast majority of Igbo who, if they maintain a sense of Jewish identity, do so while practising Christianity, Igbo Jews have severed themselves from the now dominant religion. Understanding themselves to be part of the global Jewish community of the diaspora and the state of Israel, the Igbo practising Judaism in Nigeria are eager for religious and political recognition from world Jewry and the Jewish state. However, self-identifying Jewish groups without documented historical connections to more established Jewish communities face considerable challenges in gaining such recognition, particularly as genealogical Jews.

Ancient Pygmy myths and codes contain important truths, but we cannot experience those truths if to us they are 'just' stories or mores of the endangered 'first people' who still exist. They need to be felt as real. This calls for a view of the Pygmy descendants as stewards of healing wisdom. African Pygmy ancestors prefigured environmental activism in their codes and their direct descendants as identified by DNA, are actually the surviving roots of humanity's racial, religious and linguistic origins, to be acknowledged and treated with respect for their great contributions. This paper examines the influence of millenniums-old Pygmy cosmology and moral directives, foundations of cosmic serpent myths and rituals found among indigenous cultures spanning the world. These myths and rituals also emphasize the significence of a parallel underground world from which animals and humans emerged affer a deluge. The Pygmy cultural inheritance is also the basis for multiple Egyptian myths, which in turn, has influenced many biblical stories that are accepted in the West.

A bilingual Africanist with a special interest in Nigerian (Igbo) and Intercultural Studies, Françoise is a Research Fellow at the Open University (UK) after 24 years at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she rose to Professorship, and seventeen years of lecturing in various English Universities. A Ph.D. examiner in France, Spain, Ireland, and the UK, she has been a long-standing member of the prestigious Africanist Society, Paris, served on its Council 2008-2012 and is an ex-officio President of the Association for the study of African literatures (APELA). A Senior Research Fellow, IFRA (Nigeria), the founding editor of the Journal of African Films & Diasporas Studies (JAFDIS, 2017-2020),  and a regular reviewer for several European, American & Asian journals, she has published extensively in both French and English in France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several African Countries.
Recent publications include Films et realisateurs nigérians (Paris, L'Harmattan 2024), Nollywood - Le cinéma nigérian 1991-2021 (Paris, L'Harmattan 2022), Nollywood on the Move, Nigeria on Display (Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2013), Le pays igbo du Nigeria (Paris, L'Harmattan 2010), Biafra la déchirure (Paris, L'Harmattan 2009), Torn Apart: the Nigerian Civil War and its Impact (London, Adonis & Abbey 2010), and the first French translation of the first Igbo novel (Paris, Karthala 2010).
Nigerian Film Studies: Françoise’s area of expertise focuses on the reception, cultural, and linguistic impact of Nollywood in Europe. Her latest co-authored book publications include: Tsaaior James Tar & Ugochukwu Françoise (Eds), Nigerian Film Culture and the Idea of the Nation: Nollywood and National Narration (2017) & Omoera Osakue S. & Ugochukwu Francoise (Eds), Perspectives on Indigenous Language Films in the Global South, London, Adonis & Abbey (2024).
Ethnolinguistics: Apart from numerous book chapters and articles on Igbo Studies, Françoise was called upon to head the 1996 Igbo-French dictionary project that led to the publication of the Dictionnaire Igbo-francais suivi d'un index francais-igbo, Paris, Karthala 2004. This bilingual dictionary, commissioned by the French Government in support of its cultural relations with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and sponsored by the Ibadan-based French Institute for Africa, is the very first Igbo-French dictionary based on standard Igbo. Its 3985 Igbo entries cover all areas of speech including the specialized vocabulary of metalanguage, health, and science.

Igogoro di n’ ime Enugwu-Ezike. Enugwu-Ezike bu Nnukwu obodo di n’ime mpaghara ọchịchị Igbo Eze North Local Government nke Enugu State, di n’ime Nigeria.
Site n’ọgụgụ-ọnụ e emere na afọ 2006, egosiputara na Enugwu Ezike nwere ọnụ-ọgụgụ karịrị 259.431 mmadu ndi bi na ya. Obodo karịchara n’ime ya bụ Igogoro Enugwu Ezike. E nwere npaghara obodo iri atọ na isii di na ime ya bu obodo nke nke Igogoro bu otu na ime ya. Mpaghara obodo ndi ahu gunyere Amaja-Enugwu-Ezike, Ekposhi-Enugu-Ezike, Ezillo-Enugwu-Ezike, Igogoro-Enugwu-Ezike, Ikpamodo-Enugwu-Ezike, Mkpamute Enugwu-Ezike, Ofodo-Enugwu-Ezike, Ogrutee-Enugwu-Ezike, Okpo-Enugwu-Ezike, Onicha Enugwu-Ezike, Umuogbo Enugwu-Ezike, Ekpọshi Enugwu-Ezike, Umuopu-Enugu-Ezike, dirigabazia.
Enugu-Ezike nwere ókè ala, ha na ndi Kogi Steti nke Naịgeria. Na mgbago ugwu bụ ndi Ette, na ọwụwa anyanwu bụ ndi Ofante na Idoma, ọdịda anyanwu bu obodo di ka Akpanya. Ka ọdịda ugwu-Ọdida anyanwụ bụ Ibagwa nke nọ na ime ọchịchị Igbo Eze South. Ọdịda anyanwụ bụ Alor Agu, Unadu na Itchi. Ka Ọdịda ugwu-Ọwụwa anyanwu Enugu-Ezike bụ Obollo Afor, Iheaka na Ovoko.

One of the perennial concerns of human beings is the need for peace, prosperity, and harmony in society, where people can truly live out their potential and fulfill their goals in life. In the process to attain this we sometimes offend others or are offended as well. But for this goal to be attained there's need for forgiveness and reconciliation otherwise man will become beast to his fellow man, returning to a brutish 'state of nature' described by Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan. The concept of forgiveness is a phenomenon inherent in human societies, possessing different forms and interpretation. While some societies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings, others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness of one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and divine forgiveness. As a consequence of these hermeneutics and understanding, this paper aims at a comparative analysis of the concept of forgiveness among the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups of Nigeria, Africa.

For those with an interest in Nigerian claims to Jewish and Judaic traditions, Professor Fatai Ayisa Olasupo’s “Black African Jews, the Nigerian Question and the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel: A Comparison of Igbo and Yoruba Claims to Jewish and Judaic Traditions” (Vol. 7, No. 4, 2014, pp. 49-62) is intriguing.
As it is possible scholars attentive to the topic of Yoruba, Igbo, and smaller Nigerian ethnic groups tracing their roots or origins to the people of Israel may make use of Professor Olasupo’s article, it is useful here to address three errors and misconceptions contained therein, as well as offer some additional comments particularly related to Igbo Jewry.
The first of these misconceptions has to do with the relevance of the Queen of Sheba/Bilikisu Sungbo to Nigerian Jewish identity. It would be a grave misconstruction to interpret the state of Israel’s lack of interest in her supposed burial places as a “bias against blacks.” It is simply that she and the myth of Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty are largely outside the purview of Judaism and Jewish national identity. In fact, when the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Ovadia Yosef, declared in 1973 that the Jews of Ethiopia (the Beta Israel/House of Israel) should be brought to the state of Israel — thus paving the way for the community’s mass immigration to the Jewish state — he did so without any reference to King Solomon or the Queen of Sheba. Rather, the Chief Rabbi affirmed that the Beta Israel were “from the Tribe of Dan.”
A second error surrounds Professor Olasupo’s claim that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent a team to Nigeria to search for the “Lost Tribes” in 1995, but that the outcome of the search has not been made public. In fact, no past or present Israeli governments have undertaken a search for the “Lost Tribes” in Nigeria and there is no search outcome to be made public by Israel’s government.
A third misconception in Professor Olasupo’s article concerns literature produced by Igbo Jews, which actually extends far beyond only one book on Igbo Jewish identity.
In such discussions there is good reason to be wary of “Lost Tribes” fetishists, and there is danger in politicizing Jewish identify. Mutual honesty — between Nigerians and World Jewry — is most important in this matter.

Praise names are repositories and means through which ideologies and socio-cultural identities are transmitted in the Igbo culture. In 'praise-naming', symbols with socio-cultural meanings are deployed to represent ideological realities of Igbo naming in communities. The symbols which are infused with the Igbo beliefs of philanthropy and display levels of stratification have not received adequate linguistic studies. This study, therefore, undertakes a critical appraisal discourse of the strategic deployment of symbols in praise naming chiefs in selected folk songs of two popular and foremost Igbo folk musicians with a view to uncovering the underlying ideological meanings and significance of the symbols. Analysing the data through the lens of Martin and White's Appraisal Theory reveals that symbols drafted from five sources-plants, animals, nature, body parts and deities-construct the chiefs in five images of God as protectors, benefactors, saviours, dreaded beings and the almighty. While the plant symbols conceptualise chiefs as impartial and all-round providers, the animal and god symbols represent them as supreme and dreadful. The nature symbols depict them as unquantifiable while body parts represent them as rescuers. These cultural-based symbols, which have both positive and negative connotations, have generally reconstructed the rich as gods of the poor in the songs.

This paper focuses on the historical and cosmological roots of the Osu caste system of the Igbo in Nigeria and the subsequent corruption of their societal standing through colonization. It argues that present day stigmatization of the Osu may be attributed to a complex spiritual history stemming from a mythic covenant between Chukwu, the creator and Eri, the archetypal ancestor of the Nri-Igbo people. This mythic covenant which affirms the divine origin of the Nri community, legitimizes the special rights and privileges of the Osuji, literally, 'God's servant', in addition to sanctioning the role of the Osu as " living sacrifices " informs the existent tension between Diala, the 'free-born' and Osu as exemplified by the mortal fear of Osu spiritual powers by the Diala and the prohibition of marriage between the two. Annual reenactment of the myth of Ahiajoku at New Yam masquerades serves to complicate the meaning of Osu sacrifice against the backdrop of a " civilizing " mission which insists that Jesus, the Christ, is the only living sacrifice.

Les films nigérians, qui offrent un mélange de scènes urbaines et rurales, et s'adressent à leur public dans plusieurs langues nigérianes dont l'igbo, le pidgin et l'engligbo, ont depuis longtemps franchi les frontières et envahi le reste de l'Afrique avant de pénétrer le reste du monde. Si la majorité de ces films sont tournés dans de grandes villes-Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha, Enugu ou Aba, leurs personnages restent fidèles aux croyances et aux traditions ancestrales. Le village qui a nourri ces croyances ne disparaît jamais totalement : il reste la scène des rencontres familiales et des évènements importants. Un certain nombre de films, tournés en zone rurale, évoquent un passé parfois lointain et recréent la panoplie traditionnelle : maisons au toit de chaume, travaux champêtres, pagnes et ornements, festivals et loisirs d'antan (lutte, musique, contage, jeux de lune), médecine traditionnelle et divination. Le but de ces films, en prenant le relais de l'histoire orale, est d'aider le public à redécouvrir son histoire et ses traditions et tirer fierté d'un passé le plus souvent occulté par la colonisation. La contribution de Nollywood au questionnement de traditions contestées comme la polygamie, le traitement des veuves ou celui des anciens esclaves de sanctuaire (osu) y est également abordée. Cet article, basé sur l'étude de plus de trente films produits entre 1991 et 2013 par des cinéastes igbo, considère la présentation et la discussion des traditions à l'écran et l'impact de ces films en diaspora. Il évoque également l'utilisation de la langue igbo et son impact.

Offering a mix of urban scenes and village encounters, reaching out to local audiences in several Nigerian languages including Igbo, Pidgin and Engligbo, Nigerian films have now spilled out of Nigeria to reach the rest of Africa and beyond. While most of those films, produced in Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha, Enugu and Aba, are set in large towns, their protagonists still tend to adhere to ancestral beliefs and traditions. The ancestral village that nurtured these beliefs never disappears entirely-it is nearly always the scene of at least a few family encounters. A number of films relate stories firmly rooted in villages and set in the distant past, with all the paraphernalia of tradition: traditional architecture, attire and body adornment, traditional music and group dancing, festivals, daily occupations and leisure activities (farming, local wars, moonlight plays, music, wrestling, storytelling, traditional medicine and divining). The perceived aim of these films, a popular version of Nigerian history books, is to help viewers rediscover their history and take pride in their traditions, and they usually present an upbeat, positive picture of the past. Other films seek to feed into current debates on more controversial aspects of Igbo culture such as polygamy, widowhood practices or the osu system. This paper, based on the study of more than thirty films produced/Réalisateur Igbo men and women between 1991 and 2013, will consider the various ways in which the Igbo heritage is presented in Nollywood. It will report on Diasporic Igbo audiences' response and evaluate the impact of these films on the Igbo abroad. The place of Igbo language in these films will equally be discussed.

En pays igbo, au sud-est du Nigeria, les morts sont traditionnellement inhumés individuellement dans la cour, devant ou derrière la maison principale - il n’existe pas de cimetières. Ce choix s’explique par la proximité entre morts et vivants, les premiers continuant à veiller sur le quotidien des vivants. Dans la croyance, les morts qui ont vécu une vie complète, se sont mariés, ont eu des enfants et ont contribué au bien-être communautaire vont dans le monde des esprits d’où ils reviendront périodiquement pour se réincarner dans l’un de leurs descendants. Cette étude comparative des contes igbo traditionnels et des films de Nollywood produits depuis 1992 au sud du pays démontre l’importance de la tombe dans les nombreux récits et scénarios tournant autour des veuves et des orphelins. Il s’agit le plus souvent d’un simple monticule de terre retournée, anonyme, isolé, sans fleurs ni couronnes ni inscription, dans un coin de la cour, et dont la banalité contraste avec la puissance qu’elle recèle. Lieu de rencontre et de dialogue entre l’orpheline et sa mère, entre les villageois et leur héros assassiné, la tombe se révèle porte entr’ouverte entre ici-bas et un au-delà compris comme souterrain, dernier recours et borne-frontière entre l’avant et l’après, le maltraitement et la délivrance. On retrouve dans les films de Nollywood le même traitement de la tombe : la veuve et l’orpheline y dialoguent avec leurs disparus et y obtiennent conseils, réconfort et parfois vengeance.

Euphemisms arise from the need to maintain tact in conversations. Igbo language, like every other language, makes use of euphemisms to refer to certain taboo, touchy and controversial subjects. The prevalent euphemisms in Igbo language are negative euphemisms. Based on the topics they apply to, Igbo language has disease euphemisms, death euphemisms, sex-related euphemisms and character euphemisms.

La riche production cinématographique nigériane, plus connue sous le nom de Nollywood et directement inspirée de la vie quotidienne de ce vaste pays, est devenue, depuis sa naissance, la vitrine de la fédération. Cet ouvrage destiné aussi bien au public universitaire qu’aux amoureux des cinémas du sud présente et analyse plus de trois cents films produits entre 1991 et 2021. Il permet de découvrir la grande variété des sujets traités et d’apprécier l’évolution de cette industrie depuis ses débuts. Ces films, qui ont connu un succès fulgurant et jamais démenti auprès d’un public africain avide de voir ses propres cultures à l’écran, circulent aujourd’hui dans toute l’Afrique et au-delà, dans la vaste diaspora africaine présente sur tous les continents, inspirant un nouveau type de cinéma. Visionnés en famille comme en salles, ils se caractérisent par un regard critique porté sur le malaise de sociétés en pleine évolution, une volonté pédagogique affichée et un effort de plus en plus poussé pour explorer de nouveaux terrains. Dans leurs efforts pour atteindre de nouveaux publics et attirer le reste du monde, les cinéastes nigérians multiplient aujourd’hui les coproductions et développent un ‘nouveau’ Nollywood, tout en continuant à offrir au public nigérian ses films traditionnels. L’ouvrage introduit le lecteur à une production protéiforme, à la fois profondément enracinée dans les cultures du Nigeria, célébrant un passé qu’elle permet de redécouvrir et témoignant de la religiosité du pays, mais révélant en même temps l’impact du christianisme et de l’islam sur la vie quotidienne, ainsi que l’ouverture grandissante du Nigeria à l’influence de la globalisation.

News of homicide as a result of domestic violence has become a regular feature in the print, broadcast, and social media in
Nigeria. The prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria has been described as “assuming epidemic proportion” and “shockingly
high.” Many commentators point accusing fingers at Nigerian’s cultural, traditional, and religious beliefs and practices for the
preponderance of this social malaise. Against this assertion, this paper examines the nexus between Nigeria’s three major ethnic
group’s cultural, traditional, and religious beliefs and practices that have the potential to impede the understanding and
willingness to combat domestic violence. The research shows that the success of the current efforts to tackle the issue is
dependent on the ability of Nigerians to overcome these beliefs and practices. The paper recommends increased efforts in
enlightening Nigerians to overcome these beliefs and practices with a view to stem the incidences of domestic violence in the
country.
Keywords: Perception of domestic violence, domestic violence, culture, tradition, religion, Nigeria

En 1950 a paru la première bibliographie des Ibos, dans l'ouvrage plus général de Forde, Daryll, Jones et Iwan. Les années suivantes vont continuer à voir les études igbos recensées dans de plus vastes bibliographies, trois couvrant l'ensemble de l'Afrique et deux le Nigeria. Mais en 1955 déjà, S. Ottenberg fait le point sur les seules études igbos, suivi par J. Anafulu dont la bibliographie fait aujourd'hui autorité. Cette dernière est cependant trop général encore pour être vraiment pratique — ce qui a sans doute poussé C.A.C. Azuonye à compiler les publications sur la littérature orale igbo (un travail actuellement sous presse et qui couvre les années 1789 à 1984). Les bibliographies déjà publiées et composées dans la région — celles le mieux à même de connaître tout ce qui s'écrit sur le conte igbo — s'arrêtent malheureusement toutes en 1971. Ce travail voudrait offrir un complément d'information et combler le fossé creusé par les années tout en proposant à ceux qui s'intéressent davantage au conte un instrument de travail plus précis.

The welfare of African widows has generated a significant amount of research within the past twenty years, mainly from Nigerian scholars having an insider’s knowledge of these practices, with female scholars often taking the lead. Recent years have seen scholars’ concerns spill over to the public arena, with a growing number of voices challenging long-established traditions associated with widowhood. This article briefly surveys the development of studies on this issue, focusing on Igboland, a linguistic and cultural area in south eastern Nigeria. It shows how these concerns have found their way into Nollywood films, considers the evolution of storylines and explores their links with societal trends, analyzing sixteen films produced between 1998 and 2013.

With this volume, editors Daniel Lis, Williams F. S. Miles, and Tudor Parfitt aim “to put on the radar of students and specialists of Africa the existence and growth of Jewish communities of color,” as well as to deal with a developing religious and ethnic question for the twenty-first century: “What is the role of Black Africans, both in Africa and the African Diaspora, in the redefinition of Judaism and Jewish identity?”

Les proverbes pouvant être considérés comme offrant la quintessence « des connaissances religieuses, historiques, sociales et scientifiques du peuple » (Nwoga 1975 : 190-191), ce sont eux qui ont été choisis ici dans le but d’explorer le portrait qu’ils brossent de la femme et plus spécialement de la femme âgée, et la façon dont ils rapportent leur réalité quotidienne.

This trilingual French-English-Igbo slideshow covers all the fields I have been exploring since 1984 and my activities as an author-researcher, lexicographer, novelist, poet and translator. It also reports on works published with valuable co-authors. The purpose of this PowerPoint is to share my passions with you and encourage you to pursue your research in unexplored or little-known fields to advance knowledge. Enjoy research!

Ce diaporama trilingue français-anglais-igbo couvre tous les domaines que j’explore depuis 1984 et mes activités d’auteure-chercheure, de lexicographe, de romancière, de poète et de traductrice. Il rend également compte des ouvrages publiés en équipe avec de précieux co-auteurs. Il souhaite partager mes passions avec vous et vous encourager à poursuivre vos recherches sur des terrains inexplorés ou peu connus pour faire avancer la connaissance. Bonne route!

RESUME

Cette étude, basée sur des contes populaires igbo recueillis entre 1973 et 1987, replacés dans leur contexte culturel traditionnel, se propose de montrer l’importance de la fête dans la société igbo – cérémonies diverses, rassemblements, réjouissances, tournois de lutte, concours de danse, abondance offerte à tous. La fête est aussi dans le repas préparé, les foules invitées, l’occasion de rivaliser d’adresse et de savoir-faire, de briller par le costume, par la danse. Et d’une cérémonie à l’autre est révélé le lien entre la fête, la cuisine et le culte ancestral.

ABSTRACT

This study of Igbo folktales collected between 1973 and 1987 and of their cultural background, aims at showing the importance of rejoicing in Igbo society – diverse ceremonies, festivals, gatherings and festivities, wrestling and dancing competitions, abundance offered to all. The preparation and serving of the meal, the crows of invitees, the opportunity of competing skills and showing off in clothing, in dancing – are all components of the rejoicing. And ceremonies reveal the link between festivals, cooking and traditional religion.

Footprints of Global Impact of the Nigerian Civil / Biafra War and the way forward. This work borders on the Nigeria Civil / Biafra war, and how it has impacted the world and its various institutions. It shows that it is a war that has not only local impact, but has influenced researchers and strengthened their work in diverse areas, and taught the world numerous lessons. Mention is made of 'Institutional Kwashiorkor', as a sickness of a people in a so called one-Nigeria. We also look at the way forward and what it means - if anything - to be Biafran today.

Egwu Ekpili is a highly dynamic and symbolic Igbo folk music that responds to social and political tensions in Igbo land in particular, and Nigeria in general. It deploys conventional and conceptual metaphors to articulate salient Igbo identities and ideologies; as well as represent/critique political power relations. Hitherto, studies on Igbo folk music have examined performance styles, compositions, and aesthetic and utilitarian values from the ethnomusicological and literary (socio-political satire) perspectives, with little attention to the role of metaphor as a tool for representing socio-political and cultural realities in the Igbo society-whereas Egwu Ekpili is replete with metaphorical expressions, perceived to be critical to the full understanding of this unique Igbo folk music genre. From a critical metaphor perspective, this study examines the strategic deployment of metaphor in representing identities and ideologies in selected songs of three popular and foremost Egwu Ekpili musicians, namely Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, Chief Akunwata Ozoemena Nsugbe and Chief Emeka Morocco Maduka. The study integrates ideas from Charteris-Black's Critical Metaphor Theory to explicate a typical Nigerian socio-political system and structure fraught with power struggle, dominance and embezzlement. Metaphors from five source domains of animal, journey, plant/food, war/conflict and family represent the ideological positioning and inclinations of the Igbo people.

Perspectives on the Igbo: Multidisciplinary Approach explores an array of topics and themes that address aspects of the Igbo past, contemporary challenges and prospects, and Igbo identity at home and in the diaspora. This collections deals with the pre-historic past of the Igbo through the Igbo experiences in contemporary times. It covers a range of disciplines, including history, arts, culture, language, music, education, gender and youth. Here is a book that will enrich the knowledge of anyone interested in a broad overview of the Igbo experience.

Le proverbe, qualifié par Achebe d"huile avec laquelle on mange les mots, a toujours été important en pays igbo. Garantie de sagesse et qualification à diriger les affaires locales, il est recherché, appris et utilisé en conversation. Aujourd"hui, il passe en ligne, dans les courriels et les forums, où il prouve sa vitalité. Il y est d"autant plus vivant que de nombreux Igbo, conscients du danger qui menace leur langue du fait de l"influence grandissante de l"anglais, se mobilisent pour recueillir et mettre par écrit le plus de détails possible concernant leur culture et en particulier les genres oraux. Ils mettent à contribution pour cela non seulement leurs compatriotes du pays igbo mais aussi et surtout la diaspora igbo dispersée aux quatre coins du Nigeria et du monde, multipliant les sites interactifs susceptibles de permettre la compilation des données. Parmi ces sites, on peut compter les sites Internet de revues, les dictionnaires et autres publications en ligne, les forums et les réseaux sociaux. Nous ferons rapidement le tour de quelques-uns de ces sites avant de nous intéresser aux profils des internautes qui s"y retrouvent, à leur présentation et à leur emploi des proverbes, ainsi qu"aux moyens mis en oeuvre par les uns et les autres pour assurer la transmission de cette sagesse orale. Abstract Proverbs, described by Achebe as the oil which helps swallow the words, have always been important in Igboland. They are highly valued as a mark of wisdom, learnt as a step to leadership and used in every conversation. Today, proverbs have gone online, and emails and forums show the vitality of this oral genre, especially since many Igbos, acutely aware of the danger facing their language because of the hegemony of English, have been scrambling to collect and put into writing a maximum of details concerning their language and culture, proverbs in particular. To succeed in this endeavour, they called other Igbo speakers at home and abroad to play their part and open interactive websites to facilitate data collection. We will survey some of these websites (online journals, libraries and dictionaries, forums and social networks), consider their users" profile and use of proverbs, and the ways in which these combined efforts facilitate the sharing of Igbo ancestral wisdom.

This study, mainly based on five separate
published collections by Joisten (1965, 1971, 1977, 1996) and the author
(1992), will compare French and Nigerian folktales, focusing on French
Dauphiné and Nigerian Igboland,1 in order to consider the role color plays in
encounters with supernatural characters, revealing a complex network of
correspondences that serve as a tool to communicate color-coded values.
The countries’ history, religious beliefs, and language development, as well
as the impact of colonization on oral literature and traditional art forms, will
be weighed in order to understand how all these factors affected color
attribution and encoding.

NOTE: Paper “Rough Notes: Understanding Ekwensu and its Relation To Àṣẹ and Èṣú Among The Yoruba and Ase.t in Ancient Egypt Notes - Odinani na Omenala” was not conclusive. Paper is designed to spark further interest, research and development in linguistics and indigenous government systems and indigenous religion.
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My reading list of sources:

Ekwe Teghete
Page 14. After God is Dibia: Igbo cosmology, divination & sacred science in Nigeria

Ekwensu & Khonsu
Page 195-197. After God is Dibia: Igbo cosmology, divination & sacred science in Nigeria volume 2

Kwezi & Mwezi (I'm not sure of my original source for the Nyanyembe using "Kwesi". It was an old colonial book I found by digging in the internet archives and google books. Here is an alternative source and spelling "Kwezi".)
Page 63, 90, 189. "Comparative study of the Bantu and semi-Bantu languages" Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston, AMS Press, 1919.

Nsu (leader of a lineage group)
Page 3, Consecration in Igbo Traditional Religion
Nsu (lineage group)
Page xiii, 153. African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes: The Problem of Interpretation : Studies in Igbo Religion

Nsu (loom, pole/pillar)
Page 67, 76. Weaving Tradition in Igbo-Land: History and Mechanism of Igbo Textile Industry

Nsu ("rammer", "baguette de fusil")
Page 216. English, Ibo and French Dictionary By Holy Ghost Fathers

Ase, Esu, Ase.t, -S- root, Linguistic Connections.
www.asarimhotep.com/documentdownloads/originsoftheconceptofashe.pdf

Chinua Achebe, best known internationally for his novels and his essays, initially denied, in an interview with Jeune Afrique in 1962, having any desire to write poetry. Born in Igboland, in South-east Nigeria, Achebe was forced, like millions of others threatened by interethnic violence and 1966-1967 massacres, to return to his ancestral land, as he said in his last book, There Was a Country – A Personal History of Biafra (2012). Between 1967 and 1970, he lived through three years of a war of independence characterized by a total blockade and around three million dead. Yet the traumatic experience of the Biafran war later led him to turn his back on fiction for a time in favour of a brief poetic phase. Beware Soul Brother came out in 1971, a celebration of Okigbo, a model and source of inspiration who died in 1967 on the Nsukka front. The war equally brought Achebe back to his first language, Igbo, and in 1982, while at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he co-edited Aka Weta, the first anthology of Igbo poems, with Obiora Udechukwu. This paper considers this seldom known and still untranslated anthology offering texts in a variety of dialects from Anambra, Abia, and Imo States, whose choice marks Achebe’s first statement in defense of literary writing in dialects, and examines the controversy it generated.  It presents and analyses this Igbo text to reveal how the Biafran conflict impacted Achebe’s linguistic choices.

Universities in the SouthEastern part of Nigeria have become the focal point of enlightenment for its people who predominantly speak the Igbo language. In the contemporary Nigerian society, universities manifest their increasing importance in the face of a failing academic system in a Federal Nigeria that has failed to advance the Igbo language. This paper argues that the elements of knowledge management (KM) can be used by academics to advance the Igbo language which has steadily become a dying language. Academics in SouthEastern Nigerian Universities where the Igbo language is spoken are in an advantageous position to advance this language given the advances in communication technology and opportunities for research collaboration. This paper further advocate developing a good research infrastructure in the Igbo language centered on the socio-cultural views of the Igbo society using elements of knowledge management will go a long way to advance and promote the Igbo language

There is a growing concern about the decline and possible extinction of the Igbo language. The Igbo are primarily located in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. This study analysed four interviews on Igbo Radio, an Igbo Internet radio station, to ascertain how Internet radio is being utilized in discussing the decline of the Igbo language. Drawing on ethnolinguistic vitality theory, this qualitative study triangulates four selected interviews on Igbo Radio, the website, and personal observations for the analysis. Three salient themes emerged: (1) decline and challenges of the Igbo language, (2) second-generation immigrants and the Igbo language, and (3) sustaining the Igbo language. The findings suggest that Igbo parents appear to have less vitality; as a result, they tend not to teach their children Igbo.

African traditional drama has been researched from several perspectives. But there are hardly studies fully focusing on the deployment of language to achieve performance goals in particular performances. This failure may have roots in the widely held assumption that verbal language (dialogue) is not a serious element of African traditional drama. Studying language in particular performances will show that there are instances of full and effective deployment of verbal communication in the African traditional drama. This article, therefore, studies language in ewa-ọma performances. Using basic literary appreciation and critical analysis methods, with a new historicist bias, the literary and rhetorical components of language are identified and analyzed according to their space-time relevance in two performances, to demonstrate the manner of realization of dialogue and (inter)weaving of literary and rhetorical strategies. Literary tropes and rhetorical devices are effectively deployed i...

Throughout the history of mankind, preference and preservation of one's kin or kind has been evident, an up-close observation of this behaviour birthed such theories as kin selection, social identity theory, realistic group conflict theory and reciprocal altruism. The sense of ''weness'' and ''theyness'' has largely precipitated most devastating wars and conflicts that have besieged the world, though incompatible goals or scarce resources are usually fronted as responsible. Such wars and conflicts have been called by different names like racism, xenophobia, nationalism or ethnocentrism. The term xenophobia has particularly gained wide recognition most especially in the wake of South-Africa’s crisis in the past. Nigeria has equally experienced such conflicts in the past and still does, however the magnitude of the violence in Nigeria has been played down due to the term used to describe such violence; sometimes it is called prejudice or discriminat...

Ịwa Akwa dates back to 1974, in Ehime-Mbanọ Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State, where it is now a triennial event. It is also practiced in parts of Ihitte/Ụbọma, Obowo and Mbaise LGAs.

This piece is inspired by my father, Prof. Emman-Owums Owuamalam, the oral narrator of the cultural event. It provides an account of how it is performed in Umualumaku/Umuihim Autonomous community, of Ehime-Mbanọ Local Government Area.

African traditional drama has been researched from several perspectives. But there are hardly studies fully focusing on the deployment of language to achieve performance goals in particular performances. This failure may have roots in the widely held assumption that verbal language (dialogue) is not a serious element of African traditional drama. Studying language in particular performances will show that there are instances of full and effective deployment of verbal communication in the African traditional drama. This article, therefore, studies language in ewa-ọma performances. Using basic literary appreciation and critical analysis methods, with a new historicist bias, the literary and rhetorical components of language are identified and analyzed according to their space-time relevance in two performances, to demonstrate the manner of realization of dialogue and (inter)weaving of literary and rhetorical strategies. Literary tropes and rhetorical devices are effectively deployed i...