tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39885110516036844512024-03-18T12:58:28.478-07:00TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANECelebrating our African historical personalities,discoveries, achievements and eras as proud people with rich culture, traditions and enlightenment spanning many years.kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.comBlogger419125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-81897262570257042232014-10-06T16:46:00.000-07:002017-06-01T05:12:05.283-07:00GRACE OGOT: ONE OF THE AFRICA`S FINEST WRITERS AND THE FIRST WOMAN TO PUBLISH NOVEL IN EAST AFRICA“Eee, that man’s daughter was built; we can’t refuse to acknowledge what our eyes are showing us tho! Owiny has brought us such a beautiful girl; a girl who shines like the sun’s eye; who<br />
is as pretty as a copper ornament” ~ Grace Ogot, The Strange Bride (1989)<br />
“When you are frightened, don’t sit still, keep on doing something. The act of doing will give you back your courage.”~ Grace Ogot<br />
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Grace Ogot, celebrated Kenyan writer of ethnic Luo origin, accomplished midwife, tutor, journalist and a BBC Overseas Service broadcaster and the first woman to publish a novel in East Africa and second in Africa after Nigeria`s Flora Nwapa.</div>
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Grace Emily Akinyi Ogot (born May 15, 1930) is a celebrated Kenyan writer of ethnic Luo origin credited for being the first African woman writer in English to be published with two short stories in 1962 and 1964. Ogot was not only an author and the first woman to have fiction published by the East African Publishing House, but an accomplished midwife, tutor, journalist and a BBC Overseas Service broadcaster. Grace Ogot was a founding member of the Writers' Association of Kenya.<br />
As a woman known widely for her anthologized short stories and novels, Ogot`s first novel The Promised Land (1966) was published in the same year as Flora Nwapa's Efuru and deals with the subject of migration. Her stories—which appeared in European and African journals such as Black Orpheus and Transition and in collections such as Land Without Thunder (1968), The Other Woman (1976), and The Island of Tears (1980)—give an inside view of traditional Luo life and society and the conflict of traditional with colonial and modern cultures. Her novel The Promised Land (1966) tells of Luo pioneers in Tanzania and western Kenya.<br />
Grace Emily Akinyi Ogot earned a distinctive position in Kenya's literary and political history. The best known writer in East Africa, and with a varied career background, she became in 1984 one of only a handful of women to serve as a member of Parliament and the only woman assistant minister in the cabinet of President Daniel Arap Moi.<br />
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Valentina Tereshkova and Grace Ogot. Chairman of the Committee of Soviet Women, and Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937, left) meeting with Kenyan writer and politician Grace Ogot (born 1934). Tereshkova was the first woman in space, making her only flight on the Vostok 6 mission of 16-19 June 1963. Photographed in Moscow, Russia, on 1st July 1971.</div>
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Ogot has also published three volumes of short stories, as well as a number of works in Dholuo. Her attitude towards language is similar to that of her fellow Kenyan, Ngugi wa Thiong'o's, but until recently her writing has not received the critical appraisal bestowed on Ngugi's writings. Her writing style is splendid in its evocation of vivid imagery; she captures the formalities of traditional African interpersonal exchanges, governed by protocol and symbolism. Indeed, Grace Ogot can undoubtedly be said to be one of Africa’s finest writers.<br />
Ogot also worked as a scriptwriter and an announcer for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s East African Service, as a headmistress, as a community development officer in Kisumu, and as an Air India public relations officer. She appeared on Voice of Kenya radio and television and as a columnist in View Point in the East African Standard. In 1959 Grace Akinyi married the historian Bethwell Ogot of Kenya.<br />
Ogot was born Grace Emily Akinyi to a Christian family on 15 May 1930 in Asembo, in the district of Nyanza, Kenya – a village highly populated by the predominately Christian Luo ethnic group. Her father, Joseph Nyanduga, was one of the first men in the village of Asembo to obtain a Western education. He converted early on to the Anglican Church, and taught at the Church Missionary Society’s Ng’iya Girls’ School. From her father, Ogot learned the stories of the Old Testament and it was from her grandmother that Ogot learned the traditional folk tales of the area from which she would later draw inspiration.<br />
Emerging from the promised land in the anthills of the Savannah, Ogot attended the Ng’iya Girls’ School and Butere High School throughout her youth. From 1949 to 1953, Grace Ogot trained as a nurse at the Nursing Training Hospital in Uganda. She later worked in London, England, at the St. Thomas Hospital for Mothers and Babies. She returned to the African nursing profession in 1958, working at the Maseno Hospital, run by the Church Missionary Society in Kisumu County in Kenya. Following this, Ogot worked at Makerere University College in Student Health Services.<br />
In addition to her experience in healthcare, Ogot gained experience in multiple different areas, working for the BBC Overseas Service as a script-writer and announcer on the program "London Calling East and Central Africa", operating a prominent radio program in the Luo language, working as an officer of community development in Kisumu County and as a public relations officer for the Air India Corporation of East Africa.<br />
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Grace Ogot</div>
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In 1975, Ogot worked as a Kenyan delegate to the general assembly of the United Nations. Subsequently, in 1976, she became a member of the Kenyan delegation to UNESCO. That year, she chaired and helped found the Writers' Association of Kenya. In 1983 she became one of only a handful of women to serve as a member of parliament and the only woman assistant minister in the cabinet of then President Daniel arap Moi.<br />
In 1959, Grace Ogot married the professor and historian Professor Bethwell Allan Ogot, a Luo from Gem Location, and later became the mother of four children. Her proclivity towards story-telling and her husband's interest in the oral tradition and history of the Luo peoples would later be combined together in her writing career.<br />
In 1962, Grace Ogot read her story "A Year of Sacrifice" at a conference on African Literature at Makere University in Uganda. After discovering that there was no other work presented or displayed from East African writers, Ogot became motivated to publish her works. Subsequently, she began to publish short stories both in the Luo language and in English. "The Year of Sacrifice" (later retitled "The Rain Came") was published in the African journal Black Orpheus in 1963 and in 1964, the short story “Ward Nine” was published in the journal Transition. Grace Ogot's first novel The Promised Land was published in 1966 and focused on Luo emigration and the problems that arise through migration. Set in the 1930s, her main protagonists emigrate from Nyanza to northern Tanzania, in search of fertile land and wealth. It also focused on themes of tribal hatred, materialism, and traditional notions of femininity and wifely duties. 1968 saw the publishing of Land Without Thunder, a collection of short stories set in ancient Luoland. Ogot's descriptions, literary tools, and storylines in Land Without Thunder offer a valuable insight into Luo culture in pre-colonial East Africa. Her other works include The Strange Bride, The Graduate, The Other Woman and The Island of Tears.<br />
Many of her stories are set against the scenic background of Lake Victoria and the traditions of the Luo people. One theme that features prominently within Ogot's work is the importance of traditional Luo folklore, mythologies, and oral traditions. This theme is at the forefront in "The Rain Came", a tale which was related to Ogot in her youth by her grandmother, whereby a chief's daughter must be sacrificed to bring rain. Furthermore, much of Ogot’s short stories juxtapose traditional and modern themes and notions, demonstrating the conflicts and convergences that exist between the old ways of thought and the new. In The Promised Land, the main character, Ochola, falls under a mysterious illness which cannot be cured through medical intervention. Eventually, he turns to a medicine man to be healed. Ogot explains such thought processes as exemplary of the blending of traditional and modern understandings, “Many of the stories I have told are based on day-to-day life… And in the final analysis, when the Church fails and the hospital fails, these people will always slip into something they trust, something within their own cultural background. It may appear to us mere superstition, but those who do believe in it do get healed. In day-to-day life in some communities in Kenya, both the modern and the traditional cures coexist.”<br />
Another theme that often appears throughout Ogot’s works is that of womanhood and the female role. Throughout her stories, Ogot demonstrates an interest in family matters, revealing both traditional and modern female gender roles followed by women, especially within the context of marriage and Christian traditions. Such an emphasis can be seen in The Promised Land, in which the notions both of mothers as the ultimate protectors of their children and of dominant patriarchal husband-wife relationships feature heavily. Critics such as Maryse Conde have suggested that Ogot's emphasis on the importance of the female marital role, as well as her portrayal of women in traditional roles, creates an overwhelmingly patriarchal tone in her stories. However, others have suggested that women in Ogot’s works also demonstrate strength and integrity, as in “The Empty Basket”, where the bravery of the main female character, Aloo, is contrasted by the failings of the male characters. Though her wits and self-assertion, Aloo overcomes a perilous situation with a snake, whilst the men are stricken by panic. It is only after she rebukes and shames the men that they are roused to destroy the snake. In Ogot’s short stories, the women portrayed often have a strong sense of duty, as demonstrated in “The Rain Came”, and her works regularly emphasise the need for understanding in relationships between men and women.<br />
Prior to Kenyan Independence, while Kenya was still under a Colonial regime, Ogot experienced difficulties in her initial attempts to have her stories published, stating, "I remember taking some of my short stories to the manager [of the East African Literature Bureau], including the one which was later published in Black Orpheus. They really couldn't understand how a Christian woman could write such stories, involved with sacrifices, traditional medicines and all, instead of writing about Salvation and Christianity. Thus, quite a few writers received no encouragement from colonial publishers who were perhaps afraid of turning out radical writers critical of the colonial regime."<br />
She was interviewed in 1974 by Lee Nichols for a Voice of America radio broadcast that was aired between 1975–1979 (Voice of America radio series Conversations with African writers, no. 23). The Library of Congress has a copy of the broadcast tape and the unedited original interview. The broadcast transcript appears in the book Conversations with African Writers (Washington, D.C.: Voice of America, 1981), p. 207–216.<br />
Ogot’s family members shared her interest in politics. Her husband, served as head of Kenya Railways and also taught history at Kenyatta University. Her older sister, Rose Orondo, served on the Kisumu County Council for several terms, and her younger brother Robert Jalango was elected to Parliament in 1988, representing their family home in Asembo.<br />
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Publications<br />
*Ber wat (1981) in Luo.<br />
*The Graduate, Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1980.<br />
*The Island of Tears (short stories), Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1980.<br />
*Land Without Thunder; short stories, Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1968.<br />
*Miaha (in Luo), 1983; translated as The Strange Bride by Okoth Okombo (1989)<br />
*The Other Woman: selected short stories, Nairobi: Transafrica, 1976.<br />
*The Promised Land: a novel, Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1966.<br />
*The Strange Bride translated from Dholuo (originally published as Miaha, 1983) by Okoth Okombo, Nairobi: Heinemann Kenya, 1989.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV686tycgG-uZVzeiBGZ69bJ_IPv8pHPzCPANGmhXtER0II8A1E5kOgM7yrFMkH5Phhm41eQNHaw6mwXpPDuidHHb3KuhrwDwd0gRcCBDccMp75F0X_BfyUAei-6L_xslNu4Cvdw6TrW4D/s640/31.ogot.jpg" width="640" /><br />
SOURCE:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Ogot">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Ogot</a><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>Days of Grace Ogot as a woman of culture and letters</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b> By Prof Chris Wanjala, Nairobi, January 6 2013</b></span><br />
Hon Grace Akinyi Ogot is woman who has powerfully influenced East Africa’s literary narrative and played a public role not only in medicine and community development but also in the country and parliamentary politics. She and her husband, Professor Bethwell Allan Ogot, have not only brought up a brilliant family, but they have stood by each other to foster creative and scholarly writing in our region. All the people who remember the sterling role of the East Africa Journal and its literary supplement which ran for decades as a publication of the East African Publishing remember the debates that characterized that publication. They will remember the well- documented polemics raised by the like of Okot p’Bitek, Taban lo Liyong, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Grace Ogot’s own short story, Island of Tears, which followed the tragic demise of Hon. Thomas Joseph Mboya, was published in one of the issues of the East Africa Journal.<br />
<img alt=" Dr Grace Ogot (right) presents a land title deed and other documents relating to the Odera Akang’o campus of Moi University to the Higher Education minister, Prof Hellen Sambili, during a ceremony to hand over the campus to Moi University. Looking on is the Moi University Chancellor, Prof Bethwel Ogot, Dr Ogot’s husband. File" src="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/1656870/medRes/444221/-/maxw/600/-/13tqrr0z/-/grace.jpg" height="322" width="640" /><br />
Dr Grace Ogot (right) presents a land title deed and other documents relating to the Odera Akang’o campus of Moi University to the then Higher Education minister, Prof Hellen Sambili, during a ceremony to hand over the campus to Moi University. Looking on is the Moi University Chancellor, Prof Bethwel Ogot, Dr Ogot’s husband.<br />
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Grace Akinyi Ogot has now published the story of her life entitled “Days of My Life: An Autobiography.“ Anyange Press Limited based in Kisumu City are the publishers of the 325 page account which traces Grace Ogot’s origin to Joseph Nyanduga, the mission boy who grew up in Nyanza, and after being orphaned sought his fortune in Mombasa where he was a locomotive driver, and Rahel Ogori, a mission girl. Nyanduga and Ogori were Christian converts and evangelists who defied the conservative Luo mores and traditions to chart out their lives and the lives of their children. There is a way in which the couple sacrificed a lot to deny themselves a working life in Mombasa to promote Christianity in Nyanza in the best manner possible. It is apparent in this story that when African cultures went against the practical existence of the couple, they defied them and went on with their lives as they thought best. There are, however, instances where Christianity, threatened their existence. In a manner of speaking, they modified conservative aspects of Christianity and went on with their lives.<br />
Perhaps the best examples of their existential choices are there in the manner in which Joseph Nyanduga built his own home as a newly married man, away from his parents. The procedure of establishing one’s dala (home) away from one’s parents according to the Luo culture is explained in Grace Ogot’s novel, The Promised Land (1966). Joseph Nyanduga, however, goes against all the grain, acquires an education, travels to Mombasa where he is employed and when he feels the urge to evangelize among his people, he cuts short his career and returns home in Nyanza.<br />
Days of My Life is a well-told story by one of Africa’s internationally acclaimed prose writer; it places the author in a unique position as far as the recent spate of autobiographies by erstwhile and practicing politicians in this country is concerned. It is the story of a woman who rises from the humble background of missionary life to soar high in the ranks of hospital nurses in Kenya, Uganda, and the United Kingdom. She goes against all the odds of racial prejudice among the colonial minority who did not expect Africans to excel in Medicine, and treats fellow Africans who are patients in her hands as respectable creatures against all the brutal practices where white health workers discriminated against their African patients. She has the best training in England and comes to work at Maseno Mission Hospital and Mulago hospital, Kampala. She is appointed Principal of a Homecraft Training Centre, becomes a councilor, a church leader, a business woman, and leading politician in the Moi era.<br />
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The book goes into the author’s education in colonial Kenya, revealing her leadership qualities, her high moral values, and her ability to learn new local languages. But perhaps the most instructive thing about the book is the strength of the love between Grace and the man she married. Throughout the account is the sobriety of their relationship and the way it informed her career development including writing. Their marriage was preceded by a protracted courtship period and an exchange of lengthy love letters. She had come from a background of strong story telling tradition which merged with her husband’s interest in oral history. He was then researching the history of the southern Luo drawing heavily from oral traditions. He readily appreciated her as a writer and pointed out the poetry in her letters to him. As the editor of Ghala: the Literary Supplement of the East Africa Journal he became one of early East African intellectuals to encourage her as a writer.<br />
Mrs Ogot comments generously on her parents, relatives, members of the protestant church to which she belongs, her siblings and her fellow writers and literary intellectuals. There are stylistic flaws and errors of fact, dates, and even information on people, events and places in the book. Per Wastberg , the current Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature is a man. He has done a lot of work for African literature in Europe and Africa. But Grace Ogot writes: “In March 1961, I received a letter from a Swedish lady – a Miss Wastberg – author and journalist. She was on a tour of East Africa. In her letter, she told me that she was editing an anthology of African writing for publication in Sweden later that year. She had failed to discover any authors in East Africa. Eighteen countries in Africa would be represented in her book. She had heard from several people at Makerere University College, including Gerald Moore (a literary critic).” <br />
The book is courageous and strong on politics and public administration of Nyanza Province and the entire country during the so-called Nyayo Era. It gives background information on assassinations on politicians in Nyanza and some of the people she replaced in her constituency. She gives accounts of how she and her husband went through a lot of pain to have access to President Moi in order to organize fund-raising meetings to develop her constituency. The book however shows how she badly let down writers and thespians as Assistant Minister for Culture and Social Services. She never worked to improve the working climate of the Kenya Cultural Centre in general and the Kenya National Theatre in particular.<br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Prof Chris Wanjala is chairman of Literature Department, University of Nairobi and National Book Development Council of Kenya.</span><br />
source:<a href="http://www.abeingo.org/HTML_files/news_people.html">http://www.abeingo.org/HTML_files/news_people.html</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-46893457399853252342014-10-05T12:50:00.002-07:002014-10-05T12:50:41.052-07:00FLORA NWAPA: THE FIRST NIGERIAN WOMAN WRITER AND THE FIRST AFRICAN WOMAN TO PUBLISH A NOVEL<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>"Mother, I cannot stay any more. A man said that</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>he has wept for the death that killed his friend</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>but he did not wish that death to kill him." ~ Flora Nwapa, Efuru (1966)</b></span><br />
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Flora Nwapa, Africa`s first woman novelist, teacher, administrator</div>
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Professor Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa (13 January 1931 – 16 October 1993) known to her native Nigerian ndi-Igbo people as Ogbuefi Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa-Nwakuche and the world as Flora Nwapa was a great Nigerian writer (novelist), teacher, administrator, and a forerunner of a whole generation of African women writers. Flora Nwapa is best-known for re-creating Igbo life and traditions from a woman's viewpoint. With Efuru (1966) Nwapa became black Africa's first internationally published female novelist in the English language. She has been called the mother of modern African literature. Flora Nwapa described Flora in “Women and Creative Writing in Africa” about how she came to write Efuru that she enjoyed direct contact with<br />
her culture and tradition and Efuru was actually based on her early exposure to folklore which was a direct personal contact with Oguta Lake which was near her birth place. She writes:<br />
"…the story of Efuru struck me in a most dramatic<br />
way as I was driving at a speed of 80 miles per<br />
hour along Enugu-Onitsha Road. I got to my<br />
destination, borrowed an exercise book and began<br />
to write Efuru’s story. I wrote chapter one … and<br />
did not stop until I finished the entire novel.(526)<br />
She was a contemporary of the legendary Ghanaian playwright Dr Efua Theodora Sutherland (27 June 1924—2 January 1996) who published her first literary work 'Foriwa' (1962), and others such as Edufa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).<br />
She also is known for her governmental work in reconstruction after the Biafran War. In particular she worked with orphans and refugees that where displaced during the war. Further she worked as a publisher of African literature and promoted women in African society.<br />
What is not known, however, is that by putting the children of of Ogbuide into print, Nwapa who is also a poet, short story writer, and children's author was able to tell her own story, and release her own anxieties and feelings of disenchantment with a society that :destroys its gifted females." Flora Nwapa`s women -centered text evolve from the myth of Ogbuide - the female deity of Oguta people- who symbolizes beauty, wealth, power, and self-fulfillment for her children, especially the women.<br />
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For Nwapa ability to write implied a measure of autonomy, an ability to shun passivity and acquiescence in the face of mistreatment and injustice. Writing also enable Nwapa to exercise some control over the circumstances of her life. Her books explore frustrations associated with love and sexuality, they emphasize simultaneously the individual and the collective nature of personal relationships. This intermingling of the private and public, personal and political, is present in most of her novels. Themes of female empowerment, male-female relationships, sexual abandonment, culture-conflict, as well as expressions of female desire and sexuality, and hope reflect the pulse of Ugwuta women`s lives.<br />
Criticism of her work is often influenced by feminist politics because of the woman-centered nature of her fiction. Her work holds an important place in feminist discourse but has also garnered attention for its literary merits.<br />
She herself said "When I do write about women in Nigeria, in Africa, I try to paint a positive picture about women because there are many women who are very, very positive in their thinking, who are very, very independent, and very, very industrious." (from an interview with Marie Umeh, 1995).Nigerian novelist).<br />
When Nwapa died on October 16, 1993, the late Nigerian-Ogoni environmentalist, writer and activist, Kenule "Ken"Saro-Wiwa, in paying tribute to her at the funeral said, “Flora is gone and we all have to say adieu. But she left behind an indelible mark. No one will ever write about Nigerian literature in English without mentioning her. She will always be the departure point for female writing in Africa. And African publishing will forever owe her a debt. But above all, her contribution to the development of women in Nigeria, nay in Africa, and throughout the world is what she will be best remembered for.”<br />
Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa was born in 13 January 1931 at Oguta, an igbo town in eastern Nigeria, which was then a British colony. Both of her parents, Christopher Ijeoma and Martha Nwapa, were teachers. She was educated at the University of Idaban, receiving her B.A. in 1957. Nwapa continued her studies in England, earning in 1958 a degree in education from the University of Edinburgh.<br />
After returning to Nigeria in 1959 Nwapa worked as an education officer in Calabar for a short time, and then she taught geography and English at Queen's School in Enugu. From 1962 to 1964 Nwapa was an assistant registrar at the University of Lagos. During the Nigerian Civil war, which broke out in 1967, she left Lagos with her family. Like many members of the Igbo elite, they were forced to to return to the eastern region after the end of the conflict. Nwapa served as Minister for Health and Social Welfare for the East Central State (1970-1971). Her tasks included finding homes for 2000 war orphans. Later on she worked for Commissioner for Lands, Survey, and Urban Development (1971-1974). In 1982 the Nigerian government bestowed on her one of the country's highest honors, the OON (Order of Niger). By her own town, Oguta, she was awarded the highest chieftaincy title, Ogbuefi meaning “killer of cow”, which is usually reserved for men of achievement.<br />
Besides writing books, Nwapa established Tana Press, which published adult fiction. It was the first indigenous publishing house owned by a black African woman in West Africa. Between 1979 and 1981 she produced eight volumes of adult fiction. Nwapa set up also another publishing company, Flora Nwapa and Co., which specialized in children's fiction. In these books she combined Nigerian elements with general moral and ethical teachings. As a business woman, she also encouraged with her own example to break the traditional female roles of wife/mother and strive for equality in society. However, Nwapa did not call herself a feminist but a "womanist," a term coined by the American writer Alice Walker in her collection of essays, In Search of My Mother's Garden: Womanist Prose (1983). As well as being a distinguished member of PEN International and the Commonwealth Writer’s Awards committee, she was also the President of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). In 1989, she was made a Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Maiduguri and remained so till her death.<br />
Appearing in 1966, Flora Nwapa`s Efuru was the first internationally published book, in English, by a Nigerian woman. Efuru is based on an old folktale of a woman chosen by gods, but challenged the traditional portrayal of women. Efuru, which Nwapa started to write in 1962. The Promised Land by the Kenyan Grace Ogot appeared also in 1966; both works were path-breakers. Nwapa sent to manuscript to her good friend Chinua Achebe in Lagos and after some editorial suggestions, Achebe sent it to Heineman Educational Books for publication in the African Writers Series (No. 56). Nwapa sets her story in a small village in colonial West Africa as she describes the youth, marriage, motherhood, and eventual personal epiphany of a young woman in rural Nigeria. The respected and beautiful protagonist, an independent-minded Ibo woman named Efuru, wishes to be a mother. Her eventual tragedy is that she is not able to marry or raise children successfully. Alone and childless, Efuru realizes she surely must have a higher calling and goes to the lake goddess of her tribe, Uhamiri, to discover the path she must follow.<br />
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The work, a rich exploration of Nigerian village life and values, offers a realistic picture of gender issues in a patriarchal society as well as the struggles of a nation exploited by colonialism.<br />
The novel has at its core fundamental feminist concepts like women's agency, women's empowerment, sisterhood and gender equality. However, in an interview by Marie Umeh in 1993, Flora Nwapa refused to be called a feminist; she said, "I don't even accept that I'm a feminist. I accept that I'm an ordinary woman who is writing about what she knows. I try to project the image of women positively." (Umeh 27). By looking at her novels which include in addition to Efuru, Idu (1970), Never Again (1975), One is Enough (1981), and Women are Different (1986), one can see that Nwapa is a writer who dedicated her efforts to discuss women's issues of struggle, quest for independence and success in their native patriarchal Igbo culture. However, she did not call herself a feminist writer because, in my viewpoint, her writings do not qualify in the Western criteria of feminism to be called feminist. The concept of feminism as a movement and a school of thought seemed to exclude the black woman from its agenda. Thus, in order for a work of art to be considered feminist, it must, according to the Western criteria, abide by a set of rules, and to mention some, these can be like showing the rebellion of women towards their own cultures and traditions and showing how they refuse to succumb to patriarchal practices and attempt to overthrow the whole hierarchy.<br />
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Nwapa's second novel, Idu (1970), was also a story about a woman, whose life is bound up with that of her husband. When he dies, she choices to seek him out in the land of dead rather than live without him or prefer motherhood to anything else. The critical reception was mainly hostile. Eustace Palmer in African Literature Today and Eldred Jones in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature compared it with Elechi Amadi's The Concubine (1966), also published in the African Writersn series (No. 25), but not in Nwapa's favour. The war novel, Never Again (1975), drew its material from the Nigerian Civil War (see also Chinua Achebe's Beware, Soul Brother, 1971, a collection of poems, and Elechi Amadi's Sunset in Biafra, 1979). The protagonist, Kate, who starts as a supporter of the Biafran cause, ends struggling simply to survive. Wives at War, and Other Stories (1980) dealt with the Biafran conflict.<br />
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Nwapa wrote short stories, poetry and children's books, such as Mummywater (1979), which brought to life a water deity - the water goddess Ogbuide or Uhamiri appeared also in her adult fiction; Mummywata was her westernized Igbo counterpart. A central theme in her fiction was childlessness, from her early novels to Women Are Different (1986), in which her four major female characters choose between such options as self actualization in their career and the marriage institution, life in the town and in the country. "Her generation was telling the men, that there are different ways of living one's life fully and fruitfully," one of the women concludes. "They have a choice, a choice to marry and have children, a choice to marry or divorce their husband. Marriage is not THE only way." Noteworthy, spinsterhood without children is not a positive option and Nwapa never had the interest to deal with the theme of lesbianism.<br />
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Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria. Until her death she was a visiting professor and lecturer at numerous colleges in the U.S. and Nigeria. Nwapa was married to Chief Gogo Nwakuche, a business man; they had three children. She remained Nwakuche's first wife, although he took other wives. Because she wanted her children to have a father, she did not leave or divorce him. At the time of her death, Nwapa had completed The Lake Goddess, her final novel, entrusting the manuscript to the Jamaican Chester Mills. This work focused on the lake goddess Mammy Water, the eternal spring and mythical inspirer of Nwapa's fiction. Legends tell that the fairy godmother has her adobe on the bottom of Oguta Lake, near the author's birthplace.<br />
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<img height="320" src="http://www.abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FLO1.jpg" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-21973553059784118602014-10-03T12:05:00.000-07:002014-10-03T12:05:08.184-07:00BUCHI EMECHETA: ONE OF THE AFRICA`S GREATEST WRITERS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TIMES<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">"Being a woman writer, I would be deceiving myself if I said I write completely through the eye of a man. There's nothing bad in it, but that does not make me a feminist writer. I hate that name. The tag is from the Western world - like we are called the Third World." ~</span></b><b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">Buchi Emecheta</span></b><br />
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Africa’s most acclaimed female novelist, children's writer, screenplay writer, and autobiographer. She is the author of Second-Class Citizen (1974), <a href="http://the%20bride%20price/">The Bride Price</a> (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) <a href="http://the%20joys%20of%20motherhood/">The Joys of Motherhood</a> (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982)<br />
<br />
Florence Onye Buchi Emecheta <a href="http://obe/">OBE</a> (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria), is one of Africa’s most<br />
acclaimed female novelist, children's writer, screenplay writer, and autobiographer. The Britain-based writer, Buchi who is from the highly workaholic, resourceful, intelligent, creative cum intellectual ethnic Anioma people -a sub-group of the larger ndi-Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria, is among the most important female authors to emerge from post-colonial Africa.<br />
Emecheta was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962. The problems she encountered in London during the early 1960s provided background for the books that are called her immigrant novels. It has been said that "of all the women writers in contemporary African literature Buchi Emecheta of Nigeria has been the most sustained and vigorous voice of direct feminist protest (Lloyd Wellesley Brown, Women Writers in Black Africa (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981). While the genesis of African and Nigerian women’s literature began with Flora Nwapa, second generation Nigerian woman writer Buchi Emecheta’s works have created a milestone in African literature. Buchi Emecheta’s life is as exemplarily as her resilient, strong womanist characters.<br />
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Buchi whose legacy has created a path of inspiration for contemporary African and Nigerian women writers has published over 20 books, including Second-Class Citizen (1974), <a href="http://the%20bride%20price/"> The Bride Price</a> (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) <a href="http://the%20joys%20of%20motherhood/">The Joys of Motherhood</a> (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982). Emecheta’s works deal with the portrayal of the African woman and the main characters of her novels show what it means to be a woman and mother in Nigerian and British society. Many of her books are semi-autobiographical. Although most of her realistic novels are set in Africa and explore Emecheta’s favourite themes, but, perhaps her strongest work, The Rape of Shavi (1983), which is also the most difficult to categorize and set in an imaginary idyllic African kingdom. Emecheta also wrote an autobiography, Head Above Water (1986), and several works of children’s and juvenile fiction.<br />
As a result of her creative literary prowess that covers the themes of child slavery, motherhood, female independence and freedom through education , Emecheta has won a considerable number of awards, acclaims(accolades) and honors internationally. She won New Statesman <a href="http://jock%20campbell/"> Jock Campbell</a> Award for 'The Slave Girl"1979, named as one of Granta′s "Best of the Young British Novelists" in 1983. Emecheta as a "championed activist writer, and as the most prolific writer of African descent in Britain" was the featured author on the cover of Sable LitMag’s official launch issue in 2005. She was bestowed with an honour of<a href="http://order%20of%20the%20british%20empire/"> Order of the British Empire</a> (OBE) in 2005 for her literary achievements in British Literature. Back home in Nigeria she is included in the elite list of both 2011 Who's Who in Anioma and Who's Who in Ibusa, respectively.<br />
Emecheta received a traditional Igbo upbringing and early witnessed tensions between indigenous African culture and urban Western values. She was orphaned as a young child and raised by extended family, attributes her desire to write to the storytelling of her aunt, “Big Mother.” In her own words, her Big Mother, quite old and nearly blind, told fantastic stories of the family's Igbo ancestors. "We would sit for hours at her feet mesmerized by her trance-like voice," Emecheta recalled in Criticism and Ideology. "Through such stories she could tell the heroic deeds of her ancestors, all our mores and all our customs. She used to tell them in such a way, in such a sing-song way that until I was about fourteen I used to think that these women were inspired by some spirits."<br />
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Buchi Emecheta, just like famous Seneglese writer and women`s rights campaigner who wrote the novel "So Long A Letter," is always very defensive and indignant whenever she is referred to as feminist. In fact, Buchi Emecheta states that her type of feminism is an African type of feminism called womanism. Therefore within the African female struggle for self-articulation, empowerment and womanhood is the greater battle to define evolving ideologies and theories, a process which hopefully will be progressively clarified and elucidated. Emecheta rather described her novels as "stories of the world," but from a female perspective, as she told Essence writer Elsie B. Washington "These women face the universal problems of poverty and oppression, and the longer they stay, no matter where they have come from originally, the more the problems become identical."<br />
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Buchi Emecheta was born on 21 July 1944, in the Yaba suburb of Lagos State to Igbo parents of Anioma (Igbo sub-ethnic group) extraction. Her father Jeremy Nwabudinke, a railway worker in the 1940s and her beloved mother Alice (Okwuekwuhe) Emecheta were from Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria. Though her father worked for the railway in Lagos, the spiritual home of the family remained the village of Ibuza, and as a young girl Emecheta traveled back there often--"during the rains, to help on the farm and to learn our ways," she recalled in a paper delivered before the Second African Writers Conference and published in 1988's Criticism and Ideology. Her parents were determined to instill a degree of traditional Igbo values in her, she noted. "If I lived in Lagos I could start to have loose morals and speak Yoruba all the time."<br />
As it was then the norm of the patriarchal Igbo society, the young Buchi Emecheta was initially kept at home while her younger brother was sent to school; but after persuading her parents to consider the benefits of her education, she spent her early childhood at an all-girl's missionary school. Her father died when she was nine years old.<br />
After death of her parents Emecheta stayed with her extended family and was close to her aunt, who was the oldest woman in the family, and in Igbo culture such females hold a place of respect as "Big Mother." During Emecheta's childhood, her Big Mother, quite old and nearly blind, told fantastic stories of the family's Igbo ancestors. "We would sit for hours at her feet mesmerized by her trance-like voice," Emecheta recalled in Criticism and Ideology. "Through such stories she could tell the heroic deeds of her ancestors, all our mores and all our customs. She used to tell them in such a way, in such a sing-song way that until I was about fourteen I used to think that these women were inspired by some spirits."<br />
As if by cosmic plan to make Emecheta a great gift to the world, at the age of 10 and year later after the death of her father and staying with her extended family, she received a full scholarship to the Methodist Girls School for her uncanny academic excellence. The young Emecheta continued her basic education in this school until the age of 16 where her education was temporary interrupted.<br />
In tandem with the time honored-tradition and custom of ndi-Igbos which make room for betrothal marriage, Emecheta at the age of 16 was married off to Sylvester Onwordi, a student to whom she had been engaged since she was 11 years old.<br />
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Onwordi was a very enterprising young man with focus to further his education and full of desire for adventure to make a living outside of his country. He moved immediately moved to London to attend university after his traditional marriage to Emecheta. As a responsible African husband he invited his wife, Emecheta to join him in 1962. She gave birth to five children in six years. Unfortunately, their marriage which was then an oasis of peace and happiness transmogrified into a direly unhappy and sometimes violent marriage (as chronicled in her autobiographical writings such as Second-Class Citizen). To keep her sanity, Emecheta wrote in her spare time; though her English language skills were still lacking, she was determined to improve them and begin writing. The birth of five children also kept her from pursuing that goal for a time, and her husband's lack of ambition forced her to work outside the home. She found a job in the library of the British Museum in London as a library officer in 1965 and later became a youth worker with the Inner London Education Authority. In her spare time, Emecheta wrote, but her husband resented her literary aspirations, and he ultimately burned her first manuscript.<br />
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By 1966, and at the age of 22 her marriage had disintegrated and she realized that writing might provide a more stable income for her and her children. "I thought I would wait to be as old as Big Mother with a string of degrees before writing," she noted in Criticism and Ideology. "But I had to earn my living and the only thing I could do was write." She therefore enrolled at the University of London, earned a BSc degree in Sociology, and began writing a regular column about the African/London experience for the New Statesman in 1972. Her essays about the culture shock she experienced, her failing marriage, racism in London, and her struggles as a working mother of five and were collected into her first book, 'In the Ditch." Emecheta's second novel was Second-Class Citizen (Allison and Busby, 1974) was published two years later after "In the Ditch". Here she drew from an earlier period in her life, when her husband was in graduate school but indifferent to his studies and abusive toward her. Both books were eventually published in one volume as Adah's Story (1983).<br />
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The Bride Price, third published novel, was actually written in the 1960s. The first of her works to be set in Nigeria, it centers upon a young woman struggling with the cultural traditions that restrict her life in a most cruel way: her father dies when she is thirteen, and her uncle literally inherits her. She is allowed to continue her education but only because it will increase her "bride price," the sum her uncle will receive for contracting her marriage. She falls in love with a teacher, a man from a less exalted family, and elopes with him. A Nigerian superstition warns that such a woman will die in childbirth, and the heroine fulfills this prophecy at the close of The Bride Price.<br />
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Emecheta lived in Camden, New Jersey, for a time and supported herself as a community worker there in the mid-1970s. She continued to write, and her works from this period include Slave Girl and The Joys of Motherhood. This latter work, published in 1979 with a title designed to convey irony, is typical of Emecheta's fiction. Young Nnu Ego, from the village of Ibuza, returns to her family home in shame when she does not conceive a child as a new bride. Her father then sends her away to marry a man in Lagos, named Nnaife, and Nnu Ego detests him at first sight. Nnaife has a lowly job as a laundry worker for a white family, and Nnu Ego views him with a contempt she extends to Nigerian men in general. "Men here are too busy being white men's servants to be men," she thinks. Nnu Ego becomes pregnant but at first gives birth only to girls considered valueless offspring in Nigerian culture. Finally, she has a son, but he dies before he is a month old, and Nnu Ego descends into grief over him and her situation. She tries to kill herself, and a crowd gathers near the bridge to watch--"a thing like that is not permitted in Nigeria, you are simply not allowed to commit suicide in peace," the novel states, "because everyone is responsible for the other person."<br />
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More prosperous times eventually arrive for Nnu Ego and her eight children, especially when her husband finds a better job, but when her brother-in-law dies, Nnaife inherits his four wives, and one comes to live with his and Nnu Ego's family. Tensions in the household increase, and here Emecheta shows the ways in which Nigerian traditions clash with the realities of modern life. A man like Nnaife cannot earn enough in a city to support such customs, but in Ibuza such a polygamous lifestyle is possible, for each wife has her own small household. In the end, their family falls apart, and the imposition of Western ways and a foreign economic system destroys Ibo traditions that once ensured stability and continuity. Male children, for instance, are expected to care for elderly parents, but Nnu Ego's sons will not do so for her. Educated in British schools, one emigrates to Canada, while the other rejects his Ibo heritage and fully adopts the European belief in economic self-sufficiency. Nnu Ego dies by the road side, alone. "She died quietly there, with no child to hold her hand and no friend to talk to her," the novel concludes.<br />
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Emecheta, though a committed feminist, does not view polygamy as a negative system. "In many cases polygamy can be liberating to the woman, rather than inhibiting her, especially if she is educated," she told the audience assembled at the Second African Writers Conference. "The husband has no reason for stopping her from attending international conferences like this one, from going back to university and updating her career or even getting another degree. Polygamy encourages her to value herself as a person and look outside her family for friends."<br />
Another work that added to Emecheta's literary reputation was 1982's Double Yoke, the story of two young Nigerians who meet while university students. Ete Kamba and Nko are eager to experience life away from their families for the first time, and fall in love. They engage in premarital relations, but Ete Kamba is more conservative than Nko and comes to resent her assertive mind and desire for independence. They separate, and then her professor attempts to seduce her. "The novel is both comic and tragic in its depiction of Nko's and Ete Kamba's youthful, emotional extravagances and the campus response to their transgressions," noted Jewelle Gomez in a Black Scholar review of Double Yoke. "Here, as in Emecheta's other novels, she speaks with an undeniably Nigerian voice; makes clear the Nigerian woman's circumscribed position in society and her skillful adaptation to it."<br />
Emecheta's novels have earned critical accolades from the literary establishment. "Emecheta is no ideologue," remarked New York Times Book Review critic Reginald McKnight, "her characters do not utter or think words that would not come from them; they are not mere representatives of larger social movements but real, complex human beings, shaped by the vicissitudes of class, culture and sexual politics. She raises the right questions, but never harangues. She writes with subtlety, power and abundant compassion."<br />
Other novels from Emecheta include Adah's Story, The Moonlight Bride, and The Family. In The Rape of Shavi, first published in 1983, a plane crash in rural Africa is welcomed by tribes-people there, but the foreigners steal some valuable minerals and repair their plane just before the local chief forces them to wed; his heir stows away on the plane with the Britons. Emecheta also wrote an autobiography, Head above Water, and a 1990 novel that delves into the colonial experience in the Caribbean. The title character in Gwendolen is just eight years old when the novel opens and lives in Granville, Jamaica. Gwendolen remains with family members when her parents emigrate to England--referred to as "Molder Kontry"--but is traumatized when her grandmother's boyfriend sexually assaults her. Eventually she joins her parents in London, and her father also abuses her. The work, written in Jamaican patois, also chronicles her deep humiliation at school because of her language skills. McKnight, writing in the New York Times Book Review, called it a "rich, complex and fast-moving novel."<br />
Emecheta's 1994 novel, Kehinde, depicts the ongoing conflict for Africans living abroad. Kehinde Okolo is a 35-year-old Londoner of Nigerian descent with a management position in international banking. She is also married with two children, but her husband's small business does not satisfy him, and he wishes to return home. In his village, he is likely to become chief, and in the end, Kehinde agrees to the plan but stays in London for a time to sell their home. When she arrives in Nigeria, she finds that her husband has taken another wife, with whom he now has two new children. In the village, Kehinde has no status her position in the family is eclipsed by her husband's sisters and finds herself increasingly troubled by circumstances that surrounded her birth. She was a twin, but the other was stillborn, and their mother died in childbirth; Kehinde suffers from the belief that she was responsible.<br />
Following her success as an author, Emecheta travelled widely as a visiting professor and lecturer. From 1972 to 1979 she visited several American universities, including Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.<br />
From 1980 to 1981, she was senior resident fellow and visiting professor of English, University of Calabar, Nigeria. In 1982 she lectured at Yale University, and the University of London, as well as holding a fellowship at the University of London in 1986.<br />
From 1982 to 1983 Buchi Emecheta, together with her journalist son Sylvester, ran the Ogwugwu Afor Publishing Company.<br />
Emecheta returned to Nigeria frequently and to her family in Ibuza. In addition to pursuing her creative work, she held numerous academic posts including stints at Yale and London universities. For a time in the early 1980s she ran a publishing company called Ogwugwu Afor; as of 1979 she was a member of the Britain's Advisory Council on Race. "I am simply doing what my Big Mother was doing for free about thirty years ago," she said of her career as a novelist in the Criticism and Ideology paper. "The only difference is that she told her stories in the moonlight, while I have to bang away at a typewriter I picked up from Woolworth's in London."<br />
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Source:<a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/buchi-emecheta">http://www.answers.com/topic/buchi-emecheta</a></div>
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<img height="318" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3TqH1ViKhh9wdJ4iIhdYcR8yHXZISRVxt1FqXH70ZBbFIww2h" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-50157615168628688592014-10-02T20:08:00.001-07:002014-10-02T20:08:51.423-07:00EFUA T SUTHERLAND: AFRICA`S FEMALE PIONEER DRAMATIST, CULTURAL VISIONARY AND ACTIVIST AND "BLACK AFRICA`S MOST FAMOUS WOMAN WRITER"Dr Efua Theodora Sutherland (27 June 1924—2 January 1996) was a celebrated Ghanaian playwright, director, children's author, poet and pioneer dramatist of international renown. She was also an teacher, scholar, an unapologetic Pan-African cultural visionary and activist of ethnic Fante extraction. Before 1965 when the First President of the Republic of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the famous Pan-African leader called for the documentation of “our folktales” as a way of creating “African Classics” for posterity (Nketia’s Preface to Owusu-Sarpong (1998)), Efua T. Sutherland emerged as one of the literary figures who identified the worth of “our folktales” and indeed modified one into a play about seven years earlier. She is the mother of well-known prolific writer, cultural activist and academician, Esi Sutherland-Addy who is a professor at the Institute of African Studies (University of Ghana) working in the Language Literature and Drama Section.<br />
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Efua Theodora Sutherland, celebrated Ghanaian playwright, director, children's author, poet , Pan African cultural activist and pioneer dramatist of international renown.</div>
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As one of the Africa`s early female writers, Efua Sutherland is internationally known literary works include Foriwa (1962), Edufa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975). She has also published juvenile literature in the form of children’s rhythm plays such as Vulture, Vulture and Tahinta, which she has tried to use in her private grade school. Efua T Sutherland student was the legendary African writer, Professor Ama Ata Aidoo. In fact, when Ama Ata Aidoo studied drama at the University of Ghana in the early 1960s, her mentor was Sutherland.<br />
Apart from Mabel Dove Danquah, born in 1910, who had started publishing essays , short stories, and plays in the West African Times as early as the 1950s to express her concern over the place and role of women in contemporary Ghana, Sutherland can be regarded as the mother of West African Literature in English. Donald Herdeck has called her “Black Africa’s most famous woman writer”. Even though her name has been dropped out by feminist critics like Florence Straton in her Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender and Adola James’s In their Own Voices, for reasons that are not easy to explain, she is far from being an occasional writer. Her works are published in both Longman and Heineman Editions and her short stories are anthologised both at home and abroad. Her place in West African feminist literature is neither a matter of seniority over other authors such as Flora Nwappa, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Buchi Emecheta, nor that of amount of publications. She deserves a place in the West African literary tradition because she has earned it through that literary process of revision which T.S. Eliot considers as being necessary for the affirmation of individual talents and the existence of literary traditions. Charlotte H. Burner has rightly placed her in the third position, after Mabel Dove Danquah and Adelaide Casely-Hayford in her anthology of African woman writers entitled Unwinding Threads.<br />
Sutherland's plays were often based on African myths and legends, but she also used Western sources, such as Euripides and Lewis Carroll.<br />
"I'm on a journey of discovery. I'm discovering my own people.<br />
I didn't grow up in rural Ghana - I grew up in Cape Coast with<br />
a Christian family. It's a fine family, but there are certain hidden<br />
areas of Ghanaian life - important areas of Ghanaian life, that I<br />
just wasn't in touch with; in the past four or five years I've made<br />
a very concentrated effort to make that untrue. And I feel I know<br />
my people now." (Efua Sutherland in Cultural Events in Africa, no. 42, 1968)<br />
In her many years of being at the forefront of literary and theatrical movements in Ghana she founded the Ghana Drama Studio, the Ghana Society of Writers, the literary magazine Okyeame, the Ghana Experimental Theatre, and a community project called the Kodzidan (Story House) for the preservation of oral literature and the W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Center for Pan African Culture. She was an influential figure in the establishment of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to establish the study of African performance traditions at university level.<br />
Apart from her undying devotion to building indigenous models of excellence in culture and education, she served as mentor and inspiration to many notable African personalities in the arts and professions, including writer Ama Ata Aidoo, film maker Kwaw Ansah and writer-illustrator Meshak Asare.<br />
Auntie Efua, as she was affectionately known, made children’s issues central to her life and work. After pioneering an indigenous movement in writing, publishing and development through drama for children, she was appointed in the 1980’s to lead Ghana to become the first country to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Declaration of Rights of the Child. Through the work of the Ghana National Commission on Children, of which she was a founding member and Chair, several initiatives for children were moved forward including the Children’s Park Library Complex network, Child Literacy and Mobile Science Laboratory projects, as well as the commissioning of extensive research on the Ghanaian child.<br />
Her work received recognition from both the state and major agencies such as the Valco Trust Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, UNICEF and UNESCO. Other significant supporters included Arthur and Ruth Sloan, the Arthur and Dorothy Clift family of Bromley, UK, Dr. Vivian O. Windley, Merle Worth, the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, USA and the Children’s Television Network.<br />
A twelve-acre space reserved for a children’s park in central Accra through the advocacy of Efua Sutherland was renamed posthumously in her honor. Efua Sutherlandstraat is one of a number of streets in an area of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, named for remarkable women writers and activists.<br />
She was born Efua Theodora Morgue in Cape Coast on 27 June 1 924. She was named after her maternal great-grandmother Nana Ama Nyankomo. Her father, Harry Peter Morgue from the family of Chief Moore of Nsona Paado, Cape Coast, was a well-known teacher of English who once taught at Accra Academy. Her mother, Harriet Efua Maria Parker, was from the royal families of Gomua Brofo and Anomabu, particularly the branch founded by Barima Ansaful at Gyegyano, Cape Coast.<br />
Despite her royal birth, Efua had a very humble and difficult early life; her eventual greatness may be more of a personal achievement than an inherited family fortune. Her young mother died in a<br />
lorry accident at age 18, leaving 5-month old Efua in the care of her grandmother Araba Mansa,<br />
whose personal sacrifice and example of hard work as a baker ensured Efua's survival and provided the single most important impact on her later development into a most resourceful personality.<br />
Theodora Olivia Morgue, as Efua became known, began her primary education at the Government Girls School and later moved to St. Monica's, both in Cape Coast. She took the Standard Seven<br />
examination while she was still in Standard Six, and did so well she won a scholarship to the St. Monica's Training College at Ansate Manpong. St Monica's was founded and run by Anglican Sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete, based in Yorkshire, England. The nuns in both Cape Coast and Mampong had such significant influence on the young Efua that she seriously considered becoming a nun and would have gone to England for convent training had her grandmother not intervened.<br />
At 18, she began teaching at senior primary level but soon joined the staff of St. Monica's Training College. In 1947, after five-and-half years of teaching, she went to England where she studied for a B.A. degree at Homerton College, Cambridge University. She spent another year at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, specialising in English linguistics, African languages, and drama. Back in Ghana in 1950, she returned to St. Monica's but later transferred to Fijar Secondary School and then to Achimota School.<br />
In 1954, Efua married William Sutherland, an African American who had been living in Ghana and worked from 1951 -57 to help found what is now Tsito Secondary School in the Volta Region. Efua spent part of the period in Tsito to help with the foundation work. Efua and Bill had three children, Esi Reiter, Ralph Gynan, and Muriel Amowi, who have since become a university research fellow, an architect, and a lawyer respectively.<br />
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Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy, daughter of Dr Efua T Sutherland, the famous Ghanaian writer, dramatist and cultural activist.<br />
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Through achievements in culture Ghana also gained attention and prestige on the international scene. In the 1980s Sutherland served as advisor to the president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, who led a cop in 1981, and started economic reforms. Sutherland died on January 2, 1996.<br />
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It is against this family and educational background that we. must assess the unusual impact of Efua</div>
Sutherland's public life as educator, creative artist, and activist social visionary. She is best known as a dramatist, but her work in this area was always informed by a compelling vision of a better society, and she chose appropriate cultural education as the best foundation on which such society could be established. Like many others, she could have used her considerable talents and skills in the promotion of a spectacular individual career. Instead, she chose to share her gifts with society at large by investing her energies in the building of model programmes and institutions, and in the<br />
training of a future generation.<br />
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Bill Sutherland husband of the famous Ghanaian writer, dramatist and cultural activist Efua T Sutherland. Bill Sutherland, was unofficial ambassador between the peoples of Africa and the Americas for over fifty years, died peacefully on the evening of January 2, 2010. He was 91. A life-long pacifist and liberation advocate, Sutherland became involved in civil rights and anti-war activities as a youthful member of the Student Christian Movement in the 1930s.</div>
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Efua Sutherland's reputation as the founder and mother figure behind the national theatre movement may best be measured by the many key institutions and programmes she was instrumental in bringing into being. She was the prime mover in the founding of the Ghana Society of Writers (1957). A year later, the Ghana Experimental Theatre Company was launched under her<br />
direction. She helped to found the Okyeame literary magazine in 1961.<br />
Through her pioneering research into Ghanaian oral traditions, she introduced onto the stage the unique dramatic form of Anansegoro, deriving its creative model from traditional story-telling drama. To provide an ideal rehearsal and performance space for the emerging national theatre movement, she mobilised funds and supervised the building of the Ghana Drama Studio, ensuring that its design was in harmony with performance demands of African theatre practice. She founded Kusum Agoromba, 'a full-time drama company based at the Drama Studio and dedicated to performing quality plays in Akan.... in towns and villages all over the country.' She provided creative leadership to the Workers' Brigade Drama Group and to the Drama Studio Players.<br />
In May 1963, Efua Sutherland became a Research Associate of the Institute of African Studies. As part of the move, she handed over the Drama Studio to the University of Ghana to be issued as 'an extension division of the School of Music, Dance and Drama.' Through the Drama Studio Programme and the Drama Research Unit of the Institute, Efua Sutherland worked with the late Joe de Graft and others to build the foundations of what was soon to become a model programme in drama and theatre studies and practice in Africa One of her most frequently cited projects, the Atwia Experimental Community Theatre Project, is recognised world-wide as a pioneering model for the now popular Theatre for Development. Araba: The Village Story is a major documentary film done in 1 967 by the American television network ABC to record the success of this unique<br />
experimental project.<br />
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Edufa by Efua T Sutherland</div>
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A particularly significant aspect of Efua Sutherland's work was the Children's Drama Development Project. This multi-year project focused on research into the cultural life of children in society, used the information gathered as a basis for writing, producing and publishing appropriate plays for children. Conferences, workshops and test productions organised as part of this project have left us with an important collection of plays for children, among them R.A. Cantey's Ghana Motion, Togbe Kwamuar's The Perpetual Stone Mill, Kwamena Ampah's Hwe No Yie, Koku Amuzu's The New Born Child and the Maid Servant, JoeManu-Amponsah's Gates to Mother, Kofi Hiheta's A Bench of Chances, and Kofi Anyidoho;s Akpokplo{Ewe and English). Regrettably, the preparation of these plays for formal publication in a major anthology is one of the many vital projects which Auntie Efua's death has left unfinished.<br />
The 25th Anniversary Programme of the Drama Studio, the final phase of Efua Sutherland's distinguished career in the national theatre movement, coincided with her retirement from the University of Ghana in 1984. The programme opened with an impressive and symbolic Ceremony of Remembrance and moved into a major documentation project covering various forms of drama that have evolved as part of the national theatre movement The 25th Anniversary Programme, ironically, suffered a serious set-back when the Drama Studio was demolished to make way for the<br />
construction of the National Theatre.<br />
Although Auntie Efua was deeply hurt by the demolition of the studio, she continued to work over the next two years to bring the documentation programme to a reasonable completion. It was also in the final phase of her work that she gave to Ghana and the African world probably her grandest artistic vision for uplifting and reuniting African peoples through the arts- an original proposal for the Pan African Historical Theatre Festival, the Panafest Movement. This final gift underscores the significance she attached to connections between Africa and the Diaspora. She played a very critical role in the establishment of the W.E.B. DuBois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture.<br />
She belonged to an extensive global network of friends, many of them eminent creative minds.<br />
Efua Sutherland's long and distinguished career had also left an impressive corpus of creative works, making her one of Africa's best known writers. In addition to a number of essays, articles, short stories and poems, her published works include a short biography of Bob Johnson, 'the father of the concert party tradition', as well as several other books—Playtime in Africa, The Roadmakers, Edufa, Foriwa, Odasani, Anansegoro: Story-Telling Drama in Ghana, The Marriage of Anansewa, You Swore an Oath, Vulture! Vulture! [and Tahinta]: Two Rhythm Plays, and The<br />
Voice in the Forest. Her unpublished plays for children include The Pineapple Child, Nyamekye, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Ananse and the Dwarf Brigade, Wohye me Bo, and Children of<br />
the Man-Made Lake.<br />
Her best known plays are Edufa (1967) (based on Alcestis by Euripides), Foriwa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).<br />
In Edufa the eponymous character seeks to escape death by manipulating his wife, Ampoma, to the death that has been predicted for him by oracles. In the play, Sutherland uses traditional Ghanaian beliefs in divination and the interaction of traditional and European ceremonies in order to portray Edufa as a rich and successful modern person who is held in high esteem by his people. The play uses traditional ritual and symbolism, but the story is told in the context of Edufa's capitalistic abandonment of his moral commitment to his wife, while his wife and the other women favour the morality of the past.<br />
In Foriwa the eponymous character, who is the daughter of the queen mother of Kyerefaso, and Labaran, a graduate from northern Ghana who lives a simple life, bring enlightenment to Kyerefaso, a town that has become backward and ignorant because the town's elders refuse to learn new ways. Foriwa's main theme is the alliance of old traditions and new ways. The play has a national theme to promote a new national spirit in Ghana that would encourage openness to new ideas and inter-ethnic cooperation.<br />
The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama (1975) is considered Sutherland's most valuable contribution to Ghanaian drama and theater. In the play, she transmutes traditional Akan Ananse Spider tales (Anansesem) into a new dramatic structure, which she calls Anansegoro. Nyamekye (a version of Alice in Wonderland), one of her later plays, shows how she was influenced by the folk opera tradition.<br />
As a major literary voice, she was concerned about the need for making works by African writers available through local publishing. To this end, she played a key role as founder of Afram Publications Ghana Ltd in the early Seventies and until her death maintained an active role in the<br />
editorial work of Afram. It is to her credit and to that of all who have worked with her that three of the winners of the 1995 Valco Fund Literary Awards are works published by Afram.<br />
A concern for children is central to all of Efua Sutherland's life and work. Even after her retirement from the University of Ghana, she was to devote the final phase of her public life to foundation work in the establishment of the Ghana National Commission on Children. She was a foundation member (1979-1983) and later chairperson of the commission (1983- 1990). The work of this commission, especially through the impact of child education programmes designed around a national network of children's parklibrary complexes, the documentation of the situation of the Ghanaian child, and the influencing of state policy on child life, shall remain one of Efua Sutherland's most significant lasting gifts to her nation.<br />
Efua Sutherland served on several other national and international boards and committees, including the Education Commission, the Valco Fund Board of Trustees, and the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO. Her work received recognition and sponsorship from both the state and such major agencies as the Valco Trust Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, UNICEF, and UNESCO.<br />
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the achievement of a full university status, the University of Ghana selected Efua Sutherland as one of a small group of eminent individuals whose<br />
contribution has had a profound impact on the development of the university and of the society at large:<br />
"Efua Theodora Sutherland, for the inspiration provided to the development<br />
of the Dramatic Art, and in recognition of your efforts on behalf of children<br />
for whose benefit you have canvassed children's libraries and amusement<br />
parks, the University of Ghana is privileged to honour you with thedegree of<br />
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa."<br />
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Selected works:<br />
*The Roadmakers, 1961 (photographs by Willis E. Bell)<br />
*Foriwa, 1962<br />
*Playtime in Africa, 1962 (photograps by Willis E. Bell)<br />
*Edufa, 1967 (based on Euripides's Alcestis)<br />
*Odasani, 1967 (based on Everyman)<br />
*Vulture! Vulture! and Tahinta: Two Rhythm Plays, 1968<br />
*The Original Bob: The Story of Bob Johnson, Ghana's Ace Comedian, 1970<br />
*Anase and the Dwarf Brigade, 1971 (based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in the Wonderland)<br />
*Anansegoro: Story-telling Drama in Ghana, 1975<br />
*The Marriage of Anansewa, 1975<br />
*Efua Sutherland of Ghana, 1978 (recording)<br />
*The Voice in the Forest, 1983<br />
*The Marriage of Anansewa and Edufa, 1987<br />
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source:<a href="http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/glendora%20review/vol1no3/graa001003003.pdf">http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/glendora%20review/vol1no3/graa001003003.pdf</a><br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sutherland’s Creativity at Work: The New Family of Mr. Ananse the Spider in </span><span style="font-size: large;">The Marriage of Anansewa</span></span></b><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b> P.B. Mireku-Gyimah</b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Centre for Communication and Entrepreneurship Skills (CENCES), University of</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, Ghana</span></b><br />
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Abstract: This study explores characterization in Efua T. Sutherland’s The Marriage of Anansewa and demonstrates the playwright’s imagination and creativity at work. Unlike the traditional members of Ananse’s family in Akan folktales comprising a wife (Asɔ), four sons (Ntekuma, Afurudohwedohwe, Tikenenkene and Nyankorɔnhweaa) and sometimes unnamed in-laws, Sutherland creates a daughter (Anansewa), a mother (Aya), an aunt (Ekuwa) and a lover (Christie) for Ananse. Thus there are now four new females in Ananse’s new family to balance the four males in the original Ananse family, counting out man and wife. Unfortunately, Sutherland kills off Asɔ. Anansewa and Christie are main characters but Aya and Ekuwa are made minor characters. Besides this introduction of four women into Ananse’s extended family is Sutherland’s creation of a new identity for Ananse. He is a modernized Ghanaian with an English name, George. Sutherland artistically introduces a new dimension to Ananse by redefining his identity as a modern citizen of the globalized world. Whereas in the traditional folktales Ananse often cheats the members of his family forcing them to find ways and means to survive by foiling Ananse’s tricky plans, Sutherland’s new family members play an entirely different role: they are conscious or unconscious collaborators of Ananse’s scheme to cheat others. It is concluded that, by this new dimension of characters and the roles they play which bring freshness and popularization to the Akan folktales, Sutherland has elevated the Akan folktales to become an African Classic.<br />
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INTRODUCTION<br />
Before 1965 when the First President of the Republic of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,<br />
the famous Pan-African leader called for the documentation of “our folktales” as a way of creating<br />
“African Classics” for posterity (Nketia’s Preface to Owusu-Sarpong (1998)), Efua T. Sutherland emerged as one of the literary figures who identified the worth of “our folktales” and indeed modified one into a play about seven years earlier. She came up with her play entitled The Marriage of Anansewa (TMA), which was first published in 1958. This drama, which is based on<br />
the Akan folktales, was published after productions in Akan and in English by three different notable Ghanaian performing groups, namely the Workers’ Brigade Drama Group, Kusum Agoromba (Kusum Players) and the Drama Studio Players and Kusum Agoromba combined (Sutherland, 1997). Sutherland’s work has enjoyed patronage for decades. In her dedication of the 1986 edition of TMA, Sutherland (1997) observes that a Ceremony of Remembrance was held to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Ghana Drama Studio, her brainchild. She notes that the ceremony, which took the “‘form of a dramatic recall of the works of deceased creative personalities who contributed to the development of Ghana’s heritage of dramatic arts’”, was also used to remember “‘such creative thinkers of the past who left a heritage of perceptions about society in scholarly and other works from which inspiration can be drawn for artistic creation today’”.<br />
Today, in the year 2013, Sutherland herself can be counted as one of the “deceased” luminaries of the past which she referred to in the 1986 dedication. Sutherland’s book, TMA, has continued to enjoy success among both young and old in both academic and non-academic circles and this has been the result of a number of things, including the playwright’s ability to handle the story-telling tradition of the Akan in some interesting ways. For example, in the play, she remains true to the conventions of the folktale tradition, touching on its themes of love and communality among others, projecting the Akan traditional marriage and raising topical issues such as the hypocrisy of some<br />
Christians and their church, not forgetting her profuse use of mboguo (song interludes).<br />
Apart from all these, Sutherland vividly evokes the main character: arch-hero, trickster par excellence and owner of the Akan folktales, Ananse the Spider, personified as Kweku Ananse. She also shows literary prowess in her characterization, that is, her “creation of imaginary persons so that they exist for the reader as life-like” (Holman and Harman, 1986; qtd in Teiko, 2011). In fact, Sutherland portrays great artistic talent in the creation of new characters for the Akan folktales,<br />
especially her extension of the traditional Ananse family. These new characters are mostly complex and believable and help explain the play’s major themes of deception, gullibility, love and marriage.<br />
This paper leans on TMA to demonstrate Efua T. Sutherland’s creativity at work in four major ways as far as the traditional Ananse family is concerned, particularly, by the introduction of four females into the male-dominated family; first, by her creation of a daughter into the family which hitherto has had all-male children; second, by her creation of a lover for Ananse; third, by her creation of a mother for Ananse; and, finally, by her creation of an aunt for Ananse. In addition, the paper studies Sutherland’s creation of a new identity for Ananse himself as a modern Ghanaian<br />
man and an anglicized one for that matter (with the first name George). It is instructive to note that all these characters are new and different from the traditional members of Mr Ananse the Spider’s family in the Akan folktales.<br />
Traditionally, Ananse’s nuclear family members are five; they comprise Ananse’s wife, Asɔ and four sons. Of the four sons, only one, Ntekuma, is normal whereas three are physically challenged. Afurudohwedohwe, Tikenenkene and Nyankorɔnhweaa have aptronyms describing their physical deformities: Afurudohwedohwe literally means Very Very Big Stomach, Tikenenkene means Very Very Big Head and Nyankorɔnhweaa, means Very Very Tiny Legs. Asɔ, the wife and mother, is not part of the new family in TMA, for, unfortunately, Sutherland kills her off.<br />
<br />
“THE MARRIAGE OF ANANSEWA”: A BRIEF SUMMARY<br />
Sutherland’s work, TMA, is an African play and sourced from an Akan folktale whose story has the poor, struggling father, Kweku Ananse, devising a plan to escape the hardships of life, especially the economic dire straits in which he finds himself and his inability to easily pay his daughter Anansewa’s school fees, among other needs.<br />
Ananse advertises the photograph of his daughter to four prominent chiefs of the land and succeeds in conniving with his daughter to manipulate them to compete unknowingly as suitors seeking the hand of his daughter in marriage. Ananse profits from the gifts which each chief pours on him for the sake of the daughter so as to win her consent. She, of course, would consent to marry only one-the one who, according to the father’s secret plan, would turn out to be most caring. Meanwhile, each one of the chiefs thinks he is the only lover or suitor (for so does Ananse make it to appear to them). Therefore, each chief goes on to choose a date for the customary marriage, which Sutherland calls the “head-drink ceremony”.<br />
Unfortunately, all the four men choose the same date for this marriage ceremony. The clash of the dates presents a serious problem which Ananse must solve fast before the problem brings him trouble. Ananse gets the daughter to pretend to be dead on that special day, knowing that “nobody marries a corpse”. More importantly, he would be enabled to use the sad and unfortunate event to see the reactions of the suitors, judge and select the one who demonstrates true compassion, sympathy and love at such a time. The message of Anansewa’s untimely death is conveyed to each suitor. In this highly emotionally charged atmosphere, Ananse so desperately and seriously mourns his sad loss that he would not be consoled in any way, especially when the chiefs’ messengers begin to arrive to console him on his bereavement.<br />
The messengers of the Chief of the Mines arrive first, then those of the Chief of Sapaase, followed by those of the Chief of Akate and, finally, those of Chief-Who-Is-Chief, the preferred suitor. The “wealthy paramount Chief of the Mines”… has this to say:<br />
"That because this lady had not yet become his wife,<br />
he cannot give her burial; but that which custom does<br />
permit, he is not reluctant to fulfil. He sends “this bolt<br />
of silk, this kente cloth from Bonwire… this dumas<br />
cotton cloth, this drink and this bag of money to help<br />
her father pay for the funeral in farewell to his lady” (p.<br />
78).<br />
Similarly, what the Chief of Sapaase has to say is that: He has no right to give burial to this child because the head-drink did not come in time to make it a conclusive marriage [but] … he is not reluctant at all to perform whatever custom he has the right to perform …<br />
(p. 81).<br />
He sends “his silk, his velvet, his white kente cloth, his striped cloth … and his cash donation of twenty guineas also; spend it on drinks for the funeral …” (p. 81).<br />
Even though Chief of the Mines and Chief of Sapaase offer some gifts to Ananse towards the funeral, they each make it also clear-as we have observed-and rightly so that, customarily, since the marriage was not really contracted before the “death” of Anansewa, it almost becomes a case of “no-sale-no-payment”, for which reason they are not bound to perform the funeral rites for the lady as they would do for a wife.<br />
Indeed, as for the Chief of Akate, he presents no gift whatsoever. What is worse, this chief’s emissary, his “direct brother”, who has come to express condolences to “Togbe Ananse” makes it known that this one chief “was not even in favour of” their coming to sympathise with the bereaved family. “But we said, ‘No’. Even if we came to do nothing, we would show our faces here” (p. 83), the chief emissary explains.<br />
But unlike the three Chief-Who-Is-Chief, through his messengers, says that: He accepts total responsibility for everything concerning the woman who had but one more step to take to enter his home. Therefore, from his hands… here are all requirements for her funeral… (p. 78).<br />
Symbolically, he marries her and also provides a coffin-a glass coffin-in addition to other assorted gifts as would be needed, customarily, for a grand funeral befitting the late wife of a prominent chief:<br />
"… Here is the ring a husband places on a wife’s<br />
finger. Here is a bag of money, spend it on the funeral.<br />
Here are cloths which any woman who is confidently<br />
feminine would select with a careful eye; ... dumas,<br />
white kente, silk kente, velvet, brocade. The drinks …<br />
are in such quantities that we couldn’t bring them here<br />
… this bottle of Schnapps … is what is mandatory for<br />
me to place in your hands… this must be the drink with<br />
which the farewell libation is poured when his beloved<br />
one is being placed in the coffin … (p. 87).<br />
“Finally”, the messenger points out that, it is the desire of Chief-Who-Is-Chief “to do for Anansewa<br />
what a husband does for a wife. And so he sends his coffin, one made of glass. Place his wife in it for him …” (p. 87).<br />
Thus Chief-Who-Is-Chief comes finally to exhibit genuine love for Anansewa even though she is dead and he is under no obligation to go to that extent. This gesture touches Ananse so much that, overwhelmed by this chief’s unique affection, concern, generosity and thoughtfulness, Ananse summons all his wits and acts in a way as to make this lovely chief win the “contest”.<br />
As it happens, Anansewa resurrects for the preferred suitor, by the powers evoked through Ananse’s libation prayer-ironically, using the bottle of Schnapps presented by Chief-Who-Is-Chief.<br />
Ananse and his daughter, Anansewa, are greatly assisted in all this drama by Ananse’s lover, a<br />
“fashionable”, modern, career woman called Christie.<br />
Before all this, however, Ananse hurriedly arranges with the Institute for Prospective Brides headed by Christie to get Anansewa trained and groomed for marriage as a modern, educated woman. He also arranges with Anansewa’s grandparents, Aya and Ekuwa, to get her properly prepared for marriage, especially marriage to a chief, according to custom, by ensuring that Anansewa is taken through the puberty rites which Sutherland refers to as the “outdooring ceremony”.<br />
<br />
THE NEW WOMEN RELATED TO ANANSE<br />
In TMA, we find four new women related to Ananse (Anansewa, Christie, Aya and Ekuwa) instead<br />
of the only woman, Asɔ, also called ɔkonorɔ Yaa or Okondor Yaa (Opoku-Agyemang, 1999), who has long been known in the Akan folktale tradition as Ananse’s wife. Anansewa is the daughter, Christie is a lover who desires to be Ananse’s wife and, by the end of the play, there is every hope that she will become Ananse’s wife.<br />
Aya is Ananse’s biological mother and Ekuwa is Ananse’s aunt (Aya’s sister); they are two other women who are also new entrants in the extended family of Ananse. All these female characters are dynamic, active, “life-like” and help advance the plot as well as the themes of deception, gullibility, love and marriage in the play. Whereas Anansewa and Christie are main characters, Aya and her sister, Ekuwa, may be classified as minor characters.<br />
Anansewa: Anansewa is introduced very early in the play. She is the daughter of Ananse- “Pa Ananse” -and, like the father, she dominates the story. In fact, Sutherland presents Anansewa to the audience as a lovely young lady, the only daughter and the only child of Ananse. This is unlike in the Akan folktale tradition where Ananse has no daughter whatsoever. There, the children are only boys (four in all) and, as previously noted only one of them, Ntekuma, is normal. Ntekuma<br />
is known to be a foil to the father in most of the tales in which Ananse’s tricks backfire.<br />
For example, in one Akan folktale, the story is told that once Ananse plans to possess and control all the wisdom of the world and proceeds to sweep every bit together into a pot. He then tries to carry the collection of wisdom in the pot to hide on top of the tallest tree for himself alone. However, no matter how hard he tries, he is unable to climb the tree because he hangs the pot in<br />
front of him instead of behind him. It is his little son Ntekuma standing below and observing the<br />
proceedings, who suggests to the frustrated father to carry the pot at his back. Ananse tries and it works! He manages to climb smoothly to the tree top.<br />
Nevertheless, on realising that Ntekuma the tiny boy could give such a wise advice to him, who is the only one supposed to have all wisdom, Ananse becomes disappointed that some wisps of wisdom might have remained on earth after all, so, out of a deep sense of failure, he drops the pot which breaks to scatter all over the world all the wisdom stored in it. For this reason, wisdom has become the heritage of all humankind (Sackeyfio et al., 1994).<br />
The siblings of Ntekuma are spectacular. One has a big head (his name is Tikenenkenen literally meaning Very Very Big Head); one has a big stomach (his name is Afurudohwedohwe literally meaning Very Very Big Stomach) and the other has tiny legs (his name is Nyankorɔnhweea literally meaning Very Very Tiny Legs) as we have previously observed of them. Anansewa has no siblings or mother in TMA. Her mother, who is anonymous in the play, is dead and so Anansewa lives with only her father. However, she has a loving paternal grandmother and a grand-aunt being Ananse’s mother, Aya and his aunt, Ekuwa.<br />
On the one hand, Anansewa loves life and represents modern ladies. She likes to go out but the<br />
father wants her to stay at home and serve him as is seen in the following conversation between the two:<br />
Ananse: Going-and-coming is necessary…. Otherwise nothing succeeds. I went to buy paper. Here is typing paper. Here is carbon paper. Here are envelopes… Sit down with the machine.<br />
Anansewa: [Petulantly] Ah, I was coming to tell you I was going out.<br />
Ananse: My daughter, it isn’t well at home, therefore sit down, open up the machine I bought for your training and let the tips of your finger give some service for which I’m paying. I have very urgent letters to write.<br />
Anansewa: Just when I was going out? (p. 10)<br />
Ananse: There you sit looking lovely and it is exciting for you to go out in all your beauty. That’s all you know. But tell me, won’t you return home, here, afterwards? (p. 11).<br />
On the other hand, Anansewa is observed to be a daughter who is respectful and understands her family difficulties. For instance, she stays behind to assist the father. Further, she knows that her fees as well as the last instalment on the typewriter she needs for her training are in arrears and that the burden of that need is on her father. Thus she is prepared and also responsible enough to undergo practical training and study hard to become self-sufficient and useful not only to herself but<br />
also to her family, especially her father, who is struggling to see her through education. She is literate, knows shorthand and is training to be a professional career woman. We as audience find her able to type her father’s letters.<br />
Besides formal schooling, Anansewa also humbles herself to go through the traditional preparations and training meant to make her a proper Akan woman and the wife of a chief, a woman of substance and a role model to the community. We are told that she actually likes and enjoys her outdooring ceremony “so much” and that, according to her grand-aunt, Ekuwa, Anansewa “keeps on asking questions in order to learn as much as she can” (p. 45). Later, when it becomes absolutely necessary for her to “die” as her father requests her to do, she agrees, though not without asking questions, as is observed, for example, in the following dialogue between the two:<br />
Ananse: ... [Darting closer to her] Open your eyes wide and let me see.<br />
Anansewa: What? Very well. I’ve opened them.<br />
Ananse: [Peering into her eyes] for what reason? [She laughs.] Shut them tight.<br />
Anansewa: [Smiling a little and obliging] I’ve shut them tight.<br />
Ananse: Mhm Stiffen your limbs.<br />
Anansewa: [Opening her eyes]. For what reason? [She laughs] Very well, I have stiffened my limbs. [She does so.]<br />
Ananse: Do it properly, I want you to look as though you are dead.<br />
Anansewa: What do you mean? [She laughs.] I have never died before.<br />
Ananse: My daughter, I implore you, don’t waste time. What I’m doing is in serious preparation.<br />
Anansewa: [Understanding nothing at all] Preparation?<br />
Ananse: Yes my daughter, stiffen yourself.<br />
Anansewa: [Doing so with laughter] There you are. Are you satisfied?<br />
Ananse: Very pleased. It’s really coming right. Try not to move any part of your body. [Anansewa tries.] Oh yes… And now… Can’t you hold your breath?<br />
Anansewa: [Finding this too much] Hold my breath! I shouldn’t breathe? As for that, definitely no, I can’t do it and will not.<br />
Ananse: Oh but my daughter, it’s necessary for you to die!<br />
Anansewa: Me? [Words fail her.] But father, I’m alive. I’m open-eyed. How can I switch my life off and on like electricity?<br />
Ananse: Don’t spout silly jokes, you don’t understand what we are doing.<br />
Anansewa: Then make me understand; because this game you’re playing is full of mystery. I don’t like it.<br />
Ananse: My daughter.<br />
Anansewa: My father.<br />
Ananse: You are forcing me to tell you those four people are coming. Just coming? They are rushing here. Sprinting.<br />
Ananse: … racing here like fire blazing through grass… (pp. 55-56).<br />
And she “dies” when the time finally comes, in order to save her father from humiliation, among other things, as the suitors, “those four people are coming”, “Just coming”, “rushing”, “Sprinting’, “racing here like fire blazing through grass” as Ananse puts it (p. 56). Thus Anansewa is strong and intelligent but also obedient.<br />
Yet, she knows her rights and will not marry blindly just to satisfy culture. As such, she questions the father as to whatever she does not understand and insists at one point that she is old enough to choose her own husband -“I’m not a child. I’m twenty” (p. 20) - and so would not have the father choose any “old chief” (p. 20) for her or, as she puts it, sell her as a commodity-“I will not let you sell me like some parcel to a customer. [She sings on] I will select my lover myself/I’ll never comply./ I will not let you sell me…/Not ever!/Not ever!” (p. 20).<br />
Later, however, when she learns that one of the chiefs is a wealthy, caring, good-looking and relatively younger man: a “finely built, glowing black, largedeyed, handsome as anything, courageous and famous” (p. 22) chief, who has been remitting her through the father and “not just showing interest with his mouth” (p. 22), she falls flat in love with him and so cooperates with the father to win this chief as her husband.<br />
In this sense, Anansewa makes a choice of the husband she loves and not one imposed on her by<br />
tradition. This comes out clearly in the following dialogue between her and her father in which Ananse tries to hint that, he has taken gifts from four good chiefs and not just one, thereby already “entangling” her in the affair:<br />
Anansewa: What four chiefs are racing here?<br />
Ananse: Oh-h-h, dear! Rouse your memory if it’s asleep and remember. I tell you there is no time to waste. Each chief’s messengers are on their way, urgently sent to place your head-drink on the table.<br />
… I tell you each chief is coming running to claim you as his wife.<br />
Anansewa: [Laughing] over my dead body. … I repeat, over my dead body. How can they claim me as their own? … . They dare not.<br />
Ananse: …They can dare.<br />
Anansewa: Father, why? All that aside, why do you say ‘they’? Why don’t you say ‘he’, the single one?<br />
Ananse: [His eyes darting] are you asking me why?<br />
Anansewa: Yes why? Because I know that it’s only one chief we are expecting to come. And as far as that person is concerned, he cannot come too quickly for me. I’m waiting for him asleep and awake. As for the other three chiefs, my father, you made them take their eyes off me long ago, remember. Right at the beginning, you refused to accept gifts from their hands…. (p. 56).<br />
From the foregoing discussion, Anansewa is very much human unlike her father’s children in the Akan folktales. Thanks to Sutherland’s rich imagination and artistry, Ananse can now boast of a daughter and, for that matter, a normal, modern and believable one who can think, understand, question and act. Sutherland’s fertile imagination leads to the creation of Anansewa thus deepening interest in her play as an African classic and in the Akan folktales as a cultural heritage.<br />
Aya and Ekuwa: Aya and Ekuwa are also two new women related to Ananse. Unlike Anansewa, they are introduced much later in the play, in Act Three. Sutherland creates Aya as Ananse’s mother. For once in the Akan folktales, Ananse has a biological mother, Aya. Aya is flesh and blood and a loving Akan grandmother of Anansewa. She adores her son, Ananse and her grand-daughter, Anansewa, for whom she has been invited to serve, by performing the traditional<br />
“outdooring ceremony” for her. By this ceremony, Aya is to initiate her grandchild Anansewa into womanhood, especially as a woman prepared to take a heavy responsibility as a chief’s wife.<br />
Even though the ceremony seems delayed and Aya complains a little, she goes ahead with her sister, Ekuwa, to do the best for Anansewa, whom they variously refer to with so much affection and terms of endearment such as “your grandchild”, “this grandchild of yours” (p. 44), “our child”, “my grandchild” (pp. 45, 46 and 47), “my gold child” (p. 47), “my grandchild Anansewa”, “our girl” and “this grandchild of mine” (p. 50).<br />
It is instructive to note that Aya is a paternal grandmother. Now, as far as the Akan custom of<br />
matrilineal inheritance is concerned, paternal grandmothers are mostly not too keen on their<br />
grandchildren for the simple reason that these grandchildren belong to their mother’s family lineage.<br />
Therefore, usually, grandmothers are rather more interested in their daughter’s children, that is, the<br />
maternal grandchildren. Often a proverbial question is posed to explain this: “Woahunu akokɔnini a ne mma di n’akyi da?” literally meaning “have you ever before seen a cock whose chicks are following it?” But contrary to this tradition, Aya shows great interest in Anansewa and her success in life, both present and future, as far as the ceremony and its significance are concerned. And she offers Anansewa the best gift which is a prayer for a husband who has respect for his fellow human beings. Hear her:<br />
"… My grandchild, Anansewa, your old lady knows<br />
what is of real value in this world. You notice that this<br />
outstretched hand of mine is empty, it contains nothing.<br />
And yet, this same empty hand will succeed in placing<br />
a gift into your brass bowl. What this hand is offering is<br />
this prayer of mine. May the man who comes to take<br />
you from our hands to his home be, above all things, a<br />
person with respect for his fellow human beings …. (p.<br />
51).<br />
In TMA, Sutherland creates a situation where Anansewa’s mother is no more and we do not as much as hear of or find her maternal grandmother at all. Instead, it is her father’s mother-her paternal grandmother-who is present and must perform the highly important “outdooring ceremony” for the young lady. It is acknowledged that the ceremony appears delayed on account of Anansewa (probably because her mother is dead) and Aya rightly questions “why now?”<br />
Also, Aya becomes sincerely emotional and briefly laments the sad absence of Anansewa’s mother at such a crucial time and at such a memorable day in the girl’s life. All the same, Aya takes consolation in Ekuwa’s words of reason-“… I don’t believe you want to ruin Anansewa’s joy” (p. 45). So Aya gathers herself up and tackles the task head on, with such love and enthusiasm! And this paternal grandmother does the job remarkably well while taking up any other role which<br />
Anansewa’s own mother would probably have played had she been alive.<br />
Ekuwa confirms this when she declares of her sister, “Mm, Aya, are you already here? I see you are keeping your eyes wide open to make sure that nothing goes wrong with your grandchild Anansewa’s outdooring” (p. 44). Perhaps, with the portrayal of Aya in such a positive light as far as she is Anansewa’s paternal grandmother, Sutherland is pointing out that this is how things ought to go, that paternal grandmothers must show love and affection to their son’s children the same way they do to their daughter’s.<br />
On the part of Ekuwa herself, she offers her grandchild, Anansewa, “service”, calling her “my child<br />
of beauty” and wishing her very very well (pp. 48 -49) and we find her also as lovable as Aya, but somehow more objective. It is she who points out the wisdom in the adage that says “Better late than never” when she explains to Aya about the need for the “outdooring ceremony” to take place even if it has somehow delayed for Anansewa. Ekuwa observes, “… I’ve been trying to explain it to you. If this grandchild of yours is going to marry a chief, then, it is our duty to prepare her in every way for the position she will be occupying in a palace” (p. 44). To this, Aya responds with the following words charged with sincere emotions:<br />
"Aya: All right. Whatever it may be, I’m happy to see<br />
my Anansewa conducting herself in the manner that<br />
graces a woman. You do not know what feelings are<br />
breaking and ebbing like waves inside me because of<br />
this ceremony we are performing. This wave brings<br />
happiness and that one brings pride and another,<br />
sadness. Yes, it is true that you and I are here doing all<br />
we can and yet when I remember that the person who<br />
should be here as well, bustling around Anansewa<br />
should be her own mother, then, my sister Ekuwa, a<br />
wave of sorrow crests up inside me mangling my<br />
innards. [She starts to dirge] And it isn’t as though it is<br />
where we could send her a telegram to say, ‘come’. It<br />
isn’t as though we could send a messenger by taxi to<br />
fetch her. [She is about to wail seriously.] Truly, death<br />
has done some wickedness (p. 45).<br />
Still, Aya portrays the bad mother-in-law behavior prevalent among some Akan/Ghanaian women towards their in-laws. In fact, before Aya meets Christie personally for the first time, Aya’s remark to her sister Ekuwa is that Christie is “senselessly extravagant”(p. 45) and she also complains without any proof that Christie “is serving my son Kweku too hard” (p. 45).<br />
By those remarks made behind Christie’s back, Aya is suggesting that Christie is after her son Ananse’s wealth.<br />
Worse, we note how Aya despisingly refers to Christie as “that woman” and “the woman” (p. 45)<br />
whereas Christie lovingly calls her “Mother”. In fact, when Christie comes in, she addresses her nicely as “mother” and delightedly exclaims to her: “How I have dressed up my daughter Anansewa!” Sadly, however, Aya sarcastically mimics Christie’s words to her sister, later,-again in the absence of Christie-with the words “‘I’ve dressed up my daughter Anansewa’, indeed!”<br />
Aya even goes to the extent of adding contemptuous remarks such as “When did my grandchild become her child?” and also “Whom is she calling mother? Me?” (p. 46). When her sister Ekuwa<br />
tries to point out that Christie is there on Ananse’s invitation and that she is just trying to help, Aya,<br />
“[snorting]”, has only this to say that, “The way I see it she is leaning her ladder on my grandchild in order to climb up to my son” (p. 45).<br />
It is clear from these and other reactions of hers that even though Aya is nice to Anansewa, when it<br />
comes to Christie, Aya changes from being a nice person- possibly because she does not approve of the relationship between Ananse and Christie. It may be argued that Ananse has not married Christie yet and so Aya may be right not to encourage illegitimate marriage or immorality, but then courtship must precede marriage? Or, being traditionalist, Aya is not interested in courtship?<br />
The truth of the matter is that, the behavior of some mothers-in-law or would-be ones in Akan land, Ghana and elsewhere is just as that shown by Ananse’s mother. It is surprising how the same person can show so much affection and yet so much disgust on account of the same son. Aya loves Anansewa, daughter of her son, but Aya dislikes Christie, partner of her son.<br />
Perhaps, once again, Sutherland is using Aya to point out the anomaly in order to encourage a change in such “rival” mothers-in-law. “Love me love my dog”, Sutherland seems to advise.<br />
Concerning Aya and her sister Ekuwa, however, there is a twist in the story which makes them pitiful, in that, after toiling so much to prepare Anansewa for marriage to a chief, in the end, they are told lies and chased away by Ananse, under the pretext that they cannot stand the sad but fake death of Anansewa. By sending them away, one can conclude that, the poor women would not be around to partake in the merriment in the marriage of their paternal grandchild, Anansewa, to Chief-Who-Is-Chief. What a pity!<br />
Christie: Like Anansewa and the elderly women Aya and Ekuwa in TMA, Christie is a woman in Ananse’s life and a special one at that, being his lover. Her full name is Miss Christina Yamoah and she is described in the play as a “fashionable” woman, the proprietress of the Institute for Prospective Brides. Sutherland mentions her name much earlier at the end of Act Two when she is telephoned to take care of Anansewa at the Institute, yet Christie does not appear until later in the<br />
play, in Act Three, to dress Anansewa on the day of the “outdooring ceremony”, where Christie joins the grannies and Anansewa’s peers in the celebrations.<br />
However, Miss Yamoah is made to dominate the funeral scenes since she literally becomes the face of Ananse while he seriously mourns his daughter, Anansewa, who is dead and lies in state, at a time when the old ladies have actually left having been tricked to leave by Ananse before Anansewa’s death.<br />
Christie is therefore made to occupy a very important position including that of a linguist and she<br />
skillfully plays these roles to the admiration of all. In any case, she also reveals herself as a liar and a crook just like her lover, all in the name of love and materialism. This is particularly so as she ensures that the sad atmosphere is maintained while she tactfully prevents the situation, where the lie behind Ananse’s plan could be exposed. Above all, Christie finds a means of collecting whatever gifts are brought to Ananse by the sympathizers.<br />
Christie respects Ananse’s mother and addresses her dearly as “mother” although she is not yet married to him and Ananse’s mother does not seem to like her. This shows how much she wants to be accepted as a daughter-in-law. According to Akan custom, the mother of one’s partner/spouse is indeed one’s mother as well.<br />
To all intents and purposes, Christie is very much in love with George Kweku Ananse, but Ananse seems to be dragging his feet concerning getting married to her. Yet Christie shows such love, care and concern to Ananse and the daughter Anansewa that she assists the grandmothers in the preparation for the “outdooring ceremony” and, indeed, presents to Anansewa something valuable, in the form of a “sovereign” which is “so precious” to Christie; something she is so emotionally attached to and says “I never thought I n never thought I would part with this sovereign in my<br />
hand” (p. 49).<br />
As previously hinted, she ensures, more importantly, that neither Ananse nor Anansewa is<br />
exposed during the fake death, lying-in-state and resurrection of Anansewa. As Ananse wails<br />
uncontrollably on account of the feigned ‘loss’ of his only child albeit his beloved daughter, Anansewa, it is Christie who takes the responsibility of receiving the messengers of the four contesting chiefs, asks the mission according to custom and takes charge of the gifts they bring. She carefully guards the room where Anansewa’s “corpse” lies and makes sure no-one gets too near the ‘body’ and possibly see the corpse breathing. Also, she tries to console Ananse and makes the whole scam affair very believable. In the end, Ananse, whom Christie affectionately calls “Georgie”, succeeds, thanks to her as much as to Anansewa, whom Christie lovingly refers to as “my daughter” (p. 45), “my darling”, “my sweetie” and “my dear” (p. 49).<br />
Sutherland’s presentation of Christie would seem to give credence to the popular Ghanaian cliché that says “Fear woman”, an expression often used to underscore the cunningness of women and how dangerous they can be.<br />
In the final analysis, there is hope that the two, that is, Christie and Ananse, shall become one just as is most likely to occur between the resurrected Anansewa and the much beloved Chief-Who-Is-Chief. Luckily for Christie, it is unlikely that she will not be around to partake in the final enjoyment, especially when Aya is far away.<br />
With the introduction of the young, “fashionable” Auntie Christie in TMA, Efua T. Sutherland also<br />
reaffirms the saying that “beside every successful man is a woman.”<br />
Ananse: Ananse himself remains the old Kweku Ananse in the traditional Akan folktales. He is the archhero, arch-trickster and, indeed, the “owner” of the tales, as is generally accepted. In TMA, for example, these are confirmed. Not only is Ananse the principal character but also he is the unbeatable trickster, who is able to play on the intelligence of a whole community including his own mother and aunt and even the “great” leaders of his society, being “four prominent chiefs of<br />
the land”!<br />
We observe how the whole story of the marriage of Anansewa is dominated by Ananse. Again, we observe how, for instance, after Anansewa’s “outdooring ceremony” has been beautifully performed by his mother and aunt, Ananse finds a lie to tell them that an enemy has set fire to the family property-being their only cocoa farm back in their village, Nanka and so gets them packing there and then into a waiting taxi as they wail their fate, pointing accusing fingers at no one in particular and rushing back home to their village to see to the “problem”. Moreover, we also observe how Ananse confuses the whole community with his fake bereavement not to talk of how he makes the chiefs the butts of his one big joke of a marriage to his daughter.<br />
Here, the true character of Ananse as a trickster, a cheat and a selfish man is upheld by Sutherland.<br />
Yet Sutherland also transforms him as a more enlightened man in TMA in order to raise him to a new level in the scheme of things. And he becomes a good man, too. Ananse’s new identity is the anglicized one with the new name ‘George’. George Kweku Ananse becomes the new Akan man, who, unlike most Akan fathers of Sutherland’s time, will educate his girl-child and not consign her to early marriage or confine her to only the kitchen just because she is female. Thus, while wishing for the best caring man to marry her, Ananse makes sure that his daughter will become educated,<br />
independent and economically empowered; therefore, he struggles to see her through school and professional training, no matter how much it costs him, financially or emotionally.<br />
It is also worth noting that even though Kweku acquires a new foreign name, “George” (“Georgie”) and with it an anglicized identity, he respects the traditions of his society and culture. For instance, he believes in traditional marriage and he gets an “outdooring ceremony” organized for his only daughter to prepare her for marriage, in fact, the high calling of a chief’s wife, though a bit belatedly and also after having prepared her at the Institute for Prospective Brides, in the care of the fashionable Madam Christie, the proprietess.<br />
The significance of this seeming contradiction in Ananse is that, perhaps, it is possible to marry positive aspects of different cultures without harm, especially in today’s globalised world. Again, Sutherland’s creativity is at its best in the carving of the new Ananse of TMA and the Akan folktales.<br />
<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
This paper has studied Efua T. Sutherland’s creative genius as far as characterization in TMA is<br />
concerned. It has shown that although TMA is built around the famous Ananse character of the Akan folktales, Sutherland artistically introduces a new dimension to the Ananse family by bringing in new entrants, who are all female and also by redefining Ananse’s identity as a modern citizen of the globalised world. There is now a balance of four women to match the four males in the original Ananse family outside him and his wife, Asɔ.<br />
Together with the grandparents, the new family of Ananse becomes more realistic, especially as an<br />
African family and the members play their roles well as major and minor characters to advance the play, both plot-wise and thematically. To a large extent, they all act and behave like real people in the real world of human beings. All these new features of the Akan folktales as depicted in TMA have been made possible owing to Sutherland’s success as a playwright with a powerful artistic presentation of characters.<br />
However, as previously observed, Sutherland does not permit Asɔ to live. This is unfortunate in two main ways. First, because the traditional Ananse family appears immortal as no member of it has ever died in the Akan folktales. If anything, it is Ananse the trickster himself who, sometimes, pretends to be dead out of greed just to cheat the family of food (see for example Tale 35 titled “Wives should help their husbands to work”, in Mireku-Gyimah (2011), but he resurrects soon after. So Ananse himself is also apparently immortal.<br />
Sutherland should, therefore, have allowed Asɔ the wife to live, especially now that Asɔ has a daughter-and a strong one for that matter-to support her against her trickster husband and mostly weak sons. Had Asɔ been spared to live, there would have been a perfect balance of five males and five females, who would have represented the society better.<br />
The existence of Asɔ the wife and Christie as a lover preparing to be a wife, or, possibly, a second wife would still not be out of place but rather even more representative of the traditional society, which permits polygamy. And Christie would be the perfect step mother-a rival who loves her husband and therefore loves whatever belongs to him, in this case, his child, Anansewa, as her own. Perhaps Sutherland simply kills off Asɔ just to try to avoid propagating polygamy which, outside traditional society, is largely considered as immoral and also to avoid adding to the woes of the suffering wife with the presence of a co-wife or girlfriend. Once again, in all these dimensions, it is all Sutherland’s art at work.<br />
<br />
REFERENCES<br />
Holman, H.C. and W. Harmon, 1986. A Handbook to Literature. 5th Edn., Macmillan, New York, pp: 81.<br />
Mireku-Gyimah, P.B., 2011. 50 Akan Folktales from Ghana: English and Akan Versions. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH, Saarbrucken, pp:<br />
205-209.<br />
Opoku-Agyemang, N.J., 1999. Gender role perceptions in the Akan folktales. Res. Afr.<br />
Literatures, 30(1): 116-139.<br />
Owusu-Sarpong, C., 1998. Trilingual Anthology of Akan Folktales. Vol. 1, Yamens Paper Products<br />
Ltd., Accra, pp: 17.<br />
Sackeyfio, N.A., J.K. Adu and B. Hyde, 1994. Ananse and the Wisdom of the World. Ghana SSS English Book 1, MoE, Accra, pp: 24-25.<br />
Sutherland, E.T., 1997. The Marriage of Anansewa. Longman African Classic, Animo Press Ltd., Ikeja, pp: 8.<br />
Teiko, N.O., 2011. Themes and Characterisation in<br />
Amu Djoleto’s Money Galore. Akrong Publications, Accra, pp: 29.<br />
spurce<a href="http://maxwellsci.com/print/crjss/v5-177-184.pdf">http://maxwellsci.com/print/crjss/v5-177-184.pdf</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-38041494681170300422014-10-01T18:03:00.001-07:002014-10-02T16:47:21.005-07:00MARIAMA BA: AFRICA`S GREATEST FEMINIST WRITER AND AN AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL "SO LONG A LETTER" <span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>"A women must marry the man who loves her but never the one she loves; that is the secret of lasting happiness." - Mariama Ba (1929-81)</b></span><br />
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Mariama Ba, Iconic Senegalese novelist and campaigner for women's rights. She is the author of the award-winning novel "So Long A Letter" published in 1979.</div>
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Mariama Bâ (April 17, 1929–August 17, 1981) was an iconic Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Ba is considered as one of the Africa`s best feminist writers. She achieved an instant international fame when her novel "une si longue lettre" (So Long A Letter) published in 1981 won the prestigious Noma Prize and gained wide acclaim. The widely studied novel une si longue lettre (So Long A Letter) was and is still considered the classical feminist statement by a sub-Saharan African woman. Upon it’s translation into English in 1989, So Long a Letter became a constant in American classrooms. So Long A Letter is the first of two novels written by Mariama Bà before her premature death in 1981. The historian Nzegwu has contended that Bâ’s life was rich in events.<br />
<img src="http://thatafricangirl.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mariama_ba1.jpg" height="445" width="640" /><br />
Although it is not the first novel written by a Senegalese woman, the novel is the work through and by which Senegalese women’s writing is evaluated. The novel’s appeal to most Western educators is attributed to its thematic focus on the negative effects that Islam and polygamy have on women. The novel validates Western feminists’ assumption or myth of a subordinated African woman who is eternally victimized by her religion and culture.<br />
Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticize what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from African traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ later married a Senegalese member of Parliament, Obèye Diop, but divorced him and was left to care for their nine children.<br />
Her frustration with the fate of African women—as well as her ultimate acceptance of it—is expressed in her first novel, So Long a Letter. In it she depicts the sorrow and resignation of a woman who must share the mourning for her late husband with his second, younger wife. Abiola Irele called it "the most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction."<br />
Bâ died a year later after a protracted illness, before her second novel, Scarlet Song, which describes the hardships a woman faces when her husband abandons her for a younger woman he knew at youth, was published.<br />
Bâ was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1929, into an educated and well-to-do Senegalese family where she grew up. Her father was a career civil servant who became one of the first ministers of state. He was the Minister of Health in 1956 while her grand father was an interpreter in the French occupation regime.<br />
After her mother’s death, Bâ was largely raised in the traditional manner by her maternal grandparents. She received her early education in French, while at the same time attending Koranic school.<br />
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Bâ was a prominent law student at school. During the colonial revolution period and later, girls faced numerous obstacles when they wanted to have a higher education. Bâ’s grandparents did not plan to educate her beyond primary school. However, her father’s insistence on giving her an opportunity to continue her studies eventually persuaded them.<br />
In a teacher training college based in Rufisque (a suburb in Dakar), she won the first prize in the entrance examination and entered the École Normale. In this institution, she was prepared for later career as a school teacher. The school’s principal began to prepare her for the 1943 entrance examination to a teaching career after he noticed Bâ’s intellect and capacity. She taught from 1947 to 1959, before transferring to the Regional Inspectorate of teaching as an educational inspector.<br />
Bâ was a novelist, teacher and feminist, active from 1979 to 1981 in Senegal, West Africa. Bâ’s source of determination and commitment to the feminist cause stemmed from her background, her parents’ life and her schooling. Indeed, her contribution is of absolute importance in modern African studies since she was among the first to illustrate the disadvantaged position of women in African society. Bâ’s work focused on the grandmother, the mother, the sister, the daughter, the cousin and the friend, how they all deserve the title "mother of Africa", and how important they are for the society.<br />
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Mariama Bâ felt the failure of African liberation struggles and movements. Her earliest works were essays she wrote while at the École Normale. Some of her works have now been published. Her first work constitutes essentially a useful method of rejection of the "so-called French assimilationist policy".<br />
Bâ advocated urgent consideration and reinvigoration of African life.<br />
This consideration and reinvigoration is essentially founded on the social construct of the relationship between man and woman. Indeed, there is an unequal and unbalanced power in the male/female relationship. According to her, these facts can help us become aware of Africa’s needs for societal change, a change more political than merely making speeches.<br />
As a divorcee and "a modern Muslim woman" as she characterized herself, Bâ was active in women’s associations. She also ardently promoted education. She defended women’s rights, delivered speeches, and wrote articles in local newspapers. Thus, her contribution is significant because she explained and described the disadvantaged position of women in general and especially married women.<br />
Bâ also had vision and determined commitment. She felt African people should reduce the deleterious impact of their culture. Women are plunged both psychologically and financially in a sensual indulgence and complete lack of regard for the consequences of men’s actions on families. They are completely blind. These facts led Bâ to believe in her mission to expose and critique the rationalisations employed to justify established power structures.<br />
She thought that distortions of cultural thought and institutions are made to demonstrate masquerades as "tradition" and "culture". Men and Women have been seduced into accepting the continuation of these "customs". People should be "persuaded of the inevitable and necessary complementarity of man and woman".<br />
Bâ wrote many books openly sharing her thoughts and feelings, including: So Long a Letter (1981), Scarlet Songs (1986), and La fonction politique des littératures Africaines écrites (The Political Function of African Written Literatures) (1981).<br />
<br />
So Long a Letter<br />
In 1981, So Long a Letter was awarded the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. In this book, the author recognized the immense contributions African women have made and continue to make in the building of their societies. This book has already been published in more than a dozen languages and is about to appear in more.<br />
The book is written in the form of a letter, or a diary, from a widow, Ramatoulaye, to her childhood girlfriend, Aissatou, who lives in the United States. Nafissatou Diallo (1941–1982), who started her works in the 1970s, was a mirror for Mariama Bâ, whose leading role was a strong-minded character. Moreover, she found support, friendship and values from female confidence, unity and harmony. The discriminatory use of power forces Ramatoulaye to deal with its consequences. This discriminatory power is what is in the novel a form of male domination coming from society’s construction of a patriarchal ideology. Because Ramatoulaye is a woman, she seemingly has no right determining her destiny. Aissatou rejects this notion and chooses her own life without being denied a life of her own by her husband Mawdo.<br />
This strong exploration of feminism is perhaps what makes the novel a strong voice for the oppressed woman in Africa. The woman is oppressed by culture and by virtue of her position. Aissatou rejects this and slowly Ramatoulaye realises she cannot look to her culture for much.<br />
To demonstrate how males are instinctive, Bâ uses female rationality and responsibility. She also portrays men’s irresponsibility by using their sexual instincts. Mawdo, Aissatou’s husband, differs from her. He emphasizes the bestiality of men’s instincts, while she urges her daughter against them. She argues that a man’s instinct is "through his self-control, his ability, to reason, to choose his power to attachment, that individual distinguishes himself from animal."(Mariama Bâ, 1981)<br />
As a Senegalese figure, Mariama Bâ represents a kind of female Leopold Sedar Senghor. She shows that not only men are important in this world. She also shows that to succeed in this life, women should identify themselves and also trust in themselves to overcome these multiple darknesses that compose life. In showing the importance of women, their role in bringing up families and keeping them together in time of calamity is clearly brought out in the novel. This still is a powerful expression of the unheeded voice of the previously silent woman in Africa. Bâ is actually calling on women to take responsibility for their lives throughout the novel.<br />
Through her character Ramatoulaye, Mariama Bâ has expressed herself. This includes the statement that she: "has not given up waiting to refashion her life. Despite everything (disappointment and humiliations) hope still lives within her… the success of a nation depends inevitably on just such families." She also shows that books can be a weapon, "a peaceful weapon perhaps, but they are weapon."(Mariama Bâ, 1981).<br />
According to her: "The power of books, this marvelous invention of astute human intelligence. Various signs associated with sound: different sounds that form the word. Juxtaposition of words from which springs the idea, Thought, History, Science, Life. Sole instrument of interrelationship and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving. Books knit generations together in the same continuing effort that leads to progress. They enabled you to better yourself. What society refused you, they granted…"<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Stuck on So Long A Letter: Senegalese Women’s Writings and the Specter of Mariama Bà</b></span><br />
<b> <span style="font-size: large;"> by</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b> Marame Gueye</b></span><br />
<b> <span style="font-size: large;">East Carolina University, USA</span></b><br />
<b> <span style="font-size: large;">A Paper Presented at the 20th Anniversary Summit of the African Educational Research Network at North Carolina State University Raleigh, USA on 19th May 2012</span></b><br />
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Mariama Bà’s widely studied novel une si longue lettre is considered the classical feminist statement by a sub-Saharan African woman. Published in 1981, the novel won the prestigious Noma Prize and gained wide acclaim. Upon it’s translation into English in 1989, So Long a Letter became a constant in American classrooms. Although it is not the first novel written by a Senegalese woman, the novel is the work through and by which Senegalese women’s writing is evaluated. The novel’s appeal to most Western educators is attributed to its thematic focus on the negative effects that Islam and polygamy have on women. The novel validates Western feminists’ assumption or myth of a subordinated African woman who is eternally victimized by her religion and culture. Bà’s critics have highlighted the novel’s many contradictions and others have suggested that the narrator’s story is not representative of the voices of most Senegalese women (Rueschmann (1995), D’Almeida (1986)), and that Ramatoulaye’s interlocutor is the West (Nwachukwu-Agbada (1991), Ogede (2011)). However, these critical investigations have not sufficed in moving beyond So Long A Letter. Thirty years after its publication, the novel continuously features in college syllabus, as a text through which to examine the condition of women in contemporary Senegal. It is taught in a varied range of courses in disciplines such as literature, gender studies, religion, and anthropology, among many others. In his essay une si longue lettre: An Erziehungsroman, Riesz and Bjornson (1991) study the ways in which the novel is about the effects of the colonial French education system which trained the Senegalese elite to which Bà belonged, and turned them into brainwashed intellectuals. These authors conclude by asking: “What has changed since then?” There are many answers to this question. A compelling one is that several Senegalese women writers have since emerged and their literary projects challenge the themes and issues at stake in Bà’s first novel. Although many are products of the French education system which remained in Senegal after independence, these authors have produced works that suggest ways in which one can, and must move beyond So Long A Letter. Among other works, Riwan ou le chemin de sable (1999) [Riwan: or the Sandy Track] by Ken Bugul (Pen name of Senegalese author Marietou Mbaye Biloema) is a pertinent text to utilize as a response to Riesz and Bjornson’s question. Both So Long A Letter and Riwan ou le chemin de sable are semi-autobiographies of two Senegalese women of the same generation. In Riwan, Ken Bugul challenges Ba’s representation of the Senegalese culture and her advocacy for a universal brand of feminism. Contrary to So Long A Letter where Islam and the Senegalese culture are oppressive of women, Riwan portrays a brand of Senegalese Islam that allows female agency and turns polygamy into a practice that can be empowering to women.<br />
So Long A Letter is the first of two novels written by Senegalese author Mariama Bà before her premature death in 1981. Bà uses the epistolary form to reflect on the female condition in postcolonial Senegal. Through a long letter which is more of a memoir that Ramatoulaye, the first person narrator, writes to her childhood friend Aissatou, Bà delineates the effects of Islam and tradition on women. As the letter begins, we learn that Ramatoulaye has just lost her husband to a heart attack. She resolves to write the long letter as a way of coping with the four months seclusion mandated by Islam, for widows. Although Ramatoulaye takes on several issues such as politics and the future of the Senegalese family, polygamy is the main focus of her epistolary endeavor. Her missive serves as a reflection on the negative effects of polygamy on Senegalese women. Both Aissatou and Ramatoulaye have experienced sharing a husband with another woman, although their reactions to such experience are different. Aissatou divorces Mawdo after he succumbs to his mother’s pressure and takes his cousin Nabou as a second wife. She goes on to France to study and later works as an interpreter at the Senegalese embassy in the US. Conversely, after twenty five years of marriage, Ramatoulaye decides to stay with Modou when he marries Binetou, a much younger woman who was their daughter’s friend. When Modou abandons her for Binetou, Ramatoulaye assumes the upbringing of their twelve children but stays legally married to him until his death, the landmark event after which she writes the letter.<br />
Reflecting on his students’ reception of So Long A Letter John Champagne (1996) points that one of the dangers of teaching postcolonial literatures in the West, “is that, like the ethnic food fair, it may treat the artifacts of “foreign cultures simply as commodities for Western consumption” (22). Such “commodification” is generally caused by the fact that Westerners utilize their “Western” lens to read “foreign” texts. However, in the case of So Long A Letter, the Western reader need not put on their lens because the narrator purposefully caters to a Western audience. Although the letter is addressed to Aissatou, it is clear that Ramatoulaye’s targeted audience is the West as indicated in Bà’s dedication: “To all women and to men of good will.” The numerous footnotes which translate or explain Wolof terms and practices confirm that Aissatou, who has witnessed or taken part in most of the events narrated, is not the interlocutor. By speaking to an audience geographically and culturally situated outside Senegal, Ramatoulaye’s epistle is a quest for Western sympathy. Champagne shared how readily his class empathized with Ramatoulaye, and even suggested options for her to free herself from her horrible culture and religion.<br />
Students seemed uniformly horrified at Ramatoulaye's plight,<br />
and, in particular, at the role assigned to women by Islam.<br />
A particularly bright student remarked that the Islamic religion<br />
seemed to sexualize women excessively. Another wanted to<br />
know why Ramatoulaye remained faithful to her religion, given<br />
Islam's negative influence on her life. Why didn't she just<br />
convert to some other religion, he wondered. (26)<br />
In his attempt to have his students move beyond their assumptions of Islam, Champagne appropriately remarks that their reading of the text is corrupted by the negative representations of Islam in the media. Ramatoulaye’s representation of Islam reinforces such stereotype because she fails to emphasize that the practice of Islam is not homogeneous, and that, the kind of Islam she portrays is specifically Senegalese.<br />
The caveat for using a literary work in order to teach a specific culture is that students tend to believe that novels are realistic, especially if the focus is Africa. Because of the chronic assumption that African cultures are homogeneous, backward, and fixated in time, Western students easily believe that what they read is true and inherent to each and every African community. By addressing a Western audience, Bà feeds such stereotypes.<br />
Sharing his pedagogy on teaching So Long A Letter in an anthropology course, James A. Pritchett (2000) substantiates how effectively Ramatoulaye’s narration pulls western readers in. “There is an extensive focus on polygyny, Islam, and urban lifestyles in contemporary Senegal.<br />
All are treated with such brutal honesty and intimacy of detail that it leaves the reader feeling a bit like a voyeur” (50). Voyeurism is an historical staple of Western scholarship on Africa. Western anthropologists have particularly approached African communities as terrains of discovery of things exotic and weird. Bà’s Western audience is not disappointed because the book shrewdly pulls them into the “intimate” aspects of the Senegalese culture which they had set out to discover. So Long A Letter is a book that Western educators can easily assign in order to meet their students’ expectations about Africa.<br />
So Long A Letter’s greatest appeal in the West lies in its ability to confirm Western feminists’ assumption of the African woman as a beast of burden. Based on its reception in feminist and gender courses, Bà has accomplished her literary project. An internet search for “So Long A Letter in gender courses” revealed 960,000 results. Although this is not proof that the novel is taught in that number of courses, it shows that it is viewed as a statement on gender struggles in Africa. Based on the idea of a global sisterhood whereby all women have the same plights and aspirations, the novel is embraced by most students in gender courses. Lisa Williams’ (1997) students found parallels between their lives and Ramatoulaye’s.<br />
While So Long a Letter is concerned with the lives of two women in postcolonial<br />
Senegal, this novel spoke to the needs and struggles of the women in my class.<br />
As members of the first generation in each of their families to attend college, these<br />
students faced tremendous obstacles to gain an education. Some were single<br />
mothers working at demeaning jobs during the day and attending school at night (142)<br />
Obviously, one can point to the dangers of comparing the lives of first generation female college students in the US to that of an educated middle class Senegalese woman, but the point is that these students assume the universality of women’s struggles. This universal brand of feminism allows Western feminists to feel the need to form a coalition with Ramatoulaye. With So Long A Letter, Bà positions herself as a champion of the liberation of the African woman from the whims of tradition. Champagne remarks about his students: “As properly trained Western feminists, students saw their role as one of championing Ramatoulaye's attempts to free herself from both her backward and oppressive culture and the confines of Islam”. Together with her “global sisters”, Ramatoulaye takes Islam and polygamy to the trial bench. Her representation of polygamy aligns itself with Western feminist scholarship of the 80s and 90s which generally claimed that women in Africa are victims of patriarchal societies.<br />
Critics are right to point that this fight for women’s liberation is vested in her attempts to evaluate an African culture through patronizing Western standards. As women who attended colonial French schools, both Bà and her narrator Ramatoulaye look at their culture through corrupted eyes. Champagne has pointed to the importance of evaluating postcolonial literatures within the context of the postcolonial environments which produced postcolonial intellectuals such as Bà. Ramatoulaye’s text reveals that her generation constitutes a female elite trained by the colonial French school which agenda was to produce assimilated subjects. To that effect, Ramatoulaye perceives her culture as a liability. Recounting Modou’s funeral, she sees the ceremony as an inconvenience and anticipates that mourners would be stealing from her. “On the third day, the same comings and goings of friends, relatives, the poor, the unknown. The name of the deceased, who was popular, has mobilized a buzzing crowd, welcomed in my house that has been stripped of all that could be stolen, all that could be spoilt”. Ramatoulaye’s arrogance toward her culture is a byproduct of the French’s educational project. Praising her former teacher, she writes:<br />
Aissatou, I will never forget the white woman who was first to desire for<br />
us an ‘uncommon’ destiny. To lift us out of the bog of tradition,<br />
superstition and custom, to make us appreciate a multitude of civilizations<br />
without renouncing our own, to raise our vision of the world, cultivate our<br />
personalities, strengthen our qualities, to make up for our inadequacies, to<br />
develop universal moral values in us: these were the aims of our admirable<br />
headmistress. (15-16)<br />
As an assimilated subject, Ramatoulaye conceives her French education as an enlightenment of her backward African mind. She embraces many aspects of French culture, including her adoption of the nuclear family, isolates herself from her culture and seems to have no relatives. She defines herself by her relationship to Modou, excluding other places where most Senegalese women find their worth such as in their roles as aunts, cousins, nieces, surrogate mothers, sisters, and much more.<br />
Ramatoulaye and Aissatou are fixated on monogamy and romantic love imported from French culture. Based on romantic love, Ramatoulaye goes against her mother’s apprehension about Modou, while Aissatou and Mawdo defy their families and marry outside their respective social castes. Though their husbands’ second marriages are betrayals in their inability to inform their wives beforehand, the two friends’ attitude toward polygamy is defined by romantic love, which they both made the premises of their marriages. Their definition of love is the complete surrender of oneself to a man. Speaking to Tamsir, Modou’s older brother who wanted to marry her after the latter’s death, Ramatoulaye writes: “You forgot that I have a heart, a mind, that I am not an object to be passed from hand to hand. You don’t know what marriage means to me: it is an act of faith and of love, the total surrender of oneself to the person one has chosen and who has chosen you” (56). She further confesses to Aissatou: “Even though I understand your stand, even though I respect the choice of liberated women, I have never conceived happiness outside marriage” (56). Her inability to fathom a life separate from Modou, makes it difficult for her to cope with his betrayal. Both Ramatoulaye and Aissatou see their husbands’ polygamous choices as an annulment of a contract sealed through romantic love.<br />
Contrary to So Long A Letter, Riwan ou le chemin de sable’s narrator celebrates polygamy. Published in 1999, the novel is the third installment in a trilogy by Ken Bugul [The one no one wants (Wolof)] (Pen name of Senegalese author Marietou Mbaye Bileoma.). The narrator in Riwan juxtaposes her quest for her identity with that of a mentally ill man whose name Riwan, serves as the title of the book. After a long stay in Europe, the narrator returns to her small village alienated and disillusioned with the West. Through her friendship with the local Serigne, a Muslim cleric from the Mourid brotherhood, she is able to rediscover her roots and reconcile her fragmented self. She later becomes the Serigne’s 28th wife, upon invitation from the other women.<br />
Ken Bugul’s first novel, The Abandoned Baobab (1982), garnered the same appeal from Western feminists as So Long A Letter because it features a female protagonist who is fascinated with the West. In The Abandoned Baobab, Ken Bugul followed the steps of Bà in So Long A Letter by featuring victimized African woman who is at odds with her culture and looks to Europe for salvation. In The Abandoned Baobab the narrator’s fascination with Europe leads to objectification, prostitution, drug abuse, and mental illness. In Riwan, Ken Bugul shatters Western feminists’ assumptions about African women and challenges the negative portrayals of polygamy. Because of this tour de force, Ken Bugul’s popularity among Western feminists has diminished. Although she has written more than two books, her work is not taught or translated as widely as Mariama Bà’s. Riwan has won the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Afrique Noire, yet it still does not have an English translation<br />
1, which would make it accessible to most Western readers.<br />
Going back to my claim that So Long A Letter is the book by which Senegalese women’s writing is represented, I would like to offer ways in which Riwan ou le chemin de sable constitutes a work to contrast with Ba’s novel, in order to look beyond the representations that the latter offers.<br />
Like Ramatoulaye, the narrator in Riwan belongs to the Senegalese female elite trained by the colonial French educational system. Further alienated by an extended sojourn in Europe, she returns to Senegal fragmented. She later demystifies the West through her interactions with the Serigne and the companionship of the women in his harem. Her re-birth allows her to take a closer look at her alienation and offer a counter discourse to western epistemologies on women and marriage. From the start of the novel, Ken Bugul subverts the Western style of narration employed by Bà (the letter), and adopts an African form of storytelling.<br />
Un lundi.<br />
Jour de marché.<br />
A Dianké.<br />
One Monday.<br />
Market Day.<br />
At Diank<br />
The repetition of these phrases throughout the book, defies fixed temporality as in the usual opening line for stories: “Once upon a time.” This embracing of African oral traditions implies the author’s desire to go back to her Senegalese roots. The evocation of the market day reiterates that desire to return to African ways of evaluating time, and suggests that many members of the community bear witness to the events which she is about to narrate. The narrator’s interlocutor becomes anyone who is present during the telling of the story. Furthermore, a major convention of African storytelling is that stories are not true. Their purpose is to impart wisdom. African stories and tales are didactic means to instruct future generations. As substantiated in her dedication “A Mame Yande Fall, ma copine de la ville et à mes trés regrettées niéces Sokhna Mbaye et Mame Diarra Diagne à qui je raconte ceci aujourd’hui.” [To my friend from town Mame Yande Fall and to my much mourned nieces Sokhna Mbaye and Mame Diarra Diagne to whom I am telling this story today.] Although her nieces are deceased, Ken Bugul imparts her wisdom to them for the next generation to learn from the lessons imbedded within her story. Storytelling allows the narrator to refuse the responsibility of representation adopted by Ramatoulaye through her epistolary narration.<br />
The setting is also a subversion of the urban focus of So Long A Letter. In so doing, Ken Bugul decentralizes the debate about the female condition. Dianké, the fictive name of the village, is a way to reject verisimilitude and to register the tale within the framework of a non-place. It also suggests that Western assimilation is more anchored in urban areas where many intellectuals reside. Rural areas are places where traditional practices are resilient. With nostalgia, the narrator recounts Nabou Samb’s nuptials. “Aujourd’hui encore, le mariage de Nabou Samb etait accroché aux lévres des gens, à la poussière des chemins sablonneux de Mbar à Mbos. [To this day Nabou Samb’s wedding hangs on people’s lips, on the dust from the sandy roads between Mbar and Mbos (41).] Unlike Ramatoulaye who dreads family ceremonies, Ken Bugul’s narrator celebrates them and regrets not having gone through some of the rituals.<br />
Que de femmes modernes avaient souffert en silence, sans oser se l’avouer, de<br />
n’avoir jamais vecu ces moments? Comme moi! Etre issue d’un milieu, y avoir<br />
grandi, et n’avoir pas connu les rites et les pratiques de ce milieu, conformement<br />
a des echelles de valeurs qui commandaient toute une vie ou toute une mort.<br />
How many modern women have suffered in silence without daring to<br />
acknowledge to themselves the regret of having never lived these moments?<br />
Like me! To have come from a place, to have grown in that place, and not<br />
having gone through the rituals and practices such as the ascending values which<br />
govern a whole life or a whole death. (75-76)<br />
She tries to recover her identity and acknowledges that her generation is conflicted. Their adoption of Western culture has led to a disjointed self, which longs for the African traditions they had rejected in the name of modernity. In her attempt to instruct future generations, the narrator describes in detail Wolof wedding ceremonies such as céet2and xaxar3. Her didactic project includes the safeguarding of Wolof traditions through storytelling, including polygamy.<br />
In Riwan, polygamy does not have a negative connotation. Unlike Ramatoulaye, she conceives monogamy as a relationship dictated by possessiveness. While taking a stand against child marriages through the story of Rama, the young girl who was offered to the Serigne without her consent, the narrator suggests that when women are given a choice, polygamy can work. In her case, she willingly decides to join the Serigne’s harem because of her spiritual connection to him. Her marriage to the Serigne allows her to find the self she has been searching for.<br />
Ainsi le Serigne m’avait offert et donné la possibilité de me réconcillier avec moi<br />
-même, avec mon milieu, avec mes origines, avec mes sources, avec mon monde<br />
sans lesquels je ne pourrais jamais suivre. J’avai échappé à la mort de mon moi,<br />
de ce moi qui n’était pas à moi toute seule. De ce moi qui appartenait aussi aux<br />
miens, à ma race, à mon people, à mon village et à mon continent.<br />
The Serigne had offered and given me the possibility of reconciling myself with<br />
myself, with my surroundings, with my origins, with my roots, with my world,<br />
without which I would never have been able to survive. I had escaped the death<br />
of my self, that self that didn’t belong to me alone. That self also belonged to my<br />
people, to my race, to my village and my continent. (167-168)<br />
The narrator finds herself through her union with her spiritual father but most importantly, the companionship of his other wives constitutes the catalyst of this recovery.<br />
She joins the harem because of her longing for female companionship. Her relationship with the other wives is based on mutual respect and a desire to reap the benefits of a union with a man who is religiously and spiritually gifted. Through her bonding with the Serigne’s other wives, the narrator discovers that her education and travels across the globe have exposed her to foreign ideas and theories, which ultimately are the source of her alienation. She voices envy toward the women who remained home and did not benefit from a Western education. “Les épouses du Serigne qui n’avaient pas voyagé autant que moi, n’avaient pas connu les angoisses qui avaient gaché une grande partie de ma vie.” [The wives of the Serigne who had not traveled as much as I had, didn’t not have the kinds of concerns which destroyed a good part of my life (189).] Because of their limited exposure to the West and its ideas, the Serigne’s other wives are not perpetually yearning for masculine validation. The courtyard where they spend most of their time is a world filled with laughter and female bonding. Their conversations revolve around the prices of commodities, the latest fashion, politics, the education of their children, God, life, death, and occasionally, the Serigne. Though they look to the Serigne for occasional sex, they practice masturbation and engage in erotic games for sexual fulfillment. Through these women, the narrator learns that she did not have to define her existence based on her relationship to a man. ”Je découvris ainsi que nous n’avions pas besoin de recréer les mâles,d’accrocher nos vies aux leurs.” [So I discovered that we did not have to re-create males, to hang our lives on theirs (177).] This realization is a subversion of the Western feminist tradition where educated women positioned themselves as those who know.<br />
By acknowledging that she learned to redefine herself from the uneducated women in the Serigne’s harem, the narrator challenges Western feminist ideas, and suggests that the feminist discourses which contributed to her loss of self, are Eurocentric and patronizing. They are discourses based on too many theories, false assumptions, and a desire to compare oneself to men.<br />
“Les femmes moderns étaient condamnées au bavardage mondain pour se faire accepter et aimer. Taisons nous et agissons. “ [Modern women are doomed to empty mundane talk in order to be accepted and loved. Let us shut up and act (185). She enumerates many places where the co-called subordinated African women find agency (187). These examples serve to challenge Western feminist scholarship about African women and contradict the universal female struggle implied in So Long A Letter.<br />
Over thirty years after her death, Mariama Bà’s specter has stands over Senegalese women’s writings. Her novel So Long A Letter has been the text through which Senegalese culture and the practice of polygamy in Africa are evaluated. Western scholars and readers are particularly drawn to this novel because it substantiates their stereotypes of Africa. They identify with Ramatoulaye because of her attempts to evaluate her culture through Western standards. Like Things Fall Apart, which continues to be the representative of African literature in world literature courses, So Long A Letter is the statement about Senegalese women’s lives. This seemingly fixation on So Long A Letter suggests that Ramatoulaye’s representation is applicable to all Senegalese women, and that her vision of the culture is absolute. It also implies that Senegalese women’s writings has not moved from the themes and issues raised in Bà’s novel. Ken Bugul’s Riwan ou le chemin Riwan offers complex ways of looking at polygamy and Islam. It complicates Ramatoulaye’s representations and contradicts her Western feminist claims. Through Riwan, Ken Bugul shows that there isn’t a universal brand of feminism and that postcolonial intellectual must free herself from empty theories by decolonizing her mind, in order to recover her fragmented self. Unfortunately, Riwan ou le chemin de sable is not translated into English.<br />
source: <a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/TAS12.1/AERN2012Summit_Gueye.pdf">http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/TAS12.1/AERN2012Summit_Gueye.pdf</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-59209243269831362962014-09-30T17:42:00.002-07:002014-09-30T17:42:57.669-07:00AMA ATA AIDOO: ONE OF THE AFRICA`S OLDEST BEST AUTHOR, FEMINIST, ACADEMICIAN, AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED LITERARY GIANT AND INTELLECTUAL GHANAIAN FIGURE "<span style="font-size: x-large;">As Always.... a Painful Declaration </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> of Independence</span><br />
I have been happy<br />
being me:<br />
<br />
an African<br />
a woman<br />
and a writer.<br />
<br />
Just take your racism<br />
your sexism<br />
your pragmatism<br />
off me;<br />
<br />
overt<br />
covert or<br />
internalized<br />
<br />
And<br />
damned you!"<br />
<br />
"An Angry Letter in January" Ama Ata Aidoo.<br />
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Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic, who is also a former Minister of Education in the Ghana government. She is the editor of the anthology African Love Stories</div>
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Professor Ama Ata Aidoo, née Christina Ama Aidoo is an internationally recognized literary<br />
and intellectual Ghanaian figure of ethnic Fante extraction. She is as an accomplished author, poet, playwright, academic, feminist, and beacon to writers the world over. Aidoo is also a former Minister of Education in the Ghana government. Her novel '<a href="changes: a Love Story">Changes: a Love Story</a>" won the coveted <a href="http://commonwealth%20writers%20prize/">Commonwealth Writers Prize</a> for Best Book (Africa) in 1992. She is also an accomplished poet - her collection Someone Talking to Sometime won the Nelson Mandela Prize for Poetry in 1987 - and has written several children's books.Aidoo is the editor of the anthology African Love Stories.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://brittlepaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Shoneyin-and-Aidoo.jpg" width="640" /><br />
On Wednesday, September 17th 2014 at the British Council in Accra, Ghana, the much awaited documentary on Prof Aidoo entitled "The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo" put together by Yaba Badoe and Amina Mama, was finally premiered. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo explores the artistic contribution of one of the Africa’s foremost woman writers, a trailblazer for an entire generation of exciting new talent. The film charts Ama Ata Aidoo’s creative journey in a life that spans 7 decades from colonial Ghana through the tumultuous era of independence to a more sober present day Africa where nurturing women’s creative talent remains as hard as ever.<br />
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Aidoo is an outspoken woman who, in the tradition of some of her predecessors such as Flora Nwapa (Nigeria) and Efua T Sutherland (Ghana) both resists and subverts traditional literary boundaries. Femi-Ojo (1982) pejoratively labelled her as belonging to the “old guard” of African women writers who are less ideologically aggressive, but Aidoo is nevertheless respected by well-established writers such as Buchi Emecheta -who thinks of herself as Aidoo’s new sister-or by the still-relatively unknown Ghanaian writer Ama Darko-who pays respects to Aidoo as her literary mother.<br />
<img height="360" src="http://akatasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/AAA-with-her-sister.jpg" width="640" /><br />
María Frías in her 1998 interview with Prof Aidoo entitled "An Interview with Ama Ata Aidoo: “I Learnt my First Feminist Lessons in Africa,” described her as "a medium-sized, strongly built, round-faced woman who wears Ghanaian dresses, and rich, colorful, and beautiful headwraps tied to her dignified head." Frias further averred that Prof Aidoo`s celebration of the African story-telling tradition, her critical view of the Western world, her rebellion against “the colonization of the African minds”, and her preoccupation with the future of her country and her Ghanaian people-women in particular-makes a conversation with Ama Ata Aidoo a learning experience. Her voice always sounds fresh, critical, outrageous and full of life.<br />
She has consistently and fascinatingly explored her society through many plays, novels, short stories and poems. Aidoo is the author of plays The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965), and Anowa (1970); short stories No Sweetness Here (1979), and The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (1999); novels Our Sister Killjoy or Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint (1977), and Changes (1991); collections of poems Someone Talking to Sometime (1985), and An Angry Letter in January and Other Poems; children’s books The Eagle and Chickens and Other Stories (1986), and Birds and Other Poems (1987).<br />
<img height="427" src="http://africawrites.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Ama-Ata-Aidoo_Darren-Hercher_Fadoa-Films.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Prof Ama Ata Aidoo</div>
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Her fictional works are explicitly critical of the colonial history of Ghana, and of what she refers to as the “dance of masquerades called independence”. Anowa (1970), No Sweetness Here (1970), Our Sister Killjoy (1977) describe and criticize oppression and inequality, target colonialism and implicitly deny the term “postcolonial”. Aidoo is also known as an important feminist writer. Her<br />
works feature strong female protagonists who are faced with institutionalized and personal sexist attitudes on a daily basis. In her non-fictional writings, Aidoo also explicitly fights against the axis of oppressive social constructions of gender and their consequences for women. She blames colonialism for importing “a fully developed sexist system, which has been adapted, maintained and exacerbated as it has been integrated into different aspects of African culture” (Marangoly, Scott<br />
1993: 299). As with other African women writers, to use Busia’s words (1989-90: 90), Aidoo challenges, deconstructs, and subverts the traditional “voicelessness of the black women trope”.<br />
One how she became a successful writer, Amat Ata Aidoo wrote in “To Be a Woman” (1985: 259), with a quote from her uneducated aunt: “My child, get as far as you can into this education. Go until you yourself are tired. As for marriage, it is something a woman picks up along the way”.<br />
Through her short story writing prowess as exhibited in “No Sweetness Here”, Ama Ata Aidoo caught the attention of the celebrated literary giants Langston Hughes, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and others and was invited to the African Writers Workshop at the University of Ibadan in 1962 when she was only 22 years old. At these Workshop Ama Ata Aidoo did not only interacted with African literary giants and received exposure but she also met a very young ‘Molara Ogundipe Leslie who also a student and a participant at the workshop.<br />
<img height="478" src="http://www.philip-effiong.com/sitebuilder/images/007-455x341.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and Ghanian writer Ama Ata Aidoo<br />
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Ama Ata Aidoo perceives herself as a teacher, first and foremost, and like to teach her students about other African women writers. "I have been teaching Mariama Bâ (So Long a Letter), Bessie Head (A Question of Power), Buchi Emecheta (Joys of Motherhood) -which is a must-and, although she is not by nationality an African, I’ve always taught Marise Condé (Segú). In drama, I wouldn’t even move one inch without teaching Efua Sutherland, especially 'The Marriage of Anansewa." I always teach Nawal El Saadawi and there are a whole lot of other women (Frias 1998: 18-19).<br />
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Though venerated in Europe and the USA as the foremost African feminist-a fact that she somewhat resents and long immersed in gender issues-both at a personal, political, and literary level- Aidoo still questions artificial critical constructions. Her women, though, following the principles of the Akan society she comes from, are strong, hard-working, independent, articulate, and smart, thus, deconstructing the stereotypical image of the submissive, passive, and battered African woman. Aidoo herself takes pains to explain the reasons for portraying these provocative female protagonists: People say to me: “Your women characters seem to be stronger than we are used to when thinking about African women”. As far as I am concerned these are the African women among whom I was brought up. In terms of women standing on their own feet, within or outside marriage, mostly from inside marriage, living life on their own terms. (Wilson-Tagoe, 200: 248).<br />
<img height="343" src="http://pulsemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Ama-Ata-Aidoo-30May10-mw.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ama Ata Aidoo made her glorious debut into this theatre of life in 23 March 1940 at Saltpond in the Central Region of Ghana. She grew up in a Nkusukum (sub-ethnic Fante group) royal household as the beloved daughter of Nana Yaw Fama, chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor, and Maame Abasema. Her Fante (Akan) ethnic group are matriarchal people and openly favors women to the extent that the mother of four sons still considers herself “infertile” because she could not have any daughters, and where women are supposed to have the authority but not the power to rule-Aidoo’s (for some) progressive portrayal of African women is simply a reflection of what she saw: “I got this incredible<br />
birds-eye view of what happens in that society and I definitely knew that being a woman is enormously important in Akan society” (Wilson-Tagoe, 2002: 48).<br />
In tandem with Fantes favoritism for women, women education is not joked with with at all as Dr James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, the famous African educator and an unadulterated Fante ssummed it up: "If you educate a man, you educate one person but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation.” even with this quote the original states “. . ., if you educate a woman, you educate a family”).<br />
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Ama Ata Aidoo with Prof Wole Soyinka.</div>
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In line with the Fante tradition, young Nkusukum princess Ama Ata Aidoo had her basic education at Saltpond and afterwards, was sent by her father to Wesley Girls' High School in Cape Coast from 1961 to 1964. The headmistress of Wesley Girls' bought her her first typewriter. After leaving high school, she enrolled at the University of Ghana in Legon and received her Bachelor of Arts in English as well as writing her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, in 1964. The play was published by Longman the following year, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.<br />
She worked in the United States of America where she held a fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. She also served as a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and as a Lecturer in English at the University of Cape Coast, eventually rising there to the position of Professor.<br />
Aside from her literary career, Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Provisional National Defence Council in 1982. She resigned after 18 months. She has also spent a great deal of time teaching and living abroad for months at a time. She has lived in America, Britain, Germany, and Zimbabwe. Aidoo taught various English courses at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY in the early to mid-1990s. She is currently a Visiting Professor in the Africana Studies Department at Brown University.<br />
<img height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0j0fdrQPP83PEliPT4X098G0G-XZ8ZvASwj0xY7U6RYFvDL0IAuk_J-YKaK8DBaSbJECcIUSZB8I1zYC8IadQ2NzQrAcp-TuLpjmzbG6qZ8Z2NZDmCDYh1cTQfIlos8uKRhaNf0upkt0/s640/_NK_1890.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ama Ata Aidoo sitting down with her colleague Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, the famous author of Weep Not Child novel. Courtesy Nana Kofi Acquah.<br />
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Aidoo's works of fiction particularly deal with the tension between Western and African world views. Her first novel," Our Sister Killjoy", was published in 1977 and remains one of her most popular works. In "Our Sister Killjoy", Aidoo is concerned mostly with the estrangement of the African educated class. Sissy, the main character, is offered a grant to receive a European<br />
education. Her journey into the west chronicles different aspects of her resistance to the overriding ideological hostilities that bring down Africa and African people.The novel is divided into four parts. “Into a Bad Dream” relates Sissie’s travel experience to Germany. She is secure in her racial background, and only progressively over the itineraries of her ‘westbound mobility’ does she<br />
become conscious of her colour complexion. In “The Plums,” Sissie discovers Marija, a new German friend. Marija is entangled in boredom and immediately gets caught within the exotic Other ‘the black-eyed squint’ student stands for. In the course of their friendship, Sissie finds out Marija’s perverted behaviors, rejects her lesbianism and leaves her in frustration and total disillusionment. In “From Our Sister Killjoy,” Sissie moves to London, the colonial capital which brings back into her<br />
mind the whole tale about the British colonial experience in Ghana. She appears to be extremely disappointed at the tragic social reality and marginalization of black African immigrants. In the epistolary section on a “Love Letter”, Sissie is engaged in a mock-conversation with a lover, using an extremely sarcastic style to assert her identity through the experiences she went through.<br />
Raised in, respectful towards, and proud of her African oral tradition and the ancient story-telling, Aidoo’s forte is in her dialogues. Aidoo invests her female characters with the powerful tool of speech. Her African women make use of words as weapons to the extent that they can easily and intelligently fustigate men’s egos and beat them dialectically /metaphorically, at the same time gaining the respect of the other sisters in the community.<br />
<img height="497" src="http://today.brown.edu/files/article_images/Aidoo2.jpg" width="640" /><br />
A farewell hug<br />
Students and faculty colleagues bid farewell to Ghanaian playwright Ama Ata Aidoo. Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University<br />
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Furthermore, in Allan’s words (1994: 188-89), Aidoo’s instinctive and innovative use of similes and proverbs is an effective rhetorical tool which shows women’s verbal dexterity at the same time as it highlights collective wisdom: Africanisms, new words coined from the alchemic blending of English and the African cultural scene, enrich Aidoo’s linguistic repertoire. Such terms as “flabberwhelmed”, “negatively eventful”, and “away matches” violate standard English in order to express a socio-linguistic identity that is uniquely African.<br />
Aidoo has travelled widely, is not blind to the trauma and pain of the African diaspora, and has personally experienced the always confl ictive encounter between African and Western cultures. Maybe this is the reason why some of her female protagonists also undergo a physical and emotional journey that is painful and traumatic, though always instructive and regenerative. Aidoo deals with the impact of colonialism, postcolonialism, and neo-colonialism on the bodies and psyches of her African women characters but, contrary to the “nervous condition” of Dangarembga’s female protagonist, Aidoo’s women are much more in control of their bodies and minds and they can always come back home-though psychologically injured, physically exhausted, emotionally disillusioned, and culturally alienated-start a new life, or choose a liberating but tragic ending. Though confronted with and struggling against social norms and cultural disintegration as well as with the traumatic dichotomy of African tradition versus Western modernity, Aidoo’s women-albeit shaken-retain their sanity and are able to articulate their anger. Madness-a recurrent<br />
theme in post-colonial African fiction Femi-Ojo (1979), Adepitan (1993/94)-does not hit /affect Aidoo’s heroines. Only in the case of Anowa did Aidoo contemplate the possibility of her protagonist ending up insane, but she thought it too cruel, and handed Anowa the privilege of choosing her own death. Aidoo’s women are peripatetic beings who cross boundaries-geographical, social, cultural, and emotional-who dare to step over patriarchal borderlines, who violate traditional discourses on the cult of marriage and motherhood, at the same time as they dramatize their vulnerability and their subjugation to African tradition. As Allan (1994: 178) argues, by portraying African women’s tensions, frustrations, and contradictions, Aidoo’s works refl ect on the dual theme of “social stasis”-tradition-versus “change”-modernity.<br />
<img alt="Ama-Ata-Aidoo-on-loaction-with-her-grandson" src="http://amaatafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Ama-Ata-Aidoo-on-loaction-with-her-grandson.jpg" /><br />
source:<a href="http://publicaciones.ua.es/filespubli/pdf/02144808RD16064646.pdf">http://publicaciones.ua.es/filespubli/pdf/02144808RD16064646.pdf</a><br />
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"<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: magenta;">THE ART OF AMA ATA AIDOO" :</span> A DOCUMENTARY by Yaba Badoe and Amina Mama</span></b><br />
The art of Ama Ata Aidoo is a very thrilling exploration of the vast universe that is Ama Ata Aidoo’s mind and it’s phenomenal expression in her literary works which have so shaken up the very foundations of literature in Ghana and Africa.<br />
Traversing her life from the inception of her art to its explosion, the documentary gives quite a vivid insight into the cultural, societal, and familial influences that, in many ways, were the inception of the great literary mind that was Ama Ata Aidoo’s.<br />
<img height="425" src="http://showbiz.citifmonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ama-ata.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Yaba Badoe (right) and Ama Ata Aidoo in conversation at the AWDF African Women in Film Forum<br />
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In the documentary, Ama Ata Aidoo remembers stories her mother used to tell her in the early mornings in the village (not the usual nighttime storytelling style), of a preacher-man/ evangelist who came by the village when she was young, of her royal birth and subsequent disregard for the institution of royalty.<br />
In the nostalgia of black-and-white, sepia-tinted pictures, she also shares the fairly pivotal influence of a teacher in Wesley Girls High school who gave a young Ama Ata Aidoo her first typewriter after she expressed the ‘crazy’ desire to be a writer.<br />
Her time in Takoradi was another pivotal moment in Ama’s life where she participated in a Christmas story competition running in the Daily Graphic at the time.<br />
Her story was published, which turned out to be a milestone for her, being the very first of her work that got published. And she got paid!<br />
With interviews of Prof. Carole Boyce Davies and Prof. Anne V. Adams from Cornell University, Prof Irwin Appel of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Prof. Nana Wilson-Tagoe (University of Missouri), the documentary encouraged intense contemplation, as well as self-introspection, into the very controversial issues Ama Ata Aidoo was fearless to raise in her works.<br />
She says quite bluntly of controversy, “How can you call yourself a writer, if you’re running away from controversial issues?” And so controversial issues there were:<br />
The contemporary Ghanaian woman battling the stereotype. Talking about the character Esi in her novel Changes in the documentary, Ama Ata Aidoo shared the numerous accusations readers made of her, “She’s cold”, “She’s selfish”, “She’s not a good mother”, etc. and in her blunt and matter-of-fact way, Ama Ata Aidoo reminds all outraged sensibilities that this earth is not only for the warm, the unselfish, and good mothers.<br />
<img height="479" src="http://fr.awdf.org/wp-content/gallery/awdf-gallery/ama-ata-aidoo-at-5th-anniversary.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ama Ata Aidoo receiving award at the 5th anniversary of African Women Development Fund<br />
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The dark business of slavery and the guilt-driven Ghanaian treatment of a past they would rather not deal with. Yaba and Amina’s documentary explored Theatre in telling the story of Ama Ata Aidoo’s words and their universal truth. In deliberate juxtaposition, Yaba Badoe and Amina Mama show scenes from the performance of ‘Anowa at the University of California , Santa Babara, in conjunction with Ama Ata Aidoo reading the words of the play. I find what this did for me as a viewer was a play on the very different ways in which her Ama’s words could be interpreted in the different voices that were employed. Reading (and acting) a section of Anowa which recounted what her grandmother said to her about places she’d been to, Ama Ata Aidoo’s voice was motherly, and softly censorial, as is usual of a Ghanaian grandmother to her eager and curious grandchild. The African American actress, Erin Pettigrew, said those very same words with all the weight of a painful history of which she was a consequence of. Where ‘places’ was a thing of sad and painful wonder in an older Ama Ata Aidoo’s voice, ‘places’ in young Erin’s voice had a ring of desperation and an exuberant, tearful anger and indignation. Where Anowa would have been interpreted as a sad love story, excerpts from this play hinted a more heavy-handed focus on the issues of slavery which Ama Ata Aidoo raised in that timeless play. “Ghanaians have always been nervous of the presence of the Diaspora here,” Ama Ata Aidoo says.In interviews about the play included in the documentary, the many factors which might have influenced the mindscape of Ama Ata Aidoo as she wrote Anowa are examined: She being a Ghanaian writer in the United States of America in the ‘sixties, a time of the Black Civil Rights movements, a time of burgeoning feminism, the hippie revolution and so much more. All of this played a huge part in the themes and allegory probed into in Anowa.<br />
<img height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDN25hKVrVX6S9T7N2rf2fGLDidCG-X-RxY21gISYcMFc9yW0bK1_PdApl4fdDhzzO39uvvQtu1HuMdok00N663MeU7JLFYs9fSIcAtGSncAVv6VCRQKpMw55gr0LdWnn25M6Z9grxZgg/s640/_NK_1812.jpg" width="640" /><br />
African Writers lunch with Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Nii Ayi Parkes, Martin Egblewogbe, Nana Fredua Agyeman, Nana Nyarko Boateng, Nana Ayibea Clarke and Kinna Likimani.<br />
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Language. Speaking about the medium she writes in: English, Ama Ata Aidoo shared that since it was English she had chosen to write in, she would make sure all her characters were as authentically Ghanaian as possible which informs her very unique style of speech, using simple words in symbolic ways, very much like the proverbial speech of Ghanaian local languages.4. Her phenomenal work Our sister Killjoy and her hints on the topic of lesbianism in the piece. Ama Ata Aidoo shared how she was attacked from both sides; by Ghanaians who accused her of introducing something foreign to Ghana and lesbians who accused her of not thoroughly dealing with it because she disapproved.5. Her work as the Minister of Education, the unapologetic chauvinism of parliament and how it interfered with her writing. She spoke very candidly, as is her style, of how in Cabinet, when the men spoke, everyone treated it as important, but when she began to speak, “suddenly, those who were smokers would light a cigarette, others would suddenly want to pass notes” and such in the typical, chauvinistic manner with which most Ghanaian men treat women, leaders or not. Even worse, was how her work as a writer was interfered with due to her ministerial duties, to which the very wise Ama reflected, “Writers, just write. Everything else is secondary.”<br />
<br />
The Woman’s story that is never told. “Women’s biographies and stories are not told, women do not take the attribution that they ought to take and this is why we ought to be proud of this documentary, in this most provocative medium,” Prof. Esi Sutherland said in her speech at the premiere of the documentary. And that was what we did last night, celebrate a phenomenal woman whose fearlessness and incredible gift has left a legacy that spans continents and cultures to become something universal.<br />
My only qualm was that there was very little shown of the great impact of Ama Ata Aidoo on Ghanaian pupils and students.<br />
I felt a holistic story of such a universal, and national, figure was not complete without this.<br />
Though the scenes of Anowa, Dilemma of a Ghost, being treated in an American university was a powerful way of showing that the relevance of Ama Ata Aidoo’s work had gone beyond the Ghanaian shores, Ghanaian school children who read her work as prescribed literature, teachers of all levels who teach her work, were also scenes I felt needed to be included.<br />
This would have added great perspective in telling about the national legend Ama Ata Aidoo is for us as Ghanaians.<br />
On the whole however, the documentary is outstanding in portraying how Ama Ata Aidoo has become not just a Ghanaian song of celebration, but a timeless tune that is sung across continents and cultures, across races and differences, to become a cosmic figure, not just in Ghanaian, African or African American literature, but Literature as a whole.<br />
<img src="http://amaatafilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/AAA-welcoming-story-tellers.jpg" /><br />
By: Nana Akosua Hanson/citifmonline.com/Ghana<br />
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Ama Ata Aidoo being hugged by fellow writer Wole Soyinka at an event in Accra, 9th July celebrating his 80th year</div>
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Picture Credit: Kobina Graham</div>
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<img height="359" src="http://gfx.nrk.no/Bl5CvLidqiSK03lEReHH-AL9tXFPCNBFsad71PEMEYYA" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-67346767618417082102014-09-30T07:58:00.002-07:002014-10-01T17:27:05.166-07:00NKUSUKUM PEOPLE: HIGHLY INTELLECTUAL AND FEARLESS ETHNIC FANTE SUB-GROUP WHO WERE THE ORIGINAL CUSTODIANS OF BORBOR MFANTSE NANANOM MPOW (ANCESTRAL GROVE OF THE FANTES)Nkusukum are one of the matriarchal, highly educated, fearless and agriculturalist Fantse-speaking people that forms the subset of the larger Borbor Mfantse (Fante) ethnolingusitic group residing in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. Nkusukum people were custodians of the Nananom Mpow (ancestral grove of the Fantes) and became the first among equals among the Fante groups.<br />
<img src="http://news.yale.edu/sites/default/files/imagecache/video_photo_main/7_50.jpg" height="476" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum young royal in her traditional cloth, Yamoransa, Ghana.<br />
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These Fante sub-group reside predominantly in Akyemfo (Saltpond), Yamoransa, Biriwa, Akatakyiwa, Asafora, Abeadze Dominase, Abeadze Kyeakor, Abonko, Nankesedu, Wuraba, Duadze, Abenum, Kuntu, Anokyi, Mpesedadze, Peyim, and some parts of Mankessim. Their capital city is Yamoransa.<br />
<img alt="File:Obaatan.jpg" src="http://en.citizendium.org/images/thumb/9/90/Obaatan.jpg/800px-Obaatan.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum Chief (Obaatan) in a palanquin during Odambea festival of Nkusukum-Fante people at Saltpond, Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. Source Regina Bouuillon.<br />
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Nkusukum people were among the original Fante people that migrated out of Bono Kingdom, after the reign or the death of a Fante king of Bono, Kunkumfi Ameyaw and its subsequent disagreement with their Bono relatives. In 1229, the Borbor Fantse started their migration from Bono Kingdom under the leadership of three legendary leaders: Oburumankoma (whale), Odapagyan (eagle), and Oson (elephant)—patriarchs and priests who, in addition to their magical regalia, also possessed mfoa (short swords) signifying their judicial authority. They also represented the three-tiered system of the natural order and the mastery that each animal is said to have had over its sphere (Bartels 1965, 55).<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanasoccernet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/festival.jpg" height="420" width="640" /><br />
Traditional Fante drummers from Nkusukum Traditional Area, Saltpond<br />
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It is said that three sub-Fante ethnic groups- Abora, Nkusukum and Ekumfi, moved together with the Nkusukum forming the “ridge” in the middle whiles the Abora moved on the right and the Ekumfi on the left. Through these trekking formula the Fantes came to settle on Kwamankese and later moved to Adowegyir, then settlement of Guan Etsi people now know as Mankessim. Here the dead body of three great leaders Oburumankoma (whale), Odapagyan (eagle), and Oson (elephant) was interred in the thicket of trees some ten miles from the city of Mankessim. The place became in time the “habitat of ghosts [asamanpow] or of spiritual powers inhering in nature [abosompow]” (McCaskie 1990, 135).<br />
<img src="http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/77450999.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Posuban of Nkusukum Fante people of Biriwa. The Posubans are beautifully decorated, elaborate, concrete shrines originally used to store the armaments and uniforms of the Asafo companies (military units) that traditionally defend the town.<br />
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Borbor Mfantse were organized in five distinct mboron (groups, quarters, or wards; sing.,boron). The kurentsi amanfu boron was the northwest; the nkusukum boron was the southwest, present day Mankessim; and the edumadzi boron was the southeast, presentday Ekumfi. The others were bentsir boron (the north), present-day Enyan, and the anaafu boron (the east), present-day Abura.<br />
In time the people of the Nkusukum boron (the southwest ward), custodians of the Nananom Mpow, became the first among equals among the Fante groups. This development was partly because of deference to age, experience, and leadership qualities, but principally, according to McCaskie, because of the “nimbus of magical power” associated with their oversight of the ancestral grove.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Links%20site%20visit%20(2).jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum people of Kuntu Village dancing traditional Fante dance<br />
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Nkusukum were the only Borbor Fantse people with their Saltpond people very close to sea but refused to "go to sea" or engage in fishing occupation but rather mine salt. As a result the Akyemfo (Saltpond) Nkusukum people have an appellation:<br />
"Akyemfo Brefi Akyemfo Saltpond mighty Saltpond<br />
Woda mpoano so wonnko po A town beside a sea but refused to go sea<br />
wontsetsew kube nko kromantse but rather have rather chosen to harvesting of coconut to Kromantse<br />
nkegye nkafona mmbedzi e!" to batter it for fish to come and eat!"<br />
<img alt="Saltpond - "posuban"" src="http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/79044216.jpg" height="455" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum Asafo posuban at Saltpond<br />
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The Saltpond town originally consisted of the three villages of Nankesidu, Bakadu, and Okukudu. These three towns became Saltpond because of the big salt pond that is left behind when the tide goes out. The community is able to fish in the pond as well as in the Ocean." So when the first Europeans came they settled near the pond and gave it that name. This later became Salt pond."<br />
The local allonym, Akyemfo is purported to have its origins from the Akyems who are thought to have migrated from the Eastern Region of Ghana to domicile at the coast during Akyem-Fante alliance but later integrated well into the Fantes; hence Akyemfo, meaning 'people from Akyem'."<br />
Nkusukum people pride themselves as very brave and fearless. They have no fear for police nor soldiers. They proudly say "mefir Akyemfo, me nsuro polisinyi," meaning "I am from Saltpond, I do not fear police." If you threaten a Saltpond man with a police, you are just wasting your own time.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Links%20site%20visit%20(6).jpg" height="479" width="640" /> Nkusukum people singing and clapping<br />
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Nkusukum town of Saltpond has historically served as the venue for important political meetings and activities. Ghana`s two great political parties or traditions, United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and Convention Peoples Party (CPP) that fought for Independence were formed in Saltpond. The UGCC was formed at Saltpond in August 1947 under the chairmanship and financial sponsorship of George Grant, better known as Paa Grant- a wealthy businessman, with an idealist slogan of “Self-Government within the shortest possible time,” whilst the CPP was founded by Ghana's First President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah at Saltpond on June 6th, 1949.<br />
Nkusukum is also the first land people in Ghana to have their sea territory producing oil for Ghana. The Saltpond Field located about 12 kilometres offshore Saltpond. The field was discovered in 1970 by Signal-Amoco Consortium. The field is currently managed by the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company (SOPCL), Ghana's oldest producer of crude oil.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Professor </span><a href="http://francis%20kofi%20ampenyin%20allotey/" style="text-align: start;"> Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey</a><span style="text-align: start;">, Nkusukum "Okunyin na Obenfo mu obenfo" (learned among the learneds) and internationally respected mathematical physicist known for the "Allotey Formalism" which arose from his work on soft X-ray spectroscopy.</span></div>
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Nkusukum has produced some of Ghana`s finest Scientists, eminent jurists, renowned writers/novelists, quality journalists, medical practitioners, clergymen and host of intellectuals. The most notable Nkusukum people include Professor <a href="http://francis%20kofi%20ampenyin%20allotey/"> Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey</a>, internationally respected mathematical physicist known for the "Allotey Formalism" which arose from his work on soft X-ray spectroscopy, <a href="http://%22prof%20mariama%20ewurama%20addy/"> "Prof Mariama Ewurama Addy</a> (c. 1941 – 14 January 2014), Ghanaian biochemistry professor who was the popular host of the Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz,<br />
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<a href="http://%22prof%20mariama%20ewurama%20addy/" style="text-align: start;">"Prof Mariama Ewurama Addy</a><span style="text-align: start;"> (c. 1941 – 14 January 2014) an astute Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and Ghanaian biochemistry professor who was the popular host of the Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz</span></div>
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Dr. Lanalee Araba Sam, grand-daughter of the first black African general manager of AGC and the daughter of a celebrated medical doctor, Dr Francis Sam and a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sir <a href="http://kobina%20arku%20korsah/">Kobina Arku Korsah</a> (3 April 1894 – 25 January 1967), the first black Chief Justice of Ghana (then the Gold Coast) in 1956,<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Sir </span><a href="http://kobina%20arku%20korsah/" style="text-align: start;">Kobina Arku Korsah</a><span style="text-align: start;"> (3 April 1894 – 25 January 1967) Nkusukum krakye (Gentleman) and the first black Chief Justice of Ghana (then the Gold Coast) in 1956</span></div>
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Justice Sir Samuel Okai Quarshie Idun (1902 - 1965), puisne judge of the Supreme Court of the Cold Coast, Chief Justice of Western Nigeria and also a member of the Supreme Court of Nigeria; and the first black African President of the East Africa Court of Appeal, Justice John Nicholas Kobina Taylor (1925 - 2008) former judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana and Acting Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ghana 1969,<br />
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Justice John Nicholas Kobina Taylor (1925 - 2008) an Nkusukum man from Korankyekrom in Saltpond and former judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana and Acting Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ghana 1969, </div>
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Justice G E K Aikins, retired Justice of the Ghana Supreme Court; and formerly the Hon Attorney-General and Secretary of Justice 1982-1990, Professor <a href="http://ama%20ata%20aidoo/">Ama Ata Aidoo</a>, renowned author, poet, playwright and academic, who is also a former Minister of Education in the Ghana government,<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Professor </span><a href="http://ama%20ata%20aidoo/" style="text-align: start;">Ama Ata Aidoo</a><span style="text-align: start;">, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and a renowned author, poet, playwright and academic, who is also a former Minister of Education in the Ghana government.</span></div>
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Professor <a href="http://william%20otoo%20ellis/"> William Otoo Ellis</a>, Vice Chancellor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, <a href="http://%22professor%20george%20p.%20hagan/"> "Professor George P. Hagan</a>, prominent academic and politician who was one-time director of Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana and the presidential candidate for the Dr Nkrumah`s CPP in the 2000 elections, Professor Paul Archibald Vianney Kwesi Enu Ansah (PAVA), Former director of School of Communication Studies, Legon, fearless and hard-hitting socio-political critic and columnist,<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;"> Justice Sir Samuel Okai Quarshie Idun (1902 - 1965), Nkusukum man and puisne judge of the Supreme Court of the Cold Coast, Chief Justice of Western Nigeria and also a member of the Supreme Court of Nigeria; and the first black African President of the East Africa Court of Appeal</span></div>
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Frances Ademola (nee Frances Quarshie-Idun) ace and pioneer broadcast journalist and the owner of the Loom Art Gallery Adabraka, Accra, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, entrepreneur, ace journalist and former Joy FM Super Morning Show host, <span style="text-align: center;">Emeritus Professor Kwesi A. Dickson, priest, theologian, author and academic. He was seventh President President of the Methodist Church of Ghana and the Immediate- Past President of the All African Council of Churches,</span><br />
<img src="http://pulsemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PAV-Ansah.png" height="307" width="640" /><br />
Professor Paul Archibald Vianney Kwesi Enu Ansah (PAVA), Former director of School of Communication Studies, Legon, fearless and hard-hitting socio-political critic and columnist<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"> </span>Dr. Esi E. Ansah, Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Development at the Ashesi University, <a href="http://kofi%20baako/">Kofi Baako</a>, sportsman, teacher and politician, father of veteran ace investigative journalist <a href="http://kweku%20baako%20jnr/"> Kweku Baako Jnr</a> and a former Minister for Defence in the Nkrumah government during the First Republic of Ghana until it was overthrown in 1966, Dr. Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey a.k.a. Abeiku Santana. Versatile Radio Presenter, Actor and all round entertainer,<br />
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Bee Arthur, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady), renowned fashion designer and the winner of the highly coveted KORA FASHION AWARD in Sun City in 2001</div>
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Bee Arthur, adventurous and flamboyant fashion guru whose label B’EXOTIQ has resonated across the African continent and beyond for over a decade and her Bee’s originality won her the highly coveted KORA FASHION AWARD in Sun City in 2001 and thus established her reputation within the elite African fashion designers’ community etc.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Dr. Lanalee Araba Sam, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and the grand-daughter of the first black African general manager of AGC and the daughter of a celebrated medical doctor, Dr Francis Sam and a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology</span></div>
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Nkusukum people celebrates Odambea Festival, which derives its name from the role of the “ridge” they (Nkusukum) played in the Borbor Mfantse migration where the Nkusukum formed the “ridge” in the middle whiles the Abora moved on the right and the Ekumfi on the left; and it is likened to the long beam that joins one end of a roof to the other end to make roofing possible “Odan-Mbeae”.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Communal%20Labor%20(26).jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum girl carrying sand during communal work, Kuntu village near Saltpond<br />
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Geography<br />
Nkusukum is located and scattered in the Mfantseman Municipality of central Region of Ghana. The Mfantseman Municipal with its Administrative Capital Saltpond is one of the Twenty (20) Metropolitan, Municipalities, and Districts in the Central Region of Ghana.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Links%20site%20visit%20(1).jpg" height="470" width="640" /><br />
Kuntu village beach, Nkusukum traditional area near Saltpond, Ghana<br />
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The Municipal is located along the Atlantic coastline cf the Central Region of Ghana and extends from latitudes 5* T to 5* 20’ North of the Equator and longitudes 0* 44’ to 1* 11’ West of the Greenwich Meridian, stretching for about 21 kilometers along the coastline and for about 13 kilometers inland and constituting an area of 612 square kilometers. The Municipal shares boundaries with Gomoa West District to the East, to the West with Ekumfi District , to the North with Ajumaku-Enyan-Essiam District and to the South with the Gulf of Guinea.<br />
<img src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/1a/a9/17/vista-dalla-camera.jpg" height="423" width="640" /><br />
Biriwa beach in Nkusukum traditional area<br />
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Language<br />
Nkusukum speaks a dialect of Mfantse kasa (language), an Akan language of Kwa language group which also belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum. It is largely spoken in the Mfantseman Municipality of Central Region of Ghana.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Links%20site%20visit%20(12).jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum Cultural dancers, Kuntu village, near Saltpond<br />
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History<br />
Nkusukum are among the original five Borbor Mfantse people that migrated out of Bono Kingdom in 1229 (my personal interview with J B Crayner, the great Fantse historian and folkloric writer). According to Crayner the Fantes left the Bono State after chieftaincy feud and land litigation with their Bono (Brong) relatives after the death of the last Fantse King that ruled the Bono Kingdom, Nana Kunkumfi (Ekumfi) Ameyaw.<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Odambea%20(4).jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum chiefs at Odambea festival, Saltpond<br />
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On their trekking downwards to their present locations the separatist Fantse group were lead three Fantse royals (patriarchs) of the Bono state who eventually became warlords namely, Oburumankoma (whale), Odapagyan (eagle), and Oson (elephant). Their first place of abode was on a hill from where they could spy their enemy. This place was recommended by Okomfo Edu. She had two priest assistants – Kurentsi and Korado. The land belonged to the Etsi Guan aborigines at Okornafo and Korado who were subdued and named the place Akan-man, meaning Akan State, now known as Kwaman.<br />
<img alt="File:Stool wives.jpg" src="http://en.citizendium.org/images/thumb/7/79/Stool_wives.jpg/800px-Stool_wives.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Nkusukum stool women, Nkusukum Amanase-Mankessim. Source Regina Bouuillon.<br />
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They settled at Kwaman for some years; however, due to population pressure, a large section of them migrated southwards towards the coast. Those who stayed behind were organized into a state under Chief Idan I, and the place became corrupted into Kwamankese (Great Kwaman).<br />
While trekking southwards, they fought the Etsi-Guan autochonous inhabitants whose chief was Akraman and drove them to the present –day Gomoa country. Their capital town Adoweggyir, was occupied by the Fante and renamed Mankessim. Here the three legendary Borbor Mfantse patriarchs cum warlords who had died on their "b<span style="font-family: TwiNova2;">]dob</span><span style="font-family: TwiNova2;">]</span>do" (long exhaustive host of innumerable people on a journey), now corrupted into "Borbor," were interred in a nearby grove which became the famous Nananom Pow- the national shrine or oracle of Borbor Fantse. Their meritorious deeds are worthy of emulation.<br />
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Nana Brebo of Nkusukum Kuntu village, near Saltpond with her queenmother in street procession during Odambea festival of Nkusukum people at Saltpond.<br />
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The five original distinct mboron (groups, quarters, or wards; sing.,boron) which was the Kurentsi Amanfu boron to the northwest; the Nkusukum boron to the southwest, present day Mankessim; and the Edumadzi boron to the southeast, present-day Ekumfi. The others were Bentsir boron (the north), present-day Enyan, and the Anaafu boron (the east), present-day Abura (Abora). Each ward had its own Brafo and enjoyed absolute independence of the others; however, they recognized one of them as the supreme Head whose position was one of pre-eminence among equals (see: Adu Boahen , Fante origins: The Mankessims period’ in ‘A Thousand years of West African History, 1968pp. 180-1820).<br />
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Kofi Baako Nkusukum man and celebrated Ghanaian sportsman, teacher and politician. He served as Minister for Defence in the Nkrumah government during the First Republic of Ghana until it was overthrown in 1966. He was also as Minister for various other Ministries throughout the reign of the Convention People's Party. He is the father of ace investigative journalist Kweku Baako jnr.<br />
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Tradition recounts that during the Borbor Fantse journey the Nkusukum walked in the middle serving as a ridge with Abora at the Right flank, and Ekumfi at the extreme left, braced up on their journey. This is the origin of the appellation ‘Odamea’ – a ridge connecting the two side posts (see Sutherland, op.cit. P 63). According Fantse historian and Theologian, Dr Casely B. Essamuah, in his seminal work "Ghanaian Appropriation of Wesleyan Theology in Mission 1961-2000" published in 2004 for Methodist Missionary Society History Project, he averred that Nkusukum became very powerful and spiuritual oversears of Nananom Mpow, the grove where the three Fantse patriarchs were buried. "In time the people of the nkusukum boron (the southwest ward), custodians of the Nananom Mpow, became the first among equals among the Fante groups. This development was partly because of deference to age, experience, and leadership qualities, but principally, according to McCaskie, because of the “nimbus of magical power” associated with their oversight of the ancestral grove (Essamuah 2004: 22)<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Professor William Otoo Ellis, Nkusukum native and Professor of Food Science and the Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.</span><br />
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According to the legendary Ghanaian professor of Geography, Kwamina B. Dickson in his renowned book "A Historical Geography of Ghana," published in 1969, "The Nkusukum group founded most of the settlements between Saltpond (which originally consisted of the three villages of Nankesidu, Bakadu, and Okukudu) and some parts of Cape Coast.They later founded more settlements west of Cape Coast including Akatakyi or British Komenda, and extended their territory right up to the eastern bank of River Pra (Dickson 1969: 22). It must be noted that Nkusukum Amanase-Mankessim (also part of the town of Mankessim, market area), is seat of the Nkusukum Obaatan (chief in a high position). The seat of the Nkusukum Omanhene had been transferred to Yamoransa.<br />
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Nkusukum Obaatan of Mankessim<br />
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Economy<br />
Agriculture: Farming and fishing constitute the main economic activities of the Nkusukum people and Mfantseman municipality in general, employing about three-quarters of the total workforce (source: "Ghana: We Mean Business. A Guide to Ghana’s 110 Districts" page 274). Farming is done in almost all parts of the Nkusukum traditional areas, especially in the inland areas and crops cultivated include cocoa, oil palm, pineapples, oranges, plantain, beans and cocoyam.<br />
The most well-known Nkusukum town that engage in active fishing occupation is Biriwa and they are very hardworking fishermen among the larger Borbor Mfantse people. They travel to the Gambia, Guinea, Benin, Nigeria, Gabon, Liberia and as far as Angola to engage in their fishing trade and form smaller communities there.<br />
Minerals Exploitation: Minerals exploited include Kaolin (for building and ceramics) that supports the Saltpond ceramics factory, talc, granite and silica. Crude Oil is also mined off the coast of Saltpond. Although these mineral resources exist, sometimes in feasible quantities, only a feeble attempt is made at making them a strong base of the Assemblies economy because the Assembly itself has exercised little control or influence on their exploitation.<br />
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Religious Belief<br />
Traditionally, Nkusukum like all Borbor Mfantse believe in Supreme being and Creator God, Nyame (Onyame), or Nyankop<span style="font-family: TwiNova2;">]n. He an </span>Indivisible One with and, at the same time, superior to all other deities, spirits and numerous gods, the Abosom. Prayers and libation offerings are made through the abosom (deities) and nananom nsamanfo (deified ancestors) to Twereampon Nyankop<span style="font-family: TwiNova2;">]n (Almighty God). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: TwiNova2;">Apart from that the Nkusukum people believe in</span> the deities (Abosom).<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Like all Borbor Fantse people, every Nkusukum have 77 deities, that represent the secret 'appellative' and functional attributes of Nyame (God). There are gods of the days of the week, those of the rivers and the sea, those of the trees, mountains, the rain and so on. One famous Nkusukum deity in Biriwa is Nana Abaka, its a deity that gives fortune to those whose seek its assistance. Most fishermen consult these bosom (deity) when going for fishing.<br />
Ancestor worship: The ancestors, the souls of the unborn and the souls of the living people belong to the category of the spiritual universe. Birth and death is seen as moving from and to the place of the dead and the spirits; that is the underworld. Apart from the Supreme Being the people paid, and still pay , much attention to household deities, state gods and Asafo gods. This household god could be represented as a triple-forked branch, set up in the ground with on the top a black pot for offerings. The Summan (household god) was kept in a basket which was full of pieces of clay, raffia, chicken bones, egg shells and dried blood.<br />
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Emeritus Professor Kwesi A. Dickson, Nkusukum osofo (priest0, theologian, author and academic. He was seventh President President of the Methodist Church of Ghana and the Immediate- Past President of the All African Council of Churches, a professor at the University of Ghana, Legon where he served the first Dean of Students and the Director of the Institute of African Studies.</div>
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Religious Communities Methodist, Catholic, Anglican, Pentecost, Apostolic, 12 Apostles, African Faith, United Faith, Assemblies of God etc. and the Muslims are the main religious bodies in the area.<br />
History of the mission at the: “Gold Coast” 1471-1880 The Portuguese Period 1471-1637<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> The Capuchin Monks 1637-1684<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> French Dominicans monks 1687-1704<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Protestant Missionary works 1737-1880<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> The Catholic Missionary works 1870-1880<br />
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Nkusukum people with a priest of indigenous African Faith Tabernacle Church International known as Nkansan, at Kuntu village</div>
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Odambea Festival<br />
Odambea is a festival in Nkusukum Traditional Area in Central Region, Ghana, which is celebrated every year in the end of August. Odambea reminds of the Fante migration from the Tekyiman area to Mankessim and further. Tradition recounts that during the Borbor Fantse journey the Nkusukum walked in the middle serving as a ridge with Abora at the Right flank, and Ekumfi at the extreme left, braced up on their journey. This is the origin of the appellation ‘Odamea’ – a ridge connecting the two side posts (see Sutherland, op.cit. P 63). The parades strengthen the role of Akan Chieftaincy (Ghana).<br />
<img src="http://www.ghanavillage.org/Yam%20festival.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
The festival was first celebrated 200 years ago but had become meaningless in the 20th century. Nana Essandoh VII who was installed as Omanhene in the 1970`s, revived Odambea.<br />
Ceremonies: During the festival week, Omanhene with nananom (chiefs) and citizens visits different historical places. In each of these places, the guests are welcomed and a sacrifice takes place. There is drumming and dancing, ceremonial gun fire and Asafo (traditional civil defense unit) singing.<br />
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From Monday until Friday, everyone is dressed in black and red because they are mourning over the ancestors who had suffered so much hardship during the migration. On Saturday, the arrival of the ancestors is celebrated in Saltpond, and people are wearing splendid dresses. On Sunday, during the ecumenical church, people wear the usual Sunday dress.<br />
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Two Nkusukum chiefs dancing during Odambea festival</div>
Photosource <a href="http://www.ghanavillage.org/2007.htm">http://www.ghanavillage.org/2007.htm</a><br />
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NKUSUKUM HALL OF FAME<br />
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Justice John Nicholas Kobina Taylor (1925 - 2008) an Nkusukum man from Korankyekrom in Saltpond and former judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana and Acting Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ghana 1969</div>
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Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey, the sweet-scented name that has for two decades and more, filled the scientific and academic world with its fragrance is a Professor of Mathematics, Scholar, Nuclear Physicist and a Consultant in Informatics for Development.. Founder and First Director of the KNUST Computer Centre, he was the first to introduce computer education into Ghana, world`s authority and an instant fame with his work on Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy which established the principle widely known as the "Allotey Formalism" for which he received the Prince Philip Gold Medal Award in 1973. Chairman, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Chairman, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Chairman of the Management Board, Soil Research Institute, Chairman, Ghana Technical Committee on Nuclear Energy, Vice-President, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, President, Ghana Institute of Physics, National Vice-President Ghana Science Association, President, Mathematical Association of Ghana, Vice-Chairman of the Science and Technology Sector, National Development Commission,Consultant, National Committee of Curriculum Development, Founder and National Co-ordinator, Ghana Energy Research Group, President, Ghana Institute of Physics and Member National Energy Commission, just to mention a few.</div>
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<a href="http://%22prof%20mariama%20ewurama%20addy/" style="text-align: start;">"Prof Mariama Ewurama Addy</a><span style="text-align: start;"> (c. 1941 – 14 January 2014) an astute Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and Ghanaian biochemistry professor who was the popular host of the Ghana National Science and Maths Quiz</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://%22professor%20george%20p.%20hagan/"> "Professor George P. Hagan</a>, Nkusukum man and a prominent academic and politician who was one-time director of Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana and the presidential candidate for the Dr Nkrumah`s CPP in the 2000 elections</span></div>
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Justice Sir Samuel Okai Quashie-Idun on the left (sitting); Frances Quarshie-Idun (now Mrs Frances Ademola) standing and Charles Amoah ( maternal uncle of Frances Ademola) sitting at the right side.</div>
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Sitters</div>
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Charles Amoah, Brother-in-law of Sir Samuel Quashie-Idun. </div>
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Sir Samuel Okai Quashie-Idun (1902-1966), Judge in Nigeria and Ghana.</div>
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STANDING: </div>
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Frances Quashie-Idun (now Mrs Frances Ademola,the former board member of GIJ and owner of the private art Gallery,The LOOM at Adabraka near the Circle Ghana commercial Bank office and opposite former PTC Building now First African house), Eldest daughter of Sir Samuel Quashie-Idun. Sir Samuel Okai Quashie Idun was born in Ghana, the Gold Coast in 1902. He studied law at Cambridge and qualified as barrister. In 1948, having served as a District Magistrate, he was appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of the Cold Coast. He served that court and was later appointed a judge in Nigeria becoming Chief Justice of Western Nigeria and also a member of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He was appointed the first black African President of the East Africa Court of Appeal in 1964, a position he held until 1965. He fell ill and died in London in 1966.</div>
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Dasebre Nana Kwebu Ewusi, VII Omanhen (King) of Nkusukum Abeadze State, President, Central Region House of chiefs, Member, National House of Chiefs, Member Prison Council Service, Chairman, Board of Governance - Ankaful Nursing Training School, Chairman Central region Platform (disaster management) and a Member, Council of State of Ghana</div>
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Ama Ata Aidoo, in full Christina Ama Ata Aidoo (born March 23, 1942, Abeadzi Kyiakor, near Saltpond, Gold Coast [now Ghana]), Nkusukum citizen and Ghanaian writer whose work, written in English, emphasized the paradoxical position of the modern African woman.</div>
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Aidoo began to write seriously while an honours student at the University of Ghana (B.A., 1964). She won early recognition with a problem play, The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965), in which a Ghanaian student returning home brings his African-American wife into the traditional culture and the extended family that he now finds restrictive. Their dilemma reflects Aidoo’s characteristic concern with the “been-to” (African educated abroad), voiced again in her semiautobiographical experimental first novel, Our Sister Killjoy; or, Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint (1966). Aidoo herself won a fellowship to Stanford University in California, returned to teach at Cape Coast, Ghana, and subsequently accepted various visiting professorships in the United States and Kenya.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Dr. Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey a.k.a. Abeiku Santana. Nkusukum native Versatile Radio Presenter, Actor and all round entertainer.</span></div>
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Dr Araba Sam, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and the grand-daughter of the first black African general manager of AGC and the daughter of a celebrated medical doctor, Dr Francis Sam and a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology<br />
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Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Nkusukum native and entrepreneur, ace journalist and former Joy FM Super Morning Show host with his wife Akua Osae-Addae<br />
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Dr. Esi E. Ansah, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady), daughter of legendary Prof P.V.A. Ansah and a Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Development at the Ashesi University.<br />
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Frances Ademola (nee Frances Quarshie-Idun) Nkusukum ewuraba (lady) and ace and pioneer broadcast journalist and the owner of the Loom Art Gallery Adabraka, Accra.<br />
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Nkusukum man, Dr. Peter A Sam is an international expert on urban and rural environmental interlinkages. As an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Sciences Dr. Peter A. Sam is also the Founder and President of an International Environmental Consortium Group (AERCG) -An IRS 501(c) (3) Organization with its global headquarters in the USA and regional offices in Africa.<br />
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Bee Arthur, Nkusukum ewuraba (lady), renowned fashion designer and the winner of the highly coveted KORA FASHION AWARD in Sun City in 2001</div>
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Nkusukum women performing traditional Borbor Mfantse migration rituals.</div>
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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of L'aine Services Limited and Vlisco Ambassador, Mrs Ellen Hagan, has been honoured by the chiefs and people of Nkusukum Tradition Area in the Central Region during this year's Odambea festival.<br />
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Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey aka Abeiku Santana, of Okay FM, who has carved a niche for himself in the showbiz industry being honoured by the chief and people of Nkusukum Tradition Area in the Central Region during this year’s Odambea Festival.<br />
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Daasebre Kwebu Ewusi vii ( Paramount Chief of Abeadze traditional area and President of the Central House of Chiefs) and Ama Ata Aidoo </div>
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Nkusukumfo, Sir Samuel Okai Quashie-Idun; Charlotte Eunice Amoah Quashie-Idun; Dinah Quashie-Idun,Circa 1960</div>
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Charlotte Eunice Amoah Quashie-Idun (also a native of Saltpond and the wife of Justice Sir Quarshie Idun). </div>
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Dinah Quashie-Idun, Second daughter of Sir Samuel Quashie-Idun. </div>
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Sir Samuel Okai Quashie-Idun (1902-1966)</div>
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Kofi Baako, Nkusukum native </div>
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Frances Ademola</div>
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Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah</div>
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Fiifi Banson and family with elders of Saltpond</div>
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Nkusukum man, Professor Paul Ansah</div>
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Professor William Otoo Ellis, Nkusukum native and Professor of Food Science and the Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.</div>
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Fante group therapy: Nkusukum man, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah on the left being hugged by another Fante lady journalist Doreen Andoh whilst Ato Kwamena Dadzie, also a journalist of Fante ethnicity holds them both.</div>
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Nkusukum man, Abeiku Santana with his wife</div>
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Dr Esi Ansah, Nkusukum lady and daughter of Professor Paul Ansah</div>
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Professor George P Hagan and his wife</div>
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Fiifi Banson </div>
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Nkusukum people, Yamoransa<br />
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<img height="428" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t31.0-8/1899855_701326449928329_2118258726_o.jpg" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-35559709308827771352014-09-26T06:23:00.002-07:002014-09-26T06:23:42.403-07:00MBOCHI (M`BOSHI/BOUBANGUI) PEOPLE: POWERFUL ANCIENT TRADERS, AGRARIAN AND THIRD LARGEST ETHNIC GROUP IN THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)The Mbochi (or M'Boshi) are a cluster of closely related ancient traders, boat-building and agro-fishery central African ethnic group of Bantu origin whose population is concentrated in the northern region of the Republic of the Congo. Apart from the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Mbochi people are also found in western Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) and in eastern Gabon in West Africa.<br />
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Mbochi man throwing a net to catch fish at Sangha in Republic of Congo<br />
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The Mbochi is made up of ten ethnic groups: the Likouaka, Mbochi, Likouba, Kouyou, Makoua, Bonga, Boubangui, Moye, Ngaré and Mboko. They live in the north of Plateaux region (Ongoni, Ollombo, Abala), in the Cuvette and Cuvette Ouest regions, around Owando, Mbono, Etoumbi, Mbana, Mossaka, Ovo, Makoua, and along numerous fishing and navigable rivers, such as the Likouala, the Kouyou, the Alima and the Sangha.<br />
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Mbochi woman<br />
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Mbochi people who are also well-known for their expertise in trading and fishing are believed to have migrated from the west bank of Congo River, pushing north to the confluence of the Sangha, Likouala, and Congo Rivers and eventually as far north as present-day Central African Republic, where they are known as Bobanguis (Boubangui).<br />
<img height="358" src="http://www.francetvinfo.fr/image/74vs56fnm-aa07/1500/843/1837559.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 1943) Mbochi man and a Congolese politician who has been the President of the Republic of the Congo since 1997; he was previously President from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as President, he headed the single-party regime of the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) for 12 years. Under pressure from international sources, he introduced multiparty politics in 1990 and was then stripped of executive powers by the 1991 National Conference, remaining in office as a ceremonial head of state. He stood as a candidate in the 1992 presidential election but was defeated, placing third.</div>
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According to Congolese sociology professor at the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville who is a researcher with the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Contemporary Africa (Interdisciplinaire groupe de recherche sur l'Afrique contemporaine, IGRAC) with the exception of the Pygmies, who are recognizable by their short stature, it is impossible to distinguish the Mbochi from the ethnic Kongo or the Teke. In addition, according to the Web site of the Minorities at Risk Project, "there are few noticeable difference[s] between the M'Boshi and the other large ethnic groups in the country (such as the Lari in the south) ... [and t]he only distinguishable characteristic is their language". The truth is "all Congolese...all Bantus resemble each other" (IGRAC 13 Feb. 2007). However, "a person's placement of phonetic stress may give him or her away, to the extent that, when a Mbochi, a Kongo-Lari or a Bembe, for example, speaks French or one of the other two national languages, the strong influence of their mother tongue is readily detected".<br />
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Denis Sassou Nguesso et Mama Antou en raphia à Djambala le 05 mai 2013<br />
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It must be emphasized that each Congolese ethnic group has "characteristic names". Mbochi names generally begin with a vowel. There are exceptions, such as the name of the Congolese president, Sassou-Nguesso, who is Mbochi, and the Mbochi names Koumou and Peya, which are "the names of twins". Nevertheless, "as a result of urbanization, which has fostered mixing through inter-ethnic marriages, these considerations should be treated as relative.<br />
Since the Congolese independence the Mbochi people have emerged as the powerful political force, even though they make up only around 12% of the national population and also constitute the third largest ethnic group. The current Congolese president, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, as well as many senior government officials, belong to this group.<br />
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Portrait of Jean-Barthelemy Bokassa, a Boubangu-Mbochi man and a passionate disciple of Napoleon Bonaparte, a Dandy and Parisian socialite. Ambassador for the Maison Haute Couture Christophe Lebo. He was born in 1974 in Bangui Central Africa. Jean Barthelemy Bokassa is son of Jean-Bruno Dédéavode and Martine Bokassa 1, and grandson of the Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa and his first wife Madame Hue Thi Ba, his grandmother. Courtesy Nigel Dickinson</div>
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Language<br />
Mbochi people speak Mbochi, a Bantu language that belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum. Mbochi is spoken in Plateaux region (Ongoni, Ollombo, Abala), in the Cuvette and Cuvette Ouest regions, around Owando, Mbono, Etoumbi, Mbana, Mossaka, Ovo, Makoua, and along numerous fishing and navigable rivers, such as the Likouala, the Kouyou, the Alima and the Sangha.<br />
Here are some few Mbochi words:<br />
Mbochi English<br />
Olomi Man, husband or spouse<br />
Ibia Palm tree<br />
Ebena Informed or ill<br />
Ma Water<br />
Kye small<br />
Isaka to plough<br />
Ekoko Evening darkness<br />
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History<br />
Mbochi are part of the larger group of Bantu people that migrated out of West Africa to Central, East and South Africa in the waves of Great Bantu migration. Mbochi in particular are descendants of Bantu-speaking groups who migrated to the fluvial basins of the Mossaka, Likouala and Sangha rivers from the western bank of the Congo River during the middle of eighteenth century.<br />
The early mbochi established herediatary fishing rights, controlled riverine trade, engaged in fishing, hunting and boat building.<br />
Although, according to their oral traditions, all Mbochi came from a common ancestor called Ndinga, but today the Mbochi divides themselves into several sub-groups, including the Kouyou, Makoua, Likouala, Bangala, Bongo etc.<br />
During the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade as well as during the era of colonialism, Mbochi remained relatively isolated in the dense forest of northern Congo, though the french recruited many Mbochi to into the colonial army.<br />
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<img alt="Marien Ngouabi" height="640" src="http://img27.fansshare.com/pic125/w/marien-ngouabi/900/23749_marien_ngouabi.jpg" width="511" /></div>
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Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) , Kouyou-Mbochi man, and the military President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969 to March 18, 1977.</div>
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In post-colonial Congo the Mbochi rose to prominence when Marien Ngoaubi became president in 1969. Although Ngouabi was a northerner but he was of Mbochi sub-group Kouyou, and intra-northern disputes broke out and continued until Denis Sassou-Nguesso surrounded by Mbochi military men has ruled the Republic of Congo, except for an interlude of an elected government between 1992 and 1997. Because the north remains relatively poor and under-developed, many Mbochi have Migrated to the capital Brazzaville, seeking employment.<br />
<img height="512" src="http://jeremyhunter.com/photos/055.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Coronation of Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa, a Boubangui (sub-group of the Mbochi) man as the Emperor of Central African Republic.<br />
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Economy<br />
The Mbochi people are agriculturalist people. The Mbochi raise livestock (poultry, sheep and goats), fish in the rivers and grow crops (coffee, cacao, tobacco, rice...).<br />
source:<a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/469cd6c61e.html">http://www.refworld.org/docid/469cd6c61e.html</a><br />
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Mbochi people<br />
<img alt="Coronation of Emperor Bokassa I" src="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-YA006321.jpg?size=67&uid=dce67e47-ef52-44d0-ae2f-bdff963a1494" /><br />
Coronation of Baoubangui-Mbochi man as Emperor Bokassa I of Central African Republic<br />
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Colonel (COL) Denis Sassou-Nguessou, president of the People's Repubic of the Congo, left, boards his aircraft to leave the country.<br />
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<img height="427" src="http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000PfmFHZjv2DU/s/850/850/jean-barthelemy-bokassa-002.jpg" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-11545188927721374572014-09-24T17:22:00.003-07:002014-09-25T13:35:42.526-07:00NII KWABENA BONNIE III: RADICAL GHANAIAN NATIONALIST, TRADITIONAL RULER AND THE MAN WHO SINGLE-HANDEDLY ORGANIZED A MASSIVE BOYCOTT OF OF ALL EUROPEAN IMPORTS IN GHANANii Kwabena Bonnie III also known as Kwamla Theodore Taylor was a Gold Coast (Ghanaian) radical nationalist, traditional ruler and the single most successful massive boycott organizer of all time in the political history of Africa and Ghana. Nii Kwabena Bonnie III was the Osu Alata Mantse (King) and Oyokohene of Techiman was renowned for his successful nationwide mobilization of the people of the then Gold Coast for his 1948 Boycott of all European imports leading to series of riots and agitations that served as ‘the bridge’ for Dr Kwame Nkrumah to cross to the reach his ‘Independence goal’ for Ghana. This spectacular action also turned out to the world’s first positive defiance by the totality of the people of a colony against their colonial government. Ghana`s independence and Kwame Nkrumah`s enviable record as the first of president of an African country South of Sahara would not have been possible without the yeoman`s job performed by Nii Kwabena Bonnie III.<br />
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10th August 1949: Ghanaian chief Nii Kwabena Bonne visits an optician's in the Strand, London to have his eyes tested by Mrs Warner. He has heard of the excellent reputation of the British health system and has come to experience it for himself. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images)</div>
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In 1948, Ghana was a British colony in West Africa; the people had no say in political or economic life. During World War II, large trading companies increased prices on scarce items to maintain profits. After the war ended, the high prices and shortages continued to persist. This situation impoverished many Ghanaians and caused despondency in the country. Political tension was high but there was no direction action to spark the already tensed nation into its riotous state. Then entered Nii Kwabena Bonnie III.<br />
In 1947, Nii Kwabena Bonne formed the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee in Accra in response to the inflated retail prices on goods imported in Ghana by European firms. In December of the same year, Nii Bonne sent a letter to the Chamber of Commerce in Accra outlining the position of the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee: the prices on imported European goods were too high, which in turn made the cost of living nearly unmanageable. Nii Bonne and the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee demanded that the European firms lower the prices of goods, especially cotton textile items.<br />
Nii Bonne directed this letter to the United Africa Company (UAC), a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever, in particular. Nii Bonne also included a date by which time a letter of response was to be received: 24 January 1948. If the European firms failed to send a response by that day, the Ghanaians would strike.<br />
During the time the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee was waiting for a response, Nii Bonne toured the country to explain his plan to boycott European goods to the chiefs and people of other towns and cities throughout Ghana. Nii Bonne’s plan received widespread support. The chiefs of Manya Krobo, Suhum, Akim Oda, Cape Coast, Sekondi, Tarkwa, and Axim either gave their support or pledged to join the boycott.<br />
By the day the ultimatum was to expire, there still had been no response by the Chamber of Commerce or the UAC. The UAC had not considered Nii Bonne’s letter or the matter to be serious, as the company did not believe that the Africans could unite. The company believed that the Africans did not understand the value of money well enough to carry out a cohesive plan successfully. Nii Bonne’s letter had never even been forwarded to the UAC head office in London.<br />
So in the in 1948 New Year, Nii Kwabena Bonnie III delivered a powerful arousing and agitating message to the people of the colony to invigorate them on for total participation in his planned nationwide Boycott of imported goods. As covered in the January 2, 1948 issue of the Gold Coast Observer, Nii Bonnie said:<br />
‘"…1947 is gone and we must have courage and confidence that 1948 will bring us prosperity and make our country a place worthy to live in, as God has blessed Africa. The strangers are here, not because they love us, but only to take away our gold and silver by any means so that our country can be a place where we cannot live I pray that Gad may help me in my understanding and that all of you throughout the Colony should assist me to make our country a free Nation and a place to live in.<br />
After I received my mandate from the JPC, I gave them up to January 24, 1948, to reduce the prices of their goods, especially textiles so that event the poor man on the street can afford some to cover his nakedness. Now, if this my ultimatum fails, we must regard ourselves as one body and one unit to demonstrate in the streets, in every town, at every village…… WE CANNOT BUY YOUR COODS: your prices are too high, if you cannot reduce them close down your stores and take your goods away to your countries. No one is to enter any of their stores…. the whole country from Keta to Half Assini comprising all the natural rulers are with you and you need not be afraid. Be ready to fight and die for liberty and freedom of our country. Wishing You All A Happy New Year."<br />
As was the plan, the boycott began on 26 January 1948. The products boycotted by the Ghanaians included cotton prints, tinned meat, and flour biscuits. Although the main items boycotted were European imported goods, goods from other foreign-owned stores, such as Indian and Lebanese products, were also boycotted. The boycotters were guided by the slogan “We cannot buy; your prices are too high. If you don’t cut down your prices then close down your stores; and take away your goods to your own country.”<br />
The economic boycott was very successful as it resulted in the closure of many shops. On 11 February 1948, the Ghanaian government, which had originally declared that it would not interfere, as it was a trade dispute between the people and the foreign traders, was forced to arrange a series of meetings between the Chamber of Commerce in Accra and the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee as well as the other chiefs who had joined in the boycott.<br />
Tensions flared during the time the meetings were held, and on 17 February a crowd demonstrated in front of the magistrate’s court during the trial of a chief charged with imposing fines on non-boycotters.<br />
On 20 February, an agreement was reached as some of the foreign firms assented to reducing their overall profit margin from 75 to 50 per cent. The Government announced over the radio that, as a result of the negotiations between the Chamber of Commerce and the Anti-Inflation Campaign Committee, prices on some imported goods would be reduced and the boycott would end on 28 February.<br />
Although many boycotters, and other non-boycotting Ghanaians, rejoiced over this feat, they were disappointed when the prices were not reduced as much as they had anticipated. The boycotters and other Ghanaians had taken the 75 to 50 per cent reduction as meaning a 50 percent decrease in prices, but in fact it had referred to overall profit margins. Therefore, in reality the prices on imported goods changed very little, and as a result the change in the cost of living was negligible.<br />
This campaign to boycott European goods and lower the cost of living in Ghana became part of the preparation for the 1949-51 campaign for independence. On the last day of the boycott, African ex-servicemen began a march from Accra to the British governor to present him with a petition, but were stopped by police. This led to rioting by Ghanaians in response to police brutality, which Nkrumah of the United Gold Coast Convention used to demonstrate the readiness of Ghanaians for independence. Nkrumah and members of the Convention People’s Party, which Nkrumah formed, then began to campaign for Ghana’s independence from British rule.<br />
Apart from his campaign and successful organization of boycotting European goods, Nii Bonnie as a pathfinder also pioneered a number of ventures which proved very beneficial to the country, e.g. in February 1925; he became the first Gold Coaster to earn the British Royal Couple’s invitation to tour the Burkigham Palace.<br />
At the time of Europe’s great Depression in 1931, he successfully campaigned throughout the Colony for reduction in prices of foodstuffs, peace and tranquility reigned among the people, though there was the general anxiety of total destruction of the cocoa industry through the scourge of the swollen shoot disease, Consequently, during that period, the colonialists dubbed the Gold Coast Colony the Ideal Colony.<br />
In 1946, he hosted the Asantehene, Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, and his 500-strong retinue at his residence, the Royal Castle and its precincts when they were in Accra at the invitation of the Colonial Governor for the inauguration of the 1946 Constitution.<br />
One major outcome of his successful boycott of European imports the dismissal of some brilliant students from government high schools. The executive/steering committee of the UGCC broached the need for the establishment of alternative high schools for dismissed student supporters of the Nii Kwabena Bonnie-led riotous boycott of European merchants and traders. The schools, later designated as Ghana National Colleges, was later adopted by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and became his legacy to date.<br />
When Nii Kwabena Bonnie III died in the 1971 after a long meritorious service to Ghana, the great Ghanaian politician of Yoruba origin and the Speaker of Parliament from 1958 to 1960, His Excellency, Mr. A. M. Akiwumi concerning has this to say in a glowing tribute at Nii Bonnie`s final funeral rites "…He was a champion of the under-dogs and a good citizen who never liked anybody to take mean advantage of another. His spirit of nationalism and patriotism moved him to organize the famous 1948 boycott of imported goods, especially textile. In this enterprise, he awoke the entire nation at his own initiative. He challenged the scandalous advantage that was being taken by the commercial firms for selling these articles at extortionate prices Single handedly, he aroused the entire nation to realize their plight. The response to his call was spontaneous. The whole country boycotted imported goods and refused to buy unless the prices were reduced. This incident was one of the sparks which lighted the touch of nationalism which eventually culminated in the granting of independence to the Gold Coast, now Ghana by the British Government. He played such important part in our nationwide activities to merit him a worthy place in the new history of Ghana. He was a real son of Africa and his passing was a great loss to our nation."kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-58722053415282827802014-09-21T15:12:00.002-07:002014-09-24T16:03:02.014-07:00ESAN (ISHAN) PEOPLE: ANCIENT WARRIORS, HIGHLY HOMOGENEOUS AND VIBRANT EDUCATED PEOPLE OF EDO STATE IN NIGERIAEsan (Ishan) people are ancient militaristic, highly homogeneous vibrant agro-fishery and Edoid-speaking people living in the Edo State, South-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Esan people who are said to be positive in outlook, creative, industrious and highly educated are one of the Nigeria`s major ethnic groups and live primarily in Edo Central Senatorial District in Nigeria.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFenq-e8tUwYKHZ32Mw0yUf0hMXLLcjjZ7egR54ItC-RkUswGNNj-dbYmQ5VPhLrH8XqKOzx-7qTphvBOGHfNWBQvUEzlpEt0fcibYgLDkh-6NzRHnraIUj3wQxXyiLRZ7nEpuC2C133yi/s1600/enijie.jpg" /><br />
Esan people in Edo State,Nigeria<br />
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The people of Esan have a common language, custom and tradition. The homogencity characteristic of the Esan people has been aptly described by Okojie (1994): According to him:<br />
"The key to a people’s character or personality can be found in their music, dances and folklore. Take a look at two typically Esan dances: AGBEGA and OBỌDỌIRIBHẸFE and you will see what a proud race ESAN people are. Their vivaciousness and the fact that they descended from warlike ancestors can be seen in the commonest Esan Dance – juju dance (EGBABỌNẸLINMIN),<br />
OLEKE, OHOGHO, etc. ASONO combines with the proud movements and agile figures of a warrior. Unuwazi’s AYELE in addition teaches individualism and self-reliance. No two dancers<br />
can be seen doing the same steps."<br />
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Esan dance</div>
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Esan land is bordered to the south by Benin, to the south-east by Agbor, to the north and east by Etsako, to the west by River Niger. The land is about eighty kilometers North East of Benin City. By this factor of proximity and the fact that they share a basic cultural substratum, they are regarded as neighbours to the Bini (Bradbury, 1973: p. 48). From Ewu to Benin City, the State capital, is 100kms long. The people populate areas such as Uromi, Ewatto, Igueben, Iruekpen, Irrua, Ubiaja, Ebele, Ehor, Ekpoma, Egoro Eguare, Ewu, etc all in central Edo State, South-South Nigeria.<br />
<img height="447" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/625535_506034929455284_1552838402_n.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Historically, Esan traces their ancestry to the Bini (Edo) people of the powerful pre-colonial African kingdom of Benin in Nigeria. Esan grew initially as farming settlements, which were peopled from the Savannah north. These nuclear settlements expanded by internal growth and through recorded migrations from Benin about five centuries ago. Such migrations into the area were believed to have even occurred earlier and was led by banished princes or chiefs, criminals etc. who had deserted Benin City for the uninhabited forests lands “long before 1460, that is Ewuare’s time (Oba of Benin) either through the selfishness and atrocities of some of the Obas, or following the catastrophic civil wars over succession….” (Okojie, 1960: p.35). Recorded migrations out of Benin City took place during Oba Ewuare’s reign in the 15th century when the Oba lost his two sons and enacted some harsh laws including forbidding the citizens from cooking, washing or having sexual intercourse for three years. It was the resentment of people against the new life-style in Benin City that made people to migrate into the forest (Okojie, 1960: p.32). The Oba waged war against the culprits but failed. Oba Ewuare’s bellicose nature according to Jacob Egharevba (1968) led the Oba<br />
into conquering 201 towns and villages, some of them in Esan. But for many of the scattered<br />
settlements in the Esan forests, the Oba had to use diplomacy to bring them under Benin hegemony. He invited Esan leaders or their representatives to Benin for a truce. He dangled<br />
attractively before them an attachment to Benin City. He was ready to recognize and honour his<br />
visitors with the title of Onojie; meaning king.<br />
<img src="http://www.nairaland.com/attachments/1370885_1383273_10151928523869449_70756611_n_jpg1cbb5ae0a475c00e89e8a16e0044129f" height="428" width="640" /><br />
Esan people<br />
<br />
There is no record of those who might have received the invitation but ignored it. They have<br />
disappeared from history, for the future Esan rested on those who went to Benin and took the<br />
title of Onojie. The decision among Esan leaders to go or not to go to Benin was not easily taken. Many of the leaders dreaded Oba Ewuare but did not want a fresh wave of military attacks of the area. Instead, Benin promised military support for the Onojie to enforce authority over insubordinate subjects (Eweka, 1992: pp. 83-84). Only three of the leaders actually went to Benin<br />
in person. All three were apparently men who had nothing to fear from the Oba due to various<br />
reasons. The first was Ekpereijie, the son of Oba Ohen’s daughter and a sister to Oba Ewuare. She<br />
had been given to Amilele the leader of Irrua. Relations between Irrua and Benin must have been cordial. The second was Alan of Ewohimi, the son of Ikimi who had left Benin prior to the reign of Oba Ewuare and as such was not considered as one of those who fled the city by the Oba. The third was Ijiebomen who left Benin for Ekpoma after the Oba had granted him leave (Eweka, 1992: p.169, 174).<br />
<img src="http://bisconworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/The-arrival-of-Chief-Tomi-Ikimi.jpg" height="303" width="640" /><br />
Sir Tom Ikimi, former Nigerian foreign minister and an illustrious son of Igueben, an Esan town in Edo State where he used his privileged position in the highest decision making body of the land as a minister to attract a lot of development to the land. Here is a cerebration of his 70th birthday.<br />
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In contrast to those mentioned above, the chief of Ohordua, Okhirare, “had especially offended the Oba and would not risk his neck, so he sent his heir Odua” to Benin (Eweka, 1992: p.272). His brother and leader of Emu also sent his son rather than risk his life. Three other Esan leaders dispatched brothers as their representatives to the meeting in Benin. Ede “felt he was only less than the Oba by degrees” and as such refused to honour the call. He then sent his junior brother to listen to what the Oba had to say. The leader of Ubgoha, also asked his junior brother to go on his behalf. The leader of Uromi sent his junior brother to find out what the Oba had to say.<br />
Ewuare concealed his anger at the impertinent leaders in Esan. He was a smart diplomat. During<br />
the meeting, he told the visitors how they had migrated from Benin. He enthroned the Benin<br />
court traditions in Esan. The name ESANFUA, meaning those who fled from Benin City into the<br />
jungle became a pejorative connotation from where the word Esan was derived. The Oba<br />
bestowed the title of Onojie on those that were present at the meeting. Instantly, the Oba made<br />
them rulers of their communities and subservient only to the Oba and above all, this noble title was<br />
not transferable to father, brother or master, and once an Onojie, always an Onojie until death<br />
(Okojie, 1960: p.37). Where Oba Ewuare had enthroned a proxy except in Ewohimi, Irrua and Ekpoma, strife and hatred followed as the new leaders began to assert authority and control over the elders. Thus the Oba wielded the numerous villages into large political entities that hitherto became known as chiefdoms ruled by the Onojie. R.E. Bradbury explains that “The Chiefdom might consist of one or several villages loosely knitted”(1973: p.48).<br />
Esan are fun-loving people who have various festivities and ritualistic traditions.Their folktales and folklores serve as forms of learning and entertainment, like the famous Igbabonelimin. They have prominent traditional rulers who keep order and sanity in a complex society where beauty and manners are intertwined.<br />
A handful of Esan families are known to possess Portuguese ancestry, resulting from links dating back to the 16th Century when Portuguese sailors and tradesman first entered the Bini Kingdom via the coast. British arrived Bini in the wake of the Portuguese numerous expeditions to, and intercourse with, Bini.<br />
<img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z9yUdrDvXr8/0.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Esan people believe in community of people and "man" is very important to them. Man, in Esan ontology, is 'Oria '¹ or ‘Oria no ri wi usuagbon‘ or ‘Oria no ri wi agbelo‘- a communal being with-others; and he is created by the Supreme Being. In Esan ontology, he is considered as next to the Supreme Being since he is at the central point of everything in nature. Hence the Esan beliefs<br />
that everything in the universe was created for him. For the Esan, man is very complex being and he is as mysterious as the universe in fact, for them, man is a ‘being-with’. For the Esan people, 'Oria ' refers to both male and female. But categorically, an Esan male, is called '0kpia' while a female is called "Okhuo". For the sake of relevance to Esan linguistic analysis, let us mention other few but delicate points about the Esan people such as; 'Owanle' which refers to elders.<br />
<img src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/anenih-tony1a.jpg" height="448" width="640" /><br />
Chief Anthony Akhakon Anenih, Esan man and Nigerian politician and former minister of Works and Housing<br />
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Esan people have a unique festival known as Esan Day which is celebrated at the Tafawa Balewa square, Lagos every December; there, names of all prominent Esan people are read to loud ovation. Esans believe in self help, thus assisting to reach villages and towns to achieve development. Prominent Esan are Ogbidi Okojie, Onojie (king) of Uromi (1857 - February 3, 1944) a great Nigerian Nationalist, freedom fighter and arguably the greatest ruler of the Esan people in what is now Edo State in Nigeria, Chief <a href="http://anthony%20enahoro/">Anthony Enahoro</a>, who raised the motion for the independence of Nigeria; Peter Enahoro, who wrote How to be a Nigerian, <a href="http://anthony%20anenih/">Anthony Anenih</a>, a top Nigerian politician and former minister of Works and Housing. Other names include the late Prof. <a href="http://ambrose%20folorunsho%20alli/">Ambrose Folorunsho Alli</a>, Governor of Bendel State and the founder of Ambrose Alli University; Bishop Patrick Ekpu, <a href="http://festus%20iyayi/">Festus Iyayi</a>, writer, Cardinal <a href="http://anthony%20olubunmi%20okogie/">Anthony Olubunmi Okogie</a>, late first lady <a href="http://stella%20obasanjo/">Stella Obasanjo</a>; musician <a href="http://sonny%20okosun/">Sonny Okosun</a> and writer Aba Aburime I.<br />
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<a href="http://augustus%20aikhomu/" style="text-align: start;">Augustus Aikhomu</a>, Esan man and<span style="text-align: start;"> Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, who served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida-led military junta</span></div>
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Also included are Chief <a href="http://tom_ikimi/">Tom_Ikimi</a>, former foreign minister, <a href="http://fidelis%20oyakhilome/">Fidelis Oyakhilome</a>, former Lagos state police commissioner and formal governor of Cross river state; <a href="http://augustus%20aikhomu/">Augustus Aikhomu</a>. Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, who served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida-led military junta, Vincent Airebamen, former deputy commissioner of Lagos state, Wilfred Ehikametalor, Former Kogi State Commissioner and former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Pastor <a href="http://chris%20oyakhilome/">Chris Oyakhilome</a>, an international renowned evangelist and founding president of Believers' Love World Incorporated also known as "Christ Embassy", a Bible-based Christian ministry headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.<br />
<img src="https://kingkurtissmith.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/pastor-chris2.jpg" /><br />
Pastor <a href="http://chris%20oyakhilome/">Chris Oyakhilome</a>, Esan man and an international renowned evangelist and founding president of Believers' Love World Incorporated also known as "Christ Embassy"<br />
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Origin of the Name Esan<br />
It is believed by many historians that the name 'Esan' (originally, 'E san fia') owes its origin to Bini (meaning, 'they have fled' or 'they jumped away'). 'Ishan' is an Anglicized form of 'Esan', the result of colonial Britain's inability to properly pronounce the name of this ethnic group. It is believed that similar corruption has affected such Esan names as ubhẹkhẹ (now 'obeche' tree), uloko (now 'iroko' tree), Abhuluimẹn (now 'Aburime'), etc. Efforts have however been made to return to status quo ante.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Cardinal </span><a href="http://anthony%20olubunmi%20okogie/" style="text-align: start;">Anthony Olubunmi Okogie</a><span style="text-align: start;">, Esan man and </span>grandson of Ogbidi Okojie, Onojie of Uromi and a retired Nigerian Cardinal Pries and formerly Archbishop of Lagos in the Roman Catholic Church</div>
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Geography<br />
Esan is located at Longitude 60`5′ celcious and Latitude 60`5′ celcius. It has boundaries on the North West with Owan and Etsako on the North-East; on the South-West with Orhiomwon and Ika, while on the South and South-East with Aniocha and Oshimili, all areas that were controlled by ancient Benin especially from the 15th century (Patridge, 1967: p.9). The people populate areas such as Uromi, Ewohimi, Ewatto, Igueben, Irrua, Ubiaja, Ogwa, Ebele, Ekpoma, Ohordua and Ewu in central Edo State, South-South Nigeria. It has a flat landscape, lacking in rocks and mountains, and good for agricultural purpose.<br />
Geographically,<br />
Esanland lies between the fringes of the Savannah to the north and the forest (marginal forest) to the south. The plateau on the northern fringes had the forest vegetation, which thinned into the northward Savannah. It is made up of sandy topsoil that could be easily cleared and cultivated, relatively weed-free. The reason for the sandy nature of the topsoil has been partly due to “the widespread occurrence of sedimentary, granite and gneissic materials the downward elevation of clay; differential soil erosion due to the high kinetic energy of rainstorms tending to remove fine particles in run-off water; and the possible chemical destruction of kaolin in the topsoil” (Kowal and<br />
Kassami, 1978, p. 116). The topsoil is also mixed with laterite, various clays and free metal oxides<br />
often coat the quartz and clay particles, immobilized phosphate, and help to cement or compact the soil not only at the surface but also in the lower layers where clay accumulates to form a pan-like horizon (Kowal and Kassami, 1978, p. 26). This area according to Darling have been very fertile for agriculture(1984, p. 26).<br />
The position of Esan land in a favourable climatic zone enhanced the initial agricultural development and the entire economic structure of the area. Climatic position determines the natural environment, within which an ecosystem affects agricultural and economic activities. The skill in which climatic elements were manipulated for production purposes enhanced the development of Esan agriculture. Esanland is influenced by seasonal winds. These are the Southwest and North-East winds. The former blows from the Atlantic Ocean. It is warm and humid. The wind prevails over the land and brings in its wake heavy rains that caused the wet seasons. Wet seasons were periods of much human activity when the planting of various crops by farmers was done. When rainfall stops by mid – October a period of dry season sets in following the Northeast winds. This usually lasted from November to March when there was virtually no rain in Esanland. The climate at this time is hot with a temperature of about 230 –250 centigrade at mid-day. From around mid –<br />
December to January the weather became harsh and it was referred to as the harmattan or<br />
okhuakhua. These seasonal variations according to Akinbode could have been from the “latitudinal<br />
migration of the tropical convergence zone (ITCZ)” (Akinbode,1983, p. 3). Sometimes light rainfalls were recorded in the months of December and January. Also, strong winds and high air<br />
temperatures could be recorded between the months of January and March while the lowest are usually recorded during the months of June and July. In general, the altitude of the Esan plateau modified the temperature to such a level of eliminating extreme weather conditions. It was therefore not surprising that the relatively flat tops of the plateau remained much cooler than other parts of the land throughout the year. This perhaps explains partly why the plateau land was the first to be settled in Esan.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Esan Local Government Areas in Edo State: </span></b>The autonomous clans/kingdoms in Esan land are currently administratively arranged as follows under the current five local government areas:<br />
(1) Esan North East LGA, Uromi: Uromi, Uzea<br />
(2) Esan Central LGA, Irrua: Irrua, Ugbegun, Okpoji, Idoa, Ewu<br />
(3) Esan West LGA, Ekpoma: Ekpoma, Urohi, Ukhun, Egoro<br />
(4) Esan South East LGA, Ubiaja: Ubiaja, Ewohimhin, Emulu, Ohordua, Ẹbhoato, Okhuesan, Orowa, Ugboha, Oria, lllushi, Onogholo<br />
(5) Igueben LGA, Igueben: Igueben, Ebele, Amaho, Ẹbhosa, Udo, Ekpon, Ujorgba, Ogwa, Ugun, Okalo<br />
There are 35 clans each of which is headed by a traditional ruler called "Onojie".<br />
1. Irrua 2. Ekpoma 3. Uromi 4. Ubiaja 5. Egoro 6. Ekpon 7. Ewohimi 8. Emu 9. Ewatto 10. Wossa 11. Amahor 12. Igueben 13. Idoa 14. Illushi 15. Ifeku 16. Iyenlen 17. Ohordua 18. Okhuesan 19. Oria 20. Onogholo 21. Orowa 22. Opoji 23. Ogwa 24. Okalo 25. Ebelle 26. Ewu 27. Ogboha 28. Uroh 29. Uzea 30. Udo 31. Urohi 32. Ujiogba 33. Ugun 34. Ugbegun 35. Ukhun<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Health Facilities</span></b> The Ambrose Alli University Teaching Hospital is at Ekpoma, along with various public health centers, private and public hospitals, clinics and maternity homes; The Irrua Specialist Hospital, the School of Nursing and Midwifery, as well as public primary health centers, public and private hospitals, clinics, and maternity homes; The General Hospital,Uromi; and The General Hospital, Igueben.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Educational Facilities</span></b> In addition to the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, there are 48 primary schools and 12 secondary schools, including the Christ the King Nursery & Primary School, Ekpoma; Mousco International School, Ekpoma; Cosmopolitan Church Primary School; Christ Foundation Nursery/Primary School; and Christ Adam College; Needs more detail information on educational facilities in Irrua Uromi and Ubiaja; Famous secondary schools such Igueben College and Ewu Grammar School are located here, as well as Adult<br />
Education Centers, which were set up to provide education for adults without formal education;<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Tourist Centres/Attractions</span></b> Commemorative Statue of Prof. Ambrose Alli, Ibiekuma River, and Oba's Palaces; Lake Obiemen, Obiemen Shrine, the Ogirrua's Palace, and the Ugbalo Spring; and The Okomu Udo National Game Reserve, and the Amahor waterfalls.<br />
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Language<br />
Esan speaks Esan, a tonal Edoid language which is a Kwa language that belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum. Dictionaries and grammar texts of the Esan language are being produced, which may help the Esan appreciate their written language. There is a high level of illiteracy among the Esan, and a large number of dialects, including Ẹkpoma, Ewohimi, Ẹkpọn, and Ohordua. Most annual Esan Kings' Council meetings are largely conducted in English for this reason.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_U4AZsKEPCSDuOM5b6GMVaFDiNmuYK2nQL1uI1u-wtPRAWwVclw-JrcNUa99Z_uWdXXb5Ndh1og4dsMB16gkpHzIkNP_M3iv2X3MYTV3anBu0I4jTHUvT75cZXwfWEM1XFSy6qymEIE/s1600/iyayi1_0.gif" /><br />
Festus Iyayi (born in Ugbegun in the year 1947 in Esanland, died 12 November 2013) was an Esan man and Nigerian writer known for his radical and sometimes tough stance on social and political issues.<br />
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Esan has various dialects all of which stem from Bini and there is still close affinity between the Esan and the Bini, which leads to the common saying 'Esan ii gbi Ẹdo' meaning, Esan does not harm the Ẹdo (i.e. Bini). Esan are great poets, writers, singers, carvers, farmers, scholars, storytellers, etc. The folklore and history of the Esan tribe is worth re-visiting and attempt should be made to research the various ways that the villages are related to the Ẹdos, and others who may have occupied Ifeku Island many years ago. The Esan heritage is unique despite the variation of dialects.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">late first lady of Nigeria </span><a href="http://stella%20obasanjo/" style="text-align: start;">Stella Obasanjo</a>, was an Esan woman</div>
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Linguistic finding has shown the word ‘gbe’ to have the highest number of usages in Esan, with up to 76 different meanings in a normal dictionary. Names starting with the prefixes Ọsẹ; Ẹhi, Ẹhiz or Ẹhis; and Okoh (for male), Ọmọn (for female) are the commonest in Esan: Ẹhizọkhae, Ẹhizojie, Ẹhinọmẹn, Ẹhimanre, Ẹhizẹle, Ẹhimẹn, Ẹhikhayimẹntor, Ẹhikhayimẹnle, Ẹhijantor,Ehicheoya etc.; Ọsẹmundiamẹn, Ọsẹmhẹngbe, etc.; Okosun, Okojie, Okodugha, Okoemu, Okouromi, Okougbo, Okoepkẹn, Okoror, Okouruwa, Oriaifo etc. To any Oko-, 'Ọm-' the suffix of the name can be added to arrive of the female version e.g. Ọmosun, Ọmuromi, etc.<br />
BODIAYE How are you?<br />
OFURE/ ODIAMENMEN It is well<br />
EGBE DAEN? Are you ok?<br />
BU WA KI LU What are you up to?<br />
OKHIN BUE Good bye<br />
OBO KHIAN Welcome<br />
EA YE No<br />
EHE Yes<br />
ME WA KHA I disagree<br />
MUDIA FO Hold on!<br />
KHAN MUN Go on!<br />
DO O TUA Sit down!<br />
KPA NO Get up!<br />
NO WEH Sleep <br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Prof. </span><a href="http://ambrose%20folorunsho%20alli/" style="text-align: start;">Ambrose Folorunsho Alli</a><span style="text-align: start;">, Esan man and Governor of Bendel State and the founder of Ambrose Alli University</span></div>
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History<br />
The Esan people migrated from the Bini Kingdom in Nigeria. The word Esan is a Bini word meaning "they jumped away, or they have fled." The name became the accepted name of the group of people who escaped from the reign of Oba Ewuare of Benin in the middle of the 15th century. During the 15th century, the Oba Ewuare of Benin had two sons that both tragically died on the same day. Oba Ewuare then declared for mourning the death of his sons to the whole kingdom that there shall be no sexual intercourse in the kingdom; no washing, sweeping of the houses or compound, drumming or dancing; and making of fire in the land. Oba Ewuare insisted that these laws be strictly adhered to for a period of three years as a mark of respect for his dead sons.<br />
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Many natives fled the Bini Kingdom unable to abide by these rules to join previous groups that had already migrated out of the kingdom years before (notably, the groups that had earlier formed Irrua, Uromi, and Ekpoma). Soon after, the Oba summoned a meeting of his subjects from various quarters and to his amazement, noticed that they had greatly diminished in numbers. When the Oba asked where his subjects had went to, he was told, "Ele san-fia" ("They have fled"). This later turned into E-san-fia and then Esan. When Oba Ewuare saw that his kingdom was quickly becoming depopulated, he revoked his laws but the migrations continued. Oba Ewuare tried to wage war against the migrants but this failed.<br />
According to Jacob Egharevba, author of A Short History of Benin, the Oba conquered 201 towns and villages but he had to use diplomacy for many of the other scattered towns and villages in the forest in order to bring them under Benin rule. Thus, Oba Ewuare invited Esan leaders or their representatives to Benin for a truce. He enticed them with the idea of having an attachment to Benin City and of their having the honour of being called "Onojie", which means king. The future of Esan rested on the Esan who went to Benin and took the title of Onojie. It was not an easy decision for the Esan leaders to decide whether or not to go. Many feared Oba Ewuare but also did not want more military attacks against them. To reduce their fears, Benin promised military support for the Onojie to enforce authority over insubordinate subjects (Eweka, 1992: pp. 83-84). Only three leaders actually went to Benin in person.<br />
All three were apparently men who had nothing to fear from the Oba due to various reasons. The first was Ekpereijie, the son of Oba Ohen's daughter and a sister to Oba Ewuare. The sister had been given to the leader of Irrua. Ekperejie came without fear because relations must have been cordial between Irrua and Benin.<br />
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The second was Alan of Ewohimi, the son of Ikimi who had left Benin prior to the reign of Oba Ewuare and as such was not considered as one of those who fled the city by the Oba. The third was Ijiebomen who left Benin for Ekpoma after the Oba had granted him leave (Eweka, 1992: p.169, 174). In contrast to those mentioned above, chief Okhirare of Ohordua, , had especially offended the Oba and would not risk his neck, so he sent his heir Odua to Benin (Eweka, 1992: p. 272).</div>
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His brother and leader of Emu also sent his son rather than risk his life. Three other Esan leaders dispatched brothers as their representatives to the meeting in Benin. Ede felt he was only less than the Oba by degrees and as such refused to honor the call. He then sent his junior brother to listen to what the Oba had to say. The leader of Ubgoha also asked his junior brother to go on his behalf. The leader of Uromi sent his junior brother to find out what the Oba had to say. Ewuare concealed his anger at the impertinent leaders in Esan since he was a skilled diplomat.</div>
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During the meeting, he told the visitors how they had migrated from Benin. He enthroned the Benin court traditions in Esan. The Oba bestowed the title of Onojie on those that were present at the meeting. This historic moment happened in 1463. Instantly, the Oba made them rulers of their communities and subservient only to the Oba. Above all, this noble title was not transferable to father, brother, or master, and once an Onojie, always an Onojie until death (Okojie, 1960: p.37).</div>
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Where Oba Ewuare had enthroned a proxy as Onojie except in Ewohimi, Irrua and Ekpoma, strife and hatred followed as the new leaders began to assert authority and control over the elders. Thus, the Oba wielded the numerous villages into large political entities that hitherto became known as chiefdoms, loosely knitted villages, ruled by the Enijie.</div>
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Chief <a href="http://anthony%20enahoro/">Anthony Enahoro</a>, Esan man and great Nigerian nationalist who raised the motion for the independence of Nigeria, walking with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.</div>
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Economy</div>
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Esanland is on a plateau, surrounded by slopes down to the lower Niger river, the valley and wetland towards Etsako, the Kukuruku Hills and the plain around Benin city the state capital. The tableland though reddish-brown in colour, is a fertile land for farming, which is the main occupation of the Esan people. There is a dense thick forest, nutritionally rich in economic crops and herbal plants. However, it is suffering from bush burning, and wood felling for timber and as a major source of fuel (which is in high demand) for the increasing population of the Esan people.</div>
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By 1460, a viable agricultural economy was in existence in Esan with the development of indigenous crops native to the savannah – forest belt. The cultivation of the indigenous yam and</div>
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the utilization of the oil palm trees were complemented by the production of other crops including cotton, beans, pepper, melons and fluted pumpkin. The rearing of domestic animals was also practiced. These activities led to the expansion of communities in the area. An early agricultural development was crucial for the Esan people especially as it formed the basis for the future introduction of some American and Asian crops that diversified the agriculture of the people. Apart from providing food for the people, agriculture was an economic sector, which created gainful employment for all members of the society. Although in its foundation, agriculture was inward looking pre-occupied with the need to provide food for the people, for a long time families or individuals were able to produce more than was needed for home consumption and for manufacturing items of immediate utility. Being an agricultural area men, women, and children all members of the society were engaged in agricultural production. Enough food was produced to feed the population. Surplus production was traded away. Population grew. Turnover grew. Potentials increased. It was in this setting that cotton assumed the status of a significant crop in pre-colonial Esan.</div>
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For many centuries before 1900 when British agents colonized Esan, “Ishan cotton” an indigenous crop was used to manufacture Ukpon-Ododo the thick multi-coloured cloth. “Ishan cotton” (G. vitifolium) locally called olulu was of long, strong and coarse lint. By the 19th century it was</div>
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obvious that Esan had a long history of cultivation and use of cotton. However, Esan people did not export cotton to other areas, but instead exported large quantities of native cloths manufactured from indigenous cotton to many places including Benin and Agbor. Cloth weaving in Esan was an important pre-occupation by women in pre-colonial times. Esan cloth was an important commodity in the trade with neighbours.</div>
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Cotton products were exchanged for salt, iron tools, and beads. Apart from the lint, cottonseeds were edible. Women planted cotton in their husbands’ farm during the months of April and May. The dried wool was picked from the plants by January (Okojie, 1960, pp. 26-27). Women did the transformation of the wool into cloth. The varieties included ukpon-asiso specially woven as work cloth or sewn as the farmer’s bag, ukpon-agbo or the ordinary wrapper, ukpon-ododo or the multi-coloured cloth and ukpon-nogian – the scarlet cloth. While it is possible that the craft was</div>
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independently developed in view of the available raw materials in the forests, it is also possible that the knowledge came from people who migrated into the area long before the 15th century. In the process of weaving the native cloth, dried wool was picked from the plant and separated from the seeds with wooden tools known as Osomuro and ukpelomon. The wool was spun into threads after beating into some softness. The wool was thereafter drawn out and spun into threads that were later dyed with various colours of black, red and yellow. The vertical and horizontal handlooms locally called erindo were used to weave the threads into cloth. Both the ordinary (undyed) thread and the dyed ones were alternatively used to achieve specific artistry (Talbot, 1926, p. 94). Other sticks used as tools to process cotton included eben, aha, okidore and ikpifeme.</div>
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The most valued cloth for farm work was ukpon-asiso, thickly woven and coarse in texture.</div>
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The ukpon-agbo was woven with un-dyed threads. They were usually woven for womenwho tied them as wrappers before the advent of European textiles. The ukpon ododo or multicoloured</div>
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cloth was the popular Esan cloth, which attracted commercial status from European traders beginning with the Portuguese in Benin during the 15th century.</div>
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Land tenure</div>
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Esan people are communal in nature. This means that their hopes, aspirations and relationships</div>
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are perceived in communalistic terms. Following the above, land ownership in Esan has a</div>
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communal foundation. According to Okogie (1994), Land in Esanland was strictly communal and</div>
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held in trust by the Onogie (king) for his people. It could neither be sold nor bought. If there was a</div>
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dispute over a piece of land in the village, the Edion looked into it and effected a settlement. If</div>
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it was a dispute involving two villages, the onogie decided the matter.</div>
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In Esan land, there are places which are the exclusive preserve of the Onojie (chief or king). These places are strictly, commonly and “constitutionally” understood by everyone to belong to the Onogie in office. For instance, such places are the palace grounds and the market place. It is this understanding which warrants “main markets” in Esanland being named “after their Onogies”. For instance, there are markets prefixed after the Onogie such as Eki Ojieuronmun, Eki Ojieugbegun, Eki Ojieuobiaza, etc. Literarily translated, the above means the markets of Uronmun king, Ugbegun king and Ubiaza king respectively (Okogie, 1994).</div>
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Another important issue in land tenureship in Esanland is the question of the location of a building or house. The piece of land where a building is sited or located and the “cleaned” area around the building is a man’s possession. His children also have ownership claim to the building and the cleared portion around the house. What happened in a situation in which a man decides or relocates or live elsewhere outside his former abode? Strictly speaking, no one has the right to trespass the vacated piece of land and the building. The reason for this is that his former residence had become the man’s IJIE or ITEKEN or IJIOGBE (A man’s IJIE or ITEKEN or IJIOGBE, ITOLUWA or ICHUWA is where he lives and dies (it is his ancestral home). If the house had fallen down and the place had become bush, the old building site or ITOLUWA or ICHUWA was still his sacred possession (Okogie, 1994). On the other hand, if a man endorses or permits another person to build on his ITEKEN, he ceases to be the bonafide owner of the house and the land on which the house was built.</div>
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An important issue associated with ITEKEN is that it cannot be sold to a non-member of the</div>
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community or village. It would be considered adversarial or inimical to the community. This act</div>
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could put the sovereignty and integrity of the community in jeopardy. Admittedly, the implication</div>
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of a man’s inability to sell his ITEKEN to a stranger means the “ownership” of land was not absolute. Absolute ownership was vested in the elders of the community. In the case of Ijiogbe, the ancestral Ijie, the statutory owner was Ominijiogbe – the first surviving son of a deceased man.</div>
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The Ominjiogbe who is usually the first male child of a departed father is the automatic owner of the “ancestral Ijie” or Ijiogbe. The succession of inheritance or ownership of Ijie is authenticated</div>
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by the presence of a surviving first son of a dead man in a family. The first son of a man is the rightful owner of Ijiogbe after performing the necessary burial rites of his late father. In a situation in which a diseased man has no surviving son, his brother takes possession of the Ijiogbe.</div>
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Regarding the important issue of ownership of farm lands, Esan custom and tradition provided</div>
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adequate definition of the legal owner of such. In clearly defined terms, a farmland belongs to</div>
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whoever deforested and farmed on a piece of land. In this case, where a “hitherto”, “virgin” and unclaimed forest was cleared by a person, it becomes his possession. This law remains in force even in contemporary times. As Okogie (1994) has rightly noted:</div>
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The basic law over farmland was that HE</div>
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WHO FIRST FARMED A VIRGIN FOREST, A</div>
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LAND HITHERTO UNCLAIMED, OWNED IT.</div>
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That means that in Esan custom the first man to clear a forest, cut down the trees for the purpose</div>
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of farming, owned it OVER GENERATIONS. It is expressed as ONON GBE EGBO YAN EGBO (He who de-virgined a forest owned it).</div>
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Once this law has been established and recognized in Esan land, the piece of land “which now becomes a man’s property immediately becomes his family’s property. It passes from generation to another by virtue of the fact that every man passes it to his son”. When a man decides to become an absentee farmer or landlord over his acquired piece of land, no one can trespass or farm on the land left by the owner who remained domiciled elsewhere. If any man so desires to utilize the piece of land, permission must be sought from the authentic owner of the land. Once the permission is granted, the land must be vacated after the farming season by the borrower of the land. There is also an understanding that no permanent economic or commercial trees such as orange trees, palm trees, rubber trees etc, should be planted by a borrower of a farmland. This act or order mitigates against the ambitious, selfish and futuristic intention of the borrower possessing the land he borrowed.</div>
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Political structure</div>
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Esan political structure is based on gerontocracy, which was a form of social organization in which a group of old men or a council of elders dominate decisions by exercising some form of control (Webster, 1990: p.514). In Esan, elders exercised a general control over the people. The laws that governed Esan communities were based on the customs and traditions of the people, which the elders were the main repositories of power (Okojie, 1960: p.76).</div>
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The belief and utmost confidence in the elder as the head was a natural inclination that began with</div>
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the family. The home Ukuwa was not an isolated unit but part of an extended family. Each home</div>
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consisted of a man, his wife/wives, children, junior brother, his yet unmarried sisters and any other persons within, either as a mother or servant provided he or she was within the circle. A combination of such homes represented the extended family. The head of the extended family unit was called Omijiogbe. As the junior brother’s own families and multiplied it so it was easy to see this man’s position as head of the family increase in importance (Okojie, 1960: p.50). Being the head he was the spokesman for the unit and was in charge of the ancestral shrine (David .O.</div>
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Umobuarie, 1976: p.45). The day-to-day administration of the family lay on the shoulders of the</div>
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head of family. He was in fact in a position to control not just the religious but the political activities of the family, thereby ensuring maximum security of all members. He was also regarded as the person at the helm of affairs and “the orbit around which all other things revolved” (Okojie, p.50). In the event of any disagreement in the family, he was seen as the arbiter and he reserved the right to punish any erring member. However, in the event of any conflict between members of the family a protective position for his family by soliciting for peace or asking for compensation was required. But in cases where it was difficult to arrive at a compromise with an out-going or out-group, the matter was then referred to the highest person in the gerontocratic ladder. This was the Odionwele or eldest of the elders.</div>
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The head of the family Omijiogbe also participated in the religious life of members of his lineage. For example, he was the go-between or the mediator through whom the members of the family appealed to their ancestors. Consequently it was his direct responsibility to control the family shrine, pray to the ancestors for peace and forgiveness of wrongdoing as well as for prosperity. It was to this end that the Esan people believe that the living descendants of the ancestors must as a matter of fact, pay due respect to the ancestors to prevent any form of disaster and attract to themselves some good fortunes or blessing (Ukhun, 1997: p.39).</div>
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Many lineages that were contiguous formed the Idumu or quarter. The leader of the eldest lineage was seen as the head or leader of the quarter. One important thing about this organisation was that members usually had a claim to common descent or blood relation hence inter-marriages were not allowed. Many Idumu or quarter usually came together to form the village. The most elderly of the elders by age was usually made to assume office as the Odionwele when the old Odionwele died.</div>
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The organisation of each village rested on the division of the male population into age sets namely Egbonughele (Sweepers) regarded as the youngest male members of the society. Igene (Scavengers) were the next in the age ladder while the Edion were made up of the eldest male in the society. Gerontocracy worked well in villages and not in the cities or urban centers with people of diverse interests or background. Usually the head of the village was the Odionwele who presided</div>
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over its affairs. The Odionwele was regarded as the pivot around whom all activities revolved. He</div>
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presided over all meetings and took decisions with his executives. The post of the Odionwele needs to be qualified because if a stranger settled in a village and became the eldest member he would still not be Odionwele. An Odionwele’s family members must have existed long enough in the village to lose all the identities of a stranger. The Odionwele with three most elderly Edion formed the most elderly four or the EDIONENE.</div>
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The Edion had messengers known as UKOEDION. It was the messenger’s sole responsibility to summon all the Edion in the village whenever there was an issue to be discussed. The choice of who became an UKO-EDION was essentially the prerogative of the Odionwele who considered</div>
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the quality, honesty, wisdom and out-spokenness of the individual. Usually, meetings which</div>
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concerned the well being of the community were held at the village square called, Okoughele. The</div>
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elders formed the village council that dealt with serious crimes of all sorts and they possessed</div>
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walking sticks called OKPO that were used for support whenever they walked from their homes.</div>
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Such walking sticks constituted the effigies that could be counted to have a glimpse of the number</div>
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of Odionwele that have lived Apart from the administrative function of the elders, they also arbitrated religious issues. For instance, the Odionwele was not the chief priest of the village but the custodian of the ancestral shrine. Every year before the new yam festival or at any other ceremony to the gods of the land he would pray to the ancestors on behalf of the village. The religious aspect of village life rested on both the chief priest and the Odionwele. In fact, he was the custodian of the village land which he held in trust for the living members of his village, the dead and the yet unborn. Before any new settler acquired land the Odionwele must give approval </div>
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Esan elder, Tom Ikimi</div>
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The Igene – grade was next to the Edion. They were usually not called for public duties unless such duties were beyond the competence of the lower grade. Like the elders, they held meetings form time to time to discuss issues of common importance. The military and physical defense of the village usually rested on the group. Its members headed such major works as house –building or roofing and were really the dare – devils of the village community. They were usually called upon when there was a serious matter like fire outbreak, burglary or theft. They also assisted in burying the dead and helped the junior age grades in the digging and clearing of ponds. The leader of the Igene age grade controlled the affairs of the Igene and effected discipline among its members. This was done through the imposition of fines Oko on any erring member of the group (Okojie, 1960: p.76).</div>
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Dr. Robert Okojie, Esan man and grandson of Ogbidi Okojie, the Onjoie of Uromi and the famous warrior Esan traditional ruler who resisted British rule. Dr Okojie who is one of "The Men Behind NASA Success Stories” is an Aerospace Technician in the sensors and Transducers area at Glenn, works with Fully Packaged Silicon Carbide Piezoresistive Pressure Transducer. These are used for pressure management in jet engines. Image Credit: NASA</div>
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The Egbonughele or street sweepers were the last in the age group. Their known jobs were mostly the sweeping of streets, clearing of marked places, farm paths, streams etc. The most common was the sweeping of the village square UGHELE that was usually done once in every 4 days. They were responsible for a major part of communal labour in the village and they only got help from the Igene when the task was too heavy for them alone. This was usually in a form of an appeal to the Edion who then requested the Igene for required assistance by the Egbonughele sweepers. The leader of the sweepers maintained discipline within the age grade and made sure all in the age-grade obeyed the rules and regulations of the group. As the head, he reserved the right to punish any member who violated the rules of the grade. Such offences included failure to participate in the sweeping of the village square on market days, fighting in the square, and failure date. Like the scavengers or age grade the punishment was usually in form of a fine that was either paid in cowries or by confiscating any possession of the offender in lieu of cash. Money or items so acquired was divided among members of grade in the order of seniority. The leader of the sweepers was expected to take the biggest share of any cash or any item collected at a time followed by the next three people in age known as Egbonughele - nene.</div>
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<img height="424" 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" 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The expansion of Esan communities from villages into chiefdoms under Enijie did not negate the rule of the elders. The Odionwele continued to exercise his right to rule at the village level by virtue of him being the oldest member of the community. In the same way other male members of the community were potential successors to the stool of the Odionwele.The belief of the people about their elders being closer to the ancestors greatly aided the principles of gerontocracy to the extent that despite colonial rule it remained a pattern of governance at the village level even till today.</div>
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The belief in the ancestors enhanced the belief in the continuity of life after death and in the unbroken intercourse between the “living dead” and the living members of the family. As the living</div>
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father provides for and protects his children, so the departed father was expected to continue with</div>
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a greater spirit in the world beyond. This means that in reality; the survivors are never cut off from</div>
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protection and guidance of their deceased relations who have trodden the path of life which the living now tread. Ancestors have their feet planted in both the world of the living and that of the spirits. They therefore know more than the living and are consequently accorded great respect for that (Bolaji Idowu, 1973: p.179). Also, as the deceased possessed powers of omniscience, to influence, help or molest the living, ancestors represented an order of intermediaries who related prayers to God (Smith, 1950: p.10). Pronouncements by elders were regarded as law. The belief in the wrath of the ancestors, and the elders who follow them as the most senior members of the living enhanced the tenacity of gerontocracy in Esan. Elders were experienced through age and knowledge over time. This belief is strongly rooted in the popular saying that “what an old man sees while sitting down, a young man can not see even while standing”(Okoduwa, 2003). </div>
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Over time, the practice of gerontocracy remains tenable to the structure of a changing society. For example, with the development of a political super structure following the establishment of the rule of the Onojie over loosely knitted villages, the rule of elders remained as bedrock of administration in the villages. The Onojie as the ruler of the corporate entity derived his position by right of being the first son in the royal lineage. He enhanced or reduced his acceptance and popularity by his sensitivity of conscience, greed or avarice. On the other hand the Odionwele acquired his position by being the eldest male in his village.</div>
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<img src="http://api.ning.com/files/e-EoEScd*wtEbZnOwi3-SGpJcAVb8EU0OBXD7pUT49uI7Kq3lB2q*67EHoA2RtVs9ZdFSTju3d5sl2-lJN352RG*VutHanxu/enahoro.jpg" height="569" width="640" /></div>
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Pa Peter Enahoro, Esan man</div>
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Military organization</div>
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In the case of military organization in Esanland, there was no standing army; rather, it was an ad hoc arrangement. The emergence of an army was provoked by imminent challenges, which were responded to spontaneously. For us to appreciate this nature of military arraignment, we should first of all understand ancient Esan traditional political structure, which was (is still) patterned along several age groups (Otu), and three of them are the Edion, Igene, and Egbonughele .</div>
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The Edion group is made up of men from their mid-fifties in age and experience, and the group constitutes both the executive, legislative and judicial arm of the community. The Igene is for adults between the ages of 25-50 years, and this group is in change of the village works department, maintenance of internal security and defense of the community from external aggression. The Egbonughele is for adolescent between 12 and 25 years saddled with the duty of maintaining environmental sanitation in the community.</div>
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Given our understanding of Esan political structure, it is therefore easy to identify that members of the military wing would be recruited from the Otu-Igene. Being a member of the Igene was not an automatic license to be invited into the ad hoc military in time of conflicts. Rather, amongst the Igene, the bravest among them called the Okulokhimioto were the fortunate ones to be enlisted into the army.13 This infantry was led in war time by the Okakulo or war commander after he had made sure that all necessary weapons of war were assembled at a specific meeting place.</div>
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The Okulokhimioto would be taking to a sacred forest in a chosen village to be properly drilled on military discipline and the art of warfare. The duration of training was determined by the urgency of war. But, in a situation when the military had to respond spontaneously to war challenges, members of the Igene would be hurriedly summoned to curtail or arrest the situation in the interim, pending when the Okulokhimioto would be ready. The Igene was able to hold brief, because of the Para-military training new entrance into the group was made to undergo.</div>
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Some of the weapons of war used in time past in Esanland were "poisoned arrows, metal weapons, akin to heavy machetes, cross-bows and cudgets.“ …and "the Okede-the twin talking drum of native doctors and medicine men, both of which many warriors were” in Esanland. Others, which were considered very important, even in contemporary Africa, was the traditional fortification against the effect of gun short, machete and poisoned arrows by way of "armlets, charms, and antidotes" given to the soldiers by the Edion. It is important to credit the Uneme ironsmiths who provided most of the weapons of war not only in Esanland, but the whole of the Edoied. Interestingly, some of these weapons of war in Esanland were not different from those used by soldiers in Medieval Europe, such as axes, pikes, lances, two-edged swords, arrows and mounted warriors.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OW9T1wnZisvI6jO2Hw3zOtzcPHoAUcMoi56hq14321Ubv-Gy86rkedw99Jbux0VojJ6c8ceshK27KgWtZ0IhF23XXxvKv5gIf81_eFXqygjOR1dzL2wfnqXjjLV493bcnWnf5HPUa0Cf/s640/igbabonelimi.jpg" height="397" width="640" /></div>
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Esan people</div>
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ESAN PEOPLE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE CEREMONY.</div>
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Two major types of marriage exist in Esan Land: Monogamy, A marriage of one man to one woman, and Polygamy, A marriage of one man to two or more wives. Traditional marriage is usually an arrangement between two families as opposed to an arrangement between two individuals. Accordingly, there is pressure on the bride and bridegroom to make the marriage work as any problem will usually affect both families and strain the otherwise cordial relationship between them. The man usually pays the dowry or bride-price and is thus considered the head of the family. Adultery is acceptable for men, but forbidden for women. Marriage ceremonies vary among Esan Clans.</div>
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<img src="http://www.nigeriafilms.com/image.aspx?img=Y29udGVudC9jb250ZW50Ly1TdW5ueS1BZGVzLURhdWdodGVyLU1hcnJpZXMtUGhvdG9zLTA2LmpwZ3w2NjA=" /></div>
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Before Now, girls were generally regarded as ready for marriage between the ages of 15 through 18. Courtship can begin among the individuals during the trip to the river to fetch water or during the moonlight play.</div>
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Sometimes parents actually go looking for a wife or husband for their children. This led to the BETROTHAL SYSTEM where marriage were conducted with or without the consent of the individuals involved. Sometimes such betrothal, took place when a baby girl was born. Suitors would begin to approach the parents by sending a log of wood or bundle of yam to the parents of the child. You are likely to hear statements such as -" Imu' Ikerhan Vboto"-I have dropped a log of firewood. When a boy decides to get married and the parents have accepted the bride as a prospective daughter-in-law, messages go up and down between the two families. </div>
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Series of investigations are conducted by both families - about disease, scandals and crimes which may affect the families.</div>
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The term of the marriage which of course may include the DOWRY would be settled in some families. Gifts for mother of the bride and members of the extended family would be part of the settlement. Then a date would be set for the ceremony which would take place in the home of the woman's family. This was called IWANIEN OMO in the old days the go-between for the two families must be somebody well known by both families. There would of course be a lot of merriment on the day of marriage when the bride and the bridegroom are presented openly to the two families. </div>
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Kola nuts and wine are presented. The head of the woman's family would normally preside over the ceremony. Prayers are said and kola nuts broken at the family shrine. Rituals vary from family to family. The woman always sits on her father's lap before she is given away. Amidst prayers, laughter and sometimes tears, the woman would be carefully hoisted on the lap of the head of the bride's family.</div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_Xciw-cMC9cyN-Pu63PNJqwMzLsSUmgWnsHhCBcFafqGWc8bMb-iTSCH4wZR5TNtjZvy_MsG2amMw64FmhFA8CbKXH_mFHT-shmyLQ4QkbZ5a1Bjb8T4zQQhsySzAFMbBroiN15IJxTp/s640/IMG00425-20120531-1533.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></div>
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Many years ago, the woman would be sent to the bridegroom house about thirteen days after IWANIEN OMO and gingerly hoisted either on her husband's lap or the head of his family. They are done immediately nowadays in the home of the bridegroom. The bride, now known as OVBIAHA would be led by her relatives to the husband's house with all her property, meanwhile the family and friends of the bridegroom are feasting, drinking, singing and dancing while waiting for the bride to arrive.</div>
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As the family and friends of the bridegroom awaits the OVBIAHA, messages will arrive suggesting that there are barriers on the road. The bridegroom has to remove the barriers by sending money to the party, bringing the wife to him or else the wife will not arrive. As they approach the house of the bridegroom, you can hear the echo of “Bride! Be proud/ the Bride is proud." Arrival at the bridegroom's house is immediately followed by the ceremony of IKPOBO-OVBIAHA-washing of the bride's hands. A bowl of water with money in it would be brought out. A woman in the groom's family, sometimes senior wife would bring out a new head tie, wash the hand of the Ovbiaha in the bowl and dries her hand with the head tie. </div>
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Both the new headtie and the money in the bowl belong to the bride.</div>
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A few days later, the bride would be taken to the family altar and prayers are said for her. She undergoes what is called the IGBIKHIAVBO ceremony-beating of OKRO on the flat mortar. This would be followed by a visit by the bride's mother-in-law and other female members of the family to the newlywed, if they are not living in the same house. She would demand the bed spread on which they both slept when they had their "first sexual relationship" after the wedding and if the bed-spread was stained with blood, the bride was regarded as a virgin and as such she would be given many presents including money. If it is proven that she was not a virgin, then the preparation for the ceremony of IVIHEN-OATH TAKING ceremony would be set in motion. First, she has to confess to the older women, the "other men" in her life before she got married. The husband would never be told any of her confessions, then, she would be summoned to the family shrine early in the morning , without warning to take an oath of FIDELITY, FAITHFULNESS, TRUSTWORTHINESS, HONESTY ETC, to her husband and family. This ceremony is the equivalent of the oath people take in the church, mosque or marriage registry. </div>
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Once the oath taking ceremony is over, she would be fully accepted back into the family and immediately becomes married not only to her husband but to the family and sometimes to the community.</div>
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Christianity, Islam and Westernization of today have weakened the ESAN traditional system of marriage. The traditional ceremony is sometimes done the same day with many of the rituals avoided in the name of Christianity or Islam and many women would rather die than take the oath we described above. It was the oath that kept ESAN women out of prostitution for many years; thus making the ESAN women in general to be regarded as very faithful, trustworthy, honest with strong fidelity to their husbands making neighboring tribes want them as wives. It also made divorce on the ground of adultery, less common in those days.</div>
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Esan Marriage</div>
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Religious Belief</div>
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Esan Belief in supreme God is captured in these words "Iyayi" which means “I believe” or “faith in God”, (Iyayi Osenebra). It is often abbreviated as Ose. God is also described as "Ofuekenede" (merciful God), "Okakaludo" (stronger than stone), "Obonosuobo" (the great physician), etc</div>
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Osenebra is a supernatural source. As the Supreme Being, Osenebra is the ultimate controlling principle of the universe. Since the foundation of the world God has foreordained whatever will be. At birth the individual has his ehi (guardian angel) who guides him. He is teleguided by his ehi in accordance with his fashioned destiny by God.</div>
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Awolalu and Dopamu, when writing on the concept of destiny among the Edos hold that it is the ehi that chooses or declares man’s destiny, and that offering must be given to him from time to time to attract favour from him. They also hold that the ehi can apply to God to take its client so that the ehi can go back to his Maker. (Awolalu and Dopamu 165-166). These do not correctly depict the Esan account. It is not the ehi that chooses or declares destiny. The ehi does not even implement but only monitors what God (Osenobulua/Osenebra) legislates or decrees and takes feedback and petitions to God. If offering is given to the ehi to attract favour, it means therefore he has dissented from the role assigned him by God to taking bribe, which means therefore that even the angels can take bride. On the contrary, the ehis do only what is proper to their nature. The ehi is subordinative and will-less, uninfluenced and impartial, objective, and an observer and messenger. They do not need any material thing. And as such they are not deficient in any material thing. They are pure spirit. If offerings and sacrifices are made, they are not for the consumptions of ehis (angels) but for either malevolent spirits that can yield to or accept sacrifices in negotiation or to the gods/deities for appeal or appreciation. For the ehi to apply to God to take its client is to say it is not only willful but also in negotiation with God for self interest. This will make the ehi a malevolent being because he desires the termination of a life which is his prerogative to guide and defend.</div>
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Evil forces: This is also a supernatural source. Evil forces can efficaciously alter, swap or over-turn a favourable destiny through power from elimin ebe (devil). The implacable, sadistic agents can wrought their evil machination through witchcraft, magic, and other diabolic and malevolent channels. If a misfortune incessantly attends to an individual or people, the Esans often say ebalulu non, that is, it is what was done, hence the name ebalulu (what was done) among the Esans. To rescue an individual from these forces, appeal, dialogue and supplication are not very potent; confrontation is more efficacious. Confrontation is preferred because, it is believed among the people that evil forces hardly yield to other methods because they are inherently evil. One can thus commune with higher forces who, through confrontation with or by causing the death of the evil agents put an end to such evil powers and the attendant unfavourable destiny. For example, an individual that is rescued from a revolving circle of birth, premature death and rebirth is named Asiazobor. This means ‘let’s, leave him now’, a depiction of belief in destiny.</div>
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Cloth</div>
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All Esan men and women possessed the loin cloth. For example an average Esan man had a loin cloth for ordinary wear and three pieces sewn together known as igbu or male coverlet. This would give a total of four pieces on the minimum of loin cloth needed by every male. The woman also needed at least two wrappers of two loin cloths sewn together as one. A European visitor James Welsh who visited the area in 1588 observed that wrappers were tied by women above their breasts</div>
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to cover them up to their knees (Hodgkin, 1960, p.144). Thus, the woman needed an average of</div>
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four pieces of loin cloth at any given period.</div>
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Esan man in traditional dress</div>
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<span style="color: magenta;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>'ORIA'-MAN IN ESAN ONTOLOGY</b></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Valentine Ehichioya Obinyan, Ph.D</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: magenta;">Faculty of Art, Department of philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria.</span></div>
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INTRODUCTION</div>
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Man is a very complex being and he is mysterious as the earth he lives in, he is created by God. Making reference to the definition of man as a: "Human nature, the human race, the mass of human beings collectively, man like, having the appearance of qualities of human being", there is no</div>
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distinction between male and female from the Esan perspective where 'Oria' is man and this refers directly to the generality of human species both 'man' and 'woman' but this would not mean they singularly lack a naming in Esan language. Man, in Esan ontology, is 'Oria '¹. For the Esan</div>
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people, 'Oria ' refers to both male and female. But categorically, an Esan male, is called '0kpia' while a female is called "Okhuo". For the sake of relevance to Esan linguistic analysis, let us mention other few but delicate points about the Esan people such as; 'Owanle' which refers to elders.</div>
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From the analysis of time and eschatology, it is crystalized that the Esan world-view like most other Africans such as the Akan, Ashanti, Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Effic, Afemai, Urhobo e.t.c, encapsulates a broad and exhaustive idea of the concept of life and time and this has a great influence and effect on the people in their thought and behavioral patterns or approach to the fundamentals of reality². This forms the background for their dynamic and dual view of 'Oria'- man as a being belonging to two different worlds; the here and now- 'Enabiuwana ' and the hereafter- 'Enabiazebue'.</div>
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THE ORIGIN, NATURE AND COMPOSITE ELEMENTS OF 'ORIA' -MAN IN ESAN ONTOLOGY</div>
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According to Battista Mondin, (1991) man is a kind of prodigy that combines within himself apparent antithesis; he is a fallen or unrealizable divinity, an unsuccessful absolute value or empty absolutization, an infinite or unreachable possibility. For this reason, I think that it would not be wrong to define man as an impossible possibility.</div>
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Man in Esan ontology is ‘Oria no ri wi usuagbon‘ or ‘Oria no ri wi agbelo‘- a communal being with-others; and he is created by the Supreme Being. In Esan ontology, he is considered as next to the Supreme Being since he is at the central point of everything in nature. Hence the Esan beliefs that everything in the universe was created for him. For the Esan, man is very complex being and he is as mysterious as the universe in fact, for them, man is a ‘being-with’. However, from where, comes such a wholesome conviction? One may ask. But digesting the Esan accounts on the origin of man, answers to such question will not be farfetched.</div>
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THE ORIGIN OF MAN IN ESAN ONTOLOGY</div>
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Many scholars have argued that the cosmological account of the universe among the Esan/Edo draws significantly from the Egyptian one⁵ given that the emphasis there in are closely related to the Egyptian version, which later formed the basis of Genesis in the Bible, is that the universe was created from chaos and primeval (or ancient) ocean. After a hill (called ta-tjenen} arose from the bottom of the ocean and a son-god (God's child or baby god) called Atom, (which is the Sun without which life on earth is impossible) appeared on the land created by the hill. This son-God or Atom further authored the creation of eight other gods, which together with himself made nine gods presumed by modem science to symbolize the nine major planets of the universe.</div>
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The Edo version is that, in the beginning, Osanobua (Oghene- Osa, Tu-SoS, the Supreme Being) decided to populate the world so He asked His four sons in "Erinmwin " (Heaven) to choose whatever gift of nature each fancied. The oldest chose wealth, the next in age chose wisdom, the third chose (spiritual energy) and as the youngest was about to announce his choice, "Owonwon " (the Toucan ) cried out to him to settle for a snail shell. This did not make sense to him but he settled for it all the same. The other brothers laughed at his choice as it seem stupid but for "Osanobua" this was a wise choice and that when they get to the middle of the water where He was sending them, the youngest son should turn his snail shell facing the water. This is made clear in the words of Osahon (2011) when he noted that:</div>
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There was no land only water everywhere and the</div>
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four sons were in a canoe, sailing, drifting, propelled</div>
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by the power of eziza (wind.) In the middle of the</div>
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water stood a tree on top of which lived (Owonwon)</div>
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the Toucan. The importance of the emergence of the</div>
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tree before man on earth is not lost on modern</div>
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science, which recognizes that without the tree</div>
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manufacturing oxygen,- life on earth would have</div>
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been impossible. Modern science has also confirmed</div>
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the Edo cosmology that birds, insects etc, preceded</div>
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man to earth. The Edo myth of creation was earth</div>
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based in scope."</div>
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On reaching the middle of the water, the youngest son turned his snail shell upside down and the result was an explosion from underneath the water which forced sporadic eruption of volumes and volumes of sand filling up the space around them for as far as their eyes could see. Worthy of note is that this eruption occasioned the four elements of creation, "amen" (water) "eziza" (air) "arhen" (fire) and "oto" (sand or land) which is popularly made reference to by the Ionian philosophers, influenced by their contact with Egyptian thought in the Delphic school of philosophy in Egypt.</div>
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Consequently, the water range was covered with Land but since the four sons had no knowledge of what this mystifying and unusual embodiment was, they scarcely conceived of stepping out of the canoe or on the land, so they sent the Chameleon to test this content, its quality and firmness. This is why in the Esan belief, the Chameleon walks with hesitation and this verification gave the four sons a conviction that the facet over the water was safe to trend on. But unfortunately, it was the youngest sons who alone had the capacity at this time to walk on the land. The reason for this is affirmed further by Osahon when he posited that:</div>
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"The youngest son of "Osanobua" was the only spirit</div>
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out of the four sons who could have the physical</div>
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human body attribute on stepping on the land,</div>
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because that was the advantage of the physical or</div>
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material choice he made. It was put in his hand from</div>
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heaven. The other sons were deities. The youngest</div>
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son, the ruler of the earth, represents innocence and</div>
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so is susceptible to the powers of the deities, his</div>
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brothers. These same weak and strong, good and evil,</div>
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hysical and spiritual, influences form the basic</div>
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elements of all modern religions, with man endowed</div>
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with the power to make choices."</div>
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From the aforementioned, it is purportable that all brothers took to different parts and according to their nature, posited themselves in the various elements of the earth. Hence the oldest brother chose to take his spirit gift and live in what was left of the water while the other two brothers accepted and deposited their spirit selves and gifts on the land. The youngest soon stepped on the land carefully at first, discovering its firmness, and uniqueness, he enthusiastically, stamped hard</div>
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repeatedly on it, and what followed dramatically, was running and rolling over it. Then with all sense of joy and satisfaction, he stopped, looked around and felt good and happy with his enormous gift. He called his land 'Agbon' (earth) and himself, 'Idu', meaning the first human on earth. He decided to walk around and explore the extent and nature of his gift. To his greatest surprise, there where trees, shrubs, birds, animals, insects, all over the land they all came out of water with the land, and the land spread out endlessly. After walking for a while pushing through shrubs; almost stepping on insects, ants and crawlers; talking to birds that appeared to be serenading him and animals that came close or ran from him, he was tired. He sat on the stump of a tree to rest, later lying on the ground, he fell into a deep asleep.</div>
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According to Osahon (2011), While asleep, 'Osanobua ' came down with a chain from heaven, looked around to ensure that everything was in place, including the Sun and the Moon that were to regulate day and night and the seasons. When 'Idu' woke up, he was excited to find himself in the presence of a huge, soothing illumination, surrounded by darkness. The earth was dark. He knew he was in the presence of the "Osanobua " and avoided any direct contact at the bright lightened figure. 'Idu' went down humbly and quickly on his knees to thank Him for the immense earth gift bestowed on him and ask his hunger could be satisfied. This he told 'Osanobua' humbly who then asked him to stretch his hand up above his head and the sky would respond by coming close to his hand so he could pluck whatever he needs from the sky but warned him not to pluck more than needed to satisfy his hunger at a time. Responding positively to this rule, 'Idu ' stretched his right hand as told and plucked a mouthful of food from the sky and munched away with deep sense of joy and satisfaction.</div>
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“What else do you need?”"Osanobua"askedIdu. Whoreplied, 'I -could do with a human companion’? He continued ‘I am lonely. My brothers are spirits and I can no longer relate with them’. But 'Osanobua'told him in reply, 'you are not flesh and blood alone. You are part spirit too. Your spirit brothers are not far away. Experience would teach-you how to harness wisdom, one of your spirit brothers, who would teach you how to combine your physical and spiritual energies to cultivate wealth and spiritual fulfillment, your other two spirit brothers.' This is why for the Esan people; </div>
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"'Osanobua' gave the oldest son control of the waters. The Edo calls this </div>
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son, 'Olokun' (meaning the god of the waters.) 'Olokun' represents aspects</div>
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of life such as good health, long life, good luck, prosperity and happiness, </div>
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to which man may appeal through ritual purity. The other</div>
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spirit sons were allowed the freedom to use their magical powers to balance </div>
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out the negative and positive forces of nature. To shorten the process of </div>
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acquiring spiritual wisdom, 'Osanobua' strengthened the Mystical energy </div>
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with three new forces:'Oguega', 'Ominigbon' and 'Iha',</div>
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to provide humans with spiritual guidance to differentiate rights from wrongs."</div>
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Base on the above request,'Osanobua'asked'Idu'to take sand with both palms from the ground and stretch them close together in front of him. Following this, 'Osanobua' pointed His staff in front</div>
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of 'Idu’ at once, a female person came forth. 'Idu’was filled with surprise and joy on beholding the beautiful female person in front of him. She smiled happily and fell prostrate in worship before 'Osanobua' and ‘Idu’ afterwards. 'Idu' held her hands in response and gave her a warm embrace. The woman 'Osanobua' called ‘Okhuo' (a woman) and ‘Idu’ He called'Okpia', (a man.). According to the Esan ontological analysis, they where placed at the center of the earth and together they multiplied in number, giving meaning to earth's resources from their point of view. As ‘Osanobua’ was about to leave, ‘Idu’ politely asked: ‘what if we have other problems and want to reach our</div>
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creator quickly?’ ‘Osanobua’ said, ‘you can individually live for up to five hundred years, but you can come to me at will through your individual spirit self, ‘ehi’,whose double, is permanently with</div>
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me in heaven. All you would need to do is climb the ‘Alubode’ hill and you are with ‘ehi’ in heaven, who would bring you to me’. As ‘Osanobua’ left to his abode where the earth, water, and the sky meet, darkness was lifted from the earth. According to Osahon (2011);</div>
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"Life was sweet and easy and before long, 'Idu' and his wife,</div>
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Eteghohi, were making babies. As the years rolled by,</div>
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generations of extended 'Idu's family began to spread out in</div>
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all directions, setting up communities, villages and towns.</div>
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The different communities farthest from base spoke</div>
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variations of 'Idu' language and knew that they came from</div>
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one common ancestor, Papa 'Idu', the ancestor of all</div>
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mankind."</div>
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Everything went well for thousands of years until one day when Emose, a pregnant woman, out of greed, cut more food than she needed to eat at once, from the sky. There was an immediate explosion and the sky began receding from human reach. To this effect, direct interaction with 'Osanobua'- the Supreme Being from then on, became difficult as humans could no longer walk in and out of heaven at will. Emose's greed destroyed .the age of innocence and brought into humanity, two new spirits, 'Esun' and ' Idodo' who represented various obstacles humans must now overcome to reach heaven. 'Idodo' is the spirit who ensures that natural or divine laws are obeyed. 'Idodo' seeks to ensure we repent and atone for our offenses.</div>
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Esun' is the 'servant’ spirit or angel that takes genuine human pleas, performed in the purity of heart, before the throne of Osanobua'- Supreme Being. According to the Esan believe thus; "Emose's greed also brought a lot of suffering and pains </div>
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to humans. Forests were soon depleted of their natural </div>
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food supply, so humans began to toil hard</div>
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clearing forests, burning bushes, tilling the land,</div>
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planting, weeding, nurturing, threshing and</div>
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harvesting. It was not easy. Before long, the lazy</div>
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began to die like fowls in the desert. Farming activities</div>
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began to take their toll on the ecological balance of the</div>
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earth too, causing droughts, unpredictable seasons,</div>
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and environmental degradation. The soil began to</div>
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suffer and die from overuse, yielding less and less food</div>
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despite the use of excrement as manure, which in turn</div>
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caused its peculiar illness, pains and deaths."</div>
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Two new spiritual forces of nature were now evident and critical to human survival. They were ‘Uwu’ (death) the symbol of death, and 'Ogi'uwu' (the spirit of death) representing mourning, evil omen, and diseases. 'Ogi'uwu' owns the blood of all living things. 'Uwu' and Ogi'uwu were causing havoc among humans. Humans who could live for ‘ukpo iyisen-'iyisen vbiyisen'- five hundred years at a stretch, were now dying prematurely. Death was ready to take life at any time, and</div>
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Ogi-irwu was sending everyone who disobeyed 'Osanobua' (or nodiyi-Osa) to death, regardless of age.</div>
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To convince Idodo to prevail on 'Uwu' and 'Ogi’-uwu' to temper justice with mercy and get 'Esun' to take our pleas to 'Osanobua' to control the forces, required the services of our own individual spirit called 'ehi' personal angel or guardian angel. At the time of this weakness, 'Ehi' could no longer go directly to 'Osanobua ' because of 'Emose's sin, except at the point before our birth as I have discussed elsewhere. There are two aspects of man: One half is 'ehi ' which is the spirit essence, and the other half is the okpa, which is the physical person. Before birth, 'ehi’ (the spirit essence) of the individual humbly goes before 'Osanobua ' to request endorsement of the kind of life the individual would wish to live on earth (Agbon.). Hence for the Esan people as found in our discussions on Man as a ‘being-with’ in Esan ontology.</div>
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It is worthy of note that:</div>
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The request is obviously made with a baby's sense of</div>
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innocence about rights and wrongs, and the weight of</div>
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the karmic debt and credit baggage of the individual</div>
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from previous life cycles and styles. However, the</div>
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choice of the new life style is patently and entirely the</div>
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individual's, and could be any of one or a combination</div>
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of scenarios. The individual may want to be a powerful</div>
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spiritualist, a rich business man or farmer, a great</div>
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warrior or soldier, a happy or unhappy family, man, a</div>
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wimp or beggar, a revered medicine man, a famous</div>
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chief, politician, or popular king, and even a notorious</div>
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or very successful thief."</div>
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The request process is called 'hi' and leads to Osanobua stamping his sacred staff on the floor to seal the wish. The approved secret wish is only known to 'ehi ', who is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that his second half, 'okpa ', (the physical human self) keeps to the promises made before 'Osanobua '. 'Ehi ' is the spiritual counterpart of 'okpa' in heaven. Half of 'ehi ' comes with 'okpa ' to earth to ensure permanent link with 'ehi ' in heaven. That half is called 'orhion '. This is why for the Esan people, when okpa dies, orhion stays close to okpa until okpa is properly buried and all rites are completed. Orhion, cleansed of sins, returns to heaven to be one</div>
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with ‘Ehi’ and ‘Okpa’may come back seven times each, making a total of fourteen times in all. This in Esan eschatology is what is known as ‘Iroso’ –reincarnation. Each return that is, ‘Iroso’-</div>
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provides the opportunity to atone for the sins committed in previous life times. When cleansing is complete, ‘ehi’ takes its proper place in ‘Eguae Osanobua vbd rintnwin (heavenly paradise).</div>
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THE NATURE OF MAN-'ORIA' IN ESAN ONTOLOGY</div>
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From the above analysis, we can deduce that the question of the human person is no doubt a predominant problem for the Esan just as it is for other traditions in Africa and the world. Being challenged by the confronting realities of its nature, the Esan have also like other philosophems asked; the 'why', the 'where', the 'how' and the 'what' of his existence. What is the origin of man? What is he made of? What is his destiny? And how does he attain his immediate aspirations? But the communal sharing inherent in the Esan community life, which agrees with the views of other scholars on man especially in Western and Africa philosophy, namely that he is a communal being, has fundamentally form the nexus of their ontological analysis of the human person as 'Oria no ri</div>
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wi usuagbon ' or 'Oria no ri wi agbelo’ i.e, ‘a being-with- others’; a community structured being.</div>
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To reminiscence our earlier point for the sake of emphasis, 'Oria' as a 'being-with' in Esan ontology, is not a substance that is rational and abstractly cut off from human and communal links, isolated and alone in an island of his own world according to Ireogbu. (2000a), ‘kpim’ of personality:</div>
<div>
Treatise on the human person, Respect, Solidarity, Liberty’, and in his 'Metaphysics: 'Kpim' of Philosophy’ (1995). But 'Oria' is the human being born into a human community from which he derives not only existence, but also value and identity, goals and capacities to realize himself in communion withothers. 'Oria' is a 'being-with-others' who are also human beings as he is, even though unique in colour, religion, culture, blood or tongue. He is the concrete existing being with other humans but with the single and primary project of communal flourishing in respect, solidarity and liberty¹⁴. Man in Esan ontology, possess a nature of unlimited complexity; he is a composite being of both the physical and spiritual realities as we can deduce from the philosophical chronicle of his origin in the above. This no doubt accounts for the wholesome conviction of the Esan people that 'Oria' is a 'being-with'. These composite realities affirms his position as the mediator between the 'Agbon si ebiwedaghe bi Agbon si ebiwewadaghe'- ‘the world of the seen and the world of the unseen’ or better put the world of the living and the dead. Let us examine closely the composite elements of 'Oria'-man in Esan ontology.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
THE COMPOSITE ELEMENTS OF 'ORIA'-MAN IN ESAN ONTOLOGY</div>
<div>
With an Esan ontological periscope, let us investigate into, these constituent elements forming 'Oria'- Man in Esan Ontology so as to penetrate and concretely present in exact manner, the truth of the concept of man in Esan ontology and the reason behind their concept of man as a 'being-with'. The essential and holistic fact forming the concept of the human person in the Esan thought as presented in this part of our study, is the composite constituent elements, and the interactive</div>
<div>
nature of this physical and spiritual elements that is, body and soul, or, the external and the internal elements. By external interaction, we mean the communication between the individual and some external realities, man inclusive which in the long run determines and defines his or her person. While internal interaction refers to that communication which can .rather be between the constitutive elements within the individual or interaction between the individual and some invisible being.</div>
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For the sake of emphasis, man in Esan ontology is composed of both physical and spiritual elements. The physical parts is tangible, it has form and can be measured. The immaterial and</div>
<div>
spiritual part is intangible and cannot be measured. The Esan word 'Oria' means ‘human person’ or ‘man’ which embraces both the spiritual and the physical parts. The physical is called 'Egbe'- Body while the spiritual is called 'Orion'- Soul. According to John Onimahwo's (2000) notion of ‘Oya’ (man) in his; ‘The Etsanko Traditional Concept of Man’, ‘Oria’¹⁵ takes on another connotation when used to refer or signify a ‘man of good character’, a ‘hero’ and a ‘man of balance moral and emotional personality’.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
THE PHYSICAL ELEMENTS OF 'ORIA' -MAN ('EGBE'-THE BODY)</div>
<div>
As already indicated, the body in Esan language, is called ‘Egbe’. This is made up of tangible parts comprising of: The head-‘Uhonmbon’, the Eyes-'Elolo', Nose- ‘Ibue’, Ear-‘Eho’ Tongue- ‘Olamben’ and Skin- ‘Efun Egbe’, enable the individual to communicate with the external world. Among the body also are: the Heart-‘Udu’, Blood-‘Aralen or Esagien’, Stomach- ‘Ekae’, Interstine –‘Ibie’, Hand-'Obo', andFeet- ‘oe’ e.t.c. The head- ‘Uhonmbon’ generally, is believed to be the most vital part of the Body-‘Egbe’ because on it depend the existence of the other physical parts. The head is the center of co-ordination and the place from where the functioning of the body ‘Egbe’ is controlled. Peter Ali (2011) puts this point better when he says that:</div>
<div>
It symbolizes the personality of man [Oria]. It is in the</div>
<div>
head ['Egbe'] we have the brain alled 'Erhere', which</div>
<div>
controls the man, then the Eyes- 'Elolo'. We [the Esan]</div>
<div>
believe that without the brain and the eyes, one</div>
<div>
becomes a beast. The special gift of man will no longer</div>
<div>
be there. It is the brain that really makes man what he</div>
<div>
is."</div>
<div>
According to the Esan people, the interplay between these elements is responsible for the physical fitness and practical activities of the individual, the brain (Arere) is the compartment where all experience both within the individual and those external to him are controlled and interpreted. The</div>
<div>
Esan people attribute the ability of the brain (Arere) to the psychic power. The psychic power like the physical power or energy is not the product of free interplay between, the various organs and systems of the body anatomy. By this description the psychic energy amongst the Esan people is the metaphysical postulation brought in to explain the behaviors and experience of the entire human person as a complex being. In fact, his personality. Consequently therefore, from, all indication, the head is an integral part of what makes up the essence of the being of man-‘Oria’. It forms the quiddity of one's personality. This we shall throw more light in our analysis of the spiritual</div>
<div>
components of ‘Oria’- man and immortality. But let us note that this explains why the Esan people at birth, holds the head in high esteem. Hence at the delivery of a child in Esan believe, the first to come out is the head. We believe it implies a bad omen should the feet come out first. But at any rate, should this happen the child is named 'Idemudia' which means “fall standing”.</div>
<div>
The heart- ‘Udu’, is another vital part amongst the physical elements of 'Oria'. Among the Esan people, the heart is sacrosanctly protected. The Esan also see the heart as the citadel of life, infact it "is the seat of the vital force of man". Hence for them "Udu etin fia, Uu Vae" meaning: 'when the heart is gone, death comes'.The blood- 'Aralen' or 'Esagien' for the Esan people is the vital element that keeps life. The Esan believe that the blood is sacred this is why it is always sad for all when blood is spilled either through war or accident. Thus to say ‘Aralen fua’, raises fear as it symbolizes a bad event or a dangerous state of another man as his vital force is threatened. This is the reason</div>
<div>
Ali's (2011) notion of the Esan concept of blood is of great significance when he postulated that:</div>
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Blood is the source through which the manifestation of</div>
<div>
the essence of being, life, is transmitted to every part</div>
<div>
of the organism. Once the vital force ceases to</div>
<div>
vibrate in man, the functioning of the blood will come</div>
<div>
to a standstill and man's life will terminate."</div>
<div>
To a large extent, reflecting on the nature of'Esagien' or 'Aralen'-blood, the Esan asks certain questions such as; from where does blood come to the heart, from where does it flow to the heart to pump for beings continuity? Where does the blood go when the body lies lifeless? The result of such reflection is the Esan believe that blood is sacred. The Esan believe that in the blood lies a mysterious power. They believe it is life. This belief springs from their observation that there is a bounding, a truly mysterious relationship between God and the blood of man. In fact, from all reasonable doubt, the Esan believe that the physical body outlines a unity and all its components are</div>
<div>
equally important because they play different essential roles in the coordination of the body in the living process of man. J. O. Awolalu's (1972) expression is true of a reason the Esan attaché importance to these bodily parts when he posited that:</div>
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Africans attach importance to other appurtenances or</div>
<div>
even certain matters which come off the body.</div>
<div>
Therefore clipping of a pulled off hair, pairing of</div>
<div>
nails spittle, umbilical cord, excetera, and urine are not</div>
<div>
left carelessly about. The same is true of anything that</div>
<div>
has been in intimate contact with the body. Washing</div>
<div>
water, chewing stick, sleeping mats, shoes, foot print."</div>
<div>
The reason behind such attachment to certain items as succinctly expressed by John Onimhawo (2000), is no doubt also true of the Esan. For him, meticulous attention must be given to these items due to the singular fact that:</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
...even one's clothes are zealously guarded because the</div>
<div>
piece of one's cloth can use to cause harm to the</div>
<div>
owner of the cloth. It is interesting to note too that</div>
<div>
even at death, the water with which a person was</div>
<div>
bathed has to be properly disposed of so that</div>
<div>
magician and sorcerers might not have access to it and</div>
<div>
use it for evil purposes. It is claimed also that piece of</div>
<div>
cloth used in tying the mouth of the corpse could be</div>
<div>
use by charm makers for evil ends if not properly</div>
<div>
disposed of."</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
THE SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS OF ‘ORIA'- MAN 'ORION' ('AHU'- THE SOUL) AND ('OKHOE' -THE SPIRIT)</div>
<div>
‘Oria’ for the Esan people, mean more than flesh and blood. Our point of departure in this Esan analysis of 'Oria' is on the spiritual elements and its interaction (interaction between individual and some invisible being). Thus we can describe the soul- 'Orion' within the context of the Esan conception, as the invisible manifestation of the individual, which both the individual in question and those around him attempt to interpret with their unitary mind set in form of selfconsciousness</div>
<div>
and identification. In the following we shall discuss these basic spiritual elements accordingly.</div>
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It is appropriate to recall at this juncture that the linguistic difference that are observable among the various communities also come to bear on the name given to the soul as it is called 'Orion' or 'Ahu' respectively. 'Orion' the soul, is the act that actualizes the potency of 'Egbe '-the body. In this light, the Esan people attribute greater power and superiority to 'Orion'-the soul over 'Egbe'- the body. The superlative description of ‘Orion’ -the soul by the Esan people is not only because of its complex function but because it is also an immaterial, invisible and abstract element that cannot be comprehended by the human mind. Although the Esan people acknowledge the complementarity of ‘Orion bi Egbe’ (body and soul), there is more on the primacy of ‘0rion’-the soul which is believed</div>
<div>
among the Esan people to have existed before inhabiting 'Egbe no oria '-the human body. As such, 'Orion'-the soul is described as the essence of 'Oria' since it precedes its existence. The primacy of the soul is also viewed from the perspective that it continues to exist even when separated from the body at death. It is on these characteristics of 'Orion' that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul as discussed above in Esan eschatological beliefs is built.</div>
<div>
In Esan language the word 'Okhoe'-spirit has various connotations. Thus, the human transcendental capacity which enable man to recall past-events, conceive of activities which are not immediate to his sense organs and which also enables him to introspect into the future is described as spirit (Okhoe). However, the present usage of the word ‘Okhoe’ spirit refers to that metaphysical underpinning which determines 'Oria'-the ‘individuals' personality. This can also be explained over a continuous and a consistent observation of individuals' behavioral pattern. From the foregoing, ‘Okhoe’- the spirit can be described as the active force which enables 'Oria'-the human person to participate in the universal principle of 'Agbon'-life. The manner or mode that any individual spirit adopts in this participation goes a long way to determine the nature of 'Oria'- the human person.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
According to Idowu, (1962) the spirit is "that which gives life to the whole being and thus can be described through its causal functions its presence in or absence from the body is known only by the fact that a person is alive or dead”²¹. According to the above 'Okhoe'-the spirit is recognized as</div>
<div>
the basic vital force and soul. Supporting this fact is that 'Okhoe' resides in the Lungs and chest and is man's vital force; it gives him life and makes him work. Upon this universal truth of the human person, our analysis of 'Oria'- Man in Esan ontology as a composite of certain elements, evolves from the dialectics of 'Egbe' (the body), 'Ahu '/'Orion ' (the soul) and 'Okhoe' (the spirit) which forms the thrust upon which the 'Oria'-human person or Man in Esan Ontology is seen as an absolute value possessing the qualities of Life, image and good name, truth and authenticity, forthrightness, self mastery, commitment and vocation, co-operation, family and love, culture, nature rootedness, teleology and finality.</div>
<div>
A recapitulation of the above analysis gives us the evidence that in Esan ontology like other African ontologies, the human person is a special being endowed with qualities of value, dignity and meaning hence should not be commonize or treated as an object; in materialistic terms. From all</div>
<div>
reasonable doubt, and from our own concrete existential experience as well as the origin of man in Esan ontology, it is factual that man is the central focus of everything that 'is' in nature as shown in the Esan wold-view- ‘irio ma re khagbon’. Hence they say "Oria nya agbon" Man is best understood, in his relationship with the creator (God) 'Osanobua'-the Supreme Being, with other beings; visible and invisible, with the living, dead and with nature. This understanding brings us to the fact that ‘Oria’ -man is a holistic creature compoe of both material and spiritual substances and his duty is to utilize and maximize nature for the singular purpose of maintaining a universal harmony among everything that exist within. This interrelativity, affirms the fact that man in Esan perpective is a ‘being-with others’-‘Oria’ no ri wi usuagbon'. Thus, man in Esan ontology, is a 'being-with' others in the community of beings, where he finds his definition and identity; gain and expressed his autonomy, express and affirm his dignity, value and meaning and fulfills his final destiny.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
CONCLUSION</div>
<div>
Finally ‘Oria’ –man therefore is not only a unique, distinctive and rational individual but a communal being who dependes on 'Osanobua '-God and other beings in nature for his well being. With his uniqueness, he is singled out, with his distinctiveness, he is special and with his rationality, he must think and act necessarily moral so as to maintain a harmonious relationship with other forces in nature, for the very sake of his well being. From this Esan ontological analysis of man, the concept of the human person therefore, is the community holding the most profound bound of incarnate existents living in common; a community of the ‘I’ and of ‘others’. Making recourse to the epochal definitions of man as: Substance, self-conscious and communicable being, it is a</div>
<div>
truism that these are indications of semantic diffusion.</div>
<div>
Therefore for an wholesome definition of man, the ontological, psychological and dialogical qualities must not be considered complete without the quality of self-transcendence as shown</div>
<div>
in the above analysis as it express the sense, meaning and purpose of the human person. 'Oria'- man in Esan ontology is not only an existent in the universe, a co-existent 'with-others' nor a subsistent, but he is a transcendent being towards 'Osanobua no ri ukhun'; a project towards the infinite, penetrating the realms of the absolute and the eternal. Clearly from the above, it is an indisputable fact that Esan ontology or metaphysics has to some extent served a very important function of creating a condusive atmosphere for the realization of very important psychological and moral needs of the individual and community at large. It is a metaphysics that is instrumental in tackling fundamental problems of ethics and society and, as such, has been instrumental to questions of cohesion, social control, and law and order within Esan communities²³. The fact that the Esan people live in harmony with their environment and the world is rooted in a metaphysics that sees this as a necessary offshoot of the individual's relationship with the forces that control these spheres of reality. It is necessary, therefore, to ponder on where such a conception of reality, of Being, evolved and where it can be properly located.</div>
<div>
An ample understanding of the proceeding succinctly implies the fact that there are certain characteristics, dimension, implication and problems associated with the concept of man as a 'being-with' in Esan ontology. Meanwhile it is also a fact that this research critically examined the Esan world-view, its nature and characteristics; as it permeate the Esan people and their origin. This is not for the sake of history in itself, but with criticality and objectivity as it's the interest of every</div>
<div>
philosophy of history. In this regard as I mentioned elsewhere, it is to point at the fact that although wrapped with some controversy, the fact of migration from Benin kingdom is not to say they do not have an inside culture and tradition, original and identical to them. It is upon this fact therefore,</div>
<div>
that the discussion on 'Oria'-man as a 'being with' in Esan ontology is justified. We can therefore draw from the above an understanding of the Esan World-view-‘Irio ma re khagbon’ or ‘irio mah kha agbonre’, its nature and characteristics as it constitutes the metaphysical, cosmological and eschatological belief of the Esan people making clear the position of man in the scheme of things²⁵. But tracing this point further, it examined intently the African religious concept showing that Africans are naturally religious and their religion and philosophy are considered holistically, subsuming as one the physical and the spiritual, man inclusive. It also explains why the Esan world-view like those of Akan, Ashanti, Afemai, Effic, Igbo, Yoruba etc., constitutes a broad ideological reality of their concept of life forming the background for their dynamic and holistic view of man.</div>
<div>
Hermeneuticically considered, the concept 'Oria' means man or the human person and everything in universe is considered in relation to him who is at the center of the universe giving them their bearing and significance from its position, meaning and end. Following from this, is the analysis of the origin, nature and existence of man forming his nature as 'Oria’ no de baewo'-a being-with others' or 'Oria no ri wi agbelo' or 'Oria no ri wi usuagbon'-a being in the community. Moreso, 'Egbe '-body, 'Ahu/Orion'-soul and ‘Okohen’-spirit, where examined as the internal and external interactive elements constituting the nature of man followed by the basic stages of ‘Oria’ -man's</div>
<div>
existence, i.e. the pre-earthly stage, the earthly and death. This work emphasized the recognition of the humancentric heritage and qualities of ‘Oria’- the human person as an absolute value in the eyes of the Esan people such as; Life, image and good name, truth and authenticity, forthrightness, self mastery, commitment and vocation, co-operation, family and love, culture, nature rootedness, teleology and finality. It also examined 'Osanobua'-God in Esan ontology. This is informed to bring to limelight the reality of ‘Osanobua’- the Supreme Being in the Esan world-view and its participation in the daily activities of the people and their attitude and believe towards him. The analysis in this study is the philosophical energy behind the fact that the Esan and the African people have a deep sense of consciousness and a wealth of value for ''Oria no m usuagbon '- man as a 'being-vith-others' in the community and indeed the globe.</div>
</div>
Source: <a href="http://www.sjpub.org/sjsa/sjsa-188.pdf">http://www.sjpub.org/sjsa/sjsa-188.pdf</a><br />
<img src="http://www.therecord.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/nigerian-1024x697.jpg" height="436" width="640" /><br />
Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, pictured above greeting guests at the Vatican<br />
<br />
Some Esan Proverbs<br />
Esan, like many of the tribes south of the Sahara, is rich in proverbs. ‘Itan’ is the Esan word for proverb (plural: ‘itanh’). Being a polysemous word, ‘itan’ also means insinuation or innuendo. To differentiate which one is being employed in a speech, the verb that precedes the Esan noun would always be the deciding factor: “kpa itanh” means “speak in proverbs”while “fi itan” means “insinuate, make allusion.” This collection of Esan proverbs is by no means exhaustive, since the use of proverbs is a common feature among nearly all Esan. When placed beside any of the proverbs below, the acronym ‘LIT’ means Lost in Translation, which is to suggest that that particular proverb couldn’t be translated to be true to its original meaning. For instance, the proverb “Ojie kha la le ọ’ ki zi ọgbọn” is a short form of“Ojie kha la le ọ’ ki zi ọgbọn ọhle ojie Udakpa da yọ ni Aah khue alogbo rẹkhanọle.” If translated, it would be “A king’s ascension to the throne is initially followed with fundamental changes, which was the reason the king of Udakpa ordered to be escorted with musical instruments.”). Besides being lengthy, the reader who has little knowledge of Udakpa in South-East Esan – and the many political changes that have transformed it – will fail to grasp the message in the proverb. When rendered in Esan language, however, the proverb offers some literary appeal and reminisces the distant past of that ancient community. Also, italicized phrases in the English translations are additional information which is meant to aid easy understanding, especially of non-Esan and those who aren’t so good at appreciating adages. Where a proverb has an English equivalent, it is given and preceded with the conjunction ‘Or’ and the abbreviation cf (compare).<br />
Ose ii gba ni usẹnbhokhan. ( A young man's beauty is never without defects.)<br />
Eji Aah nyẹlẹn ọhle Aah khọ. (People resemble where they live.)<br />
Udo ni Aah daghe ọ' vade ii degbi ọrhia bhi ẹlo. (A missile that one sees coming does not blind one.)<br />
Eji ọboh da gui otọ ọhle ọle da horiẹ. (A native doctor disappears only where he is used to.)<br />
Aah ii ri ebi Aah nanọ bui awa re. (You don’t tempt a dog with something to lick, since dog is an avid licker.)<br />
Aah gheghe yọ ni olimhin kha mhẹn bhi ẹlo, ọhle Aah da ri ukpọn bhọ. (Clothing a corpse is simply to beautify it.)<br />
Aah ii fi ini bhi otọ kha khin oha-ọtan. (Do not go hunting for squirrel while you have an elephant as a catch.)<br />
Aah ii di isira ọnọ khin eni khin ẹkpẹn. Or, Aah ii khin ẹkpẹn man ọnọ khin eni. (You don’t change to a tiger in the presence of one who can change to an elephant.)<br />
Amẹn ni ọrhia la muọn ii gbera ọle a. (The water one would drink can never flow past one.)<br />
Aah ii yi ọbhẹnbhẹn khui ọkhọh. (Do not ask a mad man to chase fowls away, since he would do it madly.)<br />
Ene wwue bhi uwa kha yyọ ele mmin okpodu, ?bi ene wwuẹ bhi ole ki da ta yẹ. (What would they say who slept outside if those who slept inside complained of harassment?)<br />
U’u ii ji Aah gui na. (Death is impervious to appeal.)<br />
Ẹwa’ẹn Aah rẹ gbi efẹn nọ ribhi ẹkẹ akhe. (Killing a rat that is holed up inside an earthen pot requires wisdom.)<br />
Ufẹmhẹn si obhokhan kha na, Aah ki yọ owualẹn kkaniọhle ni ọle. (When the arrow from a child’s bow travels far, an adult is suspected to be responsible.)<br />
Ọnọ gbi ọnọdeọde ọhle ọnọdeọde viẹ bhi itolimhin. (In a funeral each mourner mourns the fate that befalls him, not the deceased’s.)<br />
Ọmọn nọ yyu ọle mhọn ose nẹ. (It is the deceased child that is always the prettiest.)<br />
Ohu bha lẹn ebialẹn si ọhle. (Fury does not know its owner’s strength otherwise a weakling’s rage would be tempered with restraint.)<br />
Agbọn khi ese. (It is human beings that do disguise as supernatural forces.)<br />
Ọnọ ii ribhi eni, ọle Aah ri enyan si ọle tọn bhi egbi era’ẹn. (It is the absent one whose yam would always be kept beside the fire.)<br />
Eto kha rẹ re, Aah yẹ lẹn eji ukẹhae nae. (No matter how hairy the head becomes, the forehead remains distinct.)<br />
Aah kha yọ ni Aah sikoko, Aah bha yyọ ni Aah simama. (A call to gather together is not an invitation to muddle together.)<br />
Aah kha khin ẹkpẹn fo, ebi Aah khiẹn ki fo. (After changing to a tiger, you simply have no other thing to change to.)<br />
Aah kuẹ ri ikhilẹn khin ẹgua’e ọba, ọba kuẹ nyẹn uge. (The king need not tiptoe in order to peep at a dance coming to be staged at his palace.)<br />
Ọni Aah bbhobholo ii bhobhi ọrhia. (The one who is carried on one’s back cannot back someone else.)<br />
<img src="http://www.nigeriafilms.com/image.aspx?img=Y29udGVudC9jb250ZW50L21lcmN5YW5kb2Rpci5qcGd8NjAw" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Oẹ ọkpọkpa Aah zẹ bhi okọ-ẹdin. (In a palm oil dish, you take one step at a time.)<br />
Irẹlobhegbe zzẹ ni ọkhọ bha da lli afiamhẹnh. (But for forbearance, the chicken would have taken into eating birds.)<br />
Ose ba ni emiamhẹn. (Beauty is more painful than infirmity.)<br />
Ọnabhughe ọ’ min olimhin ni Aah ri izagan mun. (It is the truant that comes in contact with a corpse wrapped in basket.)<br />
Aah ii ri ẹbhe ni oruan ọrhia rẹmhọn. (To ensure a lasting relationship, do not offer a goat to your in-law for safe-keeping.)<br />
Aah kha kha gbi ugan bhi evele, Aah ki ri ukpọn bhọre. (If it is being debated, a man should undress to counter claims that he is suffering from penile bloat.)<br />
Ebi Aah bha mmin Eboh, Aah bha rruẹn ebeh-ọghẹdẹ. (Prior to the arrival of Europeans, no one wore banana leaves, but clothes.)<br />
Ẹnyẹn ni otuan ọkpa miẹn ọhle khi ubhiọ. (It is the serpent seen by a single person that is called a lizard.)<br />
Uhọmhọn na ji ikọ ọ’ ii gbi ikọ. (An envoy isn’t punished for the message he conveys.)<br />
Ọkhin ẹkpẹn ii khin eni. (He does not change to a tiger one who changes to an elephant. Or, Everyone has an area where he is talented.)<br />
Aah kha rui ẹlo, Aah ki kha ri ẹwua’ẹn khian. (Blindness demands caution. Or, When one is blind, one learns to walk with care.)<br />
Afiabhẹn ni Aah ri igẹnh si ọhle lui emhin, ẹjẹje Aah min ọhle ele. (The bird whose feathers are treasured must walk circumspectly.)<br />
Ebe bha ji ọrhia rẹ lẹn egbe, ọhle ọrhia da tẹ. (Disgrace is sure to come from that over which one cannot exercise self-control.)<br />
Ebe yi okhuo zẹ bhi ileghe re, akun ọ’ ye. (That which compels a woman to reduce her waist beads lies in her waist.)<br />
<img src="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ehi-Ade-Traditional-Wedding-November-2012-BellaNaija034-600x428.jpg" height="457" width="640" /><br />
Ọ’ ii yi ọta ni ekhẹnh ta yi ẹki, ọ’ ii yi ọhle ele ta vae. (Traders’ subject of discussion to the market differs from their homeward discussion.)<br />
Ọ’ ii yi ẹdẹ ni Aah muin ure ọ’ ii yi ẹdẹni Aah riọhle zọ ese. (It is not the same day a snail is found that it is offered as sacrifice to an idol.)<br />
Eji Aah tan sẹ, ọhle Aah da ji uhọmhọn. (A person’s head must grow where his height stops.) nearly LIT<br />
Ure kha lo bhi ẹbọ, ọ’ ki khin ẹbọ. (When a snail inhabits a shrine, it becomes an idol.)<br />
Ọsakọn Aah lẹlẹ, Aah ii lẹli ọmeto. (It is the dentist that can be tricked, not the hairdresser.)<br />
Odin ii talọ, ọta ri ọle bhi unu. (Although speechless, the mute has something to say.)<br />
Ojie ii gbo yọ ni Aah ri ojie tọ bhi itikun. (A king never asks a king to be buried in a refuse site.)<br />
Okhuẹlẹn nẹko kpe. (A grass-cutter’s plumpness is achieved in hiding.)<br />
Ẹmhọn ri ọdan ba bhi egbe, ọhle rri ikpea do bhi omin. (LIT)<br />
Ọbo ii bọ bhi ebi ọle lẹ’ẹn. (A native doctor doesn’t consult his oracle concerning that which he knows.)<br />
‘Nine’ bha jji Ebo llu. (Despite his ingenuity, the white man could not create the number nine.) nearly LIT<br />
Elamhẹn n’ọ ii mhọn akọn, ọhle ki odalo bhi ishi oyi. (It is the toothless beast that is always the first arrival at the orchard.)<br />
Usẹn bi usẹn ko yi egbe ‘halo’. (It is age mates that greet each other with ‘hello’.)<br />
Ẹdebe ọhle Aah rẹ ye ọkha’e re. (A hero is often remembered on a bad day.)<br />
Ọ’ ii yi ọnọ ka kha khọmhọn ka yu. (The first person to fall sick is not always the one to die first.)<br />
Ọbo kha wuo ni ọbo, ọ’ ki ri ọbo khuọn ẹkpa. (LIT)<br />
Ogun bi ogun kha min egbe, ughamhan ele rẹ tui egbe. (When blacksmiths meet, both salute each other with iron.)<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYE2ESK9vek7wyaAuEHr5rMxwKRq_ATZj4v5X0IGqIJIYT9hUDdreW6gFO29WeqDs0hWPX2oWLHBrG_YhzaDT0pdHTaLY7aL_lVT9x4_hr3ktgYSPV74YOo_ulYY24zlkw3MEn1XAiSUQ/s640/IMG00413-20120531-1528.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Aah kha kha viẹ, Aah yẹ daghe. (Even in tears, it is not impossible to see.)<br />
Ẹghe ni Aah bha rẹ llẹn ẹlo ikpakpa, ọhle ikpakpa ki rẹ ggbi ọrhia. (Men only died of toxin beans when they lacked knowledge of the food.)<br />
Okhuo ii yi okhuo biẹre khi ọmọn fui ọlle bhọ. (A woman doesn’t ask a fellow woman to put to bed that she herself is childless.)<br />
Ẹruẹ ii yi ẹruẹ ọyabhihue. (English version: ‘A kettle does not call a kettle black.’)<br />
Ebi Aah miẹn ofẹn ii muin uki, ?bi ọhle ii da bha ọsi adamhẹn. (If not for fear, why doesn’t the moon shine in the daytime?)<br />
Ẹlo ọriọbhe bhia’e, ọle ii rẹ daghe. (Although he has good eyesight, a stranger doesn’t see with his eyes.)<br />
Ọnọ rẹre, ọle Aah da ọle obọ. (It is the generous person that would always be approached for assistance.)<br />
Ọriọbhe giẹrẹn lumhin eman, ọle bha lẹn eji Aah ri ubhokọ gọ. (Although a stranger pounds pounded yam well, he lacks knowledge of where to keep the pestle.)<br />
Aah ii ri emhin ni ọkhian re mhọ’ẹn. (You don’t give something to a traveller to keep.)<br />
Ẹdẹ ni okhuo rẹ nyin eman ebe, ẹdẹni ọlle rẹ le nẹ. (It is on the day a woman cooks a bad meal that she eats best.)<br />
Elamhẹn ọbhebhe ii ni isọn emẹdin ebeiyi uriẹi. (Except porcupine, no other animal has palm waste in its excreta.)<br />
U’u bha gbi iban, ọhle di khin ẹdin. (The flower of a palm tree will eventually become palm nuts if death spares it.)<br />
Oghian ọrhia zẹ ni u’u da ba bhi egbe. (It is one’s enemy that makes death hurtful.)<br />
Obhokhan kha ni isọn ebe, Aah ki ri ebe ugbolimhosaka gbo ọle uwedin a. (If a child defecates repulsive excreta, the leaf of a spiky plant will be used to wipe his buttocks.)<br />
Aah kha kha gbi ugba, ọtẹtẹh rie. (At the repeated shaking of the calabash, insects find their way out.)<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZFDv-KbTz6-Cnmpue-QBDkKWvrOGu_YzQcQ-uZ7Zv3OUfmaZEnqOf8H5sOiQ4Fe9-8DEhr9kFa5hEI1JMYVnen3mTYDzSV-zONRZhuDXrkd7eAMSwP-3UYIg4O1BLl3DTKzfi1xGrvzUK/s640/IMG00415-20120531-1528.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Aah bha min ebi Aah khin ọkhọmhọn yẹ, Aah ki zaghiọle era’ẹn a. (If because of his illness you can’t hurt a sick person, you can at least extinguish the fire that keeps him warm.)<br />
Aah bha min ebi Aah khin ojie yẹ, Aah ki si ọle bhiẹbho re. (If because of his power you can’t challenge a king, you should quit his kingdom. Or, cf. ‘If you live in Rome, do not strive with the Pope.’)<br />
Ẹghe ni Aah rẹ llui ẹmhọn, Aah rria ọhle a. (The time spent on lawsuit is time wasted.)<br />
Aah kha ri egbe yi isi ojie, ọshọ folo. (When people take themselves to the king’s palace for lawsuit, they cease to be friends.)<br />
?Ji uzo ki ri aho ọ ni ọhle da rẹ bi iweva. (From where has antelope got the strength to give birth to twins?)<br />
Ukpokpo ni Aah rẹ ggbi ẹwobi, Aah bha refia, Aah ki rẹ gbi ọbhata. (The whip that was used on a stupid person, if it is not disposed of, will be used on an innocent.)<br />
Aah ii min ebe khi ọkhọ ebeiyi akhokholẹ. (Nothing resembles a chicken as does a bush fowl.)<br />
Ese kha la zi emhin, ẹkẹn-ọkhọ ki va udo a. (When supernatural forces are at work, it is not impossible for a hen’s egg to crack a stone.)<br />
Ebe ka llui ọkhọ di yẹ lui ẹbhe. (A goat will by no means escape the fate of a chicken as long as feasts last.)<br />
Ọkpọkpa Aah gbe ni okhọ’ẹn da lọ. (A war is sustained till the end by gradual killing rather than by outright annihilation. Or, cf. English version: ‘Rome was not built in a day’ or ‘One thing at a time.’)<br />
Aah ii dunu bhi igbanaka. (LIT)<br />
?Ji ehọ ni Aah la rẹ họn, ọhle Aah nẹ emhin na. (The very fact that certain things are offensive to the ear is the reason they are considered taboos.)<br />
Ojie kha la le, ọ’ ki zi ọgbọn re. (A king’s ascension to the throne is initially followed with fundamental changes.)<br />
?Bi Aah la le ẹlẹna, ?bi Aah la le akha, ọhle ukhumhun rẹ fo. (The question of today’s meal and tomorrow’s provision is how a famine abates.)<br />
Aah ii ri afe nani umhẹn. (You don’t start licking salt simply because you are wealthy.)<br />
Aah ii nọ ọnọ mhọn igho bi ọle la dẹ. (You don’t ask the moneyed man what he will buy with his money.)<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarZr22eEL9XPtzDwEz8VTjboOxoNqLVvfsS_x3h40ymv8GuvoB644ixtNWSe3LoLSbZz0JpfDciDppri0BhFVPL9k4KaGg_HfnGlpcJjbpTBbwrvZoaneVJ0m4o3XmTkA6PW2fr2g7CuG/s640/IMG00420-20120531-1531.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Ẹsọn ka ggbi enefe. (The rich once suffered hardship.)<br />
Ẹbọ kha kha to, ọhle mhọn ohẹn si ọhle. (No matter how austere an idol is, it has its priest who pacifies it.)<br />
Ọkaleteh ii kpọ. (Heroes are hard to find.)<br />
Ughe ughulu da ho ukhuọ ọhle ni Aah kha yọ ghe khiẹkẹ ọhle mun ni ọhle. (That hawk makes love to its wife in the open sky is to debunk rumours that it impregnated her out of wedlock.)<br />
Aah ii ri ugbele si Akogho loli ugbele. (LIT)<br />
Uhẹn-ẹlẹ zẹ ni Aah ii da nẹ bhi ẹki. (Don’t defecate in a marketplace because it will be there for you to see on the next market day. Or, cf. English version: ‘The evil that men do lives after them.’)<br />
Ẹwa’ẹn Aah rẹ gbi udia nọ timan bhi ikpẹkẹn. (Killing a tsetse fly that perches on one’s scrotum demands wisdom.)<br />
Uhọmhọn ni Aah bha ji obhokhan ele, ọhle kha gbi ache bi uwawa bhọ, ọhle ki ha osa. (A child must pay for the destruction of items that results from carrying out a task that was never assigned to him.)<br />
Uzehia kha zẹ bhi eji obọ ii sẹ, Aah ki yi ọhle lala a. (If one has boil in a part of the skin beyond reach, the boil is advised to rot.)<br />
<img src="http://img.spokeo.com/public/900-600/anthony_olubunmi_okogie_2003_10_21.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Esan man, Cardinal Okogie<br />
<br />
Aah ii gẹn ọmọn bhi isira ọle. (Don’t sing praise of a child in his presence.)<br />
Emhinh erebhe ne ribhi omhọn ti egbele itata. (Every ingredient in soup likes to be seen as meat.)<br />
Ọ’ ii yi ẹlo ni Aah rẹ lie man, ọ’ ii yi ọhle Aah rẹkha elamhẹn. (The attitude with which food is eaten differs from that with which meat is shared amongst the eaters.)<br />
Ese kha la zi emhin, omhọn ni inodẹ ki oto obọ a. (It becomes possible today for yesterday’s soup to burn one’s hand once supernatural forces are at work.)<br />
Ọ’ ii yi ẹlo ivin ivin rẹ ni udẹn. (A palm kernel would never produce palm ointment unless under the searing heat of the pot.)<br />
Aah ii ni ọnọ wuẹle gbi ugan si ebhohiẹ. (You don’t argue about a dream with its dreamer.)<br />
Ọbhẹbhẹn yyọ ghe khi ena ọle rri era’ẹn fiọ, ghe ọnọto khian ni ọle bha lẹn ẹlo bhọ. (A mad man only knows of the spot where he dropped fire but cannot account for the offshoot ravaging the forest.)<br />
Aah kha rẹkhan ẹkpẹn khian, Aah ki li elamhẹn; Aah kha rẹkhan ẹbhe khian, Aah ki li ebeh. (A companion of tiger will feed on meat but a companion of goat will eat leaves.)<br />
Ebale kha sike ebgi unu gbe, ọ’ ii ji Aah le. (Food that is too close to the mouth is difficult to eat.)<br />
Ọba ii de Esan, Ọzọloa ii ri Ẹdo. (No Benin monarch visits Esan land, just as Ọba Ọzọloa who was slain in Esan will never return to Benin.)<br />
Ọgbihiagha bhi uhọmhọn nain ọka yyọ ghe ọhle lẹn otu si ọhle. (The dreadlocked maize insists it knows its age mates.)<br />
Evẹkpẹn kha vi ẹkpẹn fo, Ibhioba ki bi ebeh. (The people of Ibhioba clear the leaves after the butchers of tiger are done.) nearly LIT<br />
Eni ediọn kha le, enai ẹlimhin ki khọn. (When the elders eat, the spirits are full.)<br />
Ọnọ ii mhọn ọmọn ii mhọn oruan. (The one who has no child cannot have an in-law.)<br />
Ọnọ ri ebeh bin uwa kha dia khẹ efi. (He who builds a house with leaves should expect the storm.)<br />
Aah gbudu yi ọba ‘họ’ọ’! (Even the king can be reprimanded.)<br />
Ebi Aah gbe bha yu, Aah ii mun bhi ẹkpa. (Until the animal you are killing is dead you don’t put it in a sack.)<br />
Ebi Aah ko ta, ọhle khi ẹmhọn ni inẹdeso. (What was discussed earlier is what can be cited as a previous discussion.)<br />
Aah ii tti egbe emhin, ọhle enele da tto uwa a. (That the house was gutted by palm waste was due to disregard for something.)<br />
Ẹdẹ ii tughu ọ’ bha sẹn. (A river must become crystal-clear after being upset.)<br />
Ijan ọkpa ọmọle feọ n’ọ da hu. (If a man’s urine must foam, he must urinate on one spot. Or, cf. English version: ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss.’)<br />
Aah bha min ebe re n’ọ ii fo. (There’s nothing without an end. Or, Whatever is in vogue ultimately expires.)<br />
Ukpọn ni ahoho sabọ, ọhle ọ’ re bhi ifi. (The wind only picks the dress that it can take off the rope.)<br />
Ebe ii yi emhin ọhle ho alo. (It is the insignificant thing that struggles over the forefront.)<br />
Ọnọ mhọn ivie bhi uru bha lẹn si ọ’ ghanmhin. (He who has a gold necklace round his neck does not know its worth.)<br />
Etin kha di oya, Aah ki ri abọ eveva fi ọhle. (When a blow becomes a challenge, the two hands will be used to apply the blow.)<br />
Osẹ ko eran ni ọnọ ii mhọn uze. (It is God who provides firewood for the one who has no axe.)<br />
Ebe ba bhi egbe ii ni ara’ẹn re. (A painful experience does not necessarily bring out blood.)<br />
Ohuẹ ii tie bi ọle miẹn bhi ikhẹeran. (A hunter never discloses the happenings in his hunting expedition.)<br />
Omhọn n’ọ mhẹn bhi unu ii si eman. (Delicious soup is often inadequate for a meal.)<br />
Ẹbho ni Aah ii da min ahiẹlẹkpẹnh ọhle ọkhọh da lui mama. (It is in the land where there are no hawks that chickens have leverage.)<br />
Aah ii tọni egbe bi eji egbe rẹ tọnọ. (Do not scratch your skin just the way it itches you.)<br />
Unẹ bha sẹ khin unẹ ọhle okhuo da ri obọ muin inyẹ’ẹnh mhọ’ẹn. (A woman holds tight to her breasts only when a race has not assumed seriousness.)<br />
Aah ii walan si u’u bhọ. (Man is senseless before death.)<br />
Ese ii muin ẹdẹ. (No amount of trouble can prevent daybreak.)<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBkxpLNgadqeEisGaCu3kI9oqYvxeHvNOGU0EINyoBaWyDPKlSV1w2YOZMp974lNOQUxh3eOP1kJLq2JLHp79lIR6NhnkdW-vsgP2ZQ7driaxRHHeCvmn6ShwZsUxn8AF5hRwYKr4SbPD/s640/IMG00423-20120531-1533.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
<a href="http://www.cenresinpub.org/syncretic.pdf">http://www.cenresinpub.org/syncretic.pdf</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-8658908096393053502014-09-21T09:41:00.000-07:002014-09-21T09:41:09.767-07:00OGBIDI OKOJIE (ONOJIE OF UROMI): WARRIOR, NATIONALIST, AND THE GREATEST RULER OF ESAN PEOPLE OF NIGERIAOgbidi Okojie, Onojie (king) of Uromi (1857 - February 3, 1944) was a great Nigerian Nationalist, freedom fighter and arguably the greatest ruler of the Esan people in what is now Edo State in Nigeria. He still remembered for his uncompromising opposition to British rule. As a result of this great leader`s opposition to British rule and subsequent invasion of his land which he fought back with all the traditional weapons (bow and arrows) at his disposal, upon losing the battle, the British exiled him to Calabar in 1900. King Okojie`s people reveres him and still remembered him as:<br />
"Ogbidi the Uromi umbrella, the white son of Olokun, Okun the greatest native doctor that ever lived and ruled the native people of Uromi, who can turn into a girl, a lion or a leopard at will, the great doctor who can command the rain to fall and the air to stand still".<br />
<img height="474" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/KingOgbidiOkojie.JPG" width="640" /><br />
One of the most famous sons of Ogbidi Okojie is the honorable Prince Albert Okojie. A very prominent Okojie in Nigeria; he was commended with many awards even commander of Niger-delta given to him by the President himself. He is also one of the youngest sons.<br />
Although Okojie, the Onojie of Uromi, had over sixty wives, over forty concubines, and innumerable children and grandchildren, it is interesting to note that out of the abundance from his loins came great Nigerian people. His son is honourable Prince Albert Inegbenosun Okojie (CON), that is Commander of Niger-Delta given to him by the president. Late Chief Anthony Enahoro, was one of his many grandchildren, who in 1953, initiated the self-government motion in the Western House of Assembly, which eventually led to Nigerian Independence on the 1st day of October, 1960. A younger grandson is Peter Enahoro, revered pan-African journalist and author of How to be a Nigerian (1966). Another is Cardinal Anthony Okogie, the first Esan Cardinal and Dr. Robert Okojie, a NASA scientist based in the U.S.<br />
<img height="426" src="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00097/en_97608c.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Chief (Pa) Anthony Enahoro, Nigerian Minister of Information, drives from the Commonwealth Office in London, August 19, 1968. He was grandson of Ogbidi Okojie, the Onojie of Uromi.<br />
<br />
Onojie of Uromi, Ogbidi Okojie was born in 1857. According to Uromi lore, he was born in the seventh month of gestation, coming 14th in the line of succession to the Uromi throne. As an African monarch, he believed in his divine right to wield absolute power. Those beliefs motivated his opposition to British Rule, which led to his first exile to Calabar in 1900. In Nigeria, at the end of nineteenth century, the old order was crumbling, yielding to the new British colonial system. After the Royal Niger Company transferred its territories to the British government, the latter expanded and strengthened its control, unseating the traditional rulers. In 1900, Uromi was invaded by the British troops. Unlike Chief Nana of Brohimie-Warri, who opposed a strong resistance to the British troops when his domain was invaded, with 100 cannon, several shot-guns and over 5,000 slaves at his disposal, Okojie I, who had no modern weapons, but only Dane guns, bows and arrows, held out for six months, until he was betrayed by Iyahanebi, his "younger brother”, and had to surrender to the British. As a consequence of his stiff resistance, in 1900 he was exiled to Calabar, where he met Oba Ovonramwen, late Oba of Benin, who had been exiled there by the British.<br />
He survived the ordeal in detention and returned home to be crowned the 14th Onojie of Uromi in 1909. Back home in Uromi, he adapted to the British system of government through "indirect rule", establishing his court at Ubiaja. Still, he did not fully accept the new system of government, countering it with passive disobedience and maintaining his opposition to British rule. He kept governing his subjects as his forebears had always done, until he was deported again, this time to Benin, in 1917. His presence in Benin unsettled Oba Eweka II, the then ruling Oba, who objected to the British Resident at Benin against Okojie's presence there. In 1924, he was transferred to Ibadan. In 1926, he made a dramatic escape to Uromi, was arrested and taken back to Ibadan, until he was finally released in 1931. From 1931 until his death in 1944 he consolidated his power in Uromi. His first son Prince Uagbale Okojie was crowned Onojie of Uromi in 1944.<br />
<img src="http://feathersproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/anthony_cardinal_okogie__420395446.jpg" /><br />
Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, grandson of Ogbidi Okojie, Onojie of Uromi and a retired Nigerian Cardinal Pries and formerly Archbishop of Lagos in the Roman Catholic Church.<br />
<br />
While alive, he was highly influential in Esan, Agbor and Benin. In Esan he was the supreme judge of the criminal court that sat and tried murder cases at Agbede, Esan and Ologhodo (now Agbor). He built schools and supported higher learning . He built the roads from Uromi to IIIushi, Agbor and Ehor. When he died, he left behind an undisputed heir to the throne, glorious memories of life in exile and the fulfillment of his aspiration for renewed independence for black Africa and Nigeria.<br />
One of the most famous sons of Ogbidi Okojie is the honorable Prince Albert Okojie. A very prominent Okojie in Nigeria; he was commended with many awards even commander of Niger-delta given to him by the President himself. He is also one of the youngest sons.<br />
Late Chief Anthony Enahoro, one of his many grandchildren, who in 1953, initiated the self-government motion in the Western House of Assembly, which eventually led to Nigerian Independence on the 1st day of October, 1960. A younger grandson is Peter Enahoro, revered pan-African journalist and author of How to be a Nigerian (1966). Another is Cardinal Anthony Okogie, the first Esan Cardinal and Dr. Robert Okojie, a NASA scientist based in the U.S.<br />
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<img src="http://afriqtalk.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/12001.jpg?w=560&h=700" /></div>
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Dr. Robert Okojie, grandson of Ogbidi Okojie, the Onjoie of Uromi and the famous warrior Esan traditional ruler who resisted British rule. Dr Okojie who is one of "The Men Behind NASA Success Stories” is an Aerospace Technician in the sensors and Transducers area at Glenn, works with Fully Packaged Silicon Carbide Piezoresistive Pressure Transducer. These are used for pressure management in jet engines. Image Credit: NASA</div>
<br />
Okojie I, the Onojie of Uromi, was survived by over sixty wives, over forty concubines, and innumerable children and grandchildren. He is still remembered by his people as<br />
"Ogbidi the Uromi umbrella, the white son of Olokun, Okun the greatest native doctor that ever lived and ruled the native people of Uromi, who can turn into a girl, a lion or a leopard at will, the great doctor who can command the rain to fall and the air to stand still".<br />
Although he died many years ago, his legacy continues in many different parts of the world, from North America to Europe to Australia where some of his grandchildren and great grandchildren currently reside.<br />
Uromi<br />
Esan<br />
Edo State<br />
<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1379/4608097664_8cd7d794d0_z.jpg" /><br />
source:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogbidi_Okojie">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogbidi_Okojie</a><br />
<br />
<img height="479" src="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/images/content/707302main_cleanroom_946-710.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Investigating Sensor Performance in Extreme Environments<br />
Dr. Robert S. Okojie, research electronics engineer and grandson of the famous Nigerian nationalist, freedom fighter and traditional ruler of Esan people, Ogbidi okojie, the Onojie of Uromi, watches as Katherine C. Kragh-Buetow operates a thin film deposition system in the NASA's Glenn Research Center Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory. Dr. Okojie mentors Kragh-Buetow, a Ph.D. student at Penn State University and a sponsored fellow of the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship Program.<br />
They are conducting research in robust electrical contact metallization as a technology enabler to silicon carbide sensors and electronics that would operate reliably in extreme temperatures of above 600° C.<br />
Image Credit: NASA<br />
Marvin G. Smith (Wyle Information Systems, LLC)kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-40645345237814877892014-09-20T18:41:00.002-07:002014-09-21T08:30:53.761-07:00CHIEF OLUWA (AMADU TIJANI): GREAT NIGERIAN NATIONALIST, PAN-AFRICANIST AND A TRADITIONAL RULER WHO TOOK BRITAIN TO COURT IN 1921 FOR STEALING LAGOS LANDS AND WON A HUGE COMPENSATIONAmodu Tijani, Chief Oluwa of Lagos, was a Nationalist leader and Idejo Chief who controlled a series of villages and towns in the Lagos area. He was an ardent founding member of the first inter-territorial nationalist movement, National Council of British West Africa (NCBWA) and attended the inaugural meeting of the organization in Accra in March 1920 with fellow Nigerians J Egerton Shyngle and Herbert Macaulay. NCBWA was the brainchild of the great Gold Coast (Ghanaian) and father of West African nationalism, Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford. NCBWA came out with eighty-two (82) resolutions covering twelve (12) topics. These were:<br />
*The Legislative Councils in British West Africa should have half i.e. 50% of its membership directly elected,<br />
*There should be a West Africa House of Assembly made up of all the members of the Legislative Councils plus six (6) financial representatives elected by the people to control revenue and expenditure.<br />
*Municipal Councils dominated by Africans should be established,<br />
*The Civil Service should be Africanised.<br />
*Syrian and Lebanese traders should be expelled,<br />
*The right of the installation or deposition of chiefs should continue to be in the hands of the people, vii) A West African University should be established, viii) A Law making education compulsory be enacted and that the standard of primary and secondary education should be raised.<br />
With these demands, in September 1920 the Congress dispatched a deputation to London. It consisted of Chief Oluwa and J. Egerton Shyngle from Nigeria, T. Hutton Mills, H. Van Hein and J. E. Casely-Hayford from Ghana, Dr. H.C. Bankole-Bright and F.W. Dove from Sierra Leone, and E.F. Small and H, M. Jones from The Gambia. Though the deputation remained in London until January 1921, not only were all their demands for constitutional and judicial reforms rejected, but Lord Milner, the Colonial Secretary, refused to grant them audience.<br />
Despite this fiasco, it was owing to the pressure mounted by the Congress that the Colonial Administration introduced limited constitutional reforms. The principle of elective representation was for the first time introduced into the 1922 Constitution of Nigeria, the 1924 Constitution of Sierra Leone and the 1925 Constitution of Ghana. The Congress was the first practical attempt of pan-Africanism, which sought to unite the African elite to fight for a common cause.<br />
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Amodu Tijani, Chief Oluwa of Lagos. Circa 12 July 1920. © National Portrait Gallery, London</div>
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Highly unashamed of his strong nationalist views and not fearful nor a stooge of the British colonial administration like his forebear King Docemo of Lagos who signed away the vast native land of Lagos to the British for free, Chief Oluwa argued consistently with the British that the colonial government had no authority to interfere with the Oba's (ruler of Lagos) rule and sued the British colonial government for using legal tricks in stealing Lagos lands.<br />
When he lost the case at the Lagos high court, in 1920 Oluwa and great Nigerian nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, who was then serving as Oluwa`s secretary and interpreter visited the Privy Council in London to defend the Oba's right of ownership to land the colonial government had appropriated. The Council ruled in their favour. This case proved to be a landmark in Nigerian history as it recognised the Chiefs as absolute owners of the land. Songs and poems were later composed in Oluwa's honour.<br />
In his recent 2013 book entitled "Imperial Justice: Africans in Empire's Court" Bonny Ibhawoh writes that "The British imperial justice reached a milestone in 1921. In that year the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), the final Court of Appeal for all legal disputes throughout the British Empire, passed a landmark case (the Amadu Tijani case) that was to reverberate across the empire because of the precedent it set on the question of Indigenous land right. The appeal was brought to the Privy Council by an African Chief, Chief Oluwa, against the Colonial government in Nigeria demanding compensation for the "illegal" expropriation of his ancestral land. At the heart of the matter was the Treaty of Cession signed between Britain and one of the Chief Oluwa`s forebearer, King Docemo, in 1861. The colonial government claimed that, under the terms of that treaty, the British Crown has acquired ownership of all lands in the colony of Lagos, including lands claimed by Chief Oluwa. Indeed, the 1861 states that King Docemo agreed to transfer to the Queen of Great Britain, "her heirs and successors forever," the land of Lagos, "freely, fully, entirely, and absolutely."<br />
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Although the wording of the treaty was unambiguously attest to the transfer of legal right of Lagos lands from King Docemo to the British Crown, the legitimacy of that surrender was tainted ab initio. The British officer negotiating the Treaty in 1860 faced a serious revolt by other chiefs, who claimed that King Docemo did not absolute customary or legal authority over "all the lands in Lagos," which he had supposedly ceded to the Queen of England. Even in his capacity as the paramount chief of Lagos, they contended, Docemo had neither "feudal authority" and "seigniorial rights" over his chiefs, nor absolute right over the land held in trust by them. Half a century later, chief Oluwa`s petition to the Privy Council hinged on the position that, despite the Treaty`s provisions, King Docemo really had nothing to transfer to the British.<br />
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Chief Amodu Tijani, the Oluwa Of Lagos ( Standing Left) ,During Ramadan Celebration<br />
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The key question was whether Chief Oluwa (Amadu Tijani) was entitled to compensation under the provisions of the Public Lands Ordinance of 1903 which permitted compulsory acquisition of lands but requires compensations to be paid to all persons with interest in the land. At the end of the protracted case, the PC ruled that, as the trustee of his native community, Chief Oluwa was entitled to be compensated for the land expropriated by the government. Whatever concession his forebears may have made to the British Crown was was made under the assumption that the property rights of the inhabitants were to be fully respected. The simple assertion of the British authority, and could not, serve to extinguish the legal rights of the aboriginal people to their traditional territories. Although this was a long established colonial principle applied where the indigenous peoples were in occupation of the land and using it, the ruling by the highest court in the Empire was significant. With this ruling, there was no more doubt that primary ownership of Lagos lands rested not with the British Crown, but with the indigenous inhabitants of Lagos.<br />
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Beyond its legal import, the PC`s decision in the Amadu Tijani case had great political and symbolic significance for many Africans. One local newspaper editorialized that the victory was a "boon for all West Africans," proclaiming: "Today, the dictum that `the white men Government make no mistake' has been exploded and proved to be erroneous and untrue." The news of the decision occasioned two weeks of celebrations and festivities in the streets of Lagos. On his return journey from London, where he had gone to witness the case, Chief Oluwa received congratulatory messages from African leaders and learned elites at every port of call on the West African coast, from Freetown in Sierra Leone to Sekondi and Accra in the Gold Coast. Forty thousand people turned out to at a ceremony to welcome victorious Chief Oluwa and his entourage when they arrived on the Lagos shore on the morning of 25th August 1921.<br />
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Chief Oluwa receives members of the Dutch colony (Lagos, Nigeria, 1922)<br />
<br />
The Judicial Committee<br />
His Majesty's Privy Council<br />
Monday, the 11th day of July 1921<br />
<br />
Before a Board of<br />
<br />
Viscount Haldane<br />
Lord Atkinson<br />
Lord Phillimore<br />
<br />
Between<br />
<br />
Amodu Tijani<br />
.......<br />
Appellant<br />
<br />
<br />
And<br />
<br />
The Secretary, Southern Provinces<br />
.......<br />
Respondent<br />
<br />
Judgment of the Court<br />
Delivered by<br />
Viscount Haldane<br />
<br />
<br />
In this case the question raised is as to the basis for calculation of the compensation payable to the appellant, who claims for the taking by the Government of the Colony of Southern Nigeria of certain land for public purpose. There was a preliminary point as to whether the terms of the Public Lands Ordinance of the Colony do not make the decision of its Supreme Court on such a question final. As to this it is sufficient to say that the terms of the Ordinance did not preclude the exercise which has been made of the Prerogative of the Crown to give special leave to bring this appeal.<br />
The Public Lands Ordinance of 1903 of the Colony provides that the Governor may take any lands required for public purposes for an estate in fee simple or for a less estate, on paying compensation to be agreed on or determined by the Supreme Court of the Colony. The Governor is to give notice to all the persons interested in the land, or to the persons authorised by the Ordinance to sell. and convey it. Where the land required is the property of a native community, the Head Chief of the community may sell and convey it in fee simple, any native law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. There is to be no compensation for land unoccupied unless it is proved that, for at least six months during the ten years preceding any notice, certain kinds of beneficial use have been made of it. In other cases the Court is to assess the compensation according to the value at the time when the notice was served, inclusive of damage done by severance. Prima facie, the persons in possession, as if owners, are to be deemed entitled. Generally speaking, the Governor may pay the compensation in accordance with the direction of the Court, but where any consideration or compensation is paid to a Head Chief in respect of any land, the property of a native community, such consideration or compensation is to be distributed by him among the members of the community or applied or used for their benefit in such proportions and manner as the Native Council of the District in which the land is situated, determines with the sanction of the Governor.<br />
The land in question is at Apapa, on the mainland and within the Colony. The appellant is the Head Chief of the Oluwa family or community, and is one of the Idejos or landowning white cap chiefs of Lagos and the land is occupied by persons some of whom pay rent or tribute to him. Apart from any family or private land which the Chief may possess or may have allotted to members of his own family, he has in a representative or official capacity control by custom over the tracts within his Chieftaincy, including, as Chief Justice Speed points out in his judgment in this case, power of allotment and of exacting a small tribute or rent in acknowledgment of his position as Head. But when in the present proceedings he claimed for the whole value of the land in question, as being land which he was empowered by the Ordinance to sell, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court held that, although he had a right which must be recognised and paid for, this right was:<br />
" merely a seigneurial right giving the holder ordinary rights of control and management of the land in accordance with the well-known principles of native law and custom, including the right to receive payment of the nominal rent or tribute payable by the occupiers, and that compensation should be calculated on that basis, and not on the basis of absolute ownership of the land."<br />
It does not appear clearly from the judgment of the Chief Justice whether he thought that the members of the community had any independent right to compensation, or whether the Crown was entitled to appropriate the land without more.<br />
The appellant, on the other hand, contended that, although his claim was, as appears from the statement of his advocate, restricted to one in a representative capacity, it extended to the full value of the family properly and community land vested in him as Chief, for the latter of which he claimed to be entitled to be dealt with under the terms of the Ordinance in the capacity of representing his community and its full title of occupation.<br />
The question which their Lordships have to decide is which of these views is the true one. In order to answer the question, it is necessary to consider, in the first place the real character of the native title to the land.<br />
Their Lordships make the preliminary observation that in interpreting the native title to land, not only in Southern Nigeria, but other parts of the British Empire, much caution is essential. There is a tendency, operating at times unconsciously, to render that title conceptually in terms which are appropriate only to systems which have grown up under English law. But this tendency has to be held in check closely. As a rule, in the various systems of native jurisprudence throughout the Empire, there is no such full division between property and possession as English lawyers are familiar with. A very usual form of native title is that of a usufructuary right, which is a mere qualification of or burden on the radical or final title of the Sovereign where that exists. In such cases the title of the Sovereign is a pure legal estate, to which beneficial rights mayor may not be attached. But this estate is qualified by a right of beneficial user which may not assume definite forms analogous to estates, or may, where it has assumed these, have derived them from the intrusion of the mere analogy of English jurisprudence. Their Lordships have elsewhere explained principles of this kind in connection with the Indian title to reserve lands in Canada. But the Indian title in Canada affords by no means the only illustration of the necessity for getting rid of the assumption that the ownership of land naturally breaks itself up into estates, conceived as creatures of inherent legal principle. Even where an estate in fee is definitely recognised as the most comprehensive estate in land which the law recognises, it does not follow that outside England it admits of being broken up. In Scotland a life estate imports no freehold title, but is simply, in contemplation of Scottish law, a burden on a right of full property that cannot be split up. In India much the same principle applies. The division of the fee into successive and independent incorporeal rights of property conceived as existing separately from the possession, is unknown. In India, as in Southern Nigeria, there is yet another feature of the fundamental nature of the title to land which must be borne in mind. The title, such as it is may not be that of the individual, as in this country it nearly always is in some form, but may be that of a community. Such a community may have the possessory title to the common enjoyment of a usufruct, with customs under which its individual members are admitted to enjoyment, and even to a right of transmitting the individual enjoyment as members by assignment inter vivos or by succession. To ascertain how far this latter development of right has progressed involves the study of the history of the particular community and its usages in each case. Abstract principles fashioned a priori are of but little assistance, and are as often as not misleading.<br />
In the case of Lagos and the territory round it, the necessity of adopting this method of inquiry is evident. As the result of cession to the British Crown by former potentates, the radical title is now in the British Sovereign. But that title is throughout qualified by the usufructuary rights of communities, rights which, as the outcome of deliberate policy, have been respected and recognised. Even when machinery has been established for defining as far as is possible the rights of individuals by introducing Crown grants as evidence of title, such machinery has apparently not been directed to the modification of substantive rights, but rather to the definition of those already in existence and to the preservation of records of that existence.<br />
In the instance of Lagos the character of the tenure of the land among the native communities is described by Chief Justice Rayner in the Report on Land Tenure in West Africa, which that learned Judge made in 1898, in language which their Lordships think is substantially borne out by the preponderance of authority.<br />
" The next fact which it is important to bear in mind in order to understand the native land law is that the notion of individual ownership is quite foreign to native ideas. Land belongs to the community, the village or the family, never to the individual. All the members of the community, village or, family have an equal right to the land, but in every case the Chief or Headman of the community or village, or head of the family, has charge of the land, anti in loose mode of speech is sometimes called the owner. He is to some extent in the position of a trustee, and as such holds the land for the use of the community or family. He has control of it, and any member who wants a piece of it to cultivate or build a house upon, goes to him for it. But the land so given still remains the property of the community or family. He cannot make any important disposition of the land without consulting the elders of the community or family, and their consent must in all cases be given before a grant can be made to a stranger. This is a pure native custom along the whole length of this coast, and wherever we find, as in Lagos, individual owners, this is again due to the introduction of English ideas. But the native idea still has a firm hold on the people, and in most cases, even in Lagos, land is held by the family. This is so even in cases of land purporting to be held under Crown grants and English conveyances. The original grantee may have held as an individual owner, but on his death all his family claim an interest, which is always recognised, and thus the land becomes again family land. My experience in Lagos leads me to the conclusion that except where land has been bought by the present owner there are very few natives who are individual owners of land."<br />
Consideration of the various documents, records and decisions, which have been brought before them in the course of the argument at the Bar, has led their Lordships to the conclusion that the view expressed by Chief Justice Rayner in the language just cited is substantially the true one. They therefore interpret paragraph 6 of the Public Lands Ordinance of 1903, which says that where lands required for public purposes are the property of a native community, " the Head Chief of such community may sell and convey the same for an estate in fee simple," as meaning that the Chief may transfer the title of the community. It follows that it is for the whole of what he so transfers that compensation has to be made. This is borne out by paragraphs 25 and 26, which provide for distribution of such compensation under the direction of the Native Council of the District, with the sanction of the Governor.<br />
The history of the relations of the Chiefs to the British Crown in Lagos and the vicinity bears out this conclusion. About the beginning of the eighteenth century the Island of Lagos was held by a Chief called Olofin. He had parcelled out the island and part of the adjoining mainland among some sixteen subordinate Chiefs, called" Whitecap" in recognition of their domination over the portions parcelled out to them. About 1790 Lagos was successfully invaded by the neighbouring Benins. They did not remain in occupation, but left a representative as ruler whose title was the " Eleko." The successive Elekos in the end became the Kings of Lagos, although for a long time they acknowledged the sovereignty of the King of the Benins, and paid tribute to him. The Benins appear to have interfered but little with the customs and arrangements in the island. About the year 1850 payment of tribute was refused, and the King of Lagos asserted his independence. At this period Lagos had become a centre of the slave trade, and this trade centre the British Government determined to suppress. A Protectorate was at first established, and a little later it was decided to take possession of the island. The then king was named Docemo. In 1861 he made a Treaty of Cession by which he ceded to the British Crown the port and island of Lagos with all the rights, profits, territories and appurtenances thereto belonging. In 1862 the ceded territories were erected into a separate British Government, with the title" Settlement of Lagos." In 1874 this became part of the Gold Coast. In 1886 Lagos was again made a separate Colony, and finally, in 1906, it became part of the Colony of Southern Nigeria.<br />
In 1862 a debate took place in the House of Commons which is instructive as showing the interpretation by the British Government of the footing on which it had really entered. The slave trade was to be suppressed, but Docemo was not to be maltreated. He was to have a revenue settled on and secured to him. The real possessors of the land were considered to be, not the native kings, but the whitecap chiefs. The apprehension of these Chiefs that they were to be turned out had been set at rest, so it was stated. The object was to suppress the slave trade, and to introduce orderly conditions. Such, in substance, was the announcement of policy to the House of Commons by the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the contemporary despatches and records confirms it and point to its having been carried out. The Chiefs were stated, in a despatch from the then Consul, to have been satisfied that the cession would render their private property more valuable to them. No doubt there was a cession to the British Crown, along with the Sovereignty, of the radical or ultimate title to the land, in the new Colony, but this cession appears to have been made on the footing that the rights of property of the inhabitants were to be fully respected. This principle is a usual one under British policy and law when such occupations take place. The general words of the cession are construed as having related primarily to sovereign rights only. What has been stated appears to have been the view taken by the Judicial Committee in AttorneyGeneral of Southern Nigeria v. Holt (2 N.L.R. 1.; [1915] A.C., 599), a recent case reported in 1915, and their Lordships agree with that view. Where the cession passed any proprietary rights they were rights which the ceding king possessed beneficially and free from the usufructuary qualification of his title in favour of his subjects.<br />
In the light afforded by the narrative, it is not admissible to conclude that the Crown is, generally speaking, entitled to the beneficial ownership of the land as having so p'assed to the Crown as to displace any presumptive title of the natives. In the case of Oduntan Onisiwo v. The Attorney_General of Southern Nigeria (2 N.L.R. 77), decided by the Supreme Court of the Colony in 1912, Chief Justice Osborne laid down as regards the effect of the Cession of 1861, that he was of opinion that" the ownership rights of private landowners, including the families of the Idejos, were left entirely unimpaired, and as freely exercisable after the Cession as before." In this view their Lordships concur. A mere change in sovereignty is not to be presumed as meant to disturb rights of private owners; and the general terms of a Cession are prima facie to be construed accordingly. The introduction of the system of Crown grants which was made subsequently must be regarded as having been brought about mainly, if not exclusively, for conveyancing purposes, and not with a view to altering substantive title already existing. No doubt questions of difficulty may arise in individual instances as to the effect in law of the terms of particular documents. But when the broad question is raised as to what is meant by the provision in the Public Lands Ordinance of 1903, that where the lands to be taken are the property of a native community, the Head Chief may sell and convey it, the answer must be that he is to convey a full native title of usufruct, and that adequate compensation for what is so conveyed must be awarded for distribution among the members of the community entitled, for apportionment as the Native Council of the District, with the sanction of the Governor, may determine. The Chief is only the agent through whom the transaction is to take place, and he is to be dealt with as representing not only his own but the other interests affected.<br />
Their Lordships now turn to the judgments of Chief Justice Speed in the two Courts below. The reasons given in these judgments were in effect adopted by the Full Court, and they are conveniently stated in what was said by the Chief Justice himself, in the Court of First Instance. He defined the question raised to be " whether the Oluwa has any rights over or title to the land in question for which compensation is payable and if so upon what basis such compensation should be fixed." His answer was that the only right or title of the Chief was a " seigneurial right giving the holder the ordinary rights of control and management of land, in accordance with the well-known principles of native law and custom, including the right to receive payment of the nominal rent or tribute payable by the occupiers, and that compensation should be calculated on that basis and not on the basis of absolute ownership. " The reasons given by the Chief Justice Speed for coming to this conclusion were as follows: According to the Benin law the King is the sovereign owner of the land, and as the territory was conquered by the Benins it follows that during the conquest the King of Benin was the real owner, the control exercised by the Chiefs under his " Eleko " or representative being exercised as part of the machinery of government and not in virtue of ownership. It might be that for a considerable period prior to 1850 the control of the King of Benin had been relaxed until it became little more than a formal and nominal overlordship, and that in this period there had been a tendency on the part of the minor chiefs to arrogate to themselves powers to which constitutionally they had no claim, including independent powers of control and management. But the effect of the Cession of 1861 was that, even according to the then strict native law, all the rights over the land, including sovereign ownership, passed to the British Crown. He finds that what was recognised by the British Government was simply the title of the Chiefs to exercise a kind of control over considerable tracts of land, including the right to allot such lands to members of their family and others for the purposes of cultivation, and to receive a nominal rent or tribute as an acknowledgment of " seigneurial " right. Strict native law would not have supported this claim, but it was made and acquiesced in, although there were certain Crown grants which appear to have ignored it. There was thus no title to absolute ownership in the Chiefs, and, so far as the judgment in the Onisiwo case (already referred to), was inconsistent with this view, it was based on a confusion between family and Chieftaincy property. It was true that in yet another case in 1907, which came before the Full Court the Government had paid compensation on the basis of absolute ownership, but in that case the Government had not raised the question of title, and the decision consequently could not be regarded as authoritative.<br />
Their Lordships think that the learned Chief Justice in the judgment thus summarised, which virtually excludes the legal reality of the community usufruct, has failed to recognise the real character of the title to land occupied by a native community. That title, as they have pointed out, is prima jacie based, not on such individual ownership as English law has made familiar, but on a communal usufructuary occupation, which may be so complete as to reduce any radical right in the Sovereign to one which only extends to comparatively limited rights of administrative interference. In their opinion there is no evidence that this kind of usufructuary title of the community was disturbed in law, either when the Benin Kings conquered Lagos or when the Cession to the British Crown took place in 1861. The general words used in the Treaty of Cession are not in themselves to be construe4 as extinguishing subject rights. The original native right was a communal right, and it must be presumed to have continued to exist unless the contrary is established by the context or circumstances. There is, in their Lordships' opinion, no evidence which points to is having been at any time seriously disturbed or even questioned. Under these conditions they are unable to take the view adopted by the Chief Justice and the Full Court.<br />
Nor do their Lordships think that there has been made out any distinction between" stool" and communal lands, which affects the principle to be applied in estimating the basis on which compensation must be made. The Crown is under no obligation to pay anyone for unoccupied lands as defined. It will have to pay the Chief for family lands to which he is individually entitled when taken. There may be other portions of the land under his control which he has validly allotted to strangers or possibly even to members of his own clan or community. If he is properly deriving tribute or rent from these allotments, he will have to be compensated for the loss of it, and if the allottees have had valid titles conferred on them, they must also be compensated. Their Lordships doubt whether any really definite distinction is connoted by the expression "stool lands." It probably means little more than lands which the Chief holds in his representative or constitutional capacity, as distinguished from land which he and his own family hold individually. But in any event the point makes little difference for practical purposes. In the case of land belonging to the community, but as to which no rent or tribute is payable to the Chief, it does not appear that the latter is entitled to be compensated otherwise than in his representative capacity under the Ordinance of 1903. It is the members of his community who are in usufructuary occupation or in an equivalent position on whose behalf he is making the claim. The whole matter will have to be the subject of a proper inquiry directed to ascertaining whose the real interests are and what their values are.<br />
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<img alt="Amodu Tijani, Chief Oluwa of Lagos, by Bassano Ltd, 12 July 1920 - NPG x75017 - © National Portrait Gallery, London" src="http://images.npg.org.uk/800_800/3/3/mw60533.jpg" height="640" width="496" /></div>
Their Lordships will accordingly humbly advise His Majesty that the judgment of the Courts 'below should be reversed, and that declaration should be made: (1) That the appellant, for the purposes of the Public Lands Ordinance No.5 of 1903 is entitled to claim compensation on the footing that he is transferring to the Governor the land in question in full ownership, excepting in so far as such land is unoccupied, along with his own title to receive rent or tribute; (2) That the consideration or compensation awarded is to be distributed, under the direction of the Native Council of the District with the sanction of the Governor, among the members of the community represented by the appellant as its Head Chief in such proportions and in such manner as such Council, with the sanction of the Governor, may determine. The case will go back to the Supreme Court of Nigeria (Southern Provinces) to secure that effect is given to these declarations. The appellant is entitled to his costs of this appeal and of the appeal to the Full Court, and in any event to such costs of the original hearing as have been occasioned by the question raised by the respondent as to hi_ title. The other costs will be dealt with by the Supreme Court in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance.<br />
source:<a href="http://www.nigeria-law.org/Amodu%20Tijani%20%20V%20%20The%20Secretary,%20Southern%20Provinces.htm">http://www.nigeria-law.org/Amodu%20Tijani%20%20V%20%20The%20Secretary,%20Southern%20Provinces.htm</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-7082556942605615652014-09-18T15:44:00.004-07:002014-09-18T15:44:56.604-07:00BEMBA PEOPLE: MATRILINEAL, AGRARIAN AND THE THE LARGEST ETHNIC GROUP IN THE ZAMBIAThe Bemba ('BaBemba or 'Awemba' or 'BaWemba') are a cluster of matrilineal and agriculturalist ChiBemba-speaking ethnolinguistic group of Bantu extraction living in the northeastern high plateau of Zambia. They reside mainly in the Northern, Luapula and Copperbelt Provinces of Zambia who trace their origins to the Luba and Lunda states of the upper Congo basin, in what became Katanga Province in southern Congo-Kinshasa (DRC). They are the largest ethnic group in Zambia. Bemba history is a major historical phenomenon in the development of chieftainship in a large and culturally homogeneous region of central Africa.<br />
<img src="http://choshenfarm.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/img_0096.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
The Bemba are those who consider themselves subjects of the Chitimukulu, the Bemba's single paramount chief. They lived in villages of 100 to 200 people and numbered 250,000 strong in 1963. There are over 30 Bemba clans, named after animals or natural organisms, such as the royal clan, "the people of the crocodile" (Bena Ng'andu) or the Bena Bowa (Mushroom Clan). They were the people who finally put a halt to the northward march of the Nguni and Sotho-Tswana descended Ngoni people, through Chief Chitapankwa Kaluba.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6ZZjTKCe9uJPa4aen5LiiSSqLxMFzfn7zc6A5fDLvHYRSQPWVectUale0vrOuocjqs6z4vJy0R6Rp6Cf-Fy-8Hc6cY8awoAtdFVVPdOVjytoNNSO2p_obIMP91NBrYyrvlI57k2D8xvq/s640/F+Dancers+%2526+drummers+1.JPG" height="360" width="640" /><br />
In contemporary Zambia, the word "Bemba" actually has several meanings. It may designate people of Bemba origin, regardless of where they live, e.g. whether they live in urban areas or in the original rural Bemba area. Alternatively, it may encompass a much larger population which includes some 'eighteen different ethnic groups', who together with the Bemba form a closely related ethnolinguistic cluster of matrilineal-matrifocal agriculturalists known as the Bemba-speaking peoples of Zambia.They may call themselves by the particular group name—Aushi, Bisa, Chishinga, Kunda, Lala, Lamba Lunda, Ng'umbo, Swaka, Tabwa, or Unga—but the tendency in urban areas is to use the generic term "Bemba". In this broad sense the Bemba form the most important ethnic group in the urban areas of the Copperbelt, including Kitwe, Ndola, Mufulira, Luanshya, Chingola, and Chililabombwe in Zambia and a significant minority in Lubumbashi in the DRC.<br />
<img src="http://lokoleyacongo.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/827100281.jpg" height="417" width="640" /><br />
Bemba family<br />
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Bemba Folklore/Mythology<br />
In a country called Kola, there once was a powerful, but apparently crazy chief called Mukulumpe. He had a number of sons by different wives, but one day he heard of a woman with ears as large as an elephant's, who said she came from the sky and belonged to the crocodile clan. Her name was Mumbi Mukasa, and the chief married her. They had three sons, Katongo, Chiti and Nkole, and a daughter, Chilufya Mulenga. The impetuous young men built a tower that fell down and killed many people. King Mukulumpe was furious. He put out Katongo's eyes, and banished Chiti and Nkole. Mukulumpe pretended to relent and called back the exiles. However, he had dug a game pit to kill the three of them. Katongo, though blind, warned his brothers by using his talking drum. When they arrived alive and at the palace, the king humiliated them by making them do menial work. Chiti and Nkole left the kingdom for good, and took with them their three maternal half brothers Kapasa, Chimba and Kazembe and their entourage.<br />
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DUY5lnUKAmc/TJCp16QYhJI/AAAAAAAAA1M/fHnYmi08fzE/s640/ukusefyapangwena.jpg" /><br />
The Bemba people recently celebrated Ukusefya Pangwena, which re-enacts the journey from the Luba-Lunda Kingdom into Bembaland. The photo above depicts Chitimukulu being carried on a hammock by a group of men at the ceremony.<br />
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They fled east, until they came to the middle reaches of the Luapula river. Chief Mapalo Matanda of the Bena Mukulo ferried them across. In their haste, they left behind their blind brother Katongo and their sister Chilufya Mulenga, who Mukulumpu had locked up in a house without doors. They despatched their half brother Kapasa to break out Chilufya Mulenga, which he did ingeniously. But on the way to Luapula, Kapasa fell in love with Chilufya. When it turned out she was pregnant, Kapasa was disowned by Chiti. The group meanwhile, had fallen in with a 'white magician', Luchele Ng'anga. When they arrived at the Luapula, Kazembe decided to settle there, but Nkole and Chiti were uncertain. When Luchele Ng'anga conjured up a fish from a mortar, they took this to be an omen to head eastwards, and moved toward the plateau of the Chambeshi river, near Lake Bangweulu.<br />
They crossed the Safwa rapids, and the Luchindashi river, where there was a quarrel between two women, and part of the group stayed behind, forming the Bena Nona (Mushroom Clan), the royal clan of the Bisa people.<br />
The others continued southwards where they encountered the Lala people, who asked them for a chief, and were given a man called Kankomba. The migrants then turned eastwards to the Luangwa Valley and among the Senga (or Nsenga) people, they encountered a chief called Mwase. Mwase's wife, Chilimbulu, was very beautiful, and her stomach was adorned with elegant cicatrisations. Chilimbulu at once fell in love with Chiti, and so did he. She seduced him breathless when Mwase was out hunting. When he returned and saw Chilimbulu naked, doing it with Chiti, he was enraged. He pulled Chilimbulu off of Chiti, the two chiefs fought, and with Mwase trying to kill Chiti, he was grazed by a poisoned arrow, and Chilimbulu cried out, ran to her Chiti, and stabbed herself with the arrow too, after which they both died.<br />
Nkole and his followers took Chiti's body with them and stole Chilimbulu's body, looking for a grove suitable for their burial. They encountered the magician Luchele Ng'anga again, and he directed them toward a majestic grove, called Mwalule or Milemba. At Mwalule, they found a woman called Chimbala. They also found another visitor, the Bisa headman Kabotwe, who was there to trade and pay respect to Chimbala.<br />
After Chimbala gave them permission to bury Chiti and Chilimbulu, and placed Chilumbulu next to Chiti. But they managed to get Chimbala to marry Kabotwe, ensuring Chimbala's ritual ability to purify those who buried Chiti. Kabotwe became the keeper of the grove, and received the title Shimwalule, which his matrilineal descendants inherited. However, Nkole had sent out a party to raid cattle from Fipa chief 'Pilula' to provide an oxhide shroud for Chiti. Then, he dispatched a party to avenge Chiti's death, killing Mwase and Chilimbulu. Their bodies were burned at Mwalule, but the smoke overcame Nkole, who also died, and now also had to be buried at Mwalule.<br />
The Kola migrants adopted matrilineal succession, and Chiti and Nkole were succeeded by their sister Chilufya Mulenga's son. He was also called Chilufya, and was too young to rule as chief, so Chiti's half brother Chimba ruled in his place. The Kola migrants left Mulambalala, their site near Mwalule and crossed the Chambesi River north. The disgraced Kapasa however, settled on his own in Bulombwa, driving out Iwa chief Kafwimbi and his cattle.<br />
The others traveled westward up the Kalongwa River, where two men, Kawba and Chikunga found a dead crocodile. As the chiefs were of the crocodile clan, this was taken as a good sign. Here, the Kola migrants made their capital, Ng'wena (Crocodile) on the Kalungu River and settled the surrounding country. The groups then living in the area were called Sukuma, Musukwa, Kalelelya and Ngalagansa. They were driven off or killed by the Kola migrants, who were by now called the Bemba.<br />
When Chilufya the king grew up, Chimba handed him the royal bows belonging to his uncles Nkole and Chiti. Chilufya thereby gained the praise name 'ca mata yabili' (of the two bows). Chilufya however, insisted that Chimba kept Nkole's bow, allowing him to found his own village at Chatindubwi, a few miles north of the Kalungu River.<br />
Thereafter, the Bemba became many. New villages and chiefs were founded, and many chiefs succeeded Chilufya Kaluba. All of these paramount chiefs took the name of the original founder, Chiti Mukulu (Chiti The Great). They are now in today's Zambia.<br />
<img src="http://www.lusakatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/DEFENCE-Minister-Geoffrey-Mwamba-middle-with-his-Home-Affairs-counterpart-Edgar-Lungu-right-flanked-an-Induna-arrive-at-Litunga-palace-for-a-closed-meeting-with-the-King.jpg" /><br />
Geography<br />
The plateau heartland of the Bemba reaches a height of approximately 4,300 feet (1,300 meters) and is located from 10° to 12° S and 30° to 32° E. It rises from the lowlands of Lake Bangweulu and the Luapula Valley to the south and west and Lake Tanganyika and the Luangwa Valley to the north and east. The Chambeshi River, which feeds Lake Bangweulu and forms part of the southern Congo drainage basin, meanders through its center. The plateau is made of old crystalline rocks that are rich in minerals but produce poor soil fertility. The natural vegetation consists of thin forests of tall trees termed savanna woodland.<br />
It is estimated that of the eight and one half million people in Zambia, 36 percent (or 3.1 million) are Bemba or speak the Bemba language.<br />
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Language<br />
The Bemba people speak a Bemba language known as ChiBemba (Cibemba, Ichibemba, Icibemba and Chiwemba). It is a major Bantu language which belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum. ChiBemba is spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people and as a lingua franca by about 18 related ethnic groups, including the Bisa people of Mpika and Lake Bangweulu, and to a lesser extent in Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Botswana. Including all its dialects, Bemba is the most spoken indigenous language in Zambia. The Lamba language is closely related, some people consider it a dialect of Bemba.<br />
An urban dialect called Town Bemba (ichiTauni or ichiKopebeelti) is a widely used lingua franca in the Copperbelt towns and consists of a number of loan words from English in Zambia and from French and Swahili in the southern DRC. Portuguese and Swahili loan words indicate nineteenth-century trading contacts.<br />
Basic Vocabulary and Phrases<br />
ee - yes<br />
awe - no<br />
ulishani - hello (informal)<br />
Mulishani - hello (formal)<br />
shalenipo - goodbye<br />
Ishina lyandi ni.. - My name is...<br />
umuntu - person<br />
umunandi - friend<br />
umwana - child<br />
chiBemba - the Bemba language<br />
na - and, with<br />
nga - like, as<br />
suma (adj.) - good<br />
onse (adj.) - all<br />
uluchelo (adj) - morning<br />
Natotela - Thank you<br />
Sana - A lot<br />
Natotela sana - Thanks a lot<br />
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History<br />
The oral tradition of the Bemba court recalls a migration of chiefs from the country of the Luba (Kola). The king of Kola, Mukulumpe, married a woman who belonged to the Crocodile Clan (Abena Ngandu) and had ears like an elephant. She had three sons—Katongo, Chiti, and Nkole—and a daughter, Chilufya. After a fight with their father, Chiti and Nkole fled eastward and were joined by their half brothers Chimba, Kapasa, and Kazembe and their sister Chilurya. After the death in battle of Chiti and Nkole, the son of Chilufya became chief. When they came across a dead crocodile, they decided to settle, for they were of the Crocodile Clan. Chilurya became known as Chitimukulu, or Chiti the Great.<br />
Historians have argued that this oral tradition is more a "mythical charter" that legitimizes the rule of the Crocodile Clan than a record of historical fact. The legend probably refers to a migration of Luba or Lunda chiefs that occurred before 1700. Before the migration there were autochthonous inhabitants who spoke a Bantu language that resembled modern IchiBemba and had certain cultural and economic practices similar to those found after the Luba/Lunda conquest. They had settled in the area more than a thousand years earlier. The Luba/Lunda chiefs did not alter the cultural and economic practices of the original inhabitants, adapting them while proclaiming descent from royalty to legitimize their rule.<br />
Before the 1840s the greatest challenge to the Bemba came from Mwata Kazembe's Eastern Lunda Kingdom based in the Luapula Valley; after 1840 the Ngoni from southern Africa challenged the Bemba from the east in a series of inconclusive wars until a decisive battle in about 1870 led to a Ngoni retreat. Local exchanges of iron and salt were important for the consolidation of political power by chiefs, but the long-distance trade in slaves, ivory, and copper with the Portuguese and Swahili on the east coast fortified and centralized the Bemba polity, which reached its zenith in the 1870s.<br />
The first written reference to the Bemba is from 1798, when the Portuguese expedition to Mwata Kazembe led by F. J.de Lacerda heard about the Bemba. The first recorded contact between Portuguese traders and Bemba chiefs took place in 1831, when another expedition to Mwata Kazembe under A. C. P. Garnitto encountered Bemba chiefs expanding to the south. Tippu Tip, a Swahili slave trader, had contact with the Bemba in the 1860s, and David Livingstone passed through the area in 1867-1868 and in 1872 shortly before his death near Bemba country.<br />
In the 1880s and 1890s European conquest and colonization began. The London Missionary Society and the Catholic White Fathers established mission stations on the border of the Bemba polity. By the 1890s agents of the British South African Company had begun signing treaties with chiefs. Europeans widened internal fissures between the competing chiefships of Chitimukulu and Mwamba, and this contributed to the lack of organized resistance to European colonialism. During the colonial period the Bemba territory became an important labor-supply hinterland for the copper mines. The powers of the Bemba chiefs were reduced by the colonial administration, yet certain Bemba chiefs, including Chitimukulu, retained authority under the colonial practice of indirect rule.<br />
The Bemba supported the Cha Cha Cha struggle for independence led by the United National Independence Party (UNIP). The first Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, was not of Bemba descent yet grew up and taught in Bemba country. Bemba support for UNIP declined after the brutal repression of the popular Lumpa Church and the perception that the one-party regime discriminated against the Bemba and favored easterners. In the 1970s support grew for the breakaway United Progressive Party (UPP) led by Simon Kapwewe. Bemba support for the government of Frederick Chiluba that took over from Kaunda after democratic elections in 1991 was high. In urban areas President Chiluba is considered a Bemba even though he comes from Luapula Province and is not a member of the core Bemba group.<br />
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Settlements<br />
A tarmac road called the Great North Road runs from the Copperbelt through the plateau region and splits into two roads leading to the Lake Tanganyika port of Mpulungu and the border of Tanzania, respectively. A railway line from Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es Salaam runs through Bemba country. Settlement is concentrated along the roads and railway line, with farms extending for several miles into the interior. Northern Province is divided into nine districts, each of which has an administrative capital that also serves as a trading center. The most important towns near the Bemba heartland are Chinsali and Kasama. Houses constructed of bricks and corrugated iron are replacing those made of the traditional clay and thatch. Except in the towns, piped water and electricity are rare. Small toilets and granaries are situated outside the main houses. The population density is low.<br />
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Economy<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Subsistence.</span></b> Subsistence agriculture makes an important contribution to livelihood since employment levels are low and wages and pensions are below the subsistence level. In many areas cassava and maize have replaced the traditional staple, millet. The Bemba are known for a shifting form of agriculture termed chitemene, in which the branches of trees are cut and burned to supply the nutrients needed to cultivate millet and maize.<br />
<img src="http://lokoleyacongo.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ikengo718-133.jpg" /><br />
Forms of chitemene have changed over time. For example, traditionally only tree branches were burned, but now entire trees are burned for use as both fertilizer and charcoal. Without burning, fertilizer is required. Cassava grown on mounds (mputa) has become more widespread since little fertilizer is required and it can be grown without chitemene. However, chitemene has not disappeared and still is an important part of Bemba survival strategies. Cassava, millet, and maize are dried, ground into flour, and cooked with water to make a thick porridge called ubwali. Vegetables include pumpkin, squash, cabbage, spinach, rape, and cassava leaves. Cattle traditionally were not domesticated because of the tsetse fly and are still rare. Sources of protein include beans, groundnuts, caterpillars, fish, game meat, poultry, and goat.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Commercial Activities</span></b>. Maize and cassava are exported to urban areas. Coffee estates in the highlands export high-quality beans. Small-scale gemstone and mineral mining occurs. Before the decline of the copper mines in the 1980s, most income was derived from urban remittances.<br />
Industrial Arts. Handicraft products include clay pots, reed mats and baskets, hunting and fishing nets, wood and iron agricultural implements, canoes, stools, and drums. Wood is the most important and versatile raw material. There is little tourism, and these products usually are made for local use.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Trade. </span></b>Trucks on the main road carry trade goods to and from the Mpulungu harbor on Lake Tanganyika and the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam. Locals sell food and refreshments and provide services to passing truck drivers and train passengers.<br />
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Division of Labor<br />
In general, men prepare the chitemene fields by cutting and burning the branches. Women are responsible for planting, harvesting, drying, pounding the dried grain or root into flour, and cooking. Increased male migration to the copper mines after the 1920s was a factor in the replacement of millet cultivation in chitemene fields by cassava. Men dominate hunting and fishing activities, while women and children gather wild produce such as mushrooms and caterpillars. The Bemba speak about a division of labor in a rigid fashion, but in practice it can be fluid.<br />
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Land Tenure<br />
As a result of the traditionally low population density and shifting agricultural practices, uncultivated land or bush (mpanga) had little intrinsic value and was not strongly associated with individual ownership. However, rights to the land did exist and were regulated by village rulers. The colonial government declared land "Native Trust," to be allocated by chiefs. Despite the vesting of the land in the president under the postcolonial government, chiefs still allocated land. The introduction of individual land registration under the post-1991 government has not had an impact. In contrast to uncultivated land, there is a strong sense of individual ownership of cultivated fields and produce.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Kinship</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Kin Groups and Descent.</span></b> The Bemba usually are classified as matrilineal and matrilocal. This is an idealized version of Bemba kinship relations that might have existed in the past, yet even this seems unclear. Currently, there seems to be a weakening of the matrilineal/matrilocal system; residence departs substantially from matrilocality now and might best be described as bilocal. Membership in a clan (umukowa; plural imikowa) and positional succession are still matrilineal. However, it is common for a child to adopt the father's name and ancestral spirit (umupashi), and this is suggestive of a strengthening of patrilineal elements. In the past a man worked for a period in the homestead of his new wife and chose to remain with his wife's family or return with her to his mother or father's homestead. However, today newlywed couples may stay with the husband's family. A money economy and Christianity have strengthened the control of men over their children and weakened attachment to uterine kin.<br />
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Kinship Terminology<br />
Kin terms are of the Iroquois type. Close kinship terms are subject to declension, for example, mayo (my mother), noko (thy mother), nyina (her mother). In ego's generation separate terms are used for siblings according to their sex and age. Because of positional succession (ukupyanika) kin terminology for an individual can change. For example, through succession ego can become his mother's brother and all women who were his mother (mayo) become his sister (nkashi).<br />
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Bemba old man, Zambia</div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Marriage and Family</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Marriage.</span></b> Traditionally, marriage payments in the form of goods from the groom's family to the bride's family were small and insignificant. The more important aspect of the marriage contract was the labor service performed by the son-in-law. With the increasing importance of money and goods, payments are becoming of more importance and labor service by the son-in-law is increasingly rare. Polygamy is allowed but uncommon. Marriages are unstable, and divorce or separation is common, especially if a man fails to provide labor, money, or goods to his wife's family. To a certain extent Christianity has stabilized marital relations. While marriage within a clan is not allowed, cross-cousin marriages are permitted and strengthen the bonds between brother and sister.<br />
<img src="http://www.lusakatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/matebeto.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
The Bemba tradition recognizes four symbolic banquets in relation to courtship and marriage. These are<br />
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• Icisumina Nsalamu (Acceptance of marriage proposal),<br />
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• Icilanga Mulilo [Literal meaning: “The Showing of the Fire” or “Introduction to Cuisine” – Editor]<br />
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• Ukukonkola (Granting authority) and<br />
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• Amatebeto (Thanks offering),<br />
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It is not uncommon to find a bride’s family preparing Icilanga Mulilo for the groom, in the mistaken belief that it is Amatebeto. Others may prepare Icisumina Nsalamu believing it to be Icilanga Mulilo. Some have knowingly practiced a pick and mix version out of convenience. This fuzziness has been tolerated in many cases, but only adds to the confusion around these issues.<br />
Bemba Wedding ceremony<br />
According to Mr. Dyson Chalwe, a traditional marriage counselor and long standing Shibukombe (a trustworthy person who is appointed to be the emissary and confidant for the groom in meeting the bride’s parents), there are four very distinct ceremonial banquets involving the taking of symbolic meals from the bride to the groom in the period leading to marriage and after commencement of marriage:<br />
1. ICISUMINA NSALAMU (Acceptance of marriage proposal).<br />
Icisumina Nsalamu is a meal prepared by the bride’s family, which they deliver to the groom, to symbolize the acceptance of his marriage proposal.<br />
According to Mr.Chalwe, the meal only consists of one plate of Nshima (the traditional thick porridge made from maize meal) and a plate of whole chicken. The groom does not have to give back anything in return. The object of this gesture is for the bride’s family to show that they have accepted the marriage proposal on behalf of their daughter. It’s less elaborate than the other three banquets.<br />
2. ICILANGA MULILO (Permission granting the groom freedom to have meals from the bride’s family during courtship visits).<br />
[Literal meaning: “The Showing of the Fire” or “Introduction to Cuisine” – Editor]<br />
Mr. Chalwe says that Icilanga Mulilo is food that is prepared by the bride’s family and delivered to the groom to symbolize an open invitation to the groom to dine with the bride’s family on future visits during their courtship. Traditionally, the groom is forbidden from eating any food at the bride’s parents or guardian’s home before this symbolic gesture. Different types of dishes are prepared by the bride’s to showcase their traditional cuisine.<br />
The groom is expected to eat or taste every food, including the food that he is not familiar with.<br />
The bride’s party prepare the meals at the house of one of their relatives. A big group of women then load the food parcels on their heads amid singing and drumming. They head to the house where the groom and his party are waiting. The bride is not involved in this.<br />
When the party arrives at the gate at the grooms location, they pause and wait for an invitation to enter. This is in the form of money that the groom’s family drop on the ground in front of them. In a light hearted display, the party may refuse to enter until more money is offered. The amounts of money involved are not large, only symbolic.<br />
Once the invitation to enter is accepted, the singing party then proceed to the house. At the door, they will turn around and enter the house walking backwards, with their parcels still balanced on their heads.<br />
Once in the house, the singing and ululation continues. The women dance in the middle of the room. The party waits for an invitation to set down their food parcels. Once more, this takes the form of money offerings from the groom’s family.<br />
Finally there is more dancing and singing. Those who are gathered then tuck into the feast.<br />
This occasion, other than being a” showcase” of the bride's menu, also symbolizes that the groom is responsible for the welfare of his bride from then on. He can now assume the responsibilities of taking care of his bride’s financial needs. The bride at this stage is also allowed to start cooking and doing laundry for the groom.<br />
Mr. Chalwe further revealed that after the Icilanga Mulilo ceremony, the groom is allowed to give back something, usually money, as a token of appreciation for the meal when delivering back the empty plates to the bride.<br />
Icilanga Mulilo ceremony - Food dishes 1 - kitweonlineIcilanga Mulilo ceremony - Food dishes 2 - kitweonline Icilanga Mulilo ceremony - Meat dish - kitweonlineIcilanga Mulilo ceremony - The Groom with friends- kitweonline Icilanga Mulilo ceremony - The Shibukombe - Mr Dyson Chalwe<br />
3. AMATEBETO (Thanks offering)<br />
Amatebeto are prepared by the bride’s family and delivered to the groom after marriage has taken place. Amatebeto can be prepared two or more years into the marriage.<br />
Amatebeto symbolizes the appreciation of the groom by the bride’s parents for keeping a trouble free marriage. It is an acknowledgement by the bridge’s family that the groom is capable of looking after his wife well and that they have re-affirmed their blessing of the marriage<br />
In today’s practice, Amatebeto and Icilanga Mulilo have been used interchangeably. They are also the two ceremonies most easily confused for each other.<br />
<img src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/n_case_w/zambia2006-2007.1164296280.dsc00914.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
4. UKUKONKOLA (Granting authority)<br />
Ukukonkola is a meal that is prepared for the groom by the bride’s parents. It is a meal that the groom eats at his in-law's house.<br />
On this day, the meal symbolizes the authority that is given to the groom to make family decisions affecting his wife’s side of the family on behalf of elders in the bride’s family. The groom is allowed to make some decisions “without consulting” his in-laws. The bride’s family also declare their commitment to respect such decisions and to consider them binding.<br />
The groom is initiated by first going to his father and mother in-law’s bedroom. Traditionally, teenagers and adult children are not allowed to enter their parents’ bedroom, much less an in law’s! The parents’ bedroom is traditionally regarded as a sacred place for a son in law to enter.<br />
On this very special occasion, the son in law is allowed access. He is expected to remove the beddings found on his in-law’s bed and to get whatever valuables are exposed. He also has got to peep under the bed and to take anything that he finds there.<br />
Thereafter he is led to the living room where he has to remove all the cushions on the sofa and reveal anything hidden underneath them. He is allowed to keep whatever he discovers.<br />
He is then led into the kitchen where he is to open all the pots and pans, and eat whatever he finds. He is not expected to leave any left-overs. He is to get all the food that remains and take it to his home after this initiation.<br />
The meal symbolizes that the groom has become part of the family and is now regarded as one of their own children. The groom is even authorized to personally tender a sick mother in law after this symbolic gesture.<br />
According to Mr. Chalwe, this is the last in the process, of all symbolic banquets for a groom from his in-laws. The ceremonies are practiced to varying extents among Zambians of Bemba extraction. If you are marrying into the Bemba tribe, you now know what to expect.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Domestic Unit.</span></b> In the past a married couple started out in an extended matrilocal family unit and formed an independent unit after a number of years. The encouragement of nuclear families by Christian churches and the ability to provide money instead of labor service to the wife's family has meant that a husband can achieve this position with greater ease. However, the traditional basis of domestic cooperation through female relatives—mother and daughter or sisters—and ties between mother and children are still strong.<br />
Inheritance. Inheritance of goods is relatively unimportant, and wealth can pass from a dead man to his son or to his sister's son. The inheritance of a title or a wife is of more significance and follows the matrilineage.<br />
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Bemba woman</div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Socialization. </span></b>Children learn household, agricultural, and hunting skills from their mother or her relatives, although the father may be involved. Children have freedom and autonomy but must respect their elders. Although the practice has declined in recent years, initiation (ichisungu) at puberty teaches girls duties toward their households and husbands. There are no equivalent male initiation ceremonies. Children generally attend school.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Sociopolitical Organization</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Social Organization.</span></b><br />
Independent households, which form the basic productive unit, join together to form villages. The membership of a village is fluid, and households migrate in search of new land. A village headman who is appointed by village elders or by the chief runs each village and mediates conflicts and access to land. Chiefs are drawn from the royal matrilineal Crocodile Clan, and this has contributed to greater centralization than is found among the neighboring groups. Chiefs and headmen are generally male, but it is not unusual to find women in such positions. Chiefs have their own councilors elected by the old men of the royal village. Paramount Chief Chitimukulu commands the respect of a number of lesser chiefs across the plateau and rules his own district (Lubemba). Chitimukulu's tribal council consists of a number of royal hereditary officials called abakabilo who have different ritual duties.<br />
The Bemba have about thirty matrilineal clans generally named after animals. All clans have joking opposites. For example, the Goat Clan jokes with the Leopard Clan because leopards eat goats. An individual can rely on the support of his or her clan and joking clan members. Joking between the Bemba, who are known as baboons (kolwe) for their reputation for eating baboons, and the Ngoni, who are known as rats (kwindi), is an element of social life and a way of overcoming old rivalries, especially in urban areas where Ngoni and Bemba live together.<br />
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Political Organization<br />
Political authority is divided between the formal government and traditional chiefs. The government follows the model of the British colonial bureaucracy. The Northern Province, with provincial headquarters at Kasama, has nine districts with elected district councils at district capitals called the Boma. Under the first postcolonial regime of Kaunda, UNIP party structures played an important role in running district affairs. After 1991, under the successor regime of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), party structures were not meant to play the same role, although their de facto political influence has been great.<br />
During colonialism chiefs collaborated closely with the colonial officials based at the Boma. In the postcolonial period the formal judicial and executive powers of the chiefs were handed over to the district government. Nevertheless, during the first postcolonial regime chiefs became involved in formal district governance and political parties. After 1991 chiefs were supposed to remain outside formal politics, but their influence remains significant.<br />
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Social Control<br />
Chiefs and headmen are not instrumental in the perpetuation of social norms. Responsibilities toward the extended family are entrenched through witchcraft (ubuloshi) accusations that act as an important deterrent against breaking social and ritual taboos. Didactic songs, including those associated with the girls' ichisungu ceremony, provide guidance for responsibilities toward husband, children, and family.<br />
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Conflict<br />
Before the colonial period the Bemba were known as a "warrior" people who raided their neighbors for slaves and tribute. Conflict between Bemba chiefs and between the Bemba and the Ngoni was frequent. Praise songs of chiefs and clan elders celebrate battles and past conquests. After colonialism, raiding and local conflict ceased, and political stability in Zambia has contributed to a long era of peace.<br />
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Religious Belief<br />
Religious Beliefs. Precolonial religious beliefs revolved around the worship of ancestral spirits (imipashi) and nature spirits (ngulu). These spirits controlled uncultivated land and were responsible for the harvest. Chiefs and clan elders prayed and offered sacrifices to the spirits at shrines, which were miniature huts housing relics or natural sites such as waterfalls and springs. Such rituals occurred at important economic events such as the cutting of trees (ukutema) to prepare chitemene fields or before hunting or fishing expeditions. Although rare, these rituals are still performed in certain areas.<br />
Most Bemba are Christians. The United Church of Zambia (previously the London Missionary Society), Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists are important denominations. Biblical stories and proverbs are popular. The name for God is Lesa, although the etymology of the term is unclear. Christianity has been fused with older religious practices. For example, the Lumpa Church, founded by the prophetess Alice Lenshina, spread across Bemba country in the 1950s and was repressed by government in the 1960s. At least since the spread of the bamuchapi witchfinders in the 1930s, witchcraft accusations have combined ancestral and Christian belief systems.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Religious Practitioners</span></b>. Chiefs, clan elders, and other ritual specialists prayed and made sacrifices to the spirits. Precolonial prophets such as Bwembya claimed to derive their prophecies from the ancestral spirits of kings. Christian prophets such as Alice Lenshina claimed to hear the voices of God and Jesus. Witchcraft purification and detection are still performed by witchfinders (abashinganga), often on behalf of traditional chiefs and councilors. Church congregations led by elected church elders exist in most villages.<br />
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Bemba man performing traditional ritual</div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Ceremonies. </span></b>Traditional ceremonial activities include rites surrounding the preparation of chitemene fields and first fruit ceremonies. Although it is no longer widely performed, the most important semipublic ceremony is the ichisungu initiation for young girls. When a girl begins to menstruate, she is taken into the bush by a ritual specialist called Nachimbusa (the mother of sacred emblems) and instructed in the duties of womanhood through songs and sacred clay figurines and paintings called mbusa. Men are not allowed to attend the ceremony. After initiation the girl is considered ready for marriage.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Arts. </span></b>Tatoos and other forms of scarification were common in the pre-Christian period. Hairstyling among women is still popular. Painting and ornamental arts illustrating biblical themes or clan jokes adorn houses and public places. There is little demand for Bemba artworks, and works generally are made on commission. Musicians, especially guitarists and singers, perform in village bars and churches.<br />
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Medicine.</span></b> Traditional remedies are made from bark, fruit, and plant extracts. Knowledge of these remedies is widespread. However, if these remedies fail, a patient will go to expert herbalists who have specialized knowledge of remedies and supernatural causes of illness.<br />
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Death and Afterlife<br />
The cause of death is believed to be a curse or bewitchment by a jealous friend or family member. After death the family will employ a witchfinder to search for the source of the bewitchment. Spirits can return to act as guardians of the bush or can be adopted by newborn children. The Bemba combine beliefs in ancestral spirits and witchcraft with Christian beliefs about the afterlife.<br />
source:<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Bemba.aspx">http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Bemba.aspx</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-27119980893631667872014-09-18T10:22:00.000-07:002014-09-18T10:22:00.296-07:00JOHN KABES: PROMINENT AFRICAN TRADER, ENTREPRENEUR, STATE-BUILDER AND ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN MILLIONAIRES IN WEST AFRICAJohn Kabes (John Cabess or John Cabes) (c. 1640s-1722) was a prominent African trader, entrepreneur and a State-builder in the port city of Komenda, part of the Eguafo Kingdom, in the Gold Coast (Ghana). Although he was a major British ally and was a supplier to the British Royal African Company but he nevertheless played them against other Europeans competitors.<br />
<img height="435" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Forts_at_Komenda.jpg" width="640" /><br />
British Fort Komenda (left) and Dutch Fort Vredenburgh (right). Note the peculiar architecture of Fort Komenda in the plan of the fort (lower left).<br />
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As a trader, he became a strong economic and political force in the coastal region in the early 1700s, playing an active role in the Komenda Wars, the rise of the Ashanti Empire, the expansion of British involvement in West Africa, and the beginnings of large-scale Atlantic slave trade. Because of his combined economic and political power, historian Kwame Daaku named Cabess one of the "merchant princes" of the Gold Coast in the 1700s. He was arguably the first native African millionaire trader that transacted business and was in competition with Europeans. He paved the way for other famous Gold Coast rich Caboceers like Eno Baissie Kurantsi (John Corrente) of anomaboand Cudjoe of Cape Coast.<br />
<img height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsioe4p46Lt0OmuauY_brhxVJQPK35CCtanLR5zFK9qsgV5Jx8-hTSqggO9ZobDap-DCMG2jkzNw3vIRWllTNBjqPqSIGp3vegRrgGj1GMR35Ac85ozvG-pPFG1g1xPMJr48AOa8OSb9GT/s640/Golden+Carriage.jpg" width="640" /><br />
The Komenda Wars of the Gold Coast 1694-1700<br />
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John Kabes as a trader cum political leader had a career spanning nearly forty years, he established the paramount stool of Komenda, hitherto part of the inland state of Eguafo. Kabes began as a trader for the English (and sometimes for the Dutch) and gradually achieved political status which, however it may have been acquired, proved to be lasting because it was acceptable to existing political mores. "Such of Kabes's activities as are known suggest that his success sprang from his ability to wring advantage from the new exigencies of the time and place in ways which enabled him to acquire legitimacy as well as wealth and influence. Although Kabes's career is uniquely documented there is no reason to suppose that it was particularly unusual in its other facets. On this argument it can suggest ways in which other West African trade-derived polities, particularly in the Niger delta, may have coalesced."<br />
He died in 1722, but his heirs continued to exert economic power in the port for the remainder of the 18th century.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://josephbirkner.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/komenda.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Komenda town in Central Region, Ghana<br />
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John Kabes was born sometime in the 1640s or 1650s (the record of his birth is unclear) in Akatakyi (Komenda). The Komenda Tradtional Area is bounded on the east by Elmina, on the west by Shama, on the north by Wasa, on the north-east by Eguafo and Abrem in the Central Region. The capital of the State is Akatakyi, which means “the town of great people” known in European records as Little Commendo, while describing the Komenda State as British Commendo.<br />
Komenda traditions allege that their ancestors originally lived at Takyiman in present-day Brong Ahafo Region, and that they formed part of the Borbor Fante emigrants which broke off in search of peace and security, because in those days the Takyiman area was constantly in great turmoil-there were wars and rumours of war.<br />
The Komenda dissidents were under the leadership of Nana Kome as they trekked southwards; however, Nana Kwarhin (Who later founded Kwarhinkrom), was the pathfinder of Twafohin for Nana Kome till they reached Mankessim, the nursery ground for Fante ideas and institutions.<br />
Earlier, the whole congregation had settled at Kwaman (Akan-manmu) close by a rivulet, where the three warlords namely Oburumankoma, Odapagyan and Oson died and their remains carried to Mankessim and interred in a nearby grove which became the famous Nana Pow. When the Fantes were afflicted by any misfortune they turned to the deity. Nananom in the night.<br />
At Mankessim, the Borbor Fante lived in five quarters- Nkusukum, Anaafo or Ntsetse, Edumadze, Bentsi and Kurentsi Amanfo, each quarter enjoyed absolute independence of the other.<br />
They settled at Mankessim a long time before they began to form new territorial state, leaving behind the Kurentsi Amanfo, however the quarters of Edumadze and Kusukum left Abaatam in their original quarters at Mankessim.<br />
After their, departure from Mankessim, Nana Kome and his followers first settled at Komantse, and as they were leaving this place the younger brother called Kome Kuma refused to accompany the main party and chose to stay behind. Soon the Asante army invaded the area and Kome Kuma was captured. It is alleged that his elder brother felt aggrieved and exclaimed. “If Kome Kuma had listened to me, he wouldn’t have been captured”. The expression in Fante was Komeantse or Kormantse.<br />
Earlier, they had stopped briefly at Biriwa, a fishing village, and thence to Yamoransa (Akatakyiwa in Nkusukum). Where after a sojourn a few remnants were left behind, while the bulk of the people followed Nana Kome to the land of Eguafo.<br />
Nana Kome approached the king of Eguafo, humbly requesting for a piece of land to settle on. He was told to help the Eguafo to get rid of a monster which disturbed them a lot. Nana Kome’s gallant fighters took up the challenge and got the monster killed.<br />
Then Nana Kome and the king of Eguafo drank fetish that henceforth the Akatakyi would occupy the land between Kankan (Dutch Komeda) and the mouth of the Pra River. Up to the second half of the 18th century, the king of Eguafo controlled the stretch of coast from the west bank of the Benya River to the estuary of the river Pra. In those days, Jabi (Shama), Elmina, Abrem and Efutu were part of the Eguafo state.<br />
The story is that the monster killed by the gallant fighters was known as Ekyi, which gave them the new name AKATAKYI. Finally they left for Mmaado where they build the Akatakyi State. The chiefs spied the land and then came to inform Nana Kome, where each wanted to stay, and were accordingly granted permission to build their various towns and villages.<br />
TOWNSMIGRANT LEADERS RULING CLAN ANCESTRAL HOME<br />
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1. Akatakyi Nana Kome (Omanhin) Abrade Takyiman<br />
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2. Aboransa Kweenu Amoa (Nifahin) Abrade “<br />
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3. Antardo Ansah Pregow ( Antardohin) Abrade “<br />
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4. Bisease Kwedu and Aban (Kyidomhin) Abrade “<br />
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5. Dominase Kumi Kuma and Kwesi Ebeng Abrade “<br />
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6. Dompoa Kobinko and Sumawuah (Benkumhin) Abrade “<br />
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7. Kokwaaso Kwansan (Kokwaadohin) Abrade “<br />
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8. Kwarhinkrom Kwarhin (Twafohin) Abrade “<br />
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9. Kyiasik Ofiram (Kyiasihin) Anona Tarkwa Dunkwa (Denkyira)<br />
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10. Kissi Barima Kissi (Adontenhin) Abrutuw Asankare Breman (Wassa)<br />
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11. Ahwene Amoakwa Kouna Wamaso<br />
Komenda in the past strongly determined to maintain their loyalty and allegiance to the British when so many invasions and attacks were made by the Portuguese, Danes and the Dutch who were exploiting the west coast of Africa.<br />
Thus, J. K. Fynn (1974) remarked that the political growth of Akatakyi from a dependent market centre into an autonomous city-state was largely the outcome of the perpetual tension between rival European trading companies which competed among themselves for commercial supremacy on the Eguafo coast, Akatakyi in which the English fort stood became a fast growing town and enabled the Komeda chiefs to rival the Eguafo kings in importance and power. Thus the name Komenda is derived from the name of the towns founder Nana "Kome."<br />
Anyway, it is believed that John Kabes was the son of John Cabessa, who had been a prominent African official working for the British at Fort Amsterdam in the 1660s. The older Cabessa was most noted in British reports for committing suicide rather than become a captive while the Dutch were attacking Fort Amsterdam.<br />
<img height="472" src="http://www.sharingcomment.com/images/Culture/fort_komends.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Dutch Fort Vredenburgh, Komenda<br />
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The flowering of the Atlantic trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries caused many of the West African societies of the near hinterland to orient themselves increasingly toward the coast. This new focus created new geopolitical conformations. Given the nature of the stimulus, trade and politics went hand in hand and entrepreneurial ability could reap political rewards. These possibilities were greatest along the Gold Coast and in the Niger delta where the actual European presence was small in relation to the extent of the trade<br />
The city of Komenda, part of the Kingdom of Eguafo, had become a major trade port in the later parts of the 17th century. The British and French wanted to get a foothold in the port in order to break the Dutch monopoly over trade in the Gold Coast. The Dutch, in contrast simply saw it as a secondary port to support its other operations in the area. In this situation, Cabess moved to Komenda in the 1670s to work with the British attempts to establish trade relationships in the port. The primary African merchant to the British in the port was a trader named Captain Bracon in the 1670s; however, by 1686, Cabess had taken over this position.<br />
By the 1680s, Cabess had established himself as a key merchant in Komenda. Henige speculates that Cabess came to Komenda between 1683 and 1685.A British trader emphasized his control over trade and relations in the port by exclaiming that without Cabess in Komenda "nothing will be done." At this point, he provided shells, food, and manpower for fort and factory construction by the Royal African Company in Komenda and elsewhere along the coast. Eventually, Cabess became a major slave trader out of the port of Komenda supplying thousands of slaves on a continual basis.<br />
His refusal to trade with the Dutch significantly slowed their ability to build facilities and when the French took an interest in developing a factory at Komenda they offered Cabess a significant amount of gold to help them in the project (a deal which was never finalized). Cabess had significant negotiating leverage in his relationship with the British which sometimes resulted in tense relations. In 1687, tensions between Cabess and the Royal African Company representative in the fort, William Cross, resulted in Cross being forcibly removed from the post. Similar situations occurred in 1698 and 1714, both times with the British representative being replaced at the request of Cabess.<br />
In 1688, Cabess was panyarred by the Dutch, a practice common in the area where merchants and traders would be captured by other merchant forces and their goods would be taken. The British merchants secured Cabess' release and according to some accounts this is what precipitated his attack on Dutch miners in 1694 which started the Komenda Wars. In 1690 during a war between the Dutch and French trading companies, the British factory was burnt down and they left the area. Cabess therefore began supplying goods and manpower to the Dutch.<br />
During the Komenda Wars (1694-1700), Cabess provided crucial assistance to the British position and actively supported their return to Komenda. In 1694 and 1695, Cabess attacked the Dutch fort on multiple occasions and during negotiations with the Dutch commander, Willem Bosman, the Dutch commander attempted to shoot Cabess but missed.With the end of the wars after 1700 and the rise of the Ashanti Empire in trade along the coast, Cabess became a crucial middleman in the port city. British traders complained that Cabess would prevent traders from directly entering Komenda and instead intercept them outside of the city trading for their goods and then charging a higher rate to the British, while keeping some of the best goods for himself. Cabess then became a monopsonist and monopolist able to manage contacts with multiple sellers and multiple buyers but keeping them from directly contacting each other and thus centralizing buying and selling within his control.<br />
The economic position of Cabess brought him into conflict with the British in the early 1700s with him and the British commander at the fort, Dalby Thomas, becoming quite hostile to one another by 1705. However, although he traded with the Dutch, he remained a significant British ally for the rest of his life and the tension quickly decreased. This economic position also introduce rivalries with other African powers: a series of hostile activities between Twifo and Cabess in 1714 required the adjudication of Ashanti diplomats.<br />
Economic importance translated into increasing political importance and Cabess became the virtual leader of Komenda, which began to be less a subordinate to the city of Eguafo and gradually became an equal. In addition, Cabess begun owning significant land around Komenda that he directly controlled. Originally, he controlled a few huts around the British fort, but by 1714 this included a sizable area. At the time of his death, he largely held sovereign power along the coast and had become the possessor of his own stool (a symbol of leadership amongst the Akan people) which would later be passed to his descendents.<br />
Cabess died in June 1722 in Komenda. The British and Dutch feared a large succession struggle by the many heirs of Cabess. The RAC administrators dispatched an officer to provide gifts to those members most likely to take the place of Cabess. His body was buried at the British fort in Komenda after a public viewing of his body. His son Ahenaqua took over much of the trade and political power of Cabess, without a recorded succession struggle, and until the chiefs at Cape Coast became predominant over Komenda in the mid-1700s,[6] the main official at Komenda, the Caboceer, governed on what was known as "the stool of the late John Cabess."<br />
Source:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabess">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabess</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-79302303970832452472014-09-18T05:52:00.000-07:002014-09-18T05:52:01.241-07:00EWONDO (YAUNDE) PEOPLE: THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF YAOUNDE, THE CAPITAL OF CAMEROONEwondo or Yaunde are rain-forest agro-fishery and Kolo-speaking people of the larger <a href="http://beti-pahuin/"> Beti-Pahuin</a> ethnic group of Bantu origin residing predominantly at Yaounde, the Capital city of Cameroon. In fact, Cameroon`s capital city Yaounde was named after them.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw2HQG5pmj2-8Nc9HC0mWt2RyWqGf7CO2AIkiTcjlM0CGJOmbsxrFlyjSF6HOe-tqvLxBdNJ6agjaetnE5E-gXwkrplHDTdVHE1pbhLioKzfS85atHgSyxUOxFk7zleVA4txEJ2rEwv8M/s1600/pulch%25C3%25A9rie+en+pied-nzoubou.jpg" /></div>
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Beautiful Ewondo woman</div>
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The larger<a href="http://beti-pahuin/"> Beti-Pahuin</a> or Beti-Ekang aboriginal Bantu group are located rain forest regions of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Though they separate themselves into several individual clans, they all share a common origin, history and culture. They are divided into 3 major groups and a small ones. The first grouping, called the Beti, consists of the Ewondo (more precisely Kolo), Bane, Fang (more precisely M'fang), Mbida-Mbane, Mvog-Nyenge, and Eton (or Iton). The Eton are further subdivided into the Eton-Beti, Eton-Beloua, and Beloua-Eton. The Fang (or Fan) form the second group. Individual ethnic groups include the Fang proper, the Ntumu, the Mvae, and the Okak. Fang territories begin at the southern edge of Cameroon south of Kribi, Djoum, and Mvangan in the South Province and continue south across the border, including all of Rio Muni in Equatorial Guinea and south into Gabon and Congo.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/0/45/11/06/20140214/ob_49533e_p1060397.JPG" width="640" /><br />
Ewondo woman from Cameroon<br />
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The third grouping is called the Bulu and makes up about a third of all Beti-Pahuin in Cameroon. The Bulu include the Bulu proper of Sangmélima, Kribi, and Ebolowa, the Fong and Zaman of the Dja River valley, the Yengono, Yembama and Yelinda of the Nyong River valley, and the Yesum, Yebekanga, Yekebolo, and Mvele.<br />
In addition, several other peoples are currently being assimilated or "Pahuinised" by their Beti-Pahuin neighbours. These include the Manguissa, Yekaba, Bamvele, Evuzok, Batchanga (Tsinga), Omvang, Yetude, and, to some extent, the Baka.<br />
Ewondo people which belongs to the first group, Beti, can also be found in the eastern Mefou division and the Mfoundi and Nyong and So divisions in the Centre Province. The remainder of their territory lies in the northern portions of the Ocean division in the South Province.<br />
Historically, Ewondo like all Beti-Pahuin groups originated in the forests south of the Sanaga River, not far from their current territory. At some point they crossed the Sanaga and moved north until they reached the upper Kadéï River. They soon came under attack there from the Vute or Mbum people, so they fled further north to the eastern Adamawa Plateau. The groups would not remain there long, however. Their migration coincided with the jihad and Fulbe (Fula) conquests of Usman Dan Fodio and his lieutenant, Modibo Adama, in the early 19th century. Under pressure from Fulbe raiders, the Vute moved once more into Beti-Pahuin lands, and the Beti-Pahuin were forced to relocate once again. They moved south and west in a series of waves. The first group included the Bulu and Fang, who split somewhere near what is today the town of Ebolowa.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Cameroon-Yaounde01.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ewondo city, Yaounde, the Capital town of Cameroon<br />
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The Bulu followed the Nyong River westward, while the Fang turned south and followed the Dja River valley into the southernmost territories of modern Cameroon and into the area of present-day Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Then the Ntumu and Mvae (Fang subgroups) moved toward present-day Gabon. The Beti, including the Ewondo, moved south in the final wave and settled north of their Bulu and Fang relatives.<br />
<img height="448" src="http://www.cameroon-info.net/img/news/fame_ndongo_jj_ndoudoumou-chefs-traditionnels_004_ns_600.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ewondo people of Yaounde, Cameroon<br />
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The Ewondo are known for their Bikutsi dancing musical genre from Cameroon. The word 'bikutsi' literally means 'beat the earth' or 'let's beat the earth' (bi- indicates a plural, -kut- means 'to beat' and -si means 'earth'.) The name indicates a dance that is accompanied by stomping the feet on the ground. In its modern form, bikutsi is very popular, and rivals makossa as the country's most renowned style. Popular bikutsi first appeared in the 1940s with the recording of Anne-Marie Nzie. Some twenty years later, the style was electrified with the addition of keyboards and guitars.<br />
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<img height="640" src="http://www.africanmusiciansprofiles.com/annemarie.jpg" width="451" /></div>
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"The Voice of Gold" and "The Queen Mother of Bikutsi": these are the phrases that are used to refer to Anne-Marie Nzie. </div>
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The most popular performer of this period was Messi Me Nkonda Martin, frontman for Los Camaroes and known as "the father of modern bikutsi music"International acclaim began in 1987 with the formation of Les Têtes Brûlées by Jean Marie Ahanda. The late guitarist of Les Têtes Brulées, Zanzibar, invented the trick of damping the strings of his guitar with a strip of foam rubber to produce the music's characteristic balafon-like thunk. (The balafon is a marimba-like instrument that is widely used in African folk music.) More modern performers include Jimmy Mvondo Mvelé and Mbarga Soukous.<br />
Present-day bikutsi as performed by artists like Lady Ponce, K-Tino, Racine Sagath and Natascha Bizo is sometimes regarded as controversial. It has been criticized for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics and dancing style. In this respect bikutsi resembles mapouka from Côte d'Ivoire, which is also considered indecent by many Africans. The main difference is that present day bikutsi is still often performed by female artists who use it as a means of self-expression in a traditionally male-dominated society.<br />
Thus a singer like K-Tino, self-styled femme du peuple (woman of the people) sees herself as having an important part to play in the emancipation and liberation of the women of Cameroon.<br />
Among the current crop of artists are Patou Bass and Ovasho Bens, the promoter of a dance and philosophy called "zig zag". His first album is composed not only of Cameroonian traditional rhythms but also West Indian zouk and Jamaïcan-style reggae.<br />
Bikutsi has influenced Western musicians such as Paul Simon on his album Rhythm of the Saints.<br />
The Ewondo are also known for their traditional Nkul drum, as a result they are popularly known as "the People of Drum of God." It is said that in the past, the beat of an nkul, a wooden slit drum, reverberates at dawn around and through the trees and houses of the Ewondo people.<br />
<img height="433" src="http://www.lecamerounaisinfo.com/IMG/arton3105.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Ewondo man<br />
Language<br />
Ewondo people (or Kolo-Beti) speak Ewondo or Kolo language which is Bantu language that belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language family. Ewondo is also a trade language. Dialects include Badjia (Bakjo), Bafeuk, Bamvele (Mvele, Yezum, Yesoum), Bane, Beti, Enoah, Evouzok, Fong, Mbida-Bani, Mvete, Mvog-Niengue, Omvang, Yabekolo (Yebekolo), Yabeka, and Yabekanga. Ewondo speakers live primarily in Cameroon's Centre Region and the northern part of the Océan division in the South Region.<br />
It is a dialect of the Beti language (Yaunde-Fang), and is intelligible with Bulu, Eton, and Fang.<br />
In 2011 there was a concern amongst Cameroonian linguists that the language was being displaced in the country by French.<br />
Apart from Kolo, Ewondo people speak Ewondo Populair, which is a Beti-based pidgin of Cameroon, spoken in the area of the capital Yaoundé.<br />
“Ba kar ki loué nvou be bele nding.” (proverb ewondo)<br />
“On n’appelle pas le chien avec le fouet.” (proverbe ewondo)<br />
“One does not call a dog with a whip.” (Ewondo proverb)<br />
Meaning: A mean person cannot claim to want to gather and reconcile people.<br />
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Europeans Arrival and Ewondo people<br />
The Ewondo and their other Beti-Pahuin relatives` migrations also coincided with the apex of European trade off the Cameroonian coast. The newly claimed jungle and near-coastal territories of the Beti-Pahuin allowed them to ensconce themselves into a lucrative role as middlemen; in exchange for European goods, they provided items such as kola nuts, ivory, and slaves. After the establishment of a British naval presence in 1827 to hinder the West African slave trade, Beti-Pahuin merchants widened their operations to include such products as palm kernels and rubber (though slaves continued to be sold secretly).<br />
Beginning in 1887, German colonisers penetrated Beti-Pahuin territory to search for individuals to enslave on their coastal plantations. They also stopped the coastward migration of the peoples. Meanwhile, the French stopped further Fang penetration into their colony at Gabon, though the Fang of Equatorial Guinea continued unimpeded toward the sea and began using copper and iron money introduced by the Spanish.<br />
In time, the Germans expanded their Cameroonian plantations inland, and the Beti-Pahuin formed the easiest and most accessible source of enslaved labour to work them, to build the accompanying road network, and to serve as sexual prisoners for the German overseers. The Germans also outlawed or tried to suppress native customs that they deemed "barbaric" or unsavoury, such as the sacrifice of a chief's wives after his death and the sso initiation rite.[citation needed] Among these alleged barbaric practices the Germans were to outlaw, slavery and sexual exploitation at the hands of the Germans was not one of them.<br />
It was not long before the Beti-Pahuin showed resistance. The Bulus revolted first, in 1891. Their main complaint was that the coming of the Germans had stripped them of their profitable position as traders. The rebellion was squelched in 1895. Later that year, Ewondo chiefs of the Mvog Betsi clan were deemed "disruptive" and whipped before their village. In response, the villagers killed the men who did the whipping, and the Ewondos rose up over the insult. This rebellion lasted less than a year before the Germans suppressed it. Elements of the Bane and Mbidambani also led rebellions.<br />
In response to these aggressive actions, the Germans instigated a policy of removing uncooperative chiefs from power and propping up puppet rulers and paramount chiefs in their places. The most well known example of this is the 1911 appointment of the German-sympathiser and interpreter Charles Atangana, a member of the Mvog Atemenge sub-lineage, as paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane. The Bulu feared that their trade relations and autonomy would be threatened by Atangana's appointment. Martin-Paul Samba led an uprising in 1912, but it was quelled.<br />
French colonial rule of Cameroon began in 1916 and largely followed in the German mold. Plantations multiplied and expanded as the French concentrated chiefly on cocoa. Meanwhile, the Beti-Pahuin continued to supply a significant source of free labour. The French also maintained a system of indoctrinating and installing handpicked tribal rulers. However, as France granted increasing levels of self-rule to its African holdings, the Beti-Pahuin were quick to seize upon it. An early example was the Bulu tribal union, a group of representatives from all clans who met to establish common tribal policies.<br />
Since the end of the colonial period in the 1960s, the Beti-Pahuin have succeeded in making themselves politically important in both Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Likewise, the Fang make up some 80-90% of the population of Equatorial Guinea, which has allowed them to become politically dominant in that country. The large number of Beti-Pahuin involved in lucrative enterprises such as cocoa and coffee farming also lends them a strong economic influence.<br />
<img height="479" src="http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/images/general/sos-childrens-village-yaounde-cameroon.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Yaounde ladies<br />
Economy<br />
Most Ewondo people maintain an agrarian lifestyle. Manioc and maize form the staple crops with plantains, yams, and groundnuts also playing a vital role (in fact, "Ewondo" and "Yaoundé" mean "groundnut"). A variety of forest products, such as greens, insects, mushrooms, and various palm products, supplements the diet. Livestock is limited to small animals that may be left to forage unattended, such as goats, pigs, and chickens.<br />
Fishing is central to the lives of many Beti-Pahuin, particularly in Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe. Toward Yaoundé in Cameroon and other large towns, bushmeat forms a substantial form of income for many villagers, who sell their kills to passing vehicles for sale in the urban centres. The Ewondos farther north often find work as unskilled labour, as their environment is much more urbanised.<br />
As late as the colonial period, many Beti-Pahuin were highly skilled workers in wood, ivory, and soapstone. They were particularly noted for their lively masks. Today, however, very little of this traditional craft is still pursued, though missionary groups have encouraged some carvers to continue to practice with an eye toward the tourist market.<br />
<img src="http://api.ning.com/files/GeBCCEx-9ruoNskkNxtEI0wiD-RyPSKEObL1uUJVxF7AZsXHCeC4qKYMHceeAuoj2bTBbVz8Fv-MlHxPcZGbdHM7yhz-qxSJ/HiltonHotelYaoundeCameroon.jpg?width=600&height=450" /><br />
Hilton Hotel<br />
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<img height="430" src="http://www.nkul-beti-camer.com/IdenJournal/1-1407310748-yaounde-7.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Yaounde, the original home of Ewondo people of Cameroon<br />
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<img height="480" src="http://www.tv5.org/cms/userdata/c_bloc/258/258355/258355_vignette_yaounde-01.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Yaounde, Home of Ewondo people<br />
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<img height="361" src="http://i57.tinypic.com/2dm8uug.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<img height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemFGLR_kWFRbpSFROK29hwLMfqyurUSvZ353PV-3z6HQWw1B8SJoyonl_vKM0y2Hj0EEWVuql2-1fJI9SPA3O2lbGI0YuPAB0c31Kg0wcgLhPmgl-AF5xtw0iz9SPA6j-ZLg6uBybzg9f/s640/Monument.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<img height="436" src="http://www.lukmefcameroon.org/yaounde2010/pictures/yaounde2.jpg" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-73109440437002543792014-09-18T04:22:00.003-07:002014-09-18T04:22:57.145-07:00BAKWERI PEOPLE: ANCIENT FIERCE FIGHTERS, TRADITIONALLY SPIRITUAL, CUSTOM-ABIDING AND AGRARIAN BANTU PEOPLE OF MOUNT CAMEROONThe Bakweri (or Kwe) are ancient fierce fighters, traditionally spiritual, customs-abiding and agriculturalist Mokwe-speaking people of Bantu origins who live on the steep but fertile slopes of the Cameroon Mountain (Mt Fako) in the Republic of Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the Sawa), particularly the Duala and Isubu.<br />
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Chief Tande Mosenge of Bakweri village of Wonganga in Buea Subdivision of Cameroon leading traditional rulers into his palace</div>
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The Bakweri live primarily in over 100 villages east and southeast of Mount Cameroon with Buea as their main population centre. Bakweri settlements largely lie in the mountain's foothills and continue up its slopes as high as 12,000 metres. They have further villages along the Mungo River and the creeks that feed into it. The town of Limbe is a mixture of Bakweri, Duala, and other ethnic groups.<br />
The Bakweri who are aboriginal Bantu people originated from Mboko, the area southwest of Mount Cameroon and migrated to their present home east of the mountain in the mid-18th century. They also trace their ancestry to Mokuri or Mokule, a brother of the Duala's forebear Ewale, who migrated to the Mount Cameroon area for hunting.<br />
<img src="http://camtours.org/sites/default/files/inspirob/slide/village%20chief.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
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According to Edwin Ardener (in Nigeria No. 60, pp. 31-8, 1959) They are quiet and reserved and are not widely known outside the Southern Cameroons despite the fact that both the Premier of the Southern Cameroons, Dr. E. M. L. Endeley, and the capital, Buea, are The Bakweri are primarily concentrated in Cameroon's Southwest Province." Dr. E. M. L. Endeley was the first Prime Minister of the British Southern Cameroons from 1954–1959. He led other Southern Cameroonian parliamentarians to seccede from the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly in 1954.<br />
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Bakweri people performing traditional dance</div>
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Historically the Bakweri are territorial people and fierce fighters who have always defended their rights, land and culture against the successive colonising powers of Germany and Britain.<br />
It must be noted that the Bakweri people were one of the African people to resist the spoliation of their lands by German imperialists.<br />
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Dr. Emmanuel Mbella Lifafe (EML) Endeley, Bakweri man and the first Premier of the British Southern Cameroons</div>
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They are known to have mounted a fierce anti-German campaign led by their fearless leader, Chief Kuva Likenye of Buea, particularly around the slopes of Mount Fako, and successfully inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Germans at Buea in 1891; the first ever German military loss on the African continent, which led to a complete reappraisal of German colonial/military policy on the continent, and, unfortunately, laid the basis for the brutal campaign to annihilate the Bakweri. The Bakweri were one of the few groups in all of German Africa that were thoroughly and systematically suppressed by the Germans. That they even survived to tell the story is a testimony to their resilience and tenacity in the face of adversity.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJUHrvkYlsMU0cVuiPrLJKKE0A4mPcq0asDGvE3jacu-GNWsuKM8v6FgpUzBZxCA9Vc9n27wen7fErktb6feGjwHC3OPBskSYXCR4zDmvh7tL3Vhu6QA_flz8gCrIdubsC5Hb-qYDg_QAv/s640/Prof+.Agbor+Tabi+(middle)+being+ushered+into+Buea+CPNS+hall.JPG" height="446" width="640" /><br />
Bakweri people<br />
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The Bakweri are known in Cameroon for their traditional wrestling (Wesuwa), which encompasses all the qualities the Bakweri have inherited from their ancestors: physical endurance, agility, fierce fighting techniques, and a great sense of competition. Wesuwa is taken very seriously by all the members of the community and the most interesting thing is that women takes part in this wrestling contest long before . In the past wrestling used to be an important way of determining leadership in the villages; it even resulted in a war between two villages in 1891, when people from Ghango burnt down the village of Molonde in revenge for the death of their best wrestlers.<br />
<img height="418" src="http://www.fscclub.com/vidy/images/wesuwa.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Bakweri women engaged in fierce wrestling combat<br />
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Before the beginning of colonial conquest in the early 1880s, the Bakweri constituted a very fragmentary society dominated by an egalitarian ideology-- it is not even certain that there was ever a real chieftaincy position at the village level. Ardener however emphasizes that there was a strong tendency among the Bakweri to accumulate wealth, particularly, goats, pigs and short cows. It was through accumulation that individuals increased their prestige in the villages.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8IqjD3zO-NOM7fakYaKQjcANHgixDQAzSWmgV8ANUQCUrBzE036_Yh6R-owMi7yg9z89bRQNSQbdcLvNNwW1C_QXqZvo82owIxr0OXm5WLt4r0OPItDnc0OVn4CvdnxwRywf2fs_OLCs/s640/Singer+Tata+Kinge+&+Ikome+Willaims+Lifange+show+off+at+CPDM+25+anniversary+in+Buea.JPG" height="493" width="640" /><br />
Although the Bakweri are now completely modernised, some have even converted to Christianity, they are still attached to their ancestral traditions and have retained their ancient tribal organisation. Each Bakweri village is headed by a chief and his tribal council who are central to all cultural events. The Bakweri take pride in celebrating their cultural heritage during events such as the Race of Hope, when they perform secret rituals to bless the mountain.<br />
<img src="http://fakoamerica.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451ce8669e201a511d01674970c-pi" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Bakweri people<br />
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The symbol of the Bakweri people is the elephant or Njoku. To say that the Bakweri have a mascot, which happens to be the elephant, would be an understatement. Indeed, the reverse is true. For the Bakweri, the elephant, a denizen of the rain forests of the slopes of Mount Fako, is not just a mascot. It is a cultural symbol, a mystical, spiritual co-creature. To the Bakweri, the Balondo and the Bomboko, people can, and do become elephants, and elephants can and do become people. The attributes of the elephant or Njoku are part and parcel of the psyche of the Bakweri people. The creature’s sheer strength, size, loyalty to its (family) troupe, its calm, yet unpredictable temperament, proud indifference, and graceful demeanor are, to the Bakweri, the picture of physical and psychic behavioral perfection. It is therefore no surprise that the Bakweri, have a secret society that venerates, imitates and personifies the attributes of the elephant. Indeed, those who belong to the Maalé, the secret elephant society, swear by nothing other than Loxodonta Africana (the African elephant.)<br />
<img src="http://www.bakweri.org/images/male5.jpg" height="474" width="640" /><br />
The Bakweri lives in traditional "mat house" or ndaw'a ngonja. These days, most whakpe new construction consists of modern buildings with cement blocks and corrugated aluminium roofs. Construction of ndaw'a ngonja is now a dying art.<br />
<img src="http://www.bakweri.org/images/expo3.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
The Bakweri`s Mount Fako (Cameroon) is a unique Ecotourism Site. This lovely volcanic mountain welcomes visitors immediately they arrive Buea. It stands majestically along the background of Buea Town. The Mountain spreads from Bomboko to Bakweri of Buea and down to the Limbe Beach. It is 4100 metres in height. A visit to Mount Cameroon is always an exciting experience both in the rainy and dry seasons.<br />
<img src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/1d/d7/49/african-queen-lodge.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Capital Residence of Bakweri town of Buea, Cameroon<br />
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Geography<br />
The Bakweri are primarily concentrated in Cameroon's Southwest Province. They live in over 100 villages east and southeast of Mount Cameroon with Buea their main population centre. Bakweri settlements largely lie in the mountain's foothills and continue up its slopes as high as 12,000 metres. They have further villages along the Mungo River and the creeks that feed into it. The town of Limbe is a mixture of Bakweri, Duala, and other ethnic groups.<br />
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There is an ongoing dispute between the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC) and the government of Cameroon regarding the disposition of Bakweri Lands formerly used by the Germans as plantations and now managed by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC)'<br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Buea_from_Fako.jpg" height="332" width="640" /><br />
Buea from the foot of Mount Cameroon<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Terrain of the land: </span></b>Their population is much greater than 16,000. Before the German conquest of 1894, they were living in scattered settlements around the southern slopes of Mount Cameroon. There are very few mountains in West Africa, and none is as high as this (more than 13,000 feet). It is also unusual that it stands right on the coast, descending through a maze of foothill to the sea.<br />
<img src="http://michiganmathafrica.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/buea-background.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
University of Buea, Cameroon<br />
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At four degrees North of the equator, it is not high enough for permanent snow. Instead, winds loaded with moisture from 4,000 miles of Atlantic level precipitate copious rains, and swathe the slopes in mist and drizzle for many months of the year. Inside the clouded summit is an active volcano from which new craters burst out every few decades.<br />
<img src="http://phippstropicalforest.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/img_2841.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Ekom fall in Mount Cameroon, Buea<br />
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The rain and he volcanic soil have made the the mountain area one of the most fertile in Africa, and the forest covers the mountain up to 6,000 feet. The Bakweri lived ( and live ) in the thickest concentration in a belt of villages between 1,500 and 3,000 feet above the sea level, but the they occupied the whole base of the mountain below this very thinly, as far as the sea level.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://ntemfacofege.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/the-presidency.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Climate: </span></b>The Bakweri are weather forecasters, and it is believed that they possess scientist who are able to alter the climate at will, for example, during special occasions, or the coming of high personality. Generally, the area is cover with mist and drizzle, and several copious rains through out the year due to the presence of the Atlantic ocean. <br />
<img src="http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/cameroon/west/2007/IMGP5409.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Kumba Buea<br />
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This region is having the equatorial maritime climate with temperature above 25%c which is very heavy with very high atmospheric humidity throughout the year. It is made up of elements of the three different tropical climate regimes which are equatorial with rainfall throughout the year, seasonal comprising of two seasons in a year that is the dry and wet and finally monsoon with great contrast between the seasons. The climate of this region is strongly affected by its altitude. The temperature is moderated by breeze from the Atlantic Ocean.<br />
<img src="http://archive.ias.unu.edu/images/articles/Buea.jpg" height="425" width="640" /><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Soil and Vegetation: </span></b>The topography of this region is flat. It is composed of rudiments brought from the interior and also volcanic soil gotten from the weathered rocks during the eruption of mount Cameroon. The plantations that are located closer to the mountain benefits from the weathered basalt or lava and those beside the mangrove, the soil is lateritic. Further away from the north eastern parts of mount Fako, the soil is loamy and sandy.<br />
The vegetation of this region is the forest types which have almost disappeared due to the exploitation by people for the cultivation of food crops and construction of houses for settlement, living only the swampy and less accessible areas.<br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Tourists_climbing_Mount_Cameroon.jpg" height="483" width="640" /><br />
Due to the equatorial maritime climate, and the high fertility of the soil, the Bakweri people are good agriculturalists, and their main source of income is from agriculture. They grow crops like cocoyams, and maize. Since the climate can sometimes be very harsh, the Bakweri people wear long sleeve shirts, and thick pullovers and sweaters during almost the entire period of the year. Since they grow crops like cocoyams, their main diet is based on cocoyam.<br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Little_Mount_Cameroon_(Etinde).jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Their main dish is the kwakoko, and they have many other dishes, which get their spices from the high fertility of the soil. Also, due to the very low temperatures which are very frequent, the Bakweri donot have a lot of social activities like swimming, or playing tennis, but they have activities like mountain race which occurs in February, where places are warmer. Also, the Bakweri have restricted their dressing to “rapa”(loins), and shirts for the men, and also a loin or “rapa” for the women. For the men, this dressing can sometimes be accompanied by special hat,and a tie.<br />
<img src="http://afromagazin.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sasse1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Buea<br />
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Language<br />
The Bakweri speak Mokpwe, a tongue that is closely related to Bakole and Wumboko. Mokpwe is part of the family of Duala languages in the Bantu group of the Niger–Congo language phylum. Neighbouring peoples often utilise Mokpwe as a trade language, due largely to the spread of the tongue by early missionaries. This is particularly true among the Isubu, many of whom are bilingual in Duala or Mokpwe.<br />
<img src="http://fakoamerica.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451ce8669e201a3fd208ec2970b-pi" /><br />
In addition, individuals who have attended school or lived in an urban centre usually speak Pidgin English or standard English. A growing number of the Bakweri today grow up with Pidgin as a more widely spoken language. The Bakweri also used a drum language to convey news from clan to clan, and they also utilized a horn language peculiar to them.<br />
The Mokpe Alphabet is similar to that of English with the exception of three strange characters, which will be brought to you later. There are 21 consonants and 7 vowels. Here below is the Mokpe alphabet.<br />
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<strong style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: blue;">a mb ch nd e є</span></strong></h1>
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<strong style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: blue;">f gb i j nj ŋ k</span></strong></h1>
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<strong style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: blue;">kp l m mgb mw n ny<br /><br />o c (reversed c or open O)</span></strong></h1>
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<strong style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: blue;">s t u v w y</span></strong></h1>
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The 21 consonants have the same sounds as in English, but four of them pose a problem of pronunciation to young speakers and writers of the Mokpe language.<br />
They are f, s, v and w. Follow the description below very carefully.<br />
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"f"<br />
In English the letter 'f' is a labio-dental fricative that is you use the lips and teeth to produce this sound, In Mokpe it is a bilabial fricative where you use both lips there by producing a sound as if you were blowing out a candle.<br />
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Practise<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>sounding it several times.<br />
Ff<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ff<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Ff<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ff<br />
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“s”<br />
To produce the Mokpe 's' place the tip of tongue on the hard palate and let out the slowly producing a soft hissing sound, close the English 's'<br />
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Ss<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ss<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Ss<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ss<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ss<br />
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'v' is produced using both lips, instead of placing the bottom lip on the Teeth as case in English. The letter 'w' is the same as in English, rounding both lips. Practise these two sounds and discover the difference.<br />
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Vv<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Vv<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Vv<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Vv<br />
Ww<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Ww<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Ww<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Ww<br />
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Read the Following words aloud<br />
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'F'<br />
Fáo<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>knife<br />
fátâ<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> pluck<br />
fimbâ -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>throw<br />
fendâ<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>close<br />
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"S"<br />
Sâ<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>dance<br />
Sia<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>iron<br />
Siaô<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> redants<br />
Sosa<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> wash<br />
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"V"<br />
valána -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>women<br />
vána -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>children<br />
vakpe<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bakweri<br />
Veloma<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>scoldings<br />
Velimo<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>spirits<br />
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"W"<br />
waná<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>mouth<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
ewóka -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>compound<br />
wana<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>You will fight<br />
wotéá<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> -<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>begin<br />
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PRONUNCIATION OF NEW CHARACTERS<br />
є as in p penny, lend, empty<br />
ŋ as in hang, language, hungry<br />
c (reversed c or open O) as in war, law, lawn<br />
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Bakweri divisional chief holding spiritual broom, which is his staff of office</div>
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History and The Origin of the Bakweri People<br />
The Bakwerians are from the lower Bomboko behind Mount Fako. They were mostly fishermen, who settled along the coast, farmers, and hunters who settled beside the mountain. Most of the Bakweri villages claimed to have been founded from a group of villages which lies in a belt between 650m and 1000m up mount Cameroon.<br />
The origin of the Bakweri settlement could be attributed to two separate traditions. Firstly, the tradition of the Buea group stated that a certain Eye Njie used to come from Bomboko to hunt on the Eastward side of the mountain with a friend Nakande. Nakande used to hunt near the site of present day Wonakanda while Eye moved on to a river near the present day Buea. When they brought in their wives, other friends and relatives from Womboko joined them and they opened gardens. Another tradition affirmed that ManyangMasonje left Isongo and Bakingili where he settled around Bimbia where he had many catches in “ISU” meaning the end of my journey. Nakande from Bomboko settled in Bonakanda which was called Ligbea which meant a place for good farming. He was a farmer.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfho3mdjCy8c0DVAPiDJAAJa-UHmQknYnrPav2iuawVCY7Qqu6ILa4KGFaFEUwn3Zk3ZHH0wGXnZG1AtAliEdWsSP_HwP1B-aPsXbuFQFM962usESJxjJN8czo_A-9DMRRTkDisc1qiSj3/s1600/Picture+013.jpg" /><br />
Bakwer secret society dancer<br />
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However, although hunting was the primary motive behind the Bomboko migration, fertility of the soil on the slopes of mount Cameroon was equally a firm factor. While the men were engaged in hunting, the women farmed the land and subsequently, other migrants from Bomboko established Bakweri villages which were named after their founders. Although there is some view that the true Bakweri are the people of Buea and its surrounding villages, other groups classified under Bakweri included Bomboko, the area which the Bakweri are said to have originated and Wovea. The Bakweri are found on the eastern and south eastern slopes of the mountain, coastal Bomboko on the south-east coast, the inland Bomboko on the North-west of the Bakweri and Isuwu and Wovea are on the southern coast of the Fako Division.<br />
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Dr E.M.L. Endeley (with folder), first Premier of the British Southern Cameroons. Behind him is Nerius N Mbile (left)</div>
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The Isuwu are also believed to have originated from Bomboko. Isuwu was also known as Bimbia named after MbibiMbela who was the chief of the area in the last quarter of the 19th century. According to another source, their ancestors came from Bankingili and womana. The wovea claimed to have originated from Fernando Po who settled in the islands of Ambas Bay. All the above was due to the potential of the area like fertile soil and hunting facilities. This same fertile soil also attracted the Europeans into the area since their motive was centered on economic. Although these groups lived closer to each other, and practiced the same culture, they were independent from each other. The German successful attacks on the Bakweri could be attributed to this division. If the Bakweri were united, then their final defeat by the Germans during the Bakweri resistance under the leadership of KuvaLikenya could have failed and even if not the alienation policy might have adopted a different shape, thus the loose political and social ties amongst the Bakweri worked in favor of the Germans.<br />
The Bakweri belong to the most north-western branch of the Bantu speaking people inhabiting central and southern Africa. To be certain about the date the Bakweri reached their present site, it was around 1750 as confirmed by genealogical evidence that it was the time they arrived one of their earliest settlement, Buea. Other sources asserted that the population pressure which affected Nigeria drove the Bakweri from their habitation near Lake Barombi in Kumba to the mount Fako area.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTR6l_eh9M7IrpYfMoVhqlpZ3m4rEaq6ol-EVD3GnFna0InCaz6dqlvYIIojAbNkoOOmcAd9YaxTwLXE0gEIGP78nJyb0Kmq7l-2TRsXzkF1Q9qMSzM0zJkOfInqMFJits4zg6HyE4JSqz/s1600/Picture+007.jpg" /><br />
Bakweri chieftains<br />
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Economy<br />
The economy included agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting , fishing and food gathering. The different methods applied to agriculture included the slash and burn. Most people practiced subsistence farming which included careful land management techniques like intensive farming because the land of the mountain slopes were very fertile. Generally, tools use include digging sticks, hoes, and matches. Fire was also used to clear the bush. Sometimes, fences were constructed to guard against animal incursion and destruction. Before formal agriculture, the early people practiced fishing, hunting and food gatherings. They used spears, clubs and other implements to hunt game in the mountain, forest and slopes.<br />
<img src="http://www.icameroon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/1-Farmers-and-vendors-avail-bananas-to-local-consumers.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
The presence of plantations brought in a change in economy and commerce as the traditional commerce which was characterized by trade by batter came to an end. The market economy was introduced in which every transaction was in terms of German mark. Before the introduction of plantation agriculture, the natives were involved in subsistence agriculture in which food crops such as cocoyam, plantains, beans, maize and yams were grown. The introduction of plantations led the natives to undertake cash crop production in crops like cocoa, palm products and coffee for export. With the introduction of cash crops it led to the creation of Botanical garden in Victoria by Governor Von Soden who was charged with the research plants suitable for the plantations. Dr Preuss was the principal officer in charge of the Garden. This research centre controlled other stations in the interior. Over a thousand different plants were tested soil studies carried out and meteorological information tabulated. Investigations in this garden included the control of cocoa diseases? It was these botanical gardens that gave inspiration to the creation of the Cameroon Development Corporation the research centre at Ekona and many other government research stations in Cameroon.<br />
In spite of the above mentioned advantaged that the plantations brought into the Bakweri land, it was certain that it equally brought some setbacks which could be examined in different perspective.<br />
<img height="425" src="http://www.emilphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSC0187.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Dr Emil Mandoa, Bakweri tribe`s man<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Source of income: </span></b>They practice mixed farming and they hunt. Crops mostly cultivated are cocoyam, palm fruit but they mostly live on cocoyams. They sell the excess of their production. Through the rearing of animal. Those who possessed many animals where consider as rich. They reared animals like pigs and bush cows, but they do not rear nor eat sheep. Between 1850 and 1890, the Bakweri became rich in other ways. By trading food stuffs to the coast, and blocking the way of expedition into the interior, they had acquired considerable trade goods. Servants where taken inside the tribe, they were not payed but had free food.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Leveling mechanisms:</span></b> In the Bakweri soceity, there is no particular form of of leveling mechanism. Everybody owns his/her farm, and everybody minds his or her business. The only situatin where sharing is needed is during the period of rituals, where every individual must give a share of his pig to every one who comes across his/her.<br />
<img src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/1d/d7/11/the-market.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Buea Market, Cameroon<br />
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Sexual Division of Labour and The Mokpe (Bakweri) Woman and her Role in the Mokpe Traditional Society<br />
There is a sexual division of labour (SDL) in bakweri in which there is the delegation of different tasks between men and women. Among food foragers, men and women target different types of food and share them with each other for a mutual or familial benefit. In some villages, men and women eat slightly different foods, and in some other, men and women routinely share the same food.<br />
<img src="http://mattandmischa.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dsc_0114-version-2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Bakweri woman of Buea heating the leaf before using it to wrap food<br />
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According to Catherine L. L. Musoko "In spite of being relegated to the background, the traditional Bakweri woman nonetheless wielded lots of power behind the scenes, and greatly influenced decisions related to the running of the clan.<br />
Traditional Bakweri society was matrilineal in structure. This was seen in the Ewong’a Yowo and Ewong’a Mokossa (“medicine bench”) which was shared exclusively by the sons and daughters of the same mothers, and never of the same fathers. The patrilineal relationship was, however, strongly upheld as far as settlement of property, the burial of the deceased, the selection of a permanent abode for the family, or the taking of a wife were concerned.<br />
<img src="http://www.greenafricadirectory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/water-resource-management-cameroon.jpg" /><br />
Bakweri women Washing clothes in the catchment area of Bonduma in Buea.<br />
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Thus, the children of a son (whose wife naturally came from a different mother-clan) could not share in the ceremonies of the medicine man of the Ewong’a Yowo, whose duty was to ensure the well-being and continuity of the mother-clan. So, people who shared the Jongo or “pot” were bound together by an unalterable and undivided kinship, and they stood by each other through thick and thin. Matrilineal kinship was for ever!<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><b>The Mokpe Woman and the Health of the Family: </b></span>The Mokpe woman was, directly or indirectly, the custodian of the family health. This was manifested from the moment she became pregnant. She had to nurture the yet unborn child by taking part in all the traditional pre-natal rituals – the Masongis, the native herbs that serve as enema; the food to eat or not to eat; the places to go; the time to be or not to be intimate with her husband, etc. If she missed out on any of these rituals and something went wrong with the baby, the blame would be wholly hers and her mother-clan. No one else took responsibility.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Mokpe Woman and her Spouse:</span><span style="color: white;"> </span></b>In traditional Bakweri society, women were chosen as future spouses when they were still children, and in some cases, even before they were born. However, once the marriage had taken place and the husband did not live up to expectations, the woman was free to divorce him. This was done irrespective of the opinion of the woman’s male relatives, including that of her own father.<br />
All that was required of woman was that she did not involve her father in the “dowry-refund” predicament, and that she was quickly picked up by another husband either through an intermediary or at the Chief’s residence, where such marriage deals were generally reported. In this case the woman was a free hand – she could even choose her husband by following the age old custom of boldly going to the goat house (Lièfe) of the man of her choice and slaughtering the biggest nanny goat by wounding or cutting its neck or head. The would-be husband deemed this a sign of honor and accepted the hand of the woman with joy. Of course, a woman taking such a step knew her own assets – elements such as her beauty or reputation for hard work put her in good stead.<br />
The Mokpe woman as a nursing mother was expected to curb her sexual appetite so as to safeguard the life and health of her baby. Hence, during this period, she was constantly warned; “don’t look that way”, meaning she had to allow for a few marital escapades by her husband.<br />
Nonetheless, the traditional Bakweri woman was by no means a yes-sir woman. She took her rightful place in deciding which other woman her husband wished to take, and sometimes even choose such a “mbanyi” herself.<br />
A husband’s prosperity was also intricately linked to the influence of his wife or wives. The wives tended his pigs, goats, cattle, looked after his mawus, arable land, so no one could trespass or exceed them, etc.<br />
Mokpe women were and still are the animators of the social life of their people. They feature prominently in engagements, weddings, and other events such as the election of a new Chief, the celebration of a “fombo”, or successes in court cases.<br />
Female dances include the Ambassi and the Maninga, which are especially for the youths; and the Lingombi, the Mundame, the Wokeka and the Veleke that are preformed by both men and women.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Masua Cult </span></b>It was a cult that brought together women of high repute in the community, particularly those who had successfully gone through the kpave or sasswood ordeal. These women formed a society of desirables and men vied for their hand.<br />
On the whole, Bakweri women led and influenced all areas of community life, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. They still do.<br />
<img src="http://afpheonix.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/03/molanjohinaction.jpg" height="409" width="640" /><br />
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Political organization<br />
The bakweri s are an example of a segmentary society. They are grouped in societies of villages where each family maintains its independence. They bakweri live in a small clusters of ten to twenty house and settlement pattern was imposed on them by the Germans. The Germans herded the Bakweri people into the peripheries when they expropriated the land for plantation. The village head has only limited authority. They village has a council of elders which helps the chief in regulating the affairs of they village. The most prominent families in Bakweri tribal history are Wonya Likenye Endeley of buea and the family of Mangaa William of the Victoria ( today called Limbe). The Bakweri political organisations was divided into different classes.<br />
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The Nakuve: Chief SML Endeley-Paramount Chief of Buea</div>
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The Family<br />
It was composed of a man and his wife (wives) his children and relatives with blood ties. The family unit served as the base of political institution in the Bakweri society. The father was the head and has as obligations to preside over family affairs. At the level of the extended family the head was the oldest man who was believed to have a lot of experience in wordily matters. He was automatically considered patriarch of the tribe. He had as function to perform ancestral sacrifices and chair family gatherings. These decisions were not autocratic especially due to the fact that he had to consult some elderly people in the family lineage before taking decisions on matters of paramount importance. Consequently, the eldest people in the Bakweri community earned much admiration and respect from the younger generations due to the fact that they performed the mediatory role between the ancestors and the world of the living. In the same line of thought, age was considered as the only criteria which enabled people in the Bakweri society to commune with the ancestors and decode ancestral messages. In order words, age was the main criteria required to climb the mantle of power.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/2014%20limbe%20festival%201%20part%202.jpg" /><br />
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The Village Administration<br />
At this level of the community, the villages were autonomous from one another consisting of family compounds separated from one another by a fence called “NgaoMboa”. The village political leaders had a similar source of powers as those at the family level. The variation here was among the family of the village founder that a leader was chosen. Consequently, the family of the village founder was automatically considered the royal family.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/chief%20being%20being%20interviewed.JPG" /><br />
Traditional Leader of Muea, Buea, H.R.H. Chief David Ikome Molinge<br />
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This was how the Likenya family came to prominence in Buea as they were linked to Eeye Tama Lifenje, the first persons to settle in Buea. At the level of village administration, the chief did not execute this heavy task alone. He was assisted by a village council which had effective powers over the village. It was an ill-defined body with no precise number of members. The decisions of the council were made public by the village councils spoke man “Sango Mboa” and the members of the village council were elders called “Vanbaki”. The organizational chart of the Bakweri society was a triangular machinery which revolved around the family at the base, with the village council and the chief at the top. Thus the Bakweri whose territorial limits were governed by fixed and permanents institutions were a state- like society. These organs, oriented political and social life and organized the society in the face of external aggression.<br />
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His Royal Highness Chief Humphrey Tande Mosenge of Small Soppo Wonganga, Buea</div>
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Political succession<br />
This Likenye chiefly line of Buea trace their pridigree from1884 down to the present day as in the chart below:<br />
<img alt="political succession" src="http://anthgrp2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/political-succession.png?w=660" height="317" width="640" /><br />
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Law and Social Control<br />
It is handled by the chief or the quarter head, you are first taken to the quarter head when you don’t respect the law, if not satisfied with that judgment you are taken to the chief where you are judge by notables. Land dispute, fighting taking property that doesn’t belong to you, you are taken to the quarter head. Concerning sanctions the chief or elders decide or how you are to be punished. If you are guilty of serious crimes like incest, and trahison, you are exiled to Limbe.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvvMT5A2s_jwiMidTFUF0R5RS4K-CZa0oYap6yvjLeSavHir2e1fw4bG9w1nptZ2s5dyeK3sXNTfWG6IpIJQ-VIKfyL7oT2NkY3s1qnP_qhyOlgBizi2B9XnHyKJ6v3nNOyc9NFi8QDamC/s1600/GEDC1361.JPG" /><br />
Bakweri leaders<br />
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Social Organization<br />
The Bakweri society just like most tribal system in the forest zone was organized in peculiar manner which was in accordance with their own perception of life. The social structure shall be examined from the point class stratification.<br />
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Chief Tande Mosenge receiving gift from his wife</div>
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Class Stratification<br />
The traditional African societies in general had a peculiar way of organizing themselves. The Bakweri people were no exception to this rule. They were stratified under three distinct groups notably strangers, natives and slaves. Natives of the Bakweri ethnic group were called “Wopnja”. They were those believed to have blood ties with ancestral world of the clan.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq5DsZ8UUm6RmVmKAg-DPYJARN9B-GH3iw3iy0TqhJ9RYf6h78zsJVDuMgdzD40hQsSDdf4gU4pkoSEhUqtmu7H1earmjXBtb_k0KL6HAezRPElyZs4_VX3JXRo49NqhIxRy36rkq0ciVe/s1600/Picture+011.jpg" /><br />
This class of people were privilege to participate in restraint secret societies and other affairs concerning the Bakweri man and his territory. Next to this group with respect to hierarchy was the strangers called “wajili”. This was attributed to foreign settlers in the land considered as Bakweri territory with no blood relationship with the ancestors of the Bakweri people. Finally, were the slaves called “Wokomi” which was the last group and was situated at the bottom of the social table.They consisted of people who co-habited with Bakweri people but had lesser privileges. They settled on Bakweri soil as a result of the fact that they were either bought from neighboring tribes or caught as war captives.<br />
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<img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/pictures/2008/04/14/CamPhilippeGiraudGoodlook4.jpg" height="385" width="640" /></div>
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Marriage and family life<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Dating rituals: </span></b>It is the father who looks for the wife. The Bakweri people are not usually allow to date. It is the father of the boy or girl who look for a partner for their son/daughter.<br />
The bakweri are not normally supposed to have sex before marriage. It is only when all the bride price has being paid, that the bride is taken to the grooms room, they have sex. On this night, a white bed sheet is spread on the bed, for the couple to have sex on it. Since the bride has to be a virgin, she must bleed on the bed sheet, and that will prove to the groom’s family that the bride was a good one.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/photos/MOKI-S-MOKONDOS-WEDDING-DEC2012-BUEA/mokondo%20wedding%2038.jpg" /><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Marriage patterns: </span></b>The Bakweri have traditionally practised polygamy, although with Christianisation, this custom has become extremely rare. In the traditional Bakweri society, women are chosen as future spouses when they are still children, and in some cases, even before they were born. The father or relative of the woman have been paid a dowry, thus the woman is considered as a property to the husband and his family. Upon the husband’s death, the eldest surviving brother inherits the wife. A husband’s prosperity was also intricately linked to the influence of his wife or wives. The wives tended his pigs, goats, cattle, arable land, so no one could trespass or exceed them, etc. The Bakweri are very exogamous when it comes to marriage. They respect their blood lineage, therefore they do not marry with people from the same village. They do not practice incest. Incest is even considered as a taboo, and serious practice needs to be practice to purify the family name. They marry from very far area, or distances, but nowadays, some people marry in close area, and endogamy is now becoming common among the Bakweri.In the bakweri, marriage is a marriage between a clan, and family and not between individuals. The idea is that the bride price is actually never fully paid, because if it is completely paid, it will be like the girl has been sold, and no one in the family or clan will be able to get marry with someone in that tribe again, it is more like an agreement, and the bride price is to intensify the marriage relationship.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/likombe%20chief%20marriage%203.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Marriage rituals and practices:</span></b> It is the father who pays the dawry, because the young man is not working and the father is supposed to own goods therefore he is the one who pays. After fulfilling the requirement it is the man who decides on when to take the wife. The day of that occasion you bring the big and the girls family will access you on what to pay. The father of the girl will start the biting on the price of the dowry from 1 million, until the two families reach at 500000FCFA, which is usually the lowest amount they can accept. Sometimes, the two families may come come to a compromise and ask the groom to give what he has. If you don’t kill the pig you are not fully married, the Bakweri don’t usually issued marriage certificate. After paying part of the dowry, that is when you are officially married. On the marriage day, the girls family brings the bride to the mans family. The ceremony is celebrated, on after the ceremony, the bride and the grooms family prepares a nice bed with a white bed sheet on which the bride is expected to bleed, as a sign of her virginity. If the woman bleeds on the sheet, then she is a good bride, if not, she might be disregarded by her groom and the groom’s family.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/mokondo%20wedding%2088.jpg" height="476" width="640" /><br />
Bakweri wedding<br />
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Bakweri Cultural/Traditional Wedding<br />
According to Mola Mbua Ndoko the formal procedure of acquiring a wife as was prescribed by Bakweri elders more than 200 years ago involves three phases:<br />
1. The approval of the parents, particularly the mothers of the spouses-elect.<br />
2. Sealing of the marriage contract (efeyo).<br />
3. The wedding.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/bakweri%20wedding1.JPG" height="481" width="640" /><br />
Phase One: The Engagement (Ewanda)<br />
A female baby was engaged even when she was still in her mother's womb. It was an oral contract between good friends. The contract was regularized in due course at the appropriate time. The process of deciding that an engagement (Ewanda) can now take place is slow since the families concerned need time to quietly investigate each another. Matters to be investigated include: fertility, history of diseases peculiar with certain families, practices of evil witchcraft such as nyongo.<br />
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When the parents of a boy or a boy himself are interested in marrying a girl, the father of the boy sends an emissary to communicate his intention to the parents of the girl. The emissary would usually be a close member of the family: an aunt, an uncle, or a cousin to the boy. Even when the parents of the girl consider a request as irresistible their reply would normally take a form like this:<br />
"Thank you. We too will give the matter due consideration".<br />
You have flattered us (e-jeni isofe vato).<br />
Give us time to consider your request".<br />
After one or two months the emissary would return to the parents of the girl to find out their reaction. If the family of the girl accepts the proposal their reply would take a form like this:<br />
"yaa ! inyo ndi joo-ngo".<br />
Literally:<br />
"We are here waiting and looking forward to your further reaction to the situation".<br />
As recent as 60-70 years ago an engagement (ewanda) was a purely private ceremony involving about ten persons, four to five representatives of the boy intending to marry and about five representatives of the girl to be married. Representatives were normally close members of the families concerned: the parents of the boy and the girl, aunts, uncles, maternal nieces. Ewanda takes place at the residence of the parents of the girl. Ewanda is an oral contract where the representatives of the boy confirm their intention to have their boy married to the girl concerned. The family of the boy normally presents an ewanda gift to the girl. If the girl is too shy to meet the representatives of the bridegroom elect, the girl’s mother would receive the gift on behalf of her daughter.<br />
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After an engagement ceremony has taken place the parents of the boy may commence to pay dowry in installments to the parents of the girl. The first parent to receive the first installment of dowry must be the mother of the girl. Reason. It has been realized that a marriage that takes place in defiance of disapproval of the mother of the girl or the mother of the boy is generally doomed to failure. The first installment of dowry that the mother of the girl receives is a young female smooth looking goat that has not started to deliver. Acceptance of the goat by a mother is a further stamp of approval of the marriage by the mother.<br />
Phase Two: Sealing of the marriage contract (efeyo)<br />
Efeyo is a public ceremony. There are two types of efeyo, namely "efeyo yi itote", and efeyo ya mwese.<br />
(i). Efeyo yi Itote –An all night ceremony in which formal assessment and reconciliation of dowry that the father of the bride to be has so far received. More dowry installments may still be paid during the efeyo ceremony. The end of an efeyo is the formal sealing of a marriage contract. A marriage contract is sealed with the formal sharing of a ngowa ye efeyo to all male witnesses to an efeyo ceremony. The ngowa is expected to meet conventional requirements. The ngowa must be either a female or a castrated ngowa a maata.<br />
Efeyo contracts used to be oral. In a case where there is a written contract the signatories to the contract would normally be the parents of the spouses-elect. Marriage contracts are traditionally and culturally affairs reserved for handling by the parents of the spouses-elect.<br />
Note: Dowry received by the mother is a private affair. It is not a public ceremony. The dowry used to be about one quarter of the dowry that the father to the girl receives.<br />
At the successful conclusion of an efeyo the girl/woman to be married virtually becomes the wife-elect of his boy/man.<br />
Efeyo yi Itote takes place at the premises of the father of the bridegroom to be. Before commencement of business the guests, that is, the father of the girl to be married and his entourage have to be entertained with a middle size ngowa and other rich food and a reasonable quantity of palm wine. The ngowa must first of all be shown to an accredited representative of the father of the girl to be married before cooking starts. The representative has authority to either accept the ngowa or reject it if the ngowa falls short of conventional requirements. The father of the girl to be married may similarly reject the ngowa ye efeyo if the ngowa does not meet normal standards.<br />
e-ngowa ye efeyo is shared into three lots.<br />
1. Lot one goes to the father of the girl to be married and his family. Tradition requires that the chest of the ngowa should be given to the maternal uncle of the girl to be married.<br />
2. Lot two goes to the father of the bridegroom-elect and members of his entourage<br />
3. Lot three is reserved for all male witnesses to the ceremony.<br />
Business commences soon after nightfall. It is a slow all night affair, punctuated intermittently with rich bombastic cultural pronouncements relevant to efeyo. The pronouncements are normally made by representatives of the father of the bridegroom-elect and the father of the girl to be married. No one is in a hurry. It is an occasion to boast with exaggerations and to demonstrate how the immediate male family members of the spouses-elect are well versed with cultural splendours in efeyo and marriage affairs in general.<br />
Dowry is in the form of goats. The father of the girl to be married may request as many as one thousand (ikoli) goats or more. Tradition does not allow that complete dowry be paid on the day of the efeyo. The balance of dowry may be paid in installments in due course. Taking advantage of this situation the father of the bridegroom to be after consultation with members of his entourage finally boastfully accepts any number of goats that his friend requires. At that juncture the most important phase in the ceremony is the presentation, the acceptance, the slaughter and the sharing of e-ngowa ye efeyo. A marriage contract, oral or written, is sealed with the slaughter and sharing of e-ngowa ye efeyo.<br />
The sharing of e-ngowa ye efeyo is assigned to someone who knows to whom special parts of the ngowa must go. For instance, the intestine of the ngowa is an automatic extra share that goes to the father of the bridegroom elect. There is no status known as "gate crasher" in the matter of having a share of e-ngowa ye efeyo. Every male witness (teenage, adult. elderly) to an efeyo has a traditional/cultural right to a formal share of the ngowa. Women are not expected to participate in the long all night cultural efeyo ceremony. Not being active participants or active witnesses to the ceremony women are not entitled to formal shares of e-ngowa ye efeyo. Women however have an understandable right to "taste" the food before it is served to the father of the bride elect and his entourage.<br />
Phase Three - The wedding<br />
Before the wedding takes place, the parents of the bridegroom-elect will first of all present another smooth looking female goat that has not yet started to deliver to the mother of the bride-elect. The goat is known as "e-mboli etimba we ewongo": Literally, the goat that is expected to use or lie/sleep on the sofa (ewongo) on which the bride-elect used to sleep.<br />
The Wedding: Abduction or formal.<br />
(a) Abduction. The father of the bride-elect is expected to give her daughter substantial wedding gifts. When the father is unable to, or is reluctant to make the gifts or when he fails on successive occasions to respect dates fixed for the wedding it is a diplomatic signal to the family of the bridegroom-elect that they may abduct the bride-elect. Since by tradition a bride-elect is virtually a wife after an efeyo abduction is permissible.<br />
(b) A formal wedding. The Bride is escorted to her matrimonial home by an entourage of about five to seven duly accredited, respected and successfully married women, accompanied by two or three strong men to carry the Bride on their shoulders when the Bride and her entourage are about to enter the village of the Bridegroom. A bride is expected to travel in the night. Trekking to her matrimonial home therefore commences soon after nightfall.<br />
One of the wedding gifts that a father is expected to give to her daughter is a good looking mwaaka mo mboli (a castrated goat or a female goat). Fat from the belly of the goat is rubbed on the hair of the bride, while the meat of the goat forms part of the boiled food that the bride takes with her to her matrimonial home.<br />
As soon as trekking begins the entourage starts to sing at the top of their voices "moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee ! The singing is formal notice to the village community that the Bride is departing. Singing commences again whenever the Bride and her entourage are passing through a village. Then comes the pomp and circumstance of the formal entry of the Bride and her entourage into the village of the Bridegroom. The Bride now firmly carried high on the shoulders of one of the men in the entourage is decorated and redecorated with fanciful head ties wrapped on her arms and her head. She would normally wear a full-length kaava. The entourage then intensifies singing of the classical wedding song:<br />
"Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee (hurrah, behold the Bride is coming).<br />
Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee.<br />
o-maasa Moombi mo Ngondo, mo-ma ja (Bridegroom ! The teenage Bride you have been yearning for has now come).<br />
Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee.<br />
Responding in joyful mood, the village community of the Bridegroom joins in singing at the top of their voices: "Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee”, and then gracefully escorts the Bride and her entourage in pomp and circumstance into the compound of the father of the Bridegroom. The mother of the Bridegroom waiting at the main door of the house receives the Bride with an embrace and then hands to the Bride a walking stick and a female chicken that has not yet started to deliver. The feathers of the chicken must be void of sharp contrasting colours such as black spots on white background (matono ma wuva).<br />
The Bride’s entourage is lavishly entertained with a rich variety of food. The Bride sits close to the Bridegroom. She may not eat out of shyness. The next phase of the ceremony is a litany of advice in the form of "don’ts". This process is known as "lifema la Moombi".<br />
"Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee",<br />
Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee;<br />
"omasa Moombi mo Ngondo, mo-ma ja<br />
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You have been yearning for a teenage Bride.<br />
Here she is.<br />
Moombi wee. wee ! Moombi wee" !<br />
"Moombi wee, wee ! Moombi wee.<br />
osi taata Munyango, Moombi wee, wee ! Mombi wee".<br />
Bride, don’t treat your husband with contempt. Moombi wee, wee, Moombi wee.<br />
Don’t starve your husband. Moombi wee, wee, Moombi wee.<br />
Don’t despise members of the family of your husband. Moombi wee, wee.<br />
Moombi wee", and so on.<br />
Members of the Bride’s entourage return to their respective homes next morning after breakfast. The father of the Bridegroom hands each member of the entourage an appreciation gift known as "mofaki"<br />
Honeymoon. The length of the honeymoon is determined by circumstances. During that period the newly married girl is not expected to carry out formal domestic activities, such as cooking, fetching of water from the spring, or going to the farm to harvest food. Volunteer female members of the husband’s family carry out the cooking and other domestic services.<br />
The end of the honeymoon is marked by the preparation of a formal meal by the newly married girl. She would normally be assisted in cooking by members of her family (mother, aunt, sister, niece) and the mother and aunts and sisters of her spouse. A component part of the meal is nguma ngowa, that is, the meat of a young pig provided by the family of the newly married young man. The pig must be either female or castrated.<br />
Efeyo ya Mwese<br />
In the event of a divorced woman remarrying, her new husband refunds to the former husband dowry that was paid in respect of the woman. The ceremony takes place either at the hall of a village traditional council or at a customary court.<br />
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Bakweri people performing traditional dance at wedding<br />
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Inheritance or kinship patterns<br />
Bakweri inheritance is patrilineal; upon the father’s death, his property is inherited by his eldest son. Inheritance also depends on the behavior of the children. If a child is a chief or is very stubborn or is noted for a very bad character like arrogance to the elders, or disregard to the tradition, the father can decide to give his inheritance to the brother.<br />
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Bakweri man dancing</div>
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Also, if the father dies when the children are still very young, the inheritance can be transfered to a family member who is trust worthy. Also een the next of king doesn’t necessarily means that all the property belongs to you, you are the one to control the property. If you are not from the royal family you cannot be made a king. King makers are people who come from the chief family. Notables and are the people who decides on the next king after the initial king has made his will. Furthermore, we call “Manawondja”, when a woman is not married and have attained an age when she can no more get married then she can have a voice in the family.<br />
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Bakweri people<br />
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Household patterns<br />
In the Bakweri soceity, many families are monogamous, and therefore there is no conjugal household from within the family. Furthermore, the Bakwerians spend a lot of time at home with their children, and the family is the main unit of production, therefore, there is no particular houshold pattern within the Bakweri soceity.<br />
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Bakweri people<br />
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Religious Belief<br />
Bakweris, like many other tribes in the Federal Republic of Cameroon have no unjust idea of the Deity. This is clear from the words that they use in describing Him. They ascribe to God the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and invisibility. They call Him the Protector, Maeke ; the Creator of all things, Iwonde ; the Guardian and Keeper of all things, Motateli ; the Law-Giver, the Governor, the Source of the Word, Ovase or Lova.<br />
These significant appellations are not just used in religious ceremonies. They are part and parcel of every-day language, as for instance, in the common exchange of greetings. Among Bakweris, when one is asked "how are you," w'a okaneya, it is not uncommon for the inquirer to receive the answer: "N'eki Maeke", I give thanks to the Protector. So deep is their belief in the omniscience and omnipotence of the Supreme Being that one has to understand the thought patterns of the Bakweris to appreciate the part that religious mysticism plays in their day to day affairs.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/Chief%20Molinge%20and%20his%20two%20wives.JPG" /><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Bakweri Cosmology: </span></b>Bakweri cosmology splits the world into two orders of being, Vaenya and Vawoo. Literally, these words mean respectively, the living and the dead. But in a wider sense,<br />
Vaenya, the living, is used to embrace all physical or material things. All things that belong to the Vaenya order can be perceived by anyone ; they occupy definite locations in space. It is interesting, however, that Bakweris do not include air in this category.<br />
Air is generally looked upon as a transitory element that forms a bridge between the order of Vaenya and that of Vawoo : that this element shares many characteristics of things in both orders did not escape the Bakweris in their cosmological speculations. For indeed there is a school of thought which believes that air, at least its fundamental life-giving element, pervades the entire universe. That element is believed to be the essential composition of the entities that belong to the Vawoo order. This concept, it should be noted, is not far removed from the Western theory of "Ether of space" nor is it very different from what Yogis call "Prana".<br />
The Vawoo order embraces all the invisible forces of nature. This includes the spirits of the dead and a large array of forces that have always puzzled human intelligence. While the Bakweris do not make watertight definitions and descriptions of the characteristics of elements in the Vawoo order, they do believe that the order exists and have thus devised methods by which contacts can be made and by which the forces of that order can be directed to, and manipulated for, man's benefit.<br />
Mention has been made above of the belief that air forms a bridge between the two orders. It has also been stated that a certain indefinable element in air pervades the entire universe. This life-giving and life-sustaining element, Bakweris call Muulu. Muulu is needed by things in both orders and in man it is life itself ; it is the godliness in him and it gives him his individuality. Man is believed to need Muulu throughout his earthly existence and because of its imperishable and indestructible nature, when Muulu departs from man, and he attains the state that is called Kpeli or death, Muulu continues.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Human Spirit After Death: </span></b>Bakweris believe that Muulu, the life-giving force of Elinge or soul affects man throughout his earthly existence in a number of ways. But this influence upon man cannot be described as control. It falls short of that. Nor can it be equated with what some western philosophers describe as "dualistic interventionism" ; for this latter concept has a number of assumptions which would appear to the Bakweris as illogical, untenable or even pragmatic.<br />
Upon death Muulu or Elinge is believed to linger around for three days during which it bids farewell to all with whom the deceased had been acquainted in his earthly existence. This is why on the third day after death it is the custom to organize a small feast known as Sassa. The feast serves to bid farewell to the deceased. In feasting, partakers are expected to throw pieces of food around. These are eaten up by domestic animals and birds that may be present and through them the deceased participates in the feasting.<br />
This form of participation is easily understandable and should occasion no surprise. In the transition that is called Kpeli or death, the spiritual essence departs from the body and becomes one with the life-giving force, Muulu, that permeates the entire universe - which includes men, animals, and birds. Consequently, the deceased is believed to participate in the feasting through men, animals, and birds present. But his farewell feast does not imply that no further contact can be made with departed ones. Bakweris have a number of names for the Deity. One of these is Ovase which means the Source of the Word. If readers may permit a little diversion into its etymology, Ovase is a noun coined out of the Bakweri verb l'ova, meaning to speak, to say.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Power of the Word: </span></b>It is significant that this Bakweri concept of God as the word through which and by which all things are made and unmade tallies with the Christian version of it as<br />
expressed in the Fourth Gospel - the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. John. The Prologue of this Gospel begins as follows : "In the beginning was the Word ; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."<br />
The belief in the Word, the belief in the magic power of the Word is so deeply embedded in the minds of the Bakweris that foreigners who have not been initiated into their philosophy and cosmological concepts are often at a loss at understanding even the simplest of the numerous practices that make up Bakweri religious mysticism. Most of these practices have received violent denunciations of Westerners and more particularly, Western Missionaries who share with their colonialist brethren the built in conviction that they represent a "superior culture." The natural corollary of this baseless conviction has been disrespect for all things Cameroonian and, by extension, all things African.<br />
Bakweris know that man is unique because of his power over the Word. By this power, man is able to call forth and guide the life force. This is the meaning of life, this is existence : to receive the word ; to invoke it ; to share it with other beings, living and dead, human or divine.<br />
Diverse are the uses to which the power of the Word can be put. The businessman discovers that he is unsuccessful and he decides to use the power of the Word to change his fortune. He obtains a bottle of wine and goes to the grave of an ancestor, pours the wine and asks for God's blessing through his ancestor in order that his fortune may change. Parents decide to give their daughter in marriage and they pour some wine or water, as the case may be, at the door of their house and in doing so, they conjure up the blessings of their ancestors in order that the marriage may be successful.<br />
The Nganga or healer, whom all foreigners call "witch doctor" spits upon his herbs and by the power of the Word conjures up the blessings of the Supreme Being through the invocation of his ancestors in order that the herbs may effect a cure - and they do! Those who point a mocking finger at the so-called "witch doctor" could have done the same to Christ were they present when He cured the man born blind by spitting on the ground, making clay with the spittle, and spreading the clay over the man's eyes before commanding him to go and wash in the pool of Siloe, John IX : 1-7. Yet this is exactly what Christians are doing to-day.<br />
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Young men respect elders ; they give alms to the poor and indulge in all sorts of "good works" for which they receive in return a payment in the words : "lova a o namise" which mean, may God bless you. And they are satisfied and believe that through the power of the Word they will receive the blessings of God. These are some of the positive uses of the power of the Word and the way that the Bakweris use and appreciate it in their day to day affairs. Of course, many other examples can be given but have been omitted because of space considerations.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Word and Sorcery: </span></b>But the power of the Word is like a two-edged sword. It can be used for good and for evil, for boon and for bane. This is where cursing and other witchological practices<br />
come in. Sorcery, the ability to turn life's vital forces to evil ends, is known to use among other things, the power of the Word. One of the commonest uses of this power is by cursing. Cursing is done in two ways : first, the sorcerer may use actual words or, secondly, he may use a concatenation of ceremonies, including awesome incantations convert this image into a powerful weapon of destruction. This technique is generally known as "the power of the doll."<br />
We shall not go into any detail on the uses of the power of the Word in the dark underside of Bakweri mysticism. That is outside the orbit of this article ; but suffice to say that even the most Christo-centric of westerners who has lived among the Bakweris for any length of time knows that what is referred to as sorcery, witchcraft, voodoo or nyongo really "works". It would be just as foolish to dismiss these things as superstitions simply because the natives offer no scientific explanations for them as it would be to say that the law of gravity did not exist before Newton discovered it.<br />
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Bakweri elders Slaughtering a pig for a ritual during the installation of Paul Mokako Gobina as<br />
Traditional Ruler Of Wondongo Village, Buea.<br />
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Yet, this is exactly the problem that anyone who seeks to understand the natives must face. Understanding cannot come when the inquirer has the built-in-feeling that he represents a "superior culture" ; for, the very idea of a superior culture is ridiculous. Any attempt at comparative evaluation of cultures presupposes an ethnocentric perspective. And those who frown upon and use derogatory epithets to describe such practices as libation ought to realise that cultural relativism stipulates, among other things, that all cultures must be viewed as adequate and meaningful adjustments which people have made to the imperatives of living.<br />
There are definitely some Cameroonians, and Africans for that matter, who are so plagued by the alien mentality they have acquired in the course of their sojourn in distant lands that they would prefer not to discuss these practices at all. But in this our age when it rests upon our shoulders to dovetail what is good in our society with the good things that we have learnt from our colonial masters, we cannot afford to be apathetic or ashamed to examine all aspects of our national life in order to select the best from it.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Christianity:</span></b> The Bakweri have been largely Christianised since the 1970s. Evangelical denominations dominate, particularly the Baptist church. Christianity plays an important role in Bakweri regions, where music played over the radio is as likely to be the latest from Nigerian gospel singer Agatha Moses as it is the latest hit by a Nigerian music star.<br />
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Presby Church Buea<br />
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Arts<br />
The Bakweri still practice arts and crafts handed down for generations. The Bakweri are known to be skilled weavers of hats and shirts, for example. They also construct armoires, chairs, and tables.<br />
Bakweri dances serve a number of purposes. The Bakweri Male Dance, for example, demonstrates the performers' virility. Other dances are purely for enjoyment, such as the maringa and the ashiko, which arose in the 1930s, and the makossa and ambasse bey dances that accompany those musical styles.<br />
The greatest venue for Bakweri music and dance are the two major festivals that take place each year in December. The Ngondo is a traditional festival of the Duala, although today all of Cameroon's coastal Sawa peoples are invited to participate. It originated as a means of training Duala children the skills of warfare. Now, however, the main focus is on communicating with the ancestors and asking them for guidance and protection for the future. The festivities also include armed combat, beauty pageants, pirogue races, and traditional wrestling.<br />
The Mpo'o brings together the Bakoko, Bakweri, and Limba at Edéa. The festival commemorates the ancestors and allows the participants to consider the problems facing the groups and humanity as a whole. Lively music, dancing, theatre, and recitals accompany the celebration.<br />
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Bakweri Traditional Attire<br />
The traditional attire of the Bakweri is similar to that of most, if not all, the coastal ethnic groups of Cameroon such as the Duala. It consists of the Sanja for the men and the Kabba for women. While the exact origin of this attire is unknown, we can assume that it appeared with the advent of European traders on the Cameroon coast who exchanged loin clothes for food stuffs<br />
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Bakweri women dress</div>
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At the turn of the 19th century, Carl Bender noted that: “In towns near the coast, where European traders offer their wares in exchange for cocoa beans, kernels and palm oil, the loin cloth, or lapalap, a piece of colored punt or sateen about two yards long, is coming more and more into use”. According to Bender, the Bakweri did in fact have a traditional attire that was worn before the arrival of Europeans.<br />
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Bakweri men dress</div>
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According to Daniel Matute: "The Bakweri man in the village dresses in a long waist cloth called Sanja tied round the waist with two overlapping edges by the sides called masu'u topped by a long sleeve shirt, preferably white, with a head tie or scarf around the neck. Usually a hat may be worn if the man so desires. The Sanja is stitched according to the size of the individual but usually three fathoms is a good sized Sanja. Some men would prefer a coat to go along with the attire."<br />
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With regards to women, Matute states that: "A typical traditional attire worn by the Bakweri women is a voluminous, clocked dress popularly known as “Kabba”. This attire goes with a head tie to match with the dress. The women are highly respected for their high standard of dress making. Exposure of the feminine legs by wearing bikinis or a pair of shorts is highly discouraged."<br />
According to Bender: "The original native dress is a very simple affair… It consists of a small apron made of fibre or grass and is girded about the loins. A still more simple dress is worn by women and girls only - a braided fibre belt about three inches wide."<br />
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Bakweri men in their modern dress</div>
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Cuisine/Food/Traditional Spices<br />
The official dish of the Bakweri is Kwakoko and Mosaka (Palm nut) soup. Apart from that the Bakweri have a number of other traditional dishes that they have made their own by cooking or spicing them up with the leaves, seeds and other elements from the lush vegetation of the Mount Fako region. Here is a list of some of those spices:<br />
Manjuweli: The leaf of a small plant of the same family as "Mbongo" and "Indoko ja mokpe":(alligator pepper). Used mostly in Mosaka especilly in those days when the mosaka was generally cooked with "ekosel'a ngoa"(young pig) the leaf is haversted and washed, and wrapped around the pieces of meat or fish to be used in the "Mosaka".<br />
Eseke-seke: it is obtained from a tree in the forest(not sure how to describe the tree)fresh, and then dried before consumption. The quantitiy to use is a matter of individual taste. It is used mostly in pepper soup, kwalala, mosaka, and Ngonya wembe.<br />
Jowe(Black Pepper): Also obtained from a forest tree.(little green and red seeds) that turn black after the drying process. Used in pepper soup, kwalala, ngonya wembe and for spicing of roasted meats and fish.<br />
<img alt="food" src="http://www.bakweri.org/images/FoodFako4-Jan2004.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Njangasanga: Also obtained from a very huge forest tree. the tree bears pods that contain the njangasanga seeds. The pods are harvested whe mature, and cracked open to extract the seeds which are than sun-dreid. Does well in warm climates. Most of it comes from Muyuka, and Manyu division, but it is also said that there is one huge tree somewhere in Bonankanda. Used in pepper soup, Kwalala, Ngonya wembe, spicing of meats and fish for roasting.(also in left over mosaka to be eaten with wolanga.) It is also used together with jowe and ngaikai in a dish called "Liphele".(Fish spiced and wrapped in plantain leaves and cooked over hot coals)<br />
Ngai-kai: Also harvested from a forest tree. It almost looks like what we called "cashew" back home. It is cracked open and the seed inside is the Ngaikai, which is either sun dried or smoke-dried before consumption. The following are not used as spices by the Bakweri , they are used by the Bakweri for different ailments.<br />
Masephu: A simple plant found in most peoples yards. the leaves are washed and the juice squeezed out of them using water. It is used for simple stomach aches. Also included in the concoction of other leaves, plants and barks of trees that are steamed and used for "li-tumba"(a person suffering from malaria is sat infront of this steaming pot underneath a cover ) and allowed to sweat off the fever . when the water cools down in it then used as an enema as well. It is also said that having this plant in the compound drives away evil spirits.<br />
Mbongo: Seeds obtained from a plant of the same species as alligator pepper.The bakweri will ground or even chew it, and mix it in "manyanga"(palm kernel oil). it is the applied all over the body of a child with a high fever to prevent convulsions. It is also the main spice in "mbongo-chobi" dish of the Bassa of Cameroon.<br />
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Games<br />
Bakweri have a famous game for children called Kweti. It is a game that is played during the rainy season by the fireside. This game emphasizes the importance of naming one's relatives and it emphasizes the importance of memory and quick thinking; The winner has to be very smart in verbal expression, physical dexterity and also to have a sharp memory.<br />
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<img alt="Wrestling Competition Fako vs Meme 1970" src="http://afpheonix.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffa3d57883301a73d8d4001970d-800wi" height="640" width="394" /></div>
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Bakweri wrestling</div>
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Usually, children play this game using wood ash (liwu) and a rock (liyE) or charcoal (findi). While sitting by the kitchen board (ewongo) or chair (konda), someone would say, (joke kweti) lets play kweti. Then members of the family would play by selecting the first person who would get a small pebble and hide it behind his or her back and show both hands to another play and say “ (Mame ne) what is this, the responder would choose and say I take this hand and I throw away this hand and then name a relative. (mamene kweti, mame ne joli, na wowene, nafakene mola Esombi). If the player does not name a relative very fast, the other player would hit the spice basket that hangs above the fire play (mokove) and say (et]]ng] ). And the player would have to forfeit their turn to the other player who hit the spice basket and said et]]ng]. If the player called the name of a relative in time, he/she would dip their fore finger in wood ash and put a point on the their leg to indicate a point. Then the game continues until the people agree to count the dots on their legs. The person with the largest amount of wood ash dots on their legs wins.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/Bakweri%20choir%20group%20at%20the%20palace%20of%20chief%20molinge.JPG" /><br />
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Sports<br />
One special sporting event, the Bakweri Traditional Wrestling, encompasses all the qualities the Bakweri have inherited from their ancestors: physical endurance, agility, fierce fighting techniques, and a great sense of competition.<br />
Wrestling is known as wesuwa and it’s taken very seriously by all the members of the community. In the past wrestling used to be an important way of determining leadership in the villages; it even resulted in a war between two villages in 1891, when people from Ghango burnt down the village of Molonde in revenge for the death of their best wrestlers. Fortunately, this behaviour now a thing of the past. Today, wrestling is a friendly competition drawing a huge crowd from all over the region. Every Sunday for eight weeks in February and March every village gathers their best wrestlers in a major contest to see who has the best fighters with athletes showing off their fighting prowess. Each village is the host of the wrestling for one day.<br />
Although Bakweri wrestling is a traditional form of fighting, it has similarities with WWF wrestling. A match between two villages starts with all the contestants, who wear skimpy sarongs, meeting in the middle of the large expanse of grass which forms the wrestling pitch. The wrestlers tease each others by making gestures of threat and then challenge each others into a nail-biting fight. A contestant wins a bout by throwing his opponent on his back or by taking him down and then either rolling him on his back or forcing him flat on this stomach. To set the atmosphere, drummers on an elevated stage beat intricate rhythms on large log drums throughout the match while the crowds roar and shout encouragement to the wrestlers. The setting is magnificent; the villages are surrounded by dense and lush vegetation with Mount Cameroon towering in the background over the wrestling field and glimpses of the ocean can be seen on the horizon.<br />
The contest culminates with the announcement of the year’s champion wrestler who is then carried among the spectators to loud acclaim accompanied by tradition songs and dances performed by the cheerleaders – the elder tribeswomen.<br />
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Funeral Rites (Life After Death)<br />
As soon as a spouse dies the survivor is stripped of all clothing and then clad in barkcloth (enjinja) while round the head are tied some leaves of the lisafo plant from which are suspended some seeds of the malaguetta pepper (Aframomum melegueta). The mourner must now also carry a small knife. These protect the mourner from the spirit of the deceased which for the next three days is believed to haunt the house where he died. The person whose duty it is to see that the mourner is then properly protected against the deceased is one who has already been a widower or widow, according to the sex of the mourner.<br />
The corpse if that of a man, is washed by male relatives; if that of a woman, by females, and prepared for burial. While the corpse is being buried in the house, in accordance with Bakweri custom, the mourner is taken to the back of the house and kneel on one knee. With the left hand the left ear is closed while the right hand holds the knife, and some lisafo fronds.<br />
If the mourner is a widower, a substitute wife, if he had only one wife, is then brought to him with whom to have sexual intercourse while he calls out words of power to avoid being haunted by the spirit of his deceased wife. In the case of a widow a substitute husband is provided. Thereafter the widow has to refrain from any sexual intercourse until she has been purified. Any male who is found to have had sexual intercourse with her before she has been purified is said to "whitened her", or has taken away the spirit of the deceased from her. If the seducer is not a member of the deceased's family he would be heavily fined for this premature purification of the widow. Widows should even refrain from shaking hands with men until after their final purification.<br />
<img src="http://www.fakonewscentre.com/likombe%20chief%202.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
If a widow is suspected of having been unfaithful to her husband during his life-time, his relatives will call in a medicine man who has reached the rank of a Mbwaya. This man will now put the woman to the njembu test. He will gather the following herbs, ngeny, motimbilimbi which is the long fruit of the Kigelia tree, and an oil palm branch. These items are placed on the ground and on top of them a gun or a horn is placed. Then the Mbwaya will conjure the widow to repeat the following words after him: I am leaping over this njembu three times as a woman who knew no other man than my husband and if I tell a lie may njembu destroy me. It is believed that any widow who told a lie, that is, did not reveal the name of any paramour, would thereafter shortly sicken and die. Any man then named by the widow as a paramour and who would thus have been in enemity with the deceased and might be regarded as responsible for his death was made to pay the deceased's family a heavy fine in goats.<br />
The corpse is usually buried in a shaft and alcove grave. The body being placed in the alcove and the alcove walled off from the shaft so that when the grave is filled in earth does not touch the body.<br />
After the burial of the corpse the mourner has, until purified, to sleep on the ground, or on the bark of a tree over which some dry plantain leaves have been spread. A good fire is kept burning in the hut and, where the mourner is a widow, she ceases to cook and some other woman cooks for her. Only small quantities of food are eaten for the first three days; some mourners even fast for the entire three days. During this period the last meal of the day must be eaten before dark and when lying down for the night the mourner must chew a few grains of malaguetta pepper and, spitting them out, must say: We part to-day, let me never more dream of you.<br />
The mourner, while in mourning, is not supposed to venture out of the house after dark because it is believed that the spirit of the deceased will beset him or her. The Bakweri believe that the spirit of the deceased will try to have sexual intercourse with its living partner and thus spirit away that partner.<br />
As illustrating this belief, Mr. Wolatae mentioned that some time ago a certain Bakweri died and was buried. His widow grieved deeply and sorely over his death. Some months later, while she was working in the farm given to her by her dead husband, he suddenly appeared before her. She became speechless and unable to move. He said to her: I have seen and heard how bitterly you are weeping and lamenting for me day and night. Your great grief gives me no opportunity to forget you and rest. I also have been seeking an opportunity to meet you and now we are here together.<br />
He then lay with the woman who returned home stricken dumb. As is always the case with persons who see or meet a spirit, this widow fell ill. A medicine man was called in. He treated her so that at last she recovered her speech and was able to tell all that befell her on the farm. A few days later she died. [In amplification of the treatment given to persons afflicted by the supernatural Mr.<br />
Wolatae supplied the following information: If anyone meets a spirit and returns home dumb or in a fainting condition then one should immediately tie round that person's forehead a fern frond...This treatment will enable the person to talk and tell what was seen or to explain the cause of his condition. If, on the other hand, a person falls ill because of black magic or of witchcraft then a band of white cloth must be tied round the forehead. If no such white cloth is available then the stem of the njesenge plant, a type of fern, must be used instead. The sick person afflicted by black magic or witchcraft will rave like a mad person and reveal everything in his talking. To treat this sick person, an animal is taken and sacrificed. Pigs and cows, for this purpose are not regarded as suitable sacrificial animals. The animal is then killed and its blood is smeared on the patient's body while the following words are chanted by the medicine man: "Oh, animal, die so that the son of man may live." After this chant by the medicine man the patient, to ensure a complete cure, is told what food is forbidden to him for the rest of his life and on the ninth day after the sacrifice of the animal, which is the day for the final cure of the patient's illness, he must then vow to abstain from this forbidden food, whatever it is, for the rest of his life. If he does not he will fall again under the spell of the black magic or witchcraft.]<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Post Burial Rites: </span></b>From the first cockcrow after the burial until the sun rises, the mourner, especially if a widow, must be heard lamenting loudly. If the deceased is an important man all his female relatives and the other women of his village are expected to spend the whole morning in<br />
lamentations. This lamenting might last for a month or more.<br />
The morning after the burial sees a little food, palm wine, and, if the deceased were a snuff taker, a little snuff placed on the grave. Fresh food and wine and snuff are thereafter placed on the grave each morning for a week, livua, which among the Bakweri consists of nine days. During this livua all members of the deceased's family assemble at this time at the grave to sing, dance, eat and chant the praises of the deceased.<br />
On the second day after the burial the relatives go to the farms of the deceased to collect food for the next day's feast. After gathering the necessary food, part of the deceased's farm is destroyed as being his share. The part so destroyed is called vesasale. In the evening of this second day the villagers gather to honour the memory of the deceased by dancing and singing his praises, by reciting ancient tales and stories with proverbial meanings and by playing musical instruments.<br />
The third day is the one on which the Bakweri believe that the spirit of the deceased leaves the hut where the body is buried and proceeds to the spirit world as a molimo. This day is called sasa day in Bakweri. On this day, the mourner is led off into the bush where a fire is kindled with the refuse from oil palm nuts and in it the dry plantain leaves of the bedding and the barkcloth worn are burnt. Then the mourner's body is washed with metatoani or the juice from the stems of plantains. The process is known as the first purification and frees the mourner from the spirit as an elinge hovering around the hut of the deceased, but not from the spirit as a molimo in the spirit world. For this reason the mourner must continue to chew and spit out the seeds of the malaguetta while still uttering words of power and must wear mourning costume until the final purification ceremony marking the end of the mourning takes place.<br />
The mourner must also continue to wear the lisafo frontlet and the use of the oil palm nut pericarp fibre in kindling a fire are regarded as affording powerful magical protection against machinations of the spirit of the deceased.<br />
After the initial purification the mourner is now dressed in the proper mourning dress which is always black in colour. Women in addition wear black fire bangles, necklaces and anklets and rub their bodies over with black sooty oil. This mourning accoutrement is worn until the final purification. The children and grandchildren of the deceased's family are taken in hand by a man<br />
who himself has lost both parents. He takes them outside a corner of the deceased's house. There he makes them sit in a circle. In their midst is placed a bowl of food from the feast prepared for the wake. From this bowl he selects a piece of meat and some food and knots them up in a strip of black mourning cloth called itinge. This knotted cloth is then worn as a necklace by each child or grandchild during the protracted mourning period.<br />
If the deceased was a member of the Mbwaya society, his wives and relatives remained in a state of mourning for seven months. If the deceased was a rich man, well advanced in years, a member of the Mbwaya and possessor of many wives and children, then the mourning period was extended to nine months. If the deceased was a man of noble birth or kondange and also a member of Mbwaya, the mourning period was extended to twelve or thirteen months. If, on the other hand, the deceased was just an ordinary man, then the mourning period would be but five months. Mourners do not cut, comb or dress their hair until the final purification.<br />
If however, while thus habited in the mourning apparel the mourner happens to kill a snake called fe, phe or pe the mourning period ends immediately and the mourning costume and all that went with it may be discarded. Some people, in memory of the dead man, would refuse for the rest of their lives to partake of certain foods. For example, if the deceased was a great hunter who used to bring back much meat, then on his death his mother or some member of the family might thereafter abstain from the flesh of a certain antelope or animal; or if the deceased were a good palm wine tapper, his mother or sister might then for the rest of their lives refrain from drinking palm wine.<br />
To die while in a state of mourning is considered to be a grave misfortune. The Bakweri believe that, if a person dies while mourning, that person will continue for ever after in that miserable state in the spirit world.<br />
The nursing mother is exempt from mourning. If a woman's daughter dies in childbirth and the baby survives, then the daughter's mother is given certain medicines to drink to stimulate the flow of milk in her breasts so that she can nourish the motherless baby. Such a grandmother does not go into mourning for her dead daughter.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Funeral Feast: </span></b>The wake or funeral feast for the deceased is called sasa and is celebrated as<br />
follows. First comes the moanda nyo or paying for the good deeds of the deceased. If the deceased be a wife then all the children, slaves and the other members of the family who were under her control and care, including all her in-laws, have to make offerings in recognition of all the good work and loving kindness she bestowed on them while she was alive. In the old days it was customary to offer fowls, shells, ika and other gifts. To-day people give money varying in amount from one penny to one shilling .<br />
[On this Bakweri word, ika Mr. Wolatae wrote that its meaning in the days of their ancestors is now not known. Whether ika meant the iron money of the Grassland peoples or the mukoko of the Duala is not clear. The name mikoko for the iron bars that were anciently used as money still persists in the marriage ceremony where the cattle paid as dowry are still reckoned in mikoko. Mr. Wolatae then illustrated the present day use of this word ika in Bakweri language: should a creditor meet his debtor who say owes him ten shillings and the debtor is unable to repay the loan, then, when making another promise to pay what he owes, those persons present will ask the debtor "to cut and give half an ika" before the new promise can be considered. Hence the debtor will have to pay at once a shilling, say, to his creditor, but this payment of the shilling still leaves the original debt of ten shilling un-reduced. Hence the saying that the debtor has cut or given half an ika, that is,<br />
esung ika.]<br />
These gifts are then shared by the co-wives and relatives of the deceased to the exclusion of course of those who made the offerings. These offerings are regarded as a legacy left by the deceased. If the deceased be a married man, then all the wives and women of his brothers pay the moanda nyo. Then the people of the village and relatives from afar assemble at the deceased's place. They bring food offerings such as goats, pigs, sheep cattle. Such animals for the feast are called moleli. Each animal as it is killed is divided into three parts. One part goes to the owner of the animal; one part is cooked for the feast and the third part is given to the spectators.<br />
Each bereaved spouse has, by custom, to provide a special animal for the funeral feast. This animal is called ngo a itoto or ngo a veese which means 'a pig of bones' or 'a pig of burnt sacrifice'. This expression refers to all the meat brought home by the husband and eaten by the wives. Each widow is now called upon to provide an animal in recognition of all the good food his dead wife cooked for him. The women now start cooking foods that specially delighted the deceased. The flesh is cooked separately and all food of its kind is placed in its own bowls. The foods are not mixed.<br />
Those participating in the funeral feast must eat the food prepared for them away from the deceased's house and out in the bush in a specially prepared palace there to meet with the molimo or spirits of the dead. When the feast is ready the men pick up the various bowls of food, palm wine and snuff, and follow the leader. He carries a matchet in one hand and a blazing fire brand in the other. This brand must be kept burning at the site of kindling a fire with it. In the prepared clearing the funeral feasters sit down together and start to eat the foods prepared, eating one bowl after another. From each bowl a morsel of food must be thrown on the ground as an offering to the spirit of the dead. A little food is left in each bowl for the spirit of the deceased who is then requested to share it with the other spirits that he meets in the land of the dead. This food left in the bush clearing is for dogs and pigs to eat.<br />
Should this food not be touched by these animals it is then believed that the spirit of the deceased is angry and has not attended his funeral feast, nor partaken of the food prepared and offered to him. If after this food has remained untouched for a day or two some greedy animal willfully consumes these rejected offerings one can hear the animal squealing and yelping as though being beaten. But if one approaches, one can see nothing that is beating the squealing animal and so one believes it is the offended spirit of the deceased doing so.<br />
Food acceptable to the spirits will be freely and gently eaten by dogs or pigs because the spirits eat or take only the 'whiff' of each morsel of food. After the feast is over, the feasters are summoned back to the house of the deceased by the beat of a wooden gong. Thereupon each person plucks a leaf from a bush and puts the leaf into his mouth. The leader then with his matchet in his hand, leads the procession silently back. No one is supposed to talk or to look back till the house of the<br />
deceased is reached. As they arrive a gun is fired to announce their safe return. The feasters then take the leaves from their mouths and throw them on to the roof of the deceased's house.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Final Purification:</span></b> The bereaved spouse has so far not partaken of the feast and now one who is<br />
already a bereaved spouse proceeds to bless the portion allotted to the bereaved spouse. This officiant begins by uttering good words of comfort both to the living spouse and to the spirit of the dead one. But before this exhortation is uttered the living spouse has to reward the officiator. If the living spouse is a woman, she hands over a fowl, chillies, salt or anything else available. If the bereaved spouse is a man, he pays more heavily. After his payment the bereaved spouse's hands are purified by being washed by the officiator in the juice of a plantain stem; at the same time a purification prayer is said. Not until this part of the funeral ceremony is complete may the bereaved spouse and the children be given any of the funeral feast. In the case of the bereaved spouse the food is passed in through the partially closed door of the house.<br />
When the mourning period is over all the mourners assemble in a house while outside a fire is kindled with oil plan nut fibre. This fire will consume all the mourning apparel worn by the mourners. Their hair is shaved off and they are washed in the juice of plantain stems and may then wear ordinary clothes and resume their ordinary way of life.<br />
<img height="477" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10452858_725720804140950_740305413783828450_o.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <b><span style="color: magenta;">Efasa Moto, the God of Mount Fako</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b> By Wose Yangange Martin</b></span><br />
According to Wose Yangange Martin, "Efasa-Moto is the folkloric god of the Fako Mountain. It is believed that he controls the entire "hill" from the West Coast to the border with Balondo land to the north east coast, and towards Meme Division.<br />
According to Bakweri oral tradition, Efasa-Moto is the male component of the Liengu la Mwanja or the legendary "Mammy Water." It is said that after an agreement between the two, Efasa-Moto chose to live in the mountain and while the Liengu la Mwanja remained at sea.<br />
It has been suggested that during the October 1992 eruption of the Fako Mountain, the path of the impressive lava flow towards the Atlantic Ocean was specifically chosen by Efasa-Moto as an act of bonding and solidarity with his wife, Liengu la Mwanja, the sea mermaid.<br />
It is believed that Efasa-Moto and Liengu la Mwanja are the greatest spiritual figures that the earth has ever known. Physically, Efasa-Moto's is described as being divided vertically from top to bottom in a strange mixture of half human and half stone, and yet shaped in the form of a man giving a complete picture of a goat standing on its hind legs.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://scontent-b-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t31.0-8/1048222_10200943471643432_76474990_o.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Liengu la Mwanja on the other hand is a beautiful looking woman with an oval-shaped face, an enchanting smile with a love gap-tooth, overflowing hair of dark wool resembling a beautiful Indian lady with high and well curved hips.<br />
Efasa-Moto lives in the mountain alone. He maintains a rich healthy sugar cane plantation. His visitors can eat the sugar cane on the spot but cannot carry any away. It is said that the sugar cane is has an unforgettable sweetness.<br />
Efasa-Moto is also said to be the mountain's spiritual protector. In times of old, albinos were abandoned on the mountain as offerings of appeasement to the mountain god so that he could continue to bless the inhabitants at the foot of the mountain.<br />
Some elders say Efasa-Moto helped the Bakweri defeat the Germans in the Battle of Bokwango of 1891. The elders add that the Bakweri eventually lost the war because they betrayed Efasa-Moto's trust.<br />
Efasa-Moto is reportedly a harmless creature, but it is believed that if anyone carries some evil charm or amulets to the mountain, that the person will not return alive. The case of a Nigerian athlete who collapsed at Hut II during the 1986 mountain race and later died when he returned home is cited as a recent example. It is believed the athlete died because he carried some evil medicine on his person during the race.<br />
In recent times, there has been a growing belief that because Efasa-Moto is an impartial and humble creature, he prevent past winners of the Guinness Mount Cameroon race from winning again if they boast of having conquered the mountain. With Efasa-Moto the mountain is unconquerable.<br />
Some people lend credence to this belief by citing the case of the humble Reverend Father Walter Stifter who won the race three successive times. At times, he even preferred to give his prize to the runner-up.<br />
The greed, pride and self-righteousness of the Bakweri is said to have alienated them from the Efasa-Moto. Modern-day hunters still believe in the existence of Efasa-Moto the mountain caretaker. They believe that the bond between the Bakweri and their benefactor god could be re-established if the former undergo intense ritualistic cleansing."<br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>Witchcraft in Contemporary Bakweri Society </b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b> by Rosemary Ekosso</b></span><br />
The belief in witchcraft or liemba is very common among the Bakweri. It considered to be the art of influencing the lives of other people by occult means. Such influence is usually malevolent and affects a person’s spirit, and through that, his mind and body. Alternatively, it is benevolent, but requires the harnessing of such powerful and potentially ungovernable forces that its practice is shunned by many people. In the Western world, people who practise witchcraft can be referred to either as Wicca (male witches) and Wicce (female witches), or wizards and witches, also respectively male and female practitioners of witchcraft. For our purposes we shall use the latter terminology. Witchcraft shall be considered here to be good or bad witchcraft, depending on whether ‘black magic’ or ‘white magic’ is used. Among the Bakweri, bad magic is what is known as liemba. Good magic is often just called.<br />
<img src="http://afpheonix.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffa3d5788330163022b7bf1970d-pi" height="425" width="640" /><br />
The practice of witchcraft seems to be intimately linked to the use of plants, which are used in combination with rituals to seek to achieve the desired effect.<br />
A person who practises malevolent witchcraft among the Bakweri is called a mot’a liemba: a witch or a wizard. Witchcraft is practised by persons of both sexes and all ages. It is not clear whether any one sex is preponderantly active in witchcraft, but the general belief is that men are more proficient in witchcraft than women. Witchcraft can be passed on to offspring by either parent or to other persons, be they blood relations or not, by initiation. Initiation may be voluntary or involuntary.<br />
Contrary to Western witches, who often worship goddesses like Hecate, Diana, Isis, Artemis, etc. and have declared their leanings in myriad publications, it is not known whether the Bakweri witches and wizards actually worship a deity, or whether they draw their power from any determined preternatural source. However, popular wisdom has it that witches and wizards are the servants of unknown spirits.<br />
Because witchcraft is shrouded in secrecy, its classification according to forms is problematic. However, there is believed to be one form of witchcraft called nyongo. Nyongo consists in causing people to die, and subsequently taking them to another world where they work as slaves to amass wealth for the nyongo man or woman. The rapid and unexplained amassment of wealth by any person is usually taken as a sign that this person has joined the nyongo. The nyongo is believed to be a secret society where people of like mind come together to organise the enslavement of others for personal gain.<br />
Nyongo people are believed to be completely ruthless in their choice of victims, often choosing spouses, siblings, parents and offspring. When a victim of the nyongo is to be enslaved, he is first caused to die. There is some debate about whether victims actually die or are drugged to simulate death, and their senseless bodies secretly recovered by the nyongo people for their own ends. Whatever the case, it would seem that the enslaved spirit or body is then transported to a place in a world similar to the one we know, though in another dimension, and put to work at menial tasks on farms, etc. to earn money for his/her master/mistress. There have been reports of people escaping this enslavement and returning to the land where they lived, but it is said of these escapees that they are unable to relate in any detail what they have experienced, and some of them are either struck with dumbness or madness by their erstwhile captors to prevent them from revealing the secrets of the cult.<br />
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<img alt="Chief Mosenge receiving the attributes of office from the Nakuve" src="http://afpheonix.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffa3d5788330163022b721f970d-800wi" /></div>
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Chief Mosenge receiving the attributes of office from the Nakuve </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">BAKWERI ARMED RESISTANCE TO GERMAN COLONIALISM, 1891 – 1894</span></div>
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By Dibussi Tande</div>
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Contrary to widely-held beliefs that the Bakweri made no effort whatsoever to resist the spoliation of their lands by the Germans, they did in fact mount a fierce anti-German campaign, particularly around the slopes of Mount Fako, and successfully inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Germans at Buea in 1891; the first ever German military loss on the African continent, which led to a complete reappraisal of German colonial/military policy on the continent, and, unfortunately, laid the basis for the brutal campaign to annihilate the Bakweri. The Bakweri were one of the few groups in all of German Africa that were thoroughly and systematically suppressed by the Germans. That they even survived to tell the story is a testimony to their resilience and tenacity in the face of adversity.</div>
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The story of Bakweri military resistance against the Germans is also the story of Chief KUV’A LIKENYE of Buea, whose epic clashes with German troops remain one of the most glorious (but largely unknown) chapters in Cameroonian history.</div>
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THE BAKWERI RESISTANCE CAMPAIGN OF 1891-1985</div>
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From the time they landed on the Fako coast, and especially after they came in contact with the Bakweri of the interior, the Germans had nothing but grudging respect for the Bakweri, particularly the fierce and fearless warriors of the villages around Buea, whom the future German Governor of Kamerun, Von Puttkamer, praised in 1886 for their “powerful well-built bodies, their courage and their skill in hunting…” Another German, Dr. Preuss, who would later become infamous for his appalling brutality towards the Bakweri, described them in yet another report as being “rough (rauhen) and bold (dreisten Benehmen)” in their dealings with the White man. These were fierce mountain warriors who were not afraid against invaders, as the Germans would learn the hard way in Buea in 1890s as they tried to penetrate into the Bakweri heartland.</div>
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THE FIRST BAKWERI-GERMAN WAR OF 1891</div>
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The war of 1891 has its origins in the desire of the German colonial government to occupy the area around Mount Fako, which it believed should have happened at least a decade earlier when Kamerun became a German colony/protectorate. It was also an attempt to crush Kuva Likenye, the mountain king who, according to the 1891 Report of Acting German Governor Von Schuckman “frequently disturbed the peace of the mountain, and had instigated an uprising among the mountain tribes… the Buea people even threatened to attack Victoria” in a bid to reclaim their lands.</div>
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In November 5, 1891 a German expeditionary force led by Karl Freiher Gravenreuth (who had brutally crushed a revolt of the Abo people (Douala) in February of that same year) and Lieutenant Von Stetten, was dispatched to tame the mountain people by what the acting German Governor described as “… a demonstration of our existing power.” The contingent also included Dahomean, Togolese and Kru (Sierra Leonean) soldiers who had disembarked a few days earlier at the Victoria port from the H.M Cruiser Habitch.</div>
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When Chief Kuva Likenye of Buea learned of the imminent attack by the German force, he was unimpressed by it all. Instead, he prepared his forces to send a clear message once and for all that the mountain people rejected all form of German control in their area. A seasoned contingent of local fighters, among them 400 marks men, was put on alert. The German and Bakweri forces would have a memorable clash at the Minonge ravine, now spanned by the bridge between the Buea station roundabout and the Buea Mountain Hotel.</div>
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According to records presented during the installation of Chief Luma, Chief Njonje Ekema Teke, the grandson of Ngoni Maliva of the Small Soppo Woteke family was the first chief of Likombe. This was the first chief who received the flag from the German Colonial Masters. Then his son, Mombi-Mo-Njonje, took over from him. Chief Mombi handed it to his younger brother, Kang’a Mosisa, when he became old. It was explained that there was no elderly person in the Woteke family so the Chieftaincy stool moved hands to the Wosingo family after Chief Kanga became old and weak.</div>
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Therefore, Chief Mokoli-Mo-Singe took over and was later succeeded by his own son, Luma Francis Mokoli. According to records, Chief Luma Francis Mokoli was gazetted in 1939 as chief of Likombe Chiefdom. At his death, his son Chief Ndumbe Samson Luma took over the baton of command and today, Likombe is blessed with another chief. </div>
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Likombe village is situated at the foot of Mount Cameroon in Buea, South West Region of Cameroon. It is bounded on the North by Mount Cameroon, South by Tole Tea Plantations and Saxenhoff Camps, West by Mafvanja (Mapanja), and East by Bwassa villages. The founder of this village is Ngoni Maliva from Small Soppo Woteke.</div>
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In spite of superior German forces, the forces of Kuva Likenye held their ground, and foiled the German advance into Buea. The German Commander, Granvenreuth, was killed and Lieutenant Stetten wounded as they desperately tried to dislodge the Bakweri forces from the ravine. With their Commander dead, and the Bakweri guns continuously pounding enemy position, the German expeditionary force panicked. Routed and in total disarray, the force fled across the Mountain to the Mboko coast and back to Victoria, with the Bakweri in hot pursuit.</div>
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Although Western historians insist that the only German lost in the confrontation was Gravenreuth, Bakweri legend has it that six Germans actually lost their lives in the expedition, and that their skulls now reside in a secret shrine in the village of Wondongo, Buea.</div>
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For the next three years, the Bakweri would hold the Germans at bay, preventing any serious implantation in the Bakweri heartland.</div>
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Bakweri wrestling competition</div>
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According to Edwin Ardener in his seminal work, Kingdom on Mount Cameroon,</div>
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the waste of Gravenreuth’s expedition had serious repercussions. It should have been used to go far into the interior to counteract French movements. In March 1894, Germany signed an agreement with France that fixed the eastern boundary of Kamerun far more narrowly than once had been hoped for. The official memorandum on the treaty contained a withering catalogue of the ineffectiveness of German colonial expeditions compared to those of the French. The home negotiators had, as a result, no serious territorial claims in north and east to offer. The Zingraff and Granvenreuth expeditions were singled out as failures in this respect. Thanks to their defeat of the German-led forces, the Bakweri had slowed down the advance of the Germans into the Cameroonian interior, even if only temporarily.</div>
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1894: THE GERMAN REVENGE</div>
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The Germans never forgot this defeat in the hands of what they wrongly considered an ill-trained ragtag army. In the next couple of years, they would implement policies aimed at isolating Kuva Likenye, and cutting off his sources of arms. By 1994, they had largely succeeded in their policy of attrition, and in December 1994, a newly constituted, better-prepared and heavily armed German force, the Schutztruppe, led by Von Stetten launched an attack on Buea. In spite of a heroic resistance, the Bakweri were no match to this superior German force. As one historian puts it: “The German Pygmy had become a Giant.” Outmanned and outgunned, Chief Kuva retreated to the village of Ewonda, and sent agents to Momongo to buy arms.</div>
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The arms never came.</div>
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In the end, Kuva realized that further resistance to the German imperial army was futile, and that the Bakweri were simply being annihilated by forces they could no longer contain or overcome.</div>
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According to P.M. Kale in his 1939 study of the Bakweri,</div>
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… for fear of Bakweriland being annihilated, brave Kuva called his people together, and with the words of a leader bade them to leave Buea for a while… this land, he told them, had been ‘their ancestors’ for generations, and it would be theirs forever, and so no fear should be entertained as to their coming back again.</div>
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To prevent further bloodshed, Kuva went on exile to the village of WonyaMokumba where he caught ill and died shortly thereafter. He was secretly buried on the border of Buea and Wokpae, were his grave remains hidden and unmarked to this day. All across Bakweri territory the following song of praise could be heard:</div>
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Lo! The hands that waved the spear</div>
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And loaded the gun</div>
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Lo! The dreadful voice that roared</div>
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And scattered the multitude,</div>
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The hero remains immortal.</div>
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Dr Emil Mandoa, Bakweri man</div>
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In April 1895, a brutal Peace Treaty was imposed on the Bakweri, and signed on their behalf by Chief Endeley, brother of the Late Kuva. They were dispossessed of their former territory around present-day Buea station, and forcefully herded into what the Germans described as “formerly ownerless land” in lower Buea. A huge fine was imposed upon them, and Bakweri slave labor was later used to build the German Government station, established on their original site that became Buea, the capital of German kamerun in 1902.</div>
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This second German expedition marked the beginning of the systematic German campaign to dehumanize and wipe out the Bakweri, seize their lands for plantation agriculture, and lock them up in the so-called Native Reserves. Like the Zulus after the defeat of Chaka, like Native Americans after the failure of their resistance against European settlers, the Bakweri had, by the end of the 1890s, been completely subjugated and their once vibrant culture in complete disarray. The roots of the social and cultural ills that would plague them for most of the 20th century can be traced back to this policy.</div>
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THE IMPACT OF THE BAKWERI ANTI-GERMAN CAMPAIGN</div>
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That the Bakweri armed resistance failed was not because of cowardice. Far from it! It was simply the case of a poorly armed African ethnic group not being able to hold its own against superior European military power. As Ardener has stressed, the Bakweri anti-German campaign</div>
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“was a small-scale political movement, but one which was aided by the strategic possibilities of the Mountain, was for a brief period actually equal in scale to the amount of German power that could be deployed from Victoria.”</div>
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In his analysis of the great warrior Kuva Likenye, Ardener writes:</div>
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Kuva’s case is of more than local interest. This remote and ideologically merely intuitive tribesman held up the march of events, by an unexpected veto on the foreign economic exploitation of the mountain. The veto only ended with his death. During its existence, it revealed serious weaknesses in German Colonial administrative and military practice… the resistance of the mountain people provided one of the important shocks of the early colonial system in Kamerun. As a resistance movement, it was before its time…</div>
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After the second Bakweri-German war, which ended with the defeat of the former, the Bakweri would turn to another form of resistance; they engaged in an early form of passive resistance, by refusing to do manual labor on their captured lands even when forced. Many died of diseases and cruelties in the concentration camps into which they had been driven. The Germans had a simple solution for this Bakweri strike. They imported other Africans to do the work, hence the age old contempt by the Bakweri for immigrant Africans who were hated for cooperating with the enemy. Of course, Bakweri passive resistance would later be misinterpreted as a sign of laziness, a stereotype that has, unfortunately, become embedded in the national psyche.</div>
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To conclude, one thing is certain; if the Germans had coveted any other ethnic group's lands to the degree that they coveted the Bakweri lands, they would have done just as thorough a job of decimating the lands' owners.</div>
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115 years after the valiant people of Buea, led by their fearless leader Kuva Likenye, stood up to the German army, another generation of Bakweri have taken up the mantle to once again fight for the protection of their ancestral lands. Led by the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC), the people of Fako division are taking their case for land compensation and restitution to the Cameroonian people and the international community. They are insisting that at a time when the Cameroon government is determined to sell off the Cameroon Development Corporation (which controls practically all of the German expropriated lands), the hundred-year old claims of the Bakweri, which began to be expressed in an organized and coherent manner after the Second World War, be taken into account.</div>
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Will the Cameroon government listen to the cries from the slopes of Mount Fako, and will Cameroonian people rally around the Bakweri to rectify this blot on the Cameroonian national landscape?</div>
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<br />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-16325677032696628782014-09-17T14:56:00.001-07:002014-09-17T14:56:25.089-07:00DUALA (DOUALA) PEOPLE: ONE OF THE CAMEROONIAN COASTAL ETHNIC GROUP TO HAVE EARLY CONTACT WITH EUROPEANSThe Duala (or Douala) are expert trading, skillful fishery and agriculturalist Bantu-speaking ethnolinguistic group of the forest region of southern Cameroon living on the estuary of the Wouri River. They primarily inhabit the littoral region to the coast and form a portion of the larger Sawa (Cameroonian coastal) peoples. They have historically played a highly influential role in Cameroon due to their long contact with Europeans, high rate of education, and wealth gained over years as traders and land owners.<br />
<img height="426" src="http://stevenlevourch.smugmug.com/Travelling-throughout-the/Cameroon/IMG0757-copy/115055440_qt88P-L.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala man from Cameroon<br />
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The Duala are related to several ethnic groups (or tribes) in the Cameroon littoral, with whom they share a common traditional origin, and similar histories and cultures. These include the Ewodi, the Bodiman, the Pongo, the Bakole, the Bakweri (or Kwe), the Bamboko, the Isubu (Isuwu or Bimbians), the Limba (or Malimba), the Mungo, and the Wovea. The Batanga of the region of Kribi could be added to the preceding list as they claim they are descendants of Mbedi and they report some degree of mutual comprehension between their own language and malimba. Moreover the language of the Bakundu (also called oroko), although usually not classified as a Duala language, seems to be closely related to bakweri (or mokpwe), which is clearly a duala language. Thus the Bakundu may also be considered as a duala people. The Duala have dominated the others historically, and these other groups all profess some sort of kinship to that people. In addition, many other coastal ethnic groups such as Balong, Bakossi... - who are culturally and historically more or less related to the Duala - are under Duala influence and most of these people speak Duala to some extent. Duala is also spoken by a great part of the Bassa and Bakoko people. The word "duala" may be used to refer to the Duala "proper" or to the whole set of duala-like tribes or even possibly to some "duala-ized" Bassa, Bakoko or Manenguba tribes.<br />
<img height="384" src="http://idata.over-blog.com/3/38/86/69/mode/Le-Kaba/Mars-25.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala further sort themselves into a number of lineages or clans. Among the Duala proper, these are the Bonanjo (including the Bonapriso), the Bonaku, the Bonabela, and the Bonaberi. These names represent the principal families in each clan: Njo, Priso, Akwa, Ebele-Deido, and Bell, respectively. In addition, the Duala sometimes include the Bodiman, Pongo, and Wuri among their ranks, but not as sub-lineages.<br />
<img height="583" src="http://www.journalducameroun.com/images/galeries/4/56/1.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala elders<br />
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Geography and Settlement<br />
The Duala are primarily concentrated in Cameroon's Littoral Province in the Moungo, Nkam, and Wouri divisions. Their settlements lie largely along the coast or just inland. The Wouri estuary, where the Wouri, Mungo, and Dibamba Rivers empty, forms the centre of Duala country. Douala is their traditional capital, and many Duala live in and around the city, although today it has come to reflect the diversity of Cameroon as a whole.<br />
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Language<br />
Dual people speak Duala (also spelled Douala, Diwala, Dwela, Dualla, and Dwala), which is a dialect cluster spoken by the Duala and Mungo peoples of Cameroon. Duala is Bantu language that belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language family. The song "Soul Makossa", as well as pop songs that repeated its lyrics, internationally popularized the Duala word for "dance", "makossa". The song Alane by artist Wes Madiko is sung in Duala and reached #1 position in over 9 European countries.<br />
<img height="449" src="http://www.eminentwomenministries.org/images/C360_2013-08-18-09-27-28-566%20(Copy).jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala is used as a trade languages, due largely to the spread of the tongue by early missionaries. This is particularly true among the neighbouring Wovea, many of whom speak Duala in lieu of their native tongue, and the Isubu, many of whom are bilingual in Duala.<br />
Duala belongs to the Bantu language family, in a subgroup called Sawabantu. Maho (2009) treats Duala as a cluster of five languages: Duala proper, Bodiman, Oli (Ewodi, Wuri), Pongo, and Mongo. He also notes a Duala-based pidgin named Jo.<br />
<img height="426" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10275414_322916244530370_7367048934553610004_o.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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History<br />
Duala are aboriginal Bantu people. According to their oral tradition Duala traces their ancestry to a powerful mystical leader<a href="http://mbedi/"> Mbedi</a> a Mbongo, the progenitor of all Coastal Cameroonian ethnic groups known as Sawa people. It is recounted in the traditions that Mbedi originally lived in an area called Bakota in what is today Gabon or the Republic of the Congo.<br />
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<img alt="Vintage postcard: "Une elegante de Douala, Cameroun", circa 1910" height="640" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/40/15/c7/4015c71e3aeda6b5ddc43a7f74d874ee.jpg" width="415" /></div>
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Vintage postcard: "Une elegante de Douala, Cameroun", circa 1910. <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/303359724871544318/">http://www.pinterest.com/pin/303359724871544318/</a></div>
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Mbedi had several children but he called his sons, Ewale and Dibombo, migrated north and reached a place called Pitti on the Dibamba River. Here, the brothers parted ways after a row. Ewale moved to the mouth of the Dibamba with his followers and then northwest to the east bank of Wouri River estuary. The mgration of mbedi and his children is known in Sawa oral history as Mbedine event.<br />
Meanwhile, Dibongo and his companions migrated southeast to the Sanaga River and then split up, some heading upstream with Dibongo and others moving downstream with a man named Elimbe. Ewale's people became the Duala, and Dibongo's the Limba.<br />
According to Duala traditions, the Bakoko and Bassa ethnic groups occupied the Wouri estuary when the Duala arrived. The Duala then drove them inland, a displacement that likely occurred in the late 17th or early 18th century<br />
Based on records of Dutch traders, the first known Duala ruler was a man the merchants dubbed Monneba, who lived at the present site of Douala in the 16th century. Ardener and others suggest that Monneba was in fact Mulobe, the son of Ewale and grandson of Mbedi according to Duala tradition. This would place Mbedi's lifetime in the late 16th century<br />
Duala men dress. circa 1940`s<br />
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Duala woman</div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>European contacts:</b></span> Portuguese traders reached the Wouri estuary in 1472. There they encountered a people they called the "Ambos" or "Ambozi". It is unclear whether these were the ancestral Duala, or perhaps the Bakoko or Bassa, whom the Duala later displaced. The Portuguese described the Ambos as a fishing people who supplemented their diet with small-scale hunting and farming.<br />
Over the next few decades, more adventurers came to explore the estuary and the rivers that feed it, and to establish trading posts. The Duala provided ivory, kola nuts, and peppers, but slaves proved one of the more lucrative commodities. Most of these ended up working the growing plantations on nearby islands such as Annobon, Fernando Po, Príncipe, and São Tomé. The Duala had long kept and traded slaves, who lived in separate settlements and performed menial tasks such as cultivation. Slave owners could only trade their slaves to other Duala, however, and owners were responsible for paying their slaves' debts and arranging their marriages. With the Europeans providing such a hungry market, however, these customs gave way.<br />
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King Bell, cameroon, 1886</div>
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The Duala emerged by the 16th century as the leading traders on the Cameroonian coast, though the Isubu and Limba did not trail far behind. The earliest Duala merchants were likely chiefs or headmen. The main Duala villages soon grew into a prospering township named Douala for the people who lived there. The coastal Duala purchased goods and slaves from interior groups such as the Bakweri, Mungo, Bassa and Bakoko. In turn, they sold these items to the Europeans, typically aboard their ships (and later at mainland factories or stores). In exchange, the Europeans provided alcohol, gunpowder, guns, mirrors, shoes, textiles, and tools.<br />
Europeans traders did their best to support friendly chiefs against their rivals, adulating them with titles such as King, Prince, or Chief. In exchange, these indigenes offered trade monopolies to their patrons and sometimes ceded land. In this way, Ndumb'a Lobe of the Bell lineage propped himself up in the 19th century as King Bell. Heads of rival sub-lineages soon rivalled him, including the self-styled King Akwa (Ngando Mpondo) in 1814, King Deido (Jim Ekwalla) of the Deido (an Akwa splinter group), and Prince Lock Priso (Kum'a Mbape) of the Bonaberi.<br />
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King Akwa of Duala, Circa 1875</div>
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By the mid-19th century, the British had taken the lead in trade with the Duala. This coincided with the abolition movement, and the Crown employed the traders to end slavery in the Gulf of Guinea. On 10 June 1840 and 7 May 1841, Akwa and Bell became the first to sign anti-slavery treaties. In exchange, the Europeans provided these rulers with annual gifts of alcohol, guns, textiles, and other goods. In addition, the rulers outlawed practices the British viewed as barbaric, such as sacrificing a chief's wives upon his death.<br />
The British also wanted to mould the Duala to their own concepts of civilization. This meant educating them in Western learning and converting them to Christianity. Alfred Saker opened a mission in Douala in 1845. By 1875, numerous missions and schools sprung up in Douala and other settlements. The early missionaries learned the Duala language and invented a written form for it, as Bible translation was one of their earliest priorities. Cameroonian Pidgin English began to develop at this time.<br />
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Ndumbé Lobé Bell or King Bell (1839 – December 1897] was a leader of the Duala people in Southern Cameroon during the period when the Germans colonized Cameroon</div>
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Trade dramatically altered Duala society. European goods became status symbols, and some rulers appointed Western traders and missionaries as advisors. A high proportion of Duala grew wealthy through the new trade, and tensions arose between the haves and have-nots. Competition escalated between coastal groups and even between related settlements. Traders exploited this atmosphere, and beginning in 1860, German, French, and Spanish merchants had established contacts and weakened the British monopoly. The Duala had gained a virtual hegemony over trade through the Wouri estuary.<br />
In response to the threat from foreign merchants, the British put pressure on the Duala kings to request British annexation. In 1879, King Akwa sent such a request; Bell followed suit in 1881 (some historians believe that these documents were faked, however). When King Pass All of the Limba ceded his territories to the French, British traders expressed the urgency of annexing the Duala territories to the Crown. In July 1884, however, German explorer Gustav Nachtigal staged a coup by signing land-cessation treaties with Kings Akwa, Bell, and Deido. The British arrived too late and on 28 March 1885 ceded Victoria to Germany.<br />
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King Bell</div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">German Administration:</span></b> Opposition to German rule followed the annexation. Prince Lock Priso still favoured the British and staged a rebellion in December 1884. Around this same time, King Bell faced off against his own people, who were largely opposed to the German rule. Bell then found himself up against the other Duala chiefs in the Duala War, which was fought over the killing of a Bonaberi Duala and Bell's alleged refusal to share his profits with the other sub-lineages. Germany stopped the conflict when one of its nationals was killed. Bell survived, but his power had diminished significantly. Realising that the Duala would never again follow the rule of a single king, the Germans instead played the competitors against one another. They supported the weaker King Bell to counter the powerful King Akwa.<br />
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"Girls' School in Bonaku (Duala, Cameroon). Miss Bucher unter a tree." Alternate title: "[original caption] Mädchenschule in Bonaku (Duala)<br />
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Despite the unrest and small land area, Duala territory became the economic and political nexus of Kamerun. The Germans initially ruled from Douala, which they called Kamerunstadt, but they moved their capital to the Bakweri settlement of Buea in 1901. Constant shipping traffic along the coast allowed individuals to move from one plantation or town to another in search of work. The coastal groups intermingled like never before, particularly the Duala and Bakweri.<br />
German arrival on the mainland meant that the coastal peoples' monopoly on trade had ended. Most Duala turned to subsistence farming or fishing to survive. Years of contact with Westerners and a high level of literacy had allowed a literate upper class of clerks, farmers, and traders to emerge. This class were familiar with European law and conventions, which allowed them to pressure the German colonial government with petitions, legal proceedings, and special interest groups to oppose unpopular or unfair policies. A series of these began in 1910, when the German administration initiated a new poll tax, attempted to seize lands in Douala township, and then tried to oust the native population from the town completely. King Bell's successor, King Rudolf Duala Manga Bell tried to rally resistance by sending emissaries to visit the leaders of inland groups. Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum tipped the Germans off, and Bell and his collaborators were executed in 1914 for high treason.<br />
<img height="455" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9ona26Q7xkI/TuhIdf9NR_I/AAAAAAAAXxs/kpZa5cH4WXs/s640/QQ-30-015-0035.jpg" width="640" /><br />
"Mrs Göhring in her sewing room. Duala (Cameroon)." Circa 1916<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">British and French administrations: </span></b>In 1918, Germany lost World War I, and her colonies became mandates of the League of Nations. France became the new steward of Duala territories.<br />
The Duala continued to prosper. Though the French had largely stripped their kings of power, almost half of the ethnic group's 15-20,000 members were important traders, plantation managers or owners, chiefs, or clerks in the civil service by the 1930s. The rest of the people were fishermen and farmers. By the 1940s, many Duala had attained prominence as builders, as well, servicing the growing cities of Douala and Victoria.<br />
The new colonials maintained the German policies of ousting uncooperative rulers and of impressing workers for the plantations. Individuals could opt to pay a fine to avoid the labour, however, which led to a dearth of workers from the wealthier areas. The French thus encouraged people from the interior to move to the coast and work the plantations (settled well away from the influence of the Duala chiefs). These immigrants were primarily Bamileke. The newcomers grew numerically and economically dominant over time, leading to ethnic tensions with the indigenes. By the early 1930s, the Duala were a minority in the town named for them.<br />
By this time, the Duala had lost most of their reverence for Europeans. They did not hesitate to oppose new taxes and to demand their independence. On 19 December 1929, for example, four paramount chiefs sent a petition to the League of Nations asking for independence for the Cameroons. Their largest concern, however, was the return of seized Duala lands. This Duala land problem reached a head in 1925 when the French sold lands on the Joss Plateau that the Germans had appropriated. In response to pressure from the Bell clan, the French offered other territory in compensation. The Bells initially refused, but the Great Depression eventually prompted them to accept the French compromise. The Bells gained land in Bali district, and the French promised not to take any of the Akwa or Deido clans' holdings.<br />
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In the late 1930s, Alexandre Duala Manga Bell had emerged as the unofficial leader of the Duala proper. The French grew more hostile toward these Duala elites, whom they considered "precociously developed".[citation needed] In 1937, they expelled the Duala from Akwa town (an area of Douala), although they allowed them to maintain ownership of the land. During World War II, the French and British showed favouritism toward white-owned plantations, and many Duala-owned farms became unprofitable. Meanwhile, other Cameroonian ethnic groups had caught up to the Duala's lead in education and Westernisation. Over the next two decades, peoples such as the Beti-Pahuin and Bamileke came to rival the Duala's position.<br />
At war's end, the United Nations set in motion the decolonisation of Africa. The Duala remained important in this process. For example, many Duala supported the pro-independence Union des Populations du Cameroun party (UPC) when it first formed. Other parties that had either Duala founders or significant backing include the Bloc Démocratique Camerounais (BDC), and Action Nationale (AN).<br />
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Duala women</div>
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Culture<br />
The Duala today are divided into the urban and rural. Those who live in the cities, particularly Douala itself, earn a living at a number of skilled and unskilled professions. Many Duala still own parts of the city, allowing them to live off rents and development. The rural Duala, in contrast, work as fishermen and farmers, mostly at the subsistence level. Fishing is the trade of choice.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://idata.over-blog.com/3/38/86/69/mode/Le-Kaba/Photofiltre15.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Traditional Duala society was divided into three strata. At the top were the Wonja, native Duala, with full rights of land ownership. The next tier consisted of the Wajili, either non-Duala peoples or the descendants of slaves. Finally, the Wakomi, or slaves, made up the bottom rung. Chiefs and headmen sat at the pinnacle of this hierarchy in the past, though today such figures have very little power in their own right. Instead, such individuals are more likely to own property and to have inherited wealth. Councils of elders and secret societies allow communities to decide important issues.<br />
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Duala woman<br />
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Institutions<br />
Assemblies, secret societies, and other groups play an important role in keeping the Duala unified, helping them set goals, and giving them a venue to find solutions to common problems. Chief among these is the Ngondo, an assembly of important chiefs. Another of these is the muemba (plural: miemba), a grouping of all Duala of a certain age range or tribal clan. The miemba serve to let their members network and socialise. Other secret societies include the Ekongolo, Jengu, Losango, and Munji.<br />
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Duala woman</div>
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Marriage and kinship patterns<br />
Duala inheritance is patrilineal; upon the father's death, his property is split among his male heirs. The Duala have traditionally practiced polygamy, although with the introduction of Christianity, this custom has become rarer.<br />
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Duala marriage ceremony<br />
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The Duala have never barred marriage between sub-lineages of the same group, nor have they ever put much restriction on inter-tribal marriage. In fact, today, such unions have grown increasingly common, particularly in urban centres like Douala. Children of such marriages become full members of their father's ethnic group.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://mydouala.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/p1010816.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala husband and wife at wedding ceremony, Douala Cameroon<br />
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Religion<br />
The Duala have been mostly Christianized since the 1930s. Evangelical denominations dominate, particularly the Baptist church. Nevertheless, remnants of a pre-Christian ancestor worship persist.<br />
The Duala believe in Supreme and Creator God known as Loba (Owasi or Iwonde or Ebasi).<br />
As might be expected for coastal peoples, the sea also plays an important role in this faith. For example, Duala belief holds that their ancestors live in the sea. In this worldview, demi-human water spirits known as Miengu (singular: Jengu) live in the waters and mediate between worshippers and God. Other, evil sprits live in the forests and the sea, and many Duala believe that witchcraft holds a malign influence on everyday life. Traditional festivals held each year serve as the most visible expression of these traditional beliefs in modern times<br />
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Sports<br />
Pirogue racing has traditionally been the most important sport among the Duala. The sport reached its peak during the German colonial period, when organisers held races annually on 27 January (the Kaiser's birthday).<br />
<img height="347" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Duala_war_canoe.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Duala war canoe, 1884.<br />
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Under the French, they became semiannual, occurring on 14 July (Bastille Day) and 11 November (Armistice Day). A typical Duala racing pirogue is 20–28 metres long with no keel and a bow carved with intricate designs. A team of 40-50 canoeists, mostly men who make their livings as fishermen, mans each vessel. In the past, diviners used the results of these races to predict the future, but today a Christian priest presides instead. Up to the late 1930s, a family on Jebale Island claimed to be able to summon the Miengu water spirits to help favoured participantskwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-39136964186483245112014-09-16T15:15:00.003-07:002014-09-16T15:15:53.913-07:00SARA (KAMEENI) PEOPLE: ANCIENT SUN-WORSHIPING PEOPLE OF AFRICAThe Sara (Kameeni) are an amalgamation of ancient Sun-worshiping, fishery and sedentary agriculturalist Bongo-Bargimi-speaking people of Nilo-Saharan origins residing in southern Chad and Central African Republic. Most Sara are now, and have been for centuries, located between Lake Iro in the east and the Logone River in the west.<br />
<img src="http://www.sl.undp.org/content/dam/sierraleone/img/undp_sle_Moyamba%20market%20women.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.web.540.390.jpeg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Sara women of Chad<br />
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The Sara are the largest ethnic group in Chad with a population of over 4 million people constituting approximately 32 percent of the total population. In Central African Republic the Sara people make up ten per cent of the population, making it the fourth largest ethnic group in the country.<br />
The Sara has several sub-tribes, Each tribe is a distinct geographic, political, and endogamous entity. Major tribes are the Kaba, Sar, Nar, Gulay, Ngambay, and Mbay (Mbai). The Ngambay (Ngambai) are the largest subgroup, followed by the Gulay, and the Sara Majingai-Ngama or Sar.<br />
The Sara Ngambai live in Bebedjia, Gore, Pala, and also are centered around Moundou in the Logone, Mayo-Kebbi, and Logone Oriental prefectures. They speak a language called Ngambay and are part of the Sara-Bagirmi people cluster. The Sara Majingai-Ngama or Sar people speak a language called Sar. They live around Sarh, Koumra, and Moissala in the Moyen-Chari Prefecture. They belong to the Sara-Bagirmi people cluster. The Sara Mbai people live around Moissala in the Moyen-Chari Prefecture. They speak a language called Mbay and are part of the Sara-Bagirmi people cluster.<br />
<img height="640" src="http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/chad-hiv-aids-mum-and-baby.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Sara fertility is higher than that of more northerly Muslim peoples, and the area in which they reside is considerably smaller. This means that, in places, previously low population densities have begun to increase.<br />
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Sara people</div>
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They make up 27.7% of Chad's total population (year 1993 Census).<br />
In Chad, the Sara (kameeni) trace their ancestry to the pre-colonial Sao civilization that flourished in Middle Africa from the sixth century BCE to as late as the sixteenth century CE. They are a mostly non-Muslim people — about a sixth of the ethnic group is estimated to be Christian, with most practicing traditional faiths i.e. worshiping the Sun.<br />
According to historians the name "Sara" (Sa-Ra) appears to have been derived from Arabic, meaning the Sons of Ra, the ancient Egyptian Sun-God. The Sara lived in the north-east along the Nile River before they sought refuge in the south against northern Arab slave raids. They were located in the south, especially in the Moyen-Chari, Logone Oriental, Logone Occidental, and parts of the Tandjile regions, they are Nilotic people who are believed to have migrated westwards to the Chad during the sixteenth century because of a constant threat from Muslims.<br />
During the French colonial period, they became targets for forced labor and military recruitment. In fact, they were the largest group of Africans to fight in World War II. The French often romanticized their tall, physically powerful presence and referred to them as "La Belle Race" (The beautiful race)<br />
In the past, women would go to elaborate lengths to make themselves unappealing to slavers. They would insert round plates in their lips in order to elongate their mouths. This cultural practice is no longer as common.<br />
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The Sara people enthusiastically grasped the meagre educational and religious opportunities offered by the French. Educated Sara people are fluent in French as a second language today. In the 1970s, <a href="http://xn--franois%20tombalbaye-60b/">François Tombalbaye</a>, the first President of Chad and from Sara origins, introduced an Africanization aim: the yondo initiation rites of the Sara for all those who wanted to obtain positions in the civil service and the army, rites that were seen as anti-Christian. Other notable Sara people are <a href="http://xn--nol%20milarew%20odingar-pdc/">Noël Milarew Odingar</a>, Chadian officer who overthrew Tombalbaye during the 1975 coup and briefly served as head of state and was later one of the nine members of the Supreme Military Council, the military junta that ruled Chad between 1975 and 1978 and <a href="http://xn--fidle%20moungar-wmb/">Fidèle Moungar</a>, Prime minister of Chad in 1993, president of Action for Unity and Socialism.<br />
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<a href="http://xn--franois%20tombalbaye-60b/" style="text-align: start;">François Tombalbaye</a><span style="text-align: start;">, the first President of Chad and from Sara origins</span></div>
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Language<br />
The sara speak Bongo-Bagirmi languages which belongs to the larger Nilo-Saharan languages.<br />
The Sara languages comprise over a dozen Bongo–Bagirmi languages spoken mainly in southern Chad; a few are also spoken in the north of the Central African Republic. They are members of the Central Sudanic language family. Greenberg (1966) treats all varieties as dialects of a Sara language, whereas Tucker and Bryan (1966) consider the Sara to be a dialect cluster of several languages. Most members of the different Sara languages/dialects consider their speech form distinct languages, but there is currently insufficient language information to determine which speech varieties need to be considered distinct languages, and which are dialects of other languages.<br />
The most populous variety of Sara proper is Ngambay (Sara Ngambay), a major trade language of southern Chad, with about a million speakers, though Sar (Sara Madjingay) is the lingua franca of Sarh.<br />
The term "Sara Languages", sometimes called "Sara Proper Languages", is distinct from the so-called "Sara Kaba Languages". The latter include Sara Dunjo, Kaba Deme and Kaba Na. The term Sara itself is confusing, as within this family there exists a language named Sar, whose capital is Sarh. The term Kaba is likewise confusing. Kaba of Gore is not a Sara Kaba language, but rather a Sara language. Further, the Sara Kaba group includes a language named Sara Kaba<br />
The Sara languages are:<br />
#West Sara<br />
Ngambay, Laka, Kabba of Gore<br />
#Central Sara (Doba)<br />
Bedjond, Bebote, Mango, Gor<br />
#East Sara<br />
Sar, Nar, Mbay, Ngam, Dagba, Gulay, Horo<br />
The inclusion of Gulay with the Eastern Sara Languages is based on lexical comparison. Phonologically and morphologically Gulay behaves more like a Central Sara Language.<br />
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History<br />
The Sara people are thought to have originally migrated from the Nile River Valley centuries ago as they sought to escape the mounting raids by neighboring Arab peoples. Their very name Sara may have meant ―sons of Ra.<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">Sao civilisation:</span></b> The Sao civilization flourished in Middle Africa from ca. the sixth century BCE to as late as the sixteenth century CE. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon. Sometime around the 16th century, conversion to Islam changed the cultural identity of the former Sao. Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad but particularly the Sara, Kotoko claim descent from the civilization of the Sao.<br />
<img height="552" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Chadian_soldier_of_WWII.jpg/1024px-Chadian_soldier_of_WWII.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Sara Chadian soldier<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">Origins and decline: </span></b>The Sao civilization may have begun as early as the sixth century BCE, and by the end of the first millennium BCE, their presence was well established south of Lake Chad and near the Chari River. The city states of the Sao reached their apex sometime between the ninth and fifteenth centuries CE.<br />
The Sao's demise may have come about due to conquest, Islamization, or both. Traditional tales say that the Sao west of Lake Chad fell to "Yemenites" from the east. These invaders made several unsuccessful attempts to conquer the Sao before finally succeeding by resorting to trickery. If true, the newcomers may have been Arab Bedouin or Sayfuwa raiders coming from the east who moved into the region in the fourteenth century. Although some scholars estimate that the Sao civilization south of Lake Chad lasted until the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the majority opinion is that it ceased to exist as a separate culture sometime in the 16th century subsequently to the expansion of the Bornu Empire. The Kotoko are the inheritors of the former city states of the Sao.<br />
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Sara woman with a lip plate</div>
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Little is known about the Sao's culture or political organisation: They left no written records and are known only through archaeological finds and the oral history of their successors in their territory. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron. Finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears. The largest Sao archaeological finds have been made south of Lake Chad.<br />
<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3537/4609095647_89fdd33311_z.jpg" /><br />
Sara Tribeswoman Eyes a Photo of a Woman With a Lip Plate in a National Geographic Magazine Held by Staff Artist Walter Weber, Kyabe, Chad, circa 1950<br />
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Ethnic groups in the Lake Chad basin, such as the Buduma, Gamergu, Kanembu, Kotoko, and Musgum claim descent from the Sao. Lebeuf supports this connection and has traced symbolism from Sao art in works by the Guti and Tukuri subgroups of the Logone-Birni people. Oral histories add further details about the people: The Sao were made up of several patrilineal clans who were united into a single polity with one language, race, and religion. In these narratives, the Sao are presented as giants and mighty warriors who fought and conquered their neighbors<br />
<img height="424" src="http://images.delcampe.com/img_large/auction/000/078/848/362_001.jpg" width="640" /><br />
ancient Sara kaba people. Circa 1888<br />
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Settlements<br />
Most Sara who are Nar (hereafter reference will be to the Nar unless otherwise mentioned) reside in small villages located near streams or along roads. In precolonial times, in principle, a hamlet (gir be ) was a distinct area in which members of a patrician (gir ka ) lived with their wives, children, other kin, and followers. Villages (gir begi [the gi suffix is a plural marker]) were divided into a number of such tracts of different clans. Households in these villages tended to be dispersed, with their circular thatched huts standing in the midst of family members' fields, but colonial and postcolonial officials have obliged the relocation and concentration of households along more easily administered roads. In the 1970s most villages had 200 to 300 inhabitants.<br />
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Economy<br />
Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The Sara, who live in a moderately well-watered Sudano-Guinean ecological zone, specialize in the slash-and-burn cultivation of cereals, especially sorghums and millets. They fish and raise chickens, dwarf goats, and a few horses. Plow oxen, introduced during the 1960s and still rare, are the only cattle kept, owing to a high incidence of sleeping sickness. The French, in search of a stable supply of cotton fiber for their textile industry, introduced cotton as a cash crop in 1928. Postindependence governments have continued to emphasize the crop because its sale has brought 80 percent of the country's foreign exchange. Because of cotton's importance, its production has been mandatory throughout the colonial and immediate postcolonial periods. Most cotton is produced by the Sara, who have added this work to their normal subsistence activities. Raising cotton is more labor intensive than growing food crops. Its farm-gate price has usually been kept low. It has a tendency to exhaust soils.<br />
<img height="423" src="http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2010/9/1/2010919153588784_20.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Increasingly, manioc is substituted for cereals in areas where cotton production is high. Manioc requires less labor than do cereals but has less nutritional value. One reason for its popularity may be that it allows labor that would have been allocated to the growth of cereals to be directed instead to the maintenance or expansion of cotton cultivation. Studies suggest that areas of considerable manioc production are those with lower nutritional levels.<br />
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Industrial Arts. Precolonial crafts included metalworking, pottery, cloth and basket weaving, calabash carving, and different forms of woodworking. All of these are in decline as their products are increasingly being replaced by manufactured imports.<br />
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Trade. There do not appear to have been indigenous markets among the precolonial Sara. Merchants from Bagirmi, and to a lesser extent from other Muslim states, circulated in the area, usually exchanging sumptuary goods for slaves. Lack of commercial experience has meant that many small stores and other enterprises in Sara towns are owned by members of northern ethnic groups.<br />
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<img alt="Africa | Sarra men in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad). | © Casimir Zagourski African postcards, 1924-1941 (inclusive). Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/b9/e0/0b/b9e00bfd9b1a35f91168f2eb3531f6e7.jpg" /></div>
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Sara woman and a boy showing their elaborate facial marks</div>
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Division of Labor. Little is known of the precolonial division of labor. The contemporary ideal, however, is that a wife should work for her husband in farming and domestic activities. In exchange, he should provide her and her children with food and other necessities. In principle, the husband owns the fields and their harvest, which he doles out. As women grow older, however, they clear and plant their own fields, and therefore they own these fields' crops and can dispose of them as they see fit. Both men and women derive labor for their fields from kin, especially children. Gender alone does not seem to confer advantage in securing labor. Rather, what counts is the ability to be generous with grain, alcohol, and cooked food. Women, it appears, can be just as generous as men. Thus, men and women effectively possess the same access to land and labor. This division of labor was reported for a Sara group with abundant land. It is possible that such abundance allows for a more egalitarian access to agricultural resources.<br />
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<img alt="His profile reminds me of Telly's brother. Africa | A hunter from the Sara tribe. Central Africa. ca. 1924/5 | ©RMN / Jean-Gilles Berizzi {Haardt Fund; Citroen Mission}" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e1/8e/0d/e18e0d588879850b01c4ee18033d21cd.jpg" /></div>
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Sara man with facial tribal marks from Chad</div>
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Land Tenure. Perhaps the most important aspect of past and present Sara land tenure, at least in regions of low population density, is the absence of cultural notions producing differential access to land. In the past each clan had its area that it farmed to the exclusion of all other clans. The main rule regulating access was that clan members could acquire land by farming it. Those who were not members of clans could acquire fields simply by asking any clan member for permission to farm. Land inheritance was of little importance. Most fields were on virgin bush or long fallows over which no one exercised rights. The French were convinced that all Sara had chefs de terre who, by virtue of supernatural association with land, might at least partially regulate access to it. Although there may have been some Sara with chefs de terre in this sense, they were rare. The founders of villages, and their descendants, called kwa begi, were sometimes said to "own" the land. Such persons had only a hazy, moral prestige, however, almost indistinct from that resulting from age, which was irrelevant to land apportionment. Today there is a person, known as the chef de carré, who, following consultation with members of his carré (lit., "plot") selects where its cotton fields will be located.<br />
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<img height="640" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1U5zI-hPJMU/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAABM/t5tK2ibhGXM/photo.jpg" width="640" /><br />Sara woman performing a folkloric dance</div>
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Kinship<br />
Kin Groups and Descent. The Sara combine a cognatic, ancestor-focused, system of kinship with patricians. The term "gir ka" can, depending on the context, mean either "ancestor" or "patrician." A gir ka is any ancestor from which a person is descended in any way. Descendants of a person's ancestors are that person's cognates. Cultural notions specify that such kin should join in each other's work groups, share food, welcome each other as members of their residential group, and in general provide mutual support. Persons who stipulate that they share agnatic descent from an ancestor belong to a "gir ka," with the term here used in the sense of a patrician that has its place of residence, its gir be. Clans were in principle exogamous. Clan members should participate in its funeral ceremonies and other clan affairs, such as the taking of vengeance and sacrifices to the spirit (besi ; pl. besigi ) associated with the clan. There was absolutely no belief that the different clans in a village were part of a common organization based upon agnatic descent. Similarly, neither the village itself, nor other villages, were conceived of as descent groups bound in a single, pyramidal structure, as was found among the Nuer.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://www.our-africa.org/chad/images/children-performing-a-traditional-dance/@@images/bd64c45d-d15c-451e-8d66-bb9042d45e57.jpeg" width="640" /><br />
Marriage and Family<br />
Marriage. The Sara verb tar means "to love," but the notion of "tar" carries with it an additional connotation of "giving things." The idea that "giving" is intrinsically linked to "deep affection" is a basis of Sara marriage, which tends to be ideally viewed as a reciprocal relationship in which a husband gives grain and a wife provides services in exchange. It was believed that kin, especially mother's brother's offspring, were more likely than others to love each other. Payment of bride-wealth was a condition for creating marriages; it gave men rights to their wives' sexuality and children. Polygyny and widow inheritance were practiced. Divorce was possible, although wives, rather than going through the bother of divorce, simply opened their own fields, thereby gaining considerable independence.<br />
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Domestic Unit. A married man ideally builds his wife or wives houses adjacent to those of his father's household and thus resides patrilocally with his extended family. In fact, such households appear to occur in less than half the cases studied.<br />
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Inheritance. Traditionally, there was rarely much to be inherited. Although there were rules guiding inheritance of fields, these were rarely applied because land was abundant. In general, movable property went to younger agnates of the deceased. Some supernatural property—such as knowledge of how to turn into an animal, how to perform sorcery, and how to control besi spirits—was inherited from father to son or mother to daughter. A change has occurred with respect to the inheritance of certain new forms of movable property that require prior investment, such as plows or carts. These tend to be inherited by children rather than siblings.<br />
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Socialization. Child-rearing practices tended to be exacting. Children were expected to learn to behave. They were punished if they did not. The male initiation ceremony was important for inculcating gender roles (see "Ceremonies"). Today formal education is very much appreciated.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Sociopolitical Organization</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Social Organization. </span></b>There was no differential access to the major productive resource, land. Recruitment to the few ritual positions that conferred distinction was restricted to those satisfying the rules of their inheritance. There was no ranking, even within descent groups. Hence, precolonial Sara society appears to have been rather egalitarian, with some ranking. Cultural notions pertaining to age, gender, and kinship influenced most social activities. The Sara lacked the age grades and sets found in Nilotic populations. Nevertheless, they strongly believed that juniors should defer to elders. They also generally felt that women involved in social relations with men should defer to the men, although the capacity of this attitude to affect action may have been restrained by attitudes pertaining to appropriate kin behavior. All kin—especially close agnates—owed each other assistance. A husband might therefore refrain from exercising excessive authority over his wife for fear of losing support from her relatives.<br />
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Political Organization<br />
Most precolonial Sara tribes were highly acephalous; however, incessant raiding by the more northerly states had transformed nineteenth-century Sara lands into a laboratory of incipient centralization. Chiefdoms had begun to emerge among certain Sar, Nar, and Gulay. The most highly elaborated of these, organized around a person called the mbang (the Barma postindependence term for "sovereign"), was that of the Sar near the town of Bedaya.<br />
The Sara have been extremely important in postindependence Chad. The first president, François Tombalbaye, was a Sar, and he and other Sara completely dominated the government, a reality that non-Sara—especially northerners—bitterly resented. Civil war began in 1966. In 1973 an increasingly hard-pressed and authoritarian Tombalbaye, in a bid to strengthen his legitimacy by reinstating certain, "traditional" Sara institutions, created the Mouvement National pour la Révolution Culturelle et Sociale. For example, officials were supposed to participate in male initiation. Tombalbaye was assassinated in 1975 in a southern coup. By 1978, power had passed from the south to the north. The 1980s were a time of difficulty for the Sara: famine was exacerbated by oppression.<br />
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Social Control<br />
No courts existed among precolonial Sara at any level. Family disputes were not settled by elders, or the village "owners" (kwa begi). In fact, there appear to have been no peaceable conflict-resolution mechanisms in either the clan village or tribe. Disputes tended to be settled by some form of self-help. Divination may be performed at the death of a person to discover the cause. Should the divination indicate that a particular individual was responsible for the death, then a vengeance party—largely composed of the deceased's agnates—might be formed.<br />
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Conflict<br />
Two major types of extrasocietal conflict dominate Sara history. Both have north-south dimensions. Precolonial wars were fought between Muslim emirates and the Sara as the former sought slaves among the latter. Since Chadian independence, the Sara and more northerly peoples have contested for control over the central government. An important form of contemporary intrasocietal conflict pits government officials against traditional religious specialists in local communities.<br />
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Religious Belief<br />
Pre-colonial religion was based on notions that different religious specialists could, by performance of appropriate ritual, influence different supernaturals to restore or maintain natural and social well-being. Many Sara in contemporary times have converted to Christianity, often opting for some form of Protestantism.<br />
There appear to have been three major forms of the supernatural. Nuba was a sort of otiose god who had created the world. A besi was a sort of "spirit" that was immanent in, symbolized by, and named after natural objects—especially trees—or social activities, such as initiation. Besigi interfere in peoples' lives by bringing misfortune. Some besigi were not powerful; others had the ability to influence entire clans or villages. Badigi (sing. badi ), the dead conceived of in their afterlife, were the third form of the supernatural. A badi, usually a deceased father or mother, can attack people and, like a besi, bring misfortune.<br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Religious Practitioners. </span>There appear to have been four main varieties of religious specialists in precolonial times: those who owned a besi; those who presided over initiations, who were called mohgi ; those in charge of harvest festivals; and rainmakers. In general, practitioners were not organized into a hierarchical priesthood, except around the mbang at Bedaya.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Ceremonies</span></b>. Much ceremonial activity was ritual to propitiate besigi or badigi, thereby creating or restoring beneficent natural and social worlds. The most important ceremonies were initiations, funerals, and those following the harvest. Initiations were important for a number of reasons, one of which was that they helped define gender relations. Men became initiated (ndo ), whereas women and young boys remained uninitiated (koy ). As a result, men were thought to have learned how to act, a knowledge denied to women.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Arts.</span></b> Singing and dancing have been and remain an important part of Sara life. Visual arts such as sculpture were little developed.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Medicine.</span></b> In precolonial times, and still largely today, illness was believed to be the result of supernatural actions—either those of a besi, a badi, or a practitioner of sorcery (kuma ). Divination was performed to identify the attacking supernatural and to suggest a manner of diagnosis.<br />
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Death and Afterlife<br />
Many Sara conceived of death not so much as a biological event as a modification in social status. Each person was believed to have something like a soul (ndil ). At death, this separated from the body. Provided the proper rituals were performed, however, the deceased did not perish but became a badi. Participation in mortuary ceremonies was important as a way of validating a person's membership in a clan.<br />
<img height="453" src="http://images.delcampe.com/img_large/auction/000/220/092/895_001.jpg" width="640" /><br />
source:<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sara.aspx">http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sara.aspx</a><br />
<a href="http://worldmap.org/maps/other/profiles/chad/Chad%20Profile.pdf">http://worldmap.org/maps/other/profiles/chad/Chad%20Profile.pdf</a><br />
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<img height="523" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/37/3a/77/373a77d1fb9b3a3132fe8aa8c515f8e4.jpg" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-23185598172632997442014-09-16T12:15:00.001-07:002014-09-16T12:15:55.521-07:00MBONU OJIKE: NIGERIAN NATIONALIST, PAN-AFRICANIST, CULTURAL CRUSADER AND THE "BOYCOTT KING"Mazi Mbonu Ojike (1912-1959) was an outspoken and fearless Nigerian nationalist, great pan-Africanist, an African cultural crusader, an an author and an activist for social justice and racial equality. He coined the now famous phrase “Boycott the Boycottables”, which earned him the title the “Boycott King.” His greatest impact was psychological and intellectual. He gave back to the Nigerian pride in himself as a human being, in his culture as a living functional whole.<br />
<img height="640" src="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8d22000/8d22000/8d22049r.jpg" width="626" /><br />
Mazi Mbonu Ojike, Nationalist, Pan-Africanist, Cultural Crusader and the "Boycott King" of Nigeria.<br />
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He was an Igbo man whose political stature comes third after fellow ndi-Igbos Dr Nnamdi "Zik" Azikiwe and Dr Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe. Ojike was also a renowned student organizer and leader, a newspaper columnist (journalist) and a fire-brand politician was in the class of giant Nigerian political heavyweights like Chief H.O. Davies, Dr. Michael Okpara, Chief Ladoke Akintola, Chief Bode Thomas, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Alhaji Mohammadu Ribadu and Alhaji Zana Rima Dipcharima.<br />
As a pan-Africanist, Mazi Ojike practiced what he preached by adopting native names, clothes, food, and ways of life. Ironically, he toured the towns and villages with his message of cultural nationalism in cars imported from abroad. He wore traditional dress to office and served palm wine, instead of whisky, champagne or beer at his official receptions and parties. He replaced his suit with agbada or jumper and encouraged civil servants to appear in office in native attire.<br />
Mazi Ojike was a staunch critic of imperialism and lose no opportunity to attack colonialism and its effect on Africans. In the recent 2013 book entitled "The Igbo Intellectual Tradition: Creative Conflict in African and African Diasporic Thought," edited by Gloria Chuku, the author averred that "Ojike’s uncompromising rejection of alien culture, particularly European civilization and colonial domination, and his anti-European imperialist movement earned him the title of “The King of Boycottables.” Yet Ojike was a beneficiary of European civilization and even campaigned for the retention of some aspects of that civilization in Africa. This type of contradictions, as well as controversies and “scandals” surrounding Ojike’s scholarship, political career and activism are also examined."<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoWPVJVymzZ2MRS7QFQNLVcRltbDOexPaw_ZDwnMhzCMwt4zPbG0SwtKF3TskyTN4EQFQVuGjXmid8E5eh56Mjtd-HwmjKhWlphbvpdqQ76_g18-rqskvgwVsO9x2XdFt8K4ihazSXNQ/s1600/mbonu123.jpg" /><br />
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US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, sponsor and Guest of Honor of the African Dance Festival, held Monday evening, December 14, 1943 at the Carnegie Hall with Mazi Mbonu Ojike (standing on the right side wearing African dress with a cap) who came from the University of Chicago representin the African students. Image: Bettmann Collection</div>
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Mazi Ojike was one of the seven brilliant young men who were inspired and encouraged by Dr Nnamdi "Zik" Azikiwe to sail to United States "in search of the Golden Fleece" in December 1938. The group includes Dr K. O. Mbadiwe aka Man of Timber and Calibre, Otuka Okala, Dr Nnodu Okongwu, Engr. Nwanko Chukwuemeka, Dr Okechukwu Ikejiani, Dr. Abyssinia Akweke Nwafor Orizu and George Igbodebe Mbadiwe. Dr Mbadiwe always referred to this group as "Seven Argonauts." It is said that as soon as Ojike landed in US, he joined student politics and it did not take him much time to win election as the President of the African Students Union of Lincoln University. He also became the General Secretary of the African Academy of Arts and Research founded by Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (K.O.) On April 25, 1945, when delegates of fifty nations met in San Francisco for the conference known officially as the United Nations Conference on International Organization, Ojike was there as a student observer representing the Academy. As a leader of the African students movement Ojike embarked on extensive lecture tours of the United States educating the Americans on the honour and dignity of their roots. Ojike’s activism in the United States was not confined to associations, conferences and rallies. <br />
In his short sojourn of three years and in his capacity as a prolific author he published three books: Portrait of a Boy in Africa (1945), My Africa (1946) and I have Two Countries (1947). In the first two books he vividly portrayed for his foreign audience the identity and integrity of African culture. His penetrating analysis was further pointed in his third book when in recording his American experience Ojike probed beneath the glitter of the American dream to draw illuminating comparisons with life in Africa. But his conclusion was neither parochial, nor romantic nor complacent. The message was to both his countries and to all humanity: “I am not proud of what our world has been nor of what it is; I am proud to join men and women of goodwill to make our civilization what it ought to be”<br />
Ojike, actually became famous during the struggle for independence through his weekly newspaper column, ‘Weekend Catechism’ in the West African Pilot. Through that popular platform, he appealed to Nigerians to perceive independence from the cultural perspective. His idea was that the attachment of the young educated elements to British culture was another form of enslavement. Thus, the great nationalist taught Nigerians to reject or avoid “foreign things” or “imported things”, contending that, in the process of identifying with or embracing the culture of the colonial masters, the pride of the colonised community is further injured. Ojike was the General manager of the West African pilot.<br />
He “plunged into the mainstream of militant nationalism” rising in very short order to a position of high prominence in National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) circles, from which he was to hold many major appointments including: an adviser to the NCNC Delegation at the 1949 constitutional conference, Deputy Mayor of Lagos, National Vice president of the NCNC,<br />
Member of Eastern House of Assembly, Eastern Regional Minister of Works and Eastern Regional Minister of Finance.<br />
Mazi Ojike was both a fan and foe of the former Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe. As Finance Minister under Zik, he fell out with his leader.<br />
Ojike died at the age of 44 in an auto crash. Many Nigerians believed that he left without realising his full potentials.<br />
<img height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRhPXb76dlkQLrhkPFwo_3Frbv8BQnXL0dAxXLxnduWyEYVEAGsRy31P7Wqbou1X8K0xAaK2YM9G-4inW6NcDCDwXhJMysLzZZeUULAVkcVb5hLGNKK5mvYKkAETjcRCjpjbPQ7QxaUcg/s640/mbadiweojike1.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, sponsor and Guest of Honor of the African Dance Festival, held Monday evening, December 14, 1943 at the Carnegie Hall. Shown here with her are Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe (center), head of the Academy of African Arts and Research, which is presenting the festival, and Mazi Mbonu Ojike who came from the University of Chicago representin the African students. Image: Bettmann Collection</div>
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Mbonu Ojike was born into the polygynous family of Ojike and Mgbeke Emeanulu around 1912 in Ndiakeme village of Arondizuogu in eastern Nigeria at a period when Igbo culture and society came under intense European imperial assault.<br />
Ojike’s childhood saw conditions of great devastation, insecurity, uncertainty and anxiety occasioned by the confluence of events, that included British subjugation of the Igbo, the outbreak of WWI and the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919. These occurrences helped to shape his life. As one of the 19 sons of his parent, Mbonu demonstrated early in his life an independent mind and force of character.<br />
By his own account he decided to go to school in spite of his father, a prosperous Aro trader who would have preferred his sons to serve their apprenticeship on the road with him. Leaving primary school at an unusually early age Ojike became a pupil teacher who ‘taught elementary subjects by day and studied secondary lessons by night’. "When he graduated from elementary school, he broke with local tradition by refusing to marry. he persisted in his studies, winning a scholarship to the famous Teacher Training College at Awka., from which he earned his Higher Elementary teachers certificate."<br />
He went on to teach there after graduation. While teaching he continued his private studies, obtaining the Cambridge School Certificate and a University of London Diploma. The first signs of his political awareness appeared at this time when he led his fellow younger teachers on a strike to end discriminatory treatment. With the advent of Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik) on the Nationalist scene, Ojike promptly enlisted in the struggle by joining the Zik’s group of Newspapers.<br />
Still searching for knowledge Ojike became one of the groups of Nigerian; ‘Argonauts’ who, inspired by Zik left for the United States of America where he enrolled as a student of the Lincoln University. He later studied at Ohio and Chicago universities, obtaining B.A. and M.A. from Chicago University.<br />
Not unexpectedly, Ojike joined student politics as soon as he landed in the United States. It did not take him much time to win election as the President of the African Students Union of Lincoln University. He also became the General Secretary of the African Academy of Arts and Research founded by Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (K.O.) On April 25, 1945, when delegates of fifty nations met in San Francisco for the conference known officially as the United Nations Conference on International Organization, Ojike was there as a student observer representing the Academy. As a leader of the African students movement Ojike embarked on extensive lecture tours of the United States educating the Americans on the honour and dignity of their roots.<br />
Ojike’s activism in the United States was not confined to associations, conferences and rallies. In his short sojourn of three years he published three books: Portrait of a Boy in Africa (1945), My Africa (1946) and I have Two Countries (1947). In the first two books he vividly portrayed for his foreign audience the identity and integrity of African culture. His penetrating analysis was further pointed in his third book when in recording his American experience Ojike probed beneath the glitter of the American dream to draw illuminating comparisons with life in Africa. But his conclusion was neither parochial, nor romantic nor complacent. The message was to both his countries and to all humanity: “I am not proud of what our world has been nor of what it is; I am proud to join men and women of goodwill to make our civilization what it ought to be”<br />
Mazi Mbonu Ojike returned to Nigeria in 1947 and “plunged into the mainstream of militant nationalism” rising in very short order to a position of high prominence in NCNC circles, from which he was to hold many major appointments including:<br />
Adviser to the NCNC Delegation at the 1949 constitutional conference<br />
Deputy Mayor of Lagos,<br />
National Vice president of the NCNC<br />
Member, Eastern House of Assembly<br />
Eastern Regional Minister of Works<br />
Eastern Regional Minister of Finance.<br />
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Mazi Mbonu Ojike</div>
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Professionally Ojike entered journalism, becoming the General manager of the West African pilot where he established and wrote the influential weekly column ‘Week End Catechism’. He also ventured into large-scale business enterprise before going into full-time politics towards the end of his life.<br />
Mazi Mbonu Ojike died in 1959. In eight brief years of public life he did more than any other Nigerian, before or since, to raise public consciousness of our identity and pride as Africans or Nigerians, to counteract the rampant culture of disparagement, to assert and point the way to practical self-confident, self-reliance; self reliance in ideas, in behaviour and in action.<br />
In his spare and incisive prose Ojike cut open and examined the cant, sophistry and pretensions of the colonial state and church.<br />
His greatest impact was psychological and intellectual. He gave back to the Nigerian pride in himself as a human being, in his culture as a living functional whole.<br />
He coined the now famous phrase “Boycott the Boycottables”, which earned him the title the “Boycott King”. He led by example, consistently wearing traditional dress to office and serving palm wine instead of whisky, champagne or beer at his official receptions and parties. Under the withering scorn of Ojike’s pen the southern politician abandoned his three-piece suit for the Agbada or jumper. The civil service itself capitulated, conceding the right of its staff to come to work in appropriate ‘native’ attire.<br />
In his West African Pilot Saturday column, “Week End Catechism” Ojike interacted weekly with the many inquiring, soul-searching Nigerians exploring the problems and dilemmas of a society in the twilight of colonialism. His vision was always clear and consistent, his advice robust and practical.<br />
As a political activist Ojike brought his vision, flair and common sense into the politics of independence. One of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s most influential lieutenants, he worked hard behind the scenes, defining and refining concepts, preparing position papers, manifestoes, slogans. A supreme publicist, he galvanized political rallies with his slogans and songs, earning the sobriquet of “Freedom Choirmaster”.<br />
The sharpness of Ojike’s political vision is illustrated by one of the few overt acts of open disagreement with his party position. This was the subscription (with Professor Eyo Ita) to a Minority Report on the constitutional conference objecting not to the principle of a federal structure but to the creation of a federal system based on three regions, a solution which they foresaw would lead to destabilizing ethnic hegemonic and separatist action and reaction. (Coleman, 1956; Okafor 1981) Eighteen years later (in 1967) the three regional structures collapsed. Ojike also stood firm against the ideas of a house of chiefs and an Electoral College system, both of which have since been discarded.<br />
Another celebrated facet of Ojike’s contributions to public life was his originality, courage, hard work and dedication as a Minister. Two significant instances of political courage may be cited: his contribution to a viable solution of the struggle between Onitsha indigenes and non-indigenes for the political control of the Onitsha Urban Council, and his bold introduction of the PAYE system of taxation. Both initiatives were at obvious and considerable risk to Ojike’s political career.<br />
Ojike was a Minister with a difference. Thus, to cite but one instance, it is on record that as Minister of works on tour of projects he often assigned his luxurious official car to his officials to help with basic transportation needs while he visited locations on foot or push bike. A member of the Eastern House of Assembly paid him this tribute as published in the official Proceedings. “He went to the villages, educating and mingling with the poor natives. In fact in … Division he is not known as the “Boycott King” as he is usually known; he is known as the Minister of Water … in fact he is a work man … he is more of workman than a Minister.” As Minister of Works Ojike initiated the construction of major link roads in the East the results of which we are still enjoying today.<br />
The presentation of Ojike’s first budget as Minister of Finance earned him this unstinting praise from the Leader of the Opposition, Professor Eyo Ita: “I think we ought to be proud to see that an African minister, just come to office, is able to take the whole span of the Region’s economic field, and deal with it in the way the Minister of Finance has done. What he has achieved has been compared with the achievement of his predecessors of another race. Although that also makes us feel proud. I want us to remember that we should not only compare ourselves with people of other races but we should compare ourselves with ourselves – in other words, what we can achieve.” Another eminent opposition member, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, had this to say “ I was very impressed by the touch of realism which runs through his entire address” that tribute was significant.<br />
One of his most significant contributions was the introduction of the “Pay As You Earn”(PAYE) system of personal taxation into the country. He also saw to the smooth and effective take-off of the African Continental Bank the first indigenous bank in Nigeria, and was largely instrumental to the successful take-off of the Easter Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC)<br />
His Message<br />
Mazi Mbonu Ojike.s greatest contribution to national development was in his insistence on national mental emancipation, in his propagation of national self-awareness and pride, and in his assiduous promotion of a self-reliant strategy of national development. He encapsulated his message in the famous slogan: “Boycott all Boycottables”, which earned him the title of “The Boycott King”.<br />
As Professor Frank Ndili, former Vice-Chancellor of this great university stated in his preface to the first book in honour of Ojike published by the Institute for Development Studies, the Boycott philosophy “epitomizes belief in one’s own abilities. Nigeria today imports ready made goods, “psychological foods”, even models, patterns of organizations and institutions from the developed countries, thereby subjecting the national economy and society to all manner of international upheavals that our present level of socio-economic development cannot sustain., Nigeria can do without a number of these imported goods and values and shift efforts towards the optimal utilization of her inert capabilities.” That statement was made 26 years ago. Today there is a lot of talk, a lot of theorizing, a lot of evangelism about globalization. And Nigeria has publicly bought into the agenda. But the fact remains that unless we know ourselves, take good cognizance of our resources and strengths, and contribute them confidently and productively to the global partnership, whether it be in the sphere of ideas or in the sphere of materials, we shall remain, as now, the underdogs in the global struggle, incurring more than our fair share of the costs and earning less than our fair share of the benefits..<br />
The second aspect of Ojike’s message which I would like to highlight today is reflected in his thoughts on education. Student, activist, politician or businessman, Mbonu Ojike was a teacher all his life, retaining an abiding interest in education. This Hall of Residence memorialises that interest. In an earlier effort we at the Institute for Development Studies organized in his honour a series of lecture on the theme: Education for Self Reliance. The published version included excerpts on Education from his Week End Catechism. I have taken the liberty of reproducing the excerpts for this presentation. You will observe how many of our present day concerns were anticipated and dealt with by Mbonu Ojike fifty-five or more years ago.<br />
Thus in 1949 he argued the case for free, compulsory, with government building its own schools and encouraging all others interested in educational ventures. On content, he urged that “the entire education code be revised and recast to give our youth real and dynamic education for production And creativity. He was for rejecting foreign certificates in secondary education – Cmbridge School Certificate and London Matriculation and all that, in favour of developing our own standardised certificates based on relevant education of a quality worthy of honour at home and abroad..<br />
On higher education, he argued: We do not learn for the sake of learning, but to do some service with it to ourselves and country. For him, “the duty which a university owes to a state is three-fold:<br />
to discover and train a large number of intellectual elites, drawn from a wide circle of the nation without discrimination.<br />
to maintain for the communityits own God-given standard or culture, that is, a canon of taste of beauty, of truth and juastice<br />
to advance science and philosophy by promoting research, originality, rationality and inventiveness.<br />
He also argues that a University without nationalism is a mere waste of time.<br />
On the theme of culture, religion and civilization, he had this to say (again this was in 1949); Africa and Europe existed before the birth of Christ. Yet in that world epoch Europe did not rule Africa, neither was Europe moiré industrialized than Africa. The stream of civilization in its philosophical and material aspects did once flow from Africa to Europe even as it did flow from Europe to America two hundred years ago” And he added, prophetically, “Today Europe is declining, America is ascending, even as Europe was before and Africa was before Europe. Asia is rising though without the menacing factors of imperialism. Africa is coming back to its former glory. It will in due course take over. Sadly’ Africa has so far failed to fulfill its destiny. We need to focus on it. There is no need for self denigration or despair, much need for vision and effort. As he said: “Change is an imperative law of nature. Its source is attitude to life in all its ramifications and not geography. th pride and morality the leadership of rthe world.”.<br />
Ojike had a vision for our country: “When I see in our country, shops, factories, banks, universities, societies and clubs maintaining proud comparison with what they are in other countries, then if I am asked to take a bow for contributing my tiny bit towards that reality of economic stability and national identity, I shall not hesitate to do so with humility and gratitude.” Tragically, he did not live to take that bow. But his message lives, and I hope that you, his spiritual children of Mbonu Ojike Hall, and indeed all of us, will live and work to take it for him.<br />
Today the statue of Mbonu Ojike stands as a visual reminder of his legacy and message. Look to it and remember. To encapsulate his message: there is work to be done, the work of building a prosperous, confident and self-reliant nation, and no man or woman should rest from their labours.<br />
source:<a href="http://ukwufoundation.org/mazi-mbonu-ojike-the-man-and-his-message/">http://ukwufoundation.org/mazi-mbonu-ojike-the-man-and-his-message/</a><br />
<a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/new/remembering-ojike-the-boycott-king/">http://thenationonlineng.net/new/remembering-ojike-the-boycott-king/</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-6029771120400502302014-09-14T17:12:00.002-07:002014-09-14T17:12:54.073-07:00IFE PEOPLE: ANCIENT ARTISTIC, HIGHLY SPIRITUAL AND THE FIRST YORUBA PEOPLEIfe people are ancient, originally spiritual, highly advanced artistic and agriculturalist Yoruboid-speaking people that forms the sub-group of the larger Yoruba people of West Africa, particularly in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. The Ife people are "primus inter pares" when it comes the origin and spirituality of Yoruba. They are the first Yoruba people from which all other Yoruba people emerged and dispersed to form other Yoruba sub-groups in the world. Ife people are found precisely in the city of Ile-Ife, which sits in the Southwestern Nigerian State of Osun. This ancient "Yoruba Spiritual Mecca" of a city is surrounded by hills and is about fifty miles (80.467kms) to Ibadan and Osogbo. The city of Ile-Ife is also known as 'Ife' or 'Ilurun' which means ‘the gateway to heaven’ (Eluyemi 1986:16).<br />
<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/image15.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Ife people celebrating their Obatala festival at Ile Ife<br />
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The Ikedu tradition, though unpublicised is the oldest Ife tradition portraying the origin of the Yoruba people and it is clear from this tradition that Oduduwa did not belong to this early period of the emergence of the Yorubas’ as a distinct language group (Olatunji 1996). Okelola (2001) acknowledges that it is hard to establish when the city of Ile-Ife was founded but recognises that Oduduwa was the first King of Ile Ife Kingdom. Akinjogbin (1980),Olatunji (1996) and Adelogun (1999) contrary to Okelola (2001) suggests that there were between ninety three to ninety seven kings who reigned at Ile-Ife before Oduduwa led his people to Ile-Ife. This was confirmed by the archeological evidence unearthed in and around Ile-Ife which dated back to 410 B.C that proves the possibility of human settlement before the advent of Oduduwa (Adelogun 1999). Oduduwa though credited for the establishment of a centralised state at Ife is suggested to have encountered indigenous people in the region (Falola and Heaton, 2008). This centralised state formed by Oduduwa has contributed to the Kingdom of Ile-Ife being the strong hold of indigenous worship as well as the spiritual headquarters of the Yoruba Kingdom (Lucas 1948: Okelola 2001).<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3988511051603684451" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img src="http://www.utexas.edu/opa/photo/slideshows/2009/fulbright/600_450/durham__be_ia5564.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Ile ife women in their traditional dress<br />
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Ile Ife translated as the spreading of the earth with 'Ife' meaning ‘wide’ or and the prefix 'Ile' meaning ‘home’ could refer to the creation of the whole world (Smith 1988). Harris (1997) describes Ile-Ife as ‘the place where things spread out, where people left’. There are suggestions that the present Ife town does not stand upon its original site due to difficulty in establishing a coherent account of the past of Ife (Crowder 1962, Smith 1988). Despite the above suggestions Ile Ife is claimed to be the mother city whence all Yoruba people hailed: this is apparent as each princedom were founded and situated few miles from the mother city (Okelola 2001). This myth provides the charter for the Yoruba people, providing them with a sense of unity through a common origin (Bascom 1969). Ile Ife in the Yoruba belief is the oldest of all the Yoruba towns given that it was from Ile Ife that all other towns were founded (Krapf-Askari, 1969). the town provides the fundamental and continuity of great deal of identity conceptualization for the modern Yoruba with it's role as a center from which Yoruba culture emanates and a place for validation of Yoruba authority (Harris 1997).<br />
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<img src="http://traditionalifa.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/63927_1566305513652_1115840644_31448723_7215350_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Diasporan Ifa priests undergoing their initiation at Ifa temple in Ile Ife, Nigeria<br />
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The early written records that mentionss Ife was during the early fourteenth century High Florescence Era when the well-known adventurer, historian and travelor Ibn Battûta(1325–1354) mentioned them in his travelogue. Here we read (1958:409–10) that southwest of the Mâlli (Mali) kingdom lies a country called Yoûfi [Ife?] that is one of the “most considerable countries of the Soudan [governed by a] …souverain [who] is one of the greatest kings.” Battûta’s description of Yoûfi as a country that “No white man can enter … because the negros will kill him before he arrives” appears to reference the ritual primacy long associated with Ife, in keeping with its important manufacturing and mercantile interests, among these advanced technologies of glass bead manufacturing, iron smelting and forging, and textile-production. Blue-green segi beads from Ife have been found as far west as Mali, Mauritania, and modern Ghana, suggesting that Battuta may well have learned of this center in the course of his travels in Mali.<br />
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There also appears to be a reference to Ife on a 1375 Spanish trade map known as the Catalan Atlas. This can be seen in the name Rey de Organa, i.e. King of Organa (Obayemi 1980:92),<br />
associated with a locale in the central Saharan region. While the geography is problematic, as was often the case in maps from this era, the name Organa resonates with the title of early Ife rulers,<br />
i.e. Ogane (Oghene, Ogene; Akinjogbin n.d.). The same title is found in a late fifteenth-century account by the Portuguese seafarer Joao Afonso de Aveiro (in Ryder 1969:31), documenting<br />
Benin traditions about an inland kingdom that played a role in local enthronement rituals. While the identity of this inland ruler also is debated, Ife seems to be the most likely referent (see Thornton 1988, among others)<br />
<img src="http://jujufilms.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/image48.jpg?w=700" height="478" width="640" /><br />
Ife is well known as the city of 401 or 201 deities. It is said that every day of the year the traditional Ifa worshippers celebrate a festival of one of these deities. Often the festivals extend over more than one day and they involve both priestly activities in the palace and theatrical dramatisations in the rest of the kingdom. Because of Ife’s importance in the realm of creation, it has many traditional festivals to commemorate the many deities known in the history of the city and in Yoruba land. The most spectacular festivals demand the King's participation. These include the Itapa festival for Obatala and Obameri, the Edi festival for Moremi Ajasoro, and the Igare masqueraders, and the Olojo festival for Ogoun. During the festivals and at other occasions the traditional priests offer prayers for the blessing of their own cult-group, the city of Ile Ife, the Nigerian nation and the whole world.<br />
<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/102_2587.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
Ile Ifa Ifa practitioners in a street procession in celebration of the anniversary of the Orisha Obatala festival.<br />
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The Oòni (or king) of Ife claims direct descent from Oduduwa, and is counted first among the Yoruba kings. He is traditionally considered the 401st deity (òrìshà), the only one that speaks. In fact, the royal dynasty of Ife traces its origin back to the founding of the city more than two thousand years ago. The present ruler is Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, styled His Imperial Majesty by his subjects. The Ooni ascended his throne in 1980. Following the formation of the Yoruba Orisha Congress in 1986, the Ooni acquired an international status the likes of which the holders of his title hadn't had since the city's colonisation by the British. Nationally he had always been prominent amongst the Federal Republic of Nigeria's company of royal Obas, being regarded as the chief priest and custodian of the holy city of all the Yorubas. In former times, the palace of the Oni of Ife was a structure built of authentic enameled bricks, decorated with artistic porcelain tiles and all sorts of ornaments.<br />
<img src="http://www.goodlife.com.ng/uploads/the-nation_215_odua.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Statue of Oduduwa, the progenitor of Yoruba people<br />
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Ife people and their ancient city of Ile Ife which is regarded as the ancient metropolis of Old Yoruba, are so precious and sacred to the Yoruba people so much that every Yoruba sub-group is forbidden to attack them no matter how they provoke a particular sub-group. Attacking an Ife citizen or Ile Ife town is an abomination, high treason and sacrilegious act that can lead to complete extermination of a particular Yoruba group, as all other Yoruba groups will come together to fight against any Yoruba that fight or attack Ife citizen or towns. The case in point is how combined Yoruba forces led by Ijebu, Ife and their allies completely destroyed the original habitat of Orile-Owu or Owu-Ipole and their Ikija allies forcing them to flee to seek sanctuary at Abeokuta among the Egbas, when Owu people under the leadership of Olowu Amororo attacked Ife towns. The result result of Olowu`s action became a disaster for the Owu people in their original abode and threw the whole of Yoruba land into civil war. In fact, the Owu were thoroughly defeated by the combined forces of Ibadan and Ijebu, and the Oni of Ife, the spiritual head of the Yorubas, ordered with his constitutional authority, that the Owu capital, Orile-Owu must be destroyed with no human existence. According to Samuel Johnson in his renowned book "The History of the Yoruba" Owu was rendered helpless as famine emerged and they "began for the first time to eat those large beans called popondo (or awuje) hitherto considered unfit for food; hence the taunting songs of the allies : —<br />
"Popondo I'ara Owu nje. (The Owus now live on propondo)<br />
Aje f'ajaga bo 'run." (That done, their necks for the yoke)<br />
<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/iya-osun-2.jpg" height="456" width="640" /><br />
Unto this day, whoever would hum this ditty within the hearing of an Owu man, must look out for an accident to his own person. Ikija was the only Egba town which befriended the city of Owu in her straits hence after the fall of the latter town, the combined armies went to punish her for supplying Owu with provisions during the siege. Being a much smaller town, they soon made short work of it. After the destruction of Ikija,^ the allies returned to their former camp at Idi Ogungun (under the Ogiingun tree). "Owu was thenceforth placed under an interdict, never to be rebuilt ; and it was resolved that in future, however great might be the population of Oje — the nearest town to it — the town walls should not extend as far as the Ogungun tree, where the camp was pitched. Consequently to this day, although the land may be cultivated yet no one is allowed to build a house on it." (Johnson, 1928)<br />
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According to Fashogbon (1995) recounting the oral historical handout of the ancient Yoruba town of Ile-Ife submits that “it is the first creation in this world”. Ile-Ife is the holy city, the home of divinities and mysterious spirits, the source of all oceans and the gateway to heaven. A school of thought even speculates that Ile-Ife was the seat of civilization from where Egypt received its civilization which later spread to the Hebrews and the Babylonians then to the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and finally to the Britons (Fabunmi, 1969).<br />
Ile-Ife’s prominence in the ritual system like 'Ifa' and 'Ijala' has helped in preserving the city’s significance in Yoruba culture despite its political decline. Generally, therefore, Ile-Ife has earned many enviable appellations, viz:<br />
Ile-Ife, ile Owuro Ile-Ife, the land of the most ancient days<br />
Ile-Ife, Oodaye Ile-Ife, where the word of creation took place<br />
Ile-Ife, Ibi ti ojumo ti mowa Ile-Ife, where the dawn of the day was first experienced<br />
Ile-Ife, Ori aye gbogbo Ile-Ife, head of the whole universe<br />
Ile-Ife, Ooye Lagbo Ile-Ife the city of the Survivors.<br />
(Fashogbon, op.cit)<br />
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Ori-olokun sculpture which sits at the entrance of the ancestral city of Ile Ife. The ancient city is home to beautifully preserved artworks in bronze and terracotta which holds the potential for authentic ethnological studies of Yoruba culture, these are on show in its museum of Ife antiquities located in the Kings palace at Enuwa Square Ile Ife.</div>
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Yoruba oral history even testifies to it that Oduduwa the progenitor of the Yoruba, and other ‘Leaders of Mankind’ (deities and divinities) were the Survivors (Ooye Lagbo) after the deluge and that they were the founders of Ile-Ife whence the people migrated to the different territories they presently occupy (Fashogbon, 1995).<br />
Yoruba people see Ife as a place where the founding deities Oduduwa and Obatala began the creation of the world, as directed by the paramount deity Olodumare. Obàtálá created the first humans out of clay, while Odùduwà became the first divine king of the Yoruba. But it must be emphasised that Oduduwa and Obatala met aboriginal people on the land. Regardless of the considerable differences between the various Yoruba myths as to which deity could claim to be the world's creator, all agree on one factor, the presence of a hunter named Ore at the time. In the most widespread account, when Odudua came down to create the Earth, he found that Ore, an aboriginal hunter, was already established there (Idowu, 23). In the major opposing legend, in which Obatala is credited with creating the world, Ore (Oreluere) is said to have come down with the first party that Obatala sent to Earth (Idowu, 20). Both versions express concern for a legitimate claim to the Ife lands (i.e., creation of) and, in turn, control over them. Though the accounts differ as to the creator (Odudua or Obatala), they both indicate that the hunter Ore (Oreluere) had rightful claim to the land. Interestingly, according to T. J. Bowen (Adventures and Missionary Labours in Several Countries in the Interior of Africa from 1849 to 1956, London, 1857, 267), the "great mother" of the Yoruba is worshipped under the name of Iymmodeh (Iya ommoh Oddeh) "the mother of the hunter's [i.e., Ore's] children."<br />
Yoruba religious history, emerged most likely in the aftermath of the establishment of Ife’s second dynasty in about 1300 CE when many of Ife’s famous early arts appear to have been made, a period closely identified with King Obalufon II. This ruler is credited not only with bringing peace to this center, and with commissioning an array of important arts (bronze casting, beaded regalia, weaving), but also with a new city plan in which the palace and market are located in the center surrounded by various religious sanctuaries arrayed in relationship to it. This plan features four main avenues leading into the city, each roughly running along a cardinal axis through what were once manned gates that pierced the circular city walls at points broadly consistent with the cardinal directions. The plan of Ile-Ife, which may have housed some 125,000 inhabitants in that era, offers important clues into early Yoruba views of both cosmology and directional primacy.<br />
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Ooni (King) of Ile Ife, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II. He is also Nigeria`s second richest King and Africa`s third richest king with his net worth at least $75 million . His money comes from Construction, Property, and Oil. Source <a href="http://www.fuse.com./">www.fuse.com.</a><br />
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In Ife artistic works, important people were often depicted with large heads because the artists believed that the Ase was held in the head, the Ase being the inner power and energy of a person. Their rulers were also often depicted with their mouths covered so that the power of their speech would not be too great. They did not idealize individual people, but they tended rather to idealize the office of the king. The city was a settlement of substantial size between the 9th and 12th centuries, with houses featuring potsherd pavements. Ilé-Ifè is known worldwide for its ancient and naturalistic bronze, stone and terracotta sculptures, which reached their peak of artistic expression between 1200 and 1400 A.D. After this period, production declined as political and economic power shifted to the nearby kingdom of Benin which, like the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, developed into a major empire.<br />
Bronze and terracotta art created by this civilization are significant examples of realism in pre-colonial African art.<br />
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Ile Ife - Western Nigeria - Oranmiyan Obelisk, the origin of the world according to Yoruba mythology</div>
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In his book, "The Oral Traditions in Ile-Ife," Yemi D. Prince referred to the terracotta artists of 900 A.D. as the founders of Art Guilds, cultural schools of philosophy, which today can be likened to many of Europe's old institutions of learning that were originally established as religious bodies. These guilds may well be some of the oldest non-Abrahamic African centres of learning to remain as viable entities in the contemporary world. A major exhibition entitled Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures of West Africa, displaying works of art found in Ife and the surrounding area, was held in the British Museum from 4 March to 4 July 2010.<br />
Today a mid-sized city, Ife is home to both the Obafemi Awolowo University and the Natural History Museum of Nigeria. Its people are of the Yoruba ethnic group, one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa and its diaspora (The population of the Yoruba outside of their homeland is said to be more than the population of Yoruba in Nigeria, about 35 million).[citation needed] Ife has a local television station called NTA Ife, and is home to various businesses. It is also the trade center for a farming region where yams, cassava, grain, cacao, and tobacco are grown. Cotton is also produced, and is used to weave cloth. Hotels in Ilé-Ife include Cameroon Hotel, Hotel Diganga Ife-Ibadan road, Mayfair Hotel, Obafemi Awolowo University Guest House etc. Ilé-Ife has a stadium with a capacity of 9,000 and a second division professional league football team.<br />
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The Orunmila Barami Agbonmiregun, the World Ifa Festival was held Saturday June 4-5, 2011 at Oketase the World Ifa Temple, Ile-Ife.<br />
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Mythic origin of Ife, the holy city: Creation of the world<br />
The Yoruba claim to have originated in Ife. According to their mythology, Olodumare, the Supreme God, ordered Obatala to create the earth but on his way he found palm wine, drank it and became intoxicated. Therefore the younger brother of the latter, Oduduwa, took the three items of creation from him, climbed down from the heavens on a chain and threw a handful of earth on the primordial ocean, then put a cockerel on it so that it would scatter the earth, thus creating the land on which Ile Ife would be built. Oduduwa planted a palm nut in a hole in the newly formed land and from there sprang a great tree with sixteen branches, a symbolic representation of the clans of the early Ife city-state.<br />
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The usurpation of creation by Oduduwa gave rise to the ever lasting conflict between him and his elder brother Obatala, which is still re-enacted in the modern era by the cult groups of the two clans during the Itapa New Year festival. On account of his creation of the world Oduduwa became the ancestor of the first divine king of the Yoruba, while Obatala is believed to have created the first humans out of clay. The meaning of the word "ife" in Yoruba is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" is therefore in reference to the myth of origin "The Land of Expansion". Due to this fact, the city is commonly regarded as the cradle of not just the Yoruba culture, but all of humanity as well, especially by the followers of the Yoruba faith.<br />
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Oduduwa had sons, daughters and a grandson who went on to found their own kingdoms and empires, namely Ila Orangun, Owu, Ketu, Sabe, Popo, Oyo and Benin. Oranmiyan, Oduduwa's last born, was one of his father's principal ministers and overseer of the nascent Edo empire after Oduduwa granted the plea of the Edo people for his governance. When Oranmiyan decided to go back to Ile Ife after a period of service in Benin, he left behind a child named Eweka that he had in the interim with an indigenous princess. The young boy went on to become the first legitimate ruler of the second Edo dynasty that has ruled what is now Benin from that day to this. Oranmiyan later went on to found the Oyo empire that stretched at its height from the western banks of the river Niger to the Eastern banks of the river Volta. It would serve as one of the most powerful of Africa's medieval states prior to its collapse in the 19th century.<br />
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Oba Adesoji Aderemi Ooni of Ife. Circa 1940</div>
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Language<br />
The people of Ife speak a unique and authentic Central Yoruba (CY) dialect of Yoruba language which belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language family. Apart from Ife, the other Yoruba sub-groups that speak Central Yoruba (CY) dialects are Igbomina, Yagba, Ilésà, Ekiti, Akurẹ, Ẹfọn, and Ijẹbu areas.<br />
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History of Ife Kingdom<br />
In the southern forested region of Nigeria, the largest centralized states were the kingdoms centered on Ile-Ife and Benin which emerged by 1500 CE and the origins of the Ife natives are lost in antiquity (Falola and Heaton 2008, Osasona et al 2009). According to Biobaku (1955) the town was probably founded between the 7th and 10th centuries AD; Jeffrey (1958) opines that it had become a flourishing civilization by the 11th Century. Carbon-dating yielded from work of archaeologists appears to support these views, as it establishes that Ile Ife “was a settlement of substantial size between the 9th and 12th centuries” (Willett, 1971:367, Smith 1988). Drewal et al (1998)also suggested that the site of Ile–Ife was occupied as early as 350 B.C. and consisted of a cluster of hamlets; though little is known about the early occupants except for a city wall at Enuwa and later the construction of another outer city wall. Traditionally, Ile-Ife was divided into five quarters namely Iremo, Okerewe, Moore, Ilode and Ilare and within each quarter were compounds with family lineages (Eluyemi 1978). The traditional Ife kingdom, schematically, could be described as a wheel, with the Oba’s palace as the hub, from which roads radiated like spokes and in relation to which the en-framing town wall represented the rim (Krapf-Askari, 1969; Obateru, 2006). Ile–Ife is regarded therefore as the metropolis of old Yoruba. Though suggested by various scholars including Johnson (1921); Lucas (1948); and Ajayi and Crowther (1972) that Ile-Ife is fabled as the spot where God created man, white and black and from whence they dispersed all over the earth it is yet to be scientifically proven. Fabunmi (1969) further argued that Ile Ife is further regarded and believed to be the cradle of the world. The history of Ile Ife though unwritten is based on oral traditions and referred to as the original home of all things, the place where the day dawns; the holy city, the home of divinities and mysterious spirits (Okelola, 2001). It is however believed that the tradition of the world and of the origin of the peoples and their state centers on Ile Ife, the source whence all the major rulers of the then southern Nigeria derive the sanctions of their kingship where gods, shrines and festivals forms the center of religion (Smith 1988).<br />
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Ile Ife translated as the spreading of the earth with 'Ife' meaning ‘wide’ and the prefix 'Ile' meaning ‘home’ could refer to the creation of the whole world (Smith 1988). Harris (1997) describes Ile-Ife as ‘the place where things spread out, where people left’. There are suggestions that the present Ife town does not stand upon its original site due to difficulty in establishing a coherent account of the past of Ife (Crowder 1962, Smith 1988). Despite the above suggestions Ile Ife is claimed to be the mother city whence all Yoruba people hailed: this is apparent as each princedom were founded and situated few miles from the mother city (Okelola 2001). This myth provides the charter for the Yoruba people, providing them with a sense of unity through a common origin (Bascom 1969). Ile Ife in the Yoruba belief is the oldest of all the Yoruba towns given that it was from Ile Ife that all other towns were founded (Krapf-Askari, 1969). the town provides the fundamental and continuity of great deal of identity conceptualization for the modern Yoruba with it's role as a center from which Yoruba culture emanates and a place for validation of Yoruba authority (Harris 1997). There was a monarch called Ogane who reigned in ancient Ife whom modern scholars have identified as the Ooni of Ife (Pereira 1937, Krapf-Askari 1969, Harris, 1997). The Ooni or Onife is regarded as the spiritual head of the Yoruba whose influence was not confined to his own kingdom but was also exercised over other Yoruba kingdoms through the sanctions of kinship and by ancient constitutional devices (Smith 1988). The Ooni is believed to be a sacred being because he sits on the throne of Oduduwa at Ile-Ife.<br />
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Statue of Moremi at Moremi Hall (UNILAG) . Moremi was the wife of Oranmiyan. A woman of tremendous beauty and a faithful and zealous supporter of her husband and the Kingdom of Ile Ife.<br />
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The Ikedu tradition, though unpublicised is the oldest Ife tradition portraying the origin of the Yoruba people and it is clear from this tradition that Oduduwa did not belong to this early period of the emergence of the Yorubas’ as a distinct language group (Olatunji 1996). Okelola (2001) acknowledges that it is hard to establish when the city of Ile-Ife was founded but recognises that Oduduwa was the first King of Ile Ife Kingdom. Akinjogbin (1980),Olatunji (1996) and Adelogun (1999) contrary to Okelola (2001) suggests that there were between ninety three to ninety seven kings who reigned at Ile-Ife before Oduduwa led his people to Ile-Ife. This was confirmed by the archeological evidence unearthed in and around Ile-Ife which dated back to 410 B.C that proves the possibility of human settlement before the advent of Oduduwa (Adelogun 1999). Oduduwa though credited for the establishment of a centralised state at Ife is suggested to have encountered indigenous peop,le in the region (Falola and Heaton, 2008). This centralised state formed by Oduduwa . has contributed to the Kingdom of Ile-Ife being the strong hold of indigenous worship as well as the spiritual headquarters of the Yoruba Kingdom (Lucas 1948: Okelola 2001).<br />
The city of Ile-Ife today sits in what is today Osun State in southern Nigeria located on the longitude 4.6N and 7.5°N, surrounded by hills and is about fifty miles (80.467kms) to Ibadan and Osogbo (Philips, 1852; White, 1876). The city popularly known to as Ile-Ife and the people are referred to as 'Ife' who also refer to the town as 'Ife' or 'Ilurun' which means ‘the gateway to heaven’ (Eluyemi 1986:16). Confirmed to be situated on the site of ancient Ile Ife due to the location of the seven brass castings excavated from the ancient Ife sites which were in corresponding stratigraphic positions confirming that a settlement of substantial size existed there between the ninth and twelfth centuries (Willet, 1967). He also confirmed that the terracotta sculpture and lost wax (cire-perdue) castings were made there from early in the present millennium. Ile-Ife’s prominence in the ritual system like 'Ifa' and 'Ijala' has helped in preserving the city’s significance in Yoruba culture despite its political decline.<br />
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Freedom’ ceremony. Taken at Ile-Ife in present day Osun State. 1968. Freedom ceremonies marked women’s graduation into professions such as nursing and tailoring<br />
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Among the first of the Ife works to reach the West were those brought to Europe by the British colonial governor Gilbert Thomas Carter. According to Samuel Johnson (p. 647) "three of those national and ancestral works of art known as the 'Ife marbles' "were given to Carter in 1896 by<br />
Adelekan, the then recently crowned king of Ife. Johnson explains that the king gave them to Governor Carter in an effort to gain a positive decision concerning the resettlement of Modakeke residents outside the city.<br />
Past Ooni of Ife<br />
1ST ODUDUWA<br />
2ND OSANGANGAN OBAMAKIN<br />
3RD OGUN<br />
4TH OBALUFON OGBOGBODIRIN<br />
5TH OBALUFON ALAYEMORE<br />
6TH ORANMIYAN<br />
7TH AYETISE<br />
8TH LAJAMISAN<br />
9TH LAJODOOGUN<br />
10TH LAFOGIDO<br />
11TH ODIDIMODE ROGBEESIN<br />
12TH AWOROKOLOKIN<br />
13TH EKUN<br />
14TH AJIMUDA<br />
15TH GBOONIJIO<br />
16TH OKANLAJOSIN<br />
17TH ADEGBALU<br />
18TH OSINKOLA<br />
19TH OGBORUU<br />
20TH GIESI<br />
21ST LUWOO (FEMALE)<br />
22ND LUMOBI<br />
23RD AGBEDEGBEDE<br />
24TH OJELOKUNBIRIN<br />
25TH LAGUNJA<br />
26TH LARUNNKA<br />
27TH ADEMILU<br />
28TH OMOGBOGBO<br />
29TH AJILA-OORUN<br />
30TH ADEJINLE<br />
31ST OLOJO<br />
32ND OKITI<br />
33RD LUGBADE<br />
34TH ARIBIWOSO<br />
35TH OSINLADE<br />
36TH ADAGBA<br />
37TH OJIGIDIRI<br />
38TH AKINMOYERO<br />
1770-1800<br />
39TH GBANLARE<br />
1800-1823<br />
40TH GBEGBAAJE<br />
1823-1835<br />
41ST WUNMONIJE<br />
1835-1839<br />
42ND ADEGUNLE ADEWELA<br />
1839-1849<br />
43RD DEGBINSOKUN<br />
1849-1878<br />
44TH ORARIGBA<br />
1878-1880<br />
45TH DERIN OLOGBENLA- He was a powerful warrior!<br />
1880-1894<br />
46TH ADELEKAN (OLUBUSE I)- He was the first Ooni to travel outside Ile-Ife to<br />
Lagos in 1903 when he was invited by the then Governor General to settle the<br />
dispute involving Elepe of Epe. All Yoruba Kings including the Alaafin left<br />
their respective thrones as a mark of respect for the Ooni. They returned to<br />
their respective stools after Ooni returned to Ile-Ife from Lagos. Oba Adelekan<br />
Olubuse was nicknamed 'ERIOGUN'; Akitikori; Ebitikimopiri.<br />
1894-1910<br />
47TH ADEKOLA<br />
1910-1910<br />
48TH ADEMILUYI (AJAGUN) - He also was reputed to be a powerful Monarch.<br />
1910-1930<br />
49TH ADESOJI ADEREMI- Very intelligent with good foresight, he was invited to be<br />
minister without portfolio when he ruled from 1951 to 1955. He was the first<br />
indigenous governor of Western Nigeria. One of his most laudable achievements<br />
was the establishment of the GREAT University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo<br />
University) at Ile-Ife.<br />
1930-1980<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_XGj8J02b5b07mZHlC0Wsv_zghBf3Ru8rgTZNnJdVjhR3RV_8K9wybCCeHe3R6B1Gqg2qNP26y77IKHrFB4mzb9Ta2JRq8FOz4e6fhQpn_33w-HNijO7hIJAaasTMYV1oGpC-QqiXONjA/s640/Ife+1.JPG" height="480" width="640" /><br />
His Royal Highness, Aleyeluwa, Oba Okunade Sijuade, Olubuse II, The Oni of Ife, Ile Ife, Osun State, arriving at the National Museum, Onikan Lagos for the opening ceremony in his car, on Friday, May 18, 2012..<br />
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Religion<br />
Like most towns, the people are religion conscious. The three main religions in the city are Christianity, Islam and traditional. Traditional religion appears flourishing than the other two as most people who belong to either of the former two also have soft spot for the age-long religion. So being a Christian or a Moslem does not preclude you from the traditional religion, which the elders hold in high esteem. It is not uncommon to be a leader in a denomination and still hold chieftaincy title that has to do with shrine.<br />
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Here, Olojo is the biggest festival on the Ife cultural calendar. This festival is held annually to commemorate Oduduwa’s descent from heaven. It is during the Olojo festival that Ooni wears Aare crown. Aare is a mysterious crown worn only once in a year and it is believed to possess the power that instantly transfigure Ooni to the rank of Orisa (god). With 201 traditional religious festivals, it is only one day that is free that the people do not offer sacrifice at the various shrines that dot the town. This particular day remains a secret the chief and priests of the kingdom keep so dear to the heart.<br />
<img src="http://yorubasacredsciencecentre.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/africa-0162.jpg" height="479" width="640" /><br />
Ifa is another sect that attracts good number of the people. Unlike what obtains in most other towns where Ifa worship is individualized and confined to illiterate priests or Babalawo in ramshackled buildings, it has been modernised such that one may mistake its worship centre for a church. Incidentally, their worship session is on Sunday like their Christian counterparts. When Sunday Sun visited the imposing Ifa Auditorium on top of a hill, near Ife Town Hall, children were seen playing unmolested. The children admitted that they also worship in the Ifa hall along with the elders. The main auditorium is the Headquarters of Ifa Worship Worldwide, which was being prepared to host a meeting of all worshippers round the globe last month. Araba is the chief priest.<br />
Some of the main gods they worship include Obatala, Ogun, Olokun, Orunmila, Olojo, Sango, Ifa, Osun, Ela, Oya, Yemoja, Oranmiyan. These are what they call ‘sky gods’ that control virtually everything on earth. Many hold that Ife is a fetish town ruled by powers of darkness, but the chiefs and leaders of the town think otherwise. Such views to them can only be from one who is mentally unstable.<br />
<img src="http://osupa.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/sda-church-one-of-the-oldest-stone-buildings-in-ife.jpg" height="478" width="640" /><br />
One of the oldest Stone buildings in Ile-Ife is the beautifully preserved Seventh Day Adventist church built over a 100 years ago.<br />
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Dressing<br />
The people love dressing well in either their native attire or westernized way. Though English garb has eroded the traditional pattern of dressing like in other Nigerian cities, native wears are still prevalent among the middle age and the elderly. When an Ife man puts on Buba, he dons cap to complete the dressing. The women are even more compliant in matters of tradition. Though Chief Ijaodola claimed that Aso Ofi is the main custume of his people, Ankara fabric is the commonest textile of the people today. The Ooni himself is an example in splendid sartorial taste. Each time he comes out, he is pleasant to behold in his expensive apparel.<br />
One thing very noticeable in the dressing of Ife people is that a high sense of discipline and morality is still displayed. It is almost impossible to see a lady-young or old in revealing clothes or in one that shows the upper or lower cleavage. Not even with Ife being a university town will one see beckoning types of dressing on its streets.<br />
Sola Omisore has an explanation for the decent dressing. “Discipline is instilled through family lineage. We know ourselves. So if a lady dresses indecently, people will say: Is this not the child of so so? Don’t think because Ife is a city that we don’t know ourselves.”<br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>Art in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b> Suzanne Preston Blier</b></span><br />
Artists the world over shape knowledge and material into works of unique historical importance. The artists of ancient Ife, ancestral home to the Yoruba and mythic birthplace of gods and humans, clearly were interested in creating works that could be read. Breaking the symbolic code that lies behind the unique meanings of Ife’s ancient sculptures, however, has vexed scholars working on this material for over a century. While much remains to be learned, thanks to a better understanding of the larger corpus of ancient Ife arts and the history of this important southwestern Nigerian center, key aspects of this code can now be discerned. In this article I explore how these arts both inform and are enriched by early Ife history and the leaders who shaped it.1 In addition to<br />
core questions of art iconography and symbolism, I also address the potent social, political, religious, and historical import of these works and what they reveal about Ife (Ile-Ife) as an early<br />
cosmopolitan center.<br />
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(Fig 1) Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century ce</div>
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Copper. Height: 33 cm</div>
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Retained in the palace since the time of its manufacture</div>
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(through the early twentieth century) where it</div>
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was identified as King Obalufon Alaiyemore (Obalufon</div>
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II). Nigeria National Museums, Lagos Mus. reg.</div>
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no. 38.1.2.</div>
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Photo: Karin Willis, courtesy of the National Commission</div>
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of Monuments and Museums, Nigeria and The</div>
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Museum for African Art, New York</div>
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My analysis moves away from the recent framing of ancient Ife art from the vantage of Yoruba cultural practices collected in Nigeria more broadly, and/or the indiscriminate use of regional and modern Yoruba proverbs, poems, or language idioms to inform this city’s unique 700-year-old sculptural oeuvre. Instead I focus on historical and other considerations in metropolitan Ife itself. This shift is an important one because Ife’s history, language, and art forms are notably different than those in the wider Yoruba region and later eras. My approach also differs from recent studies that either ahistorically superimpose contemporary cultural conventions on the reading of ancient works or unilinearly posit art development models concerning form or material differences that lack grounding in Ife archaeological evidence. My aim instead is to reengage these remarkable ancient works alongside diverse evidence on this center’s past and the time frame specific to when these sculptures were made. In this way I bring art and history into direct engagement with each other, enriching both within this process.<br />
One of the most important events in ancient Ife history with respect to both the early arts and later era religious and political traditions here was a devastating civil war pitting one group, the supporters of Obatala (referencing today at once a god, a deity pantheon, and the region’s autochthonous populations) against affiliates of Odudua (an opposing deity, religious pantheon, and newly arriving dynastic group). The Ikedu oral history text addressing Ife’s history (an annotated kings list transposed from the early Ife dialect; Akinjogbin n.d.) indicates that it was during the reign of Ife’s 46th king—what appears to be two rulers prior to the famous King Obalufon II (Ekenwa? Fig. 1)—that this violent civil war broke out. This conflict weakened the city enough so that there was little resistance when a military force under the conqueror Oranmiyan (Fig. 2) arrived in this historic city. The dispute likely was framed in part around issues of control of Ife’s rich manufacturing resources (glass beads, among these). Conceivably it was one of Ife’s feuding polities that invited this outsider force to come to Ife to help rectify the situation for their side.<br />
As Akinjogbin explains (1992:98), Oranmiyan and his calvary, after gaining control of Ife “… stemmed the … uprising by siding with the weaker … of the disunited pre-Oduduwa groups .…<br />
[driving Obalufon II] into exile at Ilara and became the Ooni.” Eventually, the deposed King Obalufon II with the help of a large segment of Ife’s population was able to defeat this military<br />
leader and the latter’s supporters. In Ife today, Odudua is identified in ways that complement Oranmiyan. As Akintitan explains (p.c.): “It was Odudua who was the last to come to Ife, a man<br />
who arrived as a warrior, and took advantage of the situation to impose himself on Ife people.” King Obalufon II, who came to rule twice at Ife, is positioned in local king lists both at the end<br />
of the first (Obatala) dynasty and at the beginning of the second (Odudua) dynasty. He is also credited with bringing peace (a negotiated truce) to the once feuding parties.<br />
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Fig 2, Oranmiyan Staff</div>
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Political History and Art at Ancient Ife<br />
What or whom do these early arts depict? Many of the ancient Ife sculptures are identified today with individuals who lived in the era in which Ife King Obalufon II was on the throne and/<br />
or participated in the civil war associated with his reign. This and other evidence suggests that Obalufon II was a key sponsor or patron of these ancient arts, an idea consistent with this<br />
king’s modern identity as patron deity of bronze casting, textiles, regalia, peace, and wellbeing. It also is possible that a majority of the ancient Ife arts were created in conjunction with the famous<br />
truce that Obalufon II is said to have brokered once he returned to power between the embattled Ife citizens as he brought peace to this long embattled city (Adediran 1992:91; Akintitan p.c.).<br />
As part of his plan to reunite the feuding parties, Obalufon II also is credited with the creation of a new city plan with a large, high-walled palace at its center. Around the perimeters, the compounds of key chiefs from the once feuding lineages were positioned. King Obalufon II seems at the same time to have pressed for the erection of new temples in the city and the refurbishment of older ones, these serving in part to honor the leading chiefs on both sides of the dispute. Ife’s ancient art works likely functioned as related temple furnishings.<br />
One particularly art-rich shrine complex that may have come into new prominence as part of Obalufon II’s truce is that honoring the ancient hunter Ore, a deity whose name also features<br />
in one of Obalufon’s praise names. Ore is identified both as an important autochthonous Ife resident and as an opponent to “Odudua.” A number of remarkable granite figures in the Ore<br />
Grove were the focus of ceremonies into the mid-twentieth century. One of these works called Olofefura (Fig. 4) is believed to represent the deified Ore (Dennett 1910:21; Talbot 1926 2:339;<br />
Allison 1968:13). Features of the sculpture suggest a dwarf or sufferer of a congenital disorder in keeping with the identity of many first (Obatala) dynasty shrine figures with body anomalies or disease. Regalia details also offer clues. A three-strand choker encircles Olofefura’s neck; three bracelet coils embellish the wrist; three tassels hang from the left hip knot. These features link this work—and Ore—to the earth, autochthony, and to the Ogboni association, a group promoted by Obalufon II in part to preserve the rights of autochthonous residents.<br />
The left hip knot shown on the wrapper of this work, as well as that of the taller, more elegant Ore Grove priest or servant figure (Fig. 5), also recalls one of Ife’s little-known origin myths within the Obatala priestly family (Akintitan p.c.). According to this myth, Obatala hid the ase (vital force) necessary for Earth’s solidity within this knot, requiring his younger brother Odudua, after his theft of materials from Obatala, to wait for the latter’s help in completing the task. Consistent with this, Ogboni members are said to tie their cloth wrappers on the left hip in memory of Obatala’s use of this knot to safeguard the requisite ase (Owakinyin p.c.). Iron inserts in the coiffure of the taller Ore figure complement those secured in the surface of the Oranmiyan staff (Fig. 2), indicating that this sculpture—like many ancient Ife works of stone—were made in the same era, e.g. the early<br />
fourteenth century.<br />
An additional noteworthy feature of these figures, and others, is the importance of body proportion ratios. Among the Yoruba today, the body is seen to comprise three principal parts: head, trunk, and legs (Ajibade n.d.:3). Many Ife sculptural examples (see Fig. 4; compare also Figs. 15–16) emphasize a larger-thanlife size scale of the head (orí) in relationship to the rest of the body (a roughly 1:4 ratio). Yoruba scholars have seen this headprivileging ratio as reinforcing the importance of this body part as a symbol of ego and destiny (orí), personality (wú), essential<br />
nature (ìwà), and authority (àse) (Abimbola 1975:390ff, Abiodun 1994, Abiodun et. al 1991:12ff).6 Or as Ogunremi suggests (1998:113), such features highlight: “The wealth or poverty of the nation … [as] equated with the ‘head’ (orí) of the ruler of a particular locality.”<br />
Both here and in ancient Ife art more generally, however, there is striking variability in related body proportions. Such ratios range from roughly 1:4 for the Ore grove deity figure (Fig. 4), the complete copper alloy king figure (Fig. 15), the couple from Ita Yemoo (Fig. 8), and many of the terracotta sculptures, to roughly 1:6 for the taller stone Ore grove figures (Fig. 5) and the copper seated figure from Tada (Fig. 11). Why these proportional differences exist in Ife art is not clear, but issues of class and/or status appear to be key. Whereas sculptures of Ife royals and gods often show 1:4 ratios, most nonroyals show proportions much closer to life. In ancient Ife art, the higher the status, the greater likelihood that body proportions will differ from nature in ways that greatly enhance the size of the head. This not only highlights the head as a prominent status and authority marker, but also points to the primacy of social difference in visual rendering.<br />
While many Ife (and Yoruba) scholars have focused on how the head is privileged in relationship to the body, what also is important, and to date overlooked, is that the belly is equally important. The full, plump torsos (chest and stomachs) of Ife figures depicting rulers and deities complement modern Yoruba beliefs about health and well being on the one hand, and wealth and power on the other. Related ideas are suggested by the modern Yoruba term odù (“full”) which, when applied to an individual, means both “he has blessing in abundance” and “fortune shines on him”(Idowu 1962:33). A full belly is vital to royals and deities not only as a reference to qualities of wellbeing but also as markers of state and religious fullness. In his extended discussion of the concept of odù, the indigenous Ife religious scholar Idowu notes (1962:33) that the same term also indicates a “very<br />
large and deep pot (container)” and by extension anything that is of “sizable worth” and/or “superior quality.” This word features centrally in the name for the high god, Ol-odù-marè. According to Idowu (1962:34) the latter use of the term signifies “He is One who is superlative,” odù here invoking his very extraordinariness. Because large ceramic vessels called odù were employed in ancient Ife contexts as containers for highly valued goods such as beads and art (including the Ita Yemoo king figure, Fig. 16), this idiom offers an interesting modern complement and descriptor for early Ife sculptural portrayals of gods and kings as containers holding many benefits. A complementary feature of many ancient Ife works is that of composure or inner calm (àìkominún, “tranquility of the mind” in modern Yoruba; Abraham 1958:388). This notable quality finds potential expression through the complete repose shown in their faces of early Ife art (Figs. 1, 15, 16), a quality that increases the sense of monumentality and power in these remarkable works.<br />
The ancient Ife arts from Ife’s Ore shrine, which appear to have been carved as a single sculptural group, include a stone vessel with crocodiles on its sides (Fig. 6). On its lid a frog (or toad) is shown in the jaws of a snake. The latter motif references the contestation between Obatala and Odudua for the center’s control (Akintitan p.c.; Adelekan p.c.). According Akintitan (p.c.), this design addresses the less-than-straight manner in which Odudua asserted control over Ife, since poisonous snakes are thought not to consume frogs (and toads). The crocodile, like several other animal figurations from this grove, honor Ore’s hunting and fishing prowess. Carved crocodiles, giant eggs, a mudfish (African lung fish), and an elephant tusk reference the watery realm that dominated primordial Ife. A granite slab from this same site shows evenly placed holes (Fig. 7). This work served perhaps as a real or metaphoric measuring device for Ife’s changing water levels, in keeping both with frequent flooding here (referenced in local accounts about Obalufon II’s wife<br />
Queen Moremi) as well as Ife origin myths in which the Earth is said to have been formed only after Odudua sprinkled dirt upon the water’s surface (Idowu 1962, Blier 2004). One especially striking art-rich Ife site that also seems to have been identified with Obalufon II and his famous political truce is Ita Yemoo, the term yemoo serving as the title for first dynasty Ife queens. This temple complex lies near the site where the annual Edi festival terminates. The Edi ritual is dedicated to Obalufon II’s wife, Moremi, who also at one time was married to Obalufon II’s adversary, the conqueror Oranmiyan. One of the most striking works from Ita Yemoo is a copper alloy casting of a king and queen (Fig. 8) with interlocked arms and legs. The male royal wears a simian skull on his hip, a symbol of Obatala (monkeys evoking the region’s early occupants) and this deity’s identity with Ife’s autochthonous residents and first dynasty line. The female points toward the ground, gesturing toward Odudua as both second dynasty founder and later Yoruba earth god. This royal couple appears to reference in this way not only the painful Ife dynastic struggle between competing Ife families and chiefs, but also the political and religious marriage promoted by Obalufon II between the these groups as part of his truce. Interestingly, a steatite head recovered by Frobenius at Offa (Moremi’s hometown north of Ife) wears a similar queen’s crown. Offa is adjacent to Esie where a group of similar steatite figures were found.<br />
These Esie works conceivably also were identified with Moremi, the local heroine who became Ife’s queen.<br />
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A second copper alloy figure of a queen from the Ita Yemoo site is a tiny sculpture showing a recumbent crowned female circumscribing a vessel set atop a throne. She holds a scepter in one hand; the other grasps the throne’s curving handle (Fig.9). Her seat depicts a miniature of the quartz and granite stools identified in the modern era primarily with Ife’s autochthonous (Obatala-linked) priests. The scepter that she holds is similar to another work from Ita Yemoo depicting a man with unusual (for Ife) diagonal cheek mark (Willett 2004:M26a), a pattern similar to markings worn by northern Yoruba residents from Offa among other areas. The recumbent queen’s unusual composition appears to reference the transfer of power at Ife from the first dynasty rulership group to the new (second) dynasty line of kings, here symbolized through a queen, what appears to be<br />
Queen Moremi, the wife of Obalufon II.<br />
Another striking Ita Yemoo sculpture, a Janus staff mount shares similar symbolism. The work depicts two gagged human heads positioned back-to-back, one with vertical line facial marks, the other plain-faced, suggesting the union of two dynasties. This scepter likely was used as a club and<br />
evokes both the punishment that befell supporters of either dynastic group committing serious crimes and the unity of the two factions in state rituals involving human offerings, among these coronations. This scepter mount’s weight and heightened arsenic content reinforces this identity. A larger Janus scepter mount from this same site depicts on one side a youthful head and on the other a very elderly man, consistent with two different dynasty portrayals, and the complementary royal unification/division themes.<br />
A large Ife copper figure of a seated male was recovered at Tada (Fig. 11), an important Niger River crossing point situated some 200 km northeast of Ife. This sculpture is linked in important<br />
ways not only to King Obalufon II, but also to Ife trade, regional economic vitality, and the key role of this ruler in promoting Ogboni (called Imole in Ife), the association dedicated to both autochthonous rights and trade. The work is stylistically very similar to the Obalufon mask (Fig. 1). Both are made of pure copper and were probably cast by members of the same workshop. Although the forearms and hands of the seated figure are now missing, enough remains to suggest that they may have been positioned in front of the body in a way resembling the well-known Ogboni association gestural motif of left hand fisted above right (Fig. 12). This same gesture is referenced in the smaller standing figure (also cast of pure copper) from this same Tada shrine (Fig. 13). Obalufon descendant Olojudo reaffirmed (p.c.) the gestural identity of the standing Tada figure. As I have argued elsewhere (1985) Yoruba works of copper are associated primarily with Ogboni and Obalufon, consistent with the latter ruler’s association with bronze casting and economic wellbeing.<br />
Another notable Ogboni reference in these two copper works from Tada is the diamond-patterned wrapper (Morton Williams 1960:369, Aronson 1992) tied at the left hip with a knot. How the ancient Ife seated sculpture (and other works) found their way to this Tada shrine has been a subject of consider able scholarly debate. I concur with Thurstan Shaw in his view (1973:237) that these sculptures most likely were brought to this critical river-crossing point because of the site’s identity with Niger River trade. As Shaw notes (1973:237) these works seem to be linked to Yoruba commercial engagement along the Niger River “… marking perhaps important toll or control points of that trade.” Specifically, the seated Tada figure offers important evidence of Ife’s early control of this critical Niger River crossing point. Copper alloy castings of an elephant and two ostriches (animals identified with valuable regional trade goods) which were found on this same Tada site likely reference the importance of ivory and exotic feathers in the era’s long distance trade. The goddess Olokun (Fig. 14) who spans both the first and second dynasty religious pantheons, is closely identified with promoting related commerce.<br />
<br />
Contesting Dynasties: Politics of the Body<br />
Two copper alloy castings depicting royals (Figs. 15–16) offer important insight into early Ife society, politics, and history. One is the half-figure of a male from Ife’s Wunmonije site,<br />
where a corpus of life-size copper alloy heads (Figs. 27–28) was unearthed. The other sculpture is the notably similar full-length standing figure from the Ife site of Ita Yemoo, the locale where<br />
the royal couple (Fig. 8), tiny enthroned queen sculpture (Fig. 9), and metal scepter (Fig. 10) were created. Based on style and similarities in form, the two works clearly were fashioned around the<br />
same time, conceivably during Obalufon II’s reign. Their crowns are different from the tall, conical, veiled are crowns worn by Ife monarchs today. The latter crown a form also seen on the tiny Ife<br />
figure of a king found in Benin (Fig. 17).<br />
Based on both their cap-form head coverings and the horn each holds in the left hand, the figures have been identified as portraying rulers in battle (Odewale p.c.). Not only are the rulers’ caps reminiscent of the smaller crowns (arinla) worn by Yoruba rulers in battle, suggests Odewale (p.c.), but historically, antelope horns similar to those carried in their left hands were used in battle. These horns were filled with powerful ase (authority/force/command), substances that could turn the course of war in one’s favor. When so filled, the horns assured that the king’s words would come to pass, a key attribute of Yoruba statecraft. The two appear to be competitors (e.g. competing lineages) vying for theIfe throne, references to the ruling heads of Ife’s first (Obatala) and<br />
second (Odudua) dynasties shown here in ritual battle.<br />
While these two royal sculptures are very similar in style and iconography, there are notable differences, including the treatment of the rulers’ faces—one showing vertical line marks, the<br />
other lacking facial lines. There are also notable distinctions in headdress details, specifically the diadem shapes and cap tiers. The diadem of the Wunmojie king with striated facial marks (Fig. 15) displays a rosette pattern surmounted by a pointed plume, this motif resting atop a concentric circle. The headdress diadem on the plain-faced (unstriated) Ita Yemoo king figure instead consists of a simple concentric circle surmounted by a pointed plume. The rosette diadem of the king with facial striations seems to carry somewhat higher rank, for his diadem is set above the disk-form, as if to mark superior position. Moreover, the cap of the king with vertical facial markings integrates four<br />
tiers of beads while the plain-faced king’s cap shows only three.<br />
These differences both in crown diadem shapes and bead rows suggest that, among other things, the king bearing the vertical line facial marks and rosette-form diadem (the Wunmonije site ruler) carries a rank that is both different from and in some ways higher than that of the plain-faced royal.<br />
There also are striking distinctions in facial marking and regalia details of these two king figures, differences that offer additional insight into the meaning and identity of these and other works from this center. Similar rosette and concentric circle diadem distinctions can be seen in many ancient Ife works. The Aroye vessel (Fig. 18), which displays rosette motifs and a monstrous human head referencing ancient Ife earth spirits (erunmole, imole; Odewale p.c.), may have functioned as a divination vessel linked to Obatala, a form today in Ife that employs a water-filled pot. The copper alloy head of first dynasty Ife goddess Olokun (Fig. 14) also incorporates a rosette with sixteen<br />
petals. Ife chiefs and priests today sometimes wear beaded pendants (peke) that incorporate similar eight-petal flower forms or rosettes. These individuals include a range of primarily Obatala (first dynasty) affiliates: Obalale (the priest of Obatala), Obalase (the Oluorogbo priest), Obalara (the Obalufon priest), and Chief Woye Asire (the priest of Ife springs and markets. Rosette-form<br />
diadems such as these also can be seen on ancient Ife terracotta animals identified with Obatala, among these the elephant (Fig. 20) and duiker antelope heads from the Lafogido site. These<br />
rosettes suggest the importance of plants (flowers), and the primacy of ancient land ownership and gods to the Obatala group.<br />
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Seated figure</div>
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Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century ce</div>
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Copper. Height: 53.7 cm</div>
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Found on a shrine in Tada, on the Niger River, 192</div>
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km. northeast of Ife. Nigeria National Museums,</div>
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Lagos: 79. R. 18. Photo: Karin Willis, courtesy of the National Commission</div>
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of Monuments and Museums, Nigeria and The</div>
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Museum for African Art, New York</div>
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Concentric circle-form diadems, in contrast, seem to reference political agency as linked in part to the new Odudua dynasty (Akintitan p.c., Adelekan p.c.). In part for this reason, a concentric circle is incorporated into the iron gate at the front of the modern Ife palace. Agbaje-Williams notes (1991:11) that the burial spots of important chiefs sometimes are marked with stone circles as well. Concentric circle form diadems are displayed on the terracotta sculptures of ram and hippopotamus<br />
heads from Ife’s Lafogido site. Both animals seem to be connected to the Odudua line and the associated sky deity pantheon of Sango among others (Idowu 1962:94, 142; Matory 1994:96).<br />
If, as Ekpo Eyo suggests (1977:114; see also Eyo 1974) the group of Lafogido site animal sculptures were conceived as royal emblems, their distinctive crown diadems suggest that these<br />
works, like the two king figures, were intended to represent two different dynasties and/or the gods associated with them. The king figure with vertical facial markings and a rosette-form diadem<br />
instantiates the first dynasty or Obatala rulership line. The plain-faced ruler with concentric circle diadem evokes the second or Odudua royal line.<br />
Number symbolism in diadem and other forms is important in these and other ancient Ife art works serving to mark grade and status. According to Ife Obatala Chief Adelekan (p.c), eightpetal rosettes are associated with higher Obatala grades. That the Wunmonije king figure wears an eight-petal rosette (Fig. 15) while the Aroye vessel (Fig. 18) and Olokun head (Fig. 14) incorporate sixteen-petal forms is based on power difference. Eight is the highest number accorded humans, suggests Chief Adelekan, whereas sixteen is used for gods.<br />
<br />
Facial Marking Distinctions: Ife as a Cosmopolitan Center<br />
One of the most striking differences in the two royal figures and other Ife arts can be seen in the variant facial markings. Scholars have put forward several explanations for these facial pattern disparities in Ife and early regional arts. Among the earliest were William Fagg and Frank Willett (1960:31), who identified vertical line facial marks with royal crown veils and the “shadows” cast onto the face by associated strings of beads. This is highly unlikely, however, since many ancient works depicting women and non-royals without crowns display the same vertical facial patterns. Moreover, of the two copper-alloy king figures (Figs. 15–16), only one shows vertical marks, and they both wear a kind of cap (oro) that does not include a beaded veil. Modern woodcarvings of Ife royals wearing traditional veiled crowns also do not show vertical line facial marks. Due to related inconsistencies, Willett would later retract his original shade-line theory and Fagg would not again discuss this in his later scholarship. As suggested above, the presence and lack of vertical facial marks on the two Ife king figures further reinforces the identity of these rulers as leaders of the two competing dynasties.<br />
An array of early and later artistic evidence supports this. Among these is a Lower Niger style vessel (Fig. 21) collected near Benin that displays a human face with vertical markings beneath the head of an elephant, an animal that in Ife is closely identified with Obatala and the first dynasty. This elephant head has its complement in the Lafogido site terracotta elephant head with a rosette-form diadem (Fig. 20), a site where a terracotta head with vertical facial marks also was buried (Eyo 1974). Nineteenth and early twentieth century royal masks of the Igala (a Yorubalinked group) associated with the ancient Akpoto dynasty (who are ancestors of the current Igala rulers), display similar thin vertical line facial markings referencing the early royals of this group (Sargent 1988:32; Boston 1968:172) (Fig. 22). The ancient Ife terracotta head that represents Obalufon I (Osangangan Obamakin, the father of Obalufon II) displays vertical marks (Fig. 23) consistent with the king’s first-dynasty associations. Vertical line facial marks such as these appear to reference Ife royals (as well as other elites) and ideas of autochthony more generally. The fact that some 50 percent of the ancient Ife terracotta heads and figures show vertical line facial markings suggests<br />
how important this group still was in the early second dynasty era when these works were commissioned. The second largest grouping of Ife terracotta works—around 35 percent—show no<br />
facial markings at all, in keeping with modern Ife traditions forbidding facial marking for members of Ife resident families.<br />
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 13th-14th cent., terracotta</span></span></div>
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Ife oral tradition maintains that facial marking practices were at one point outlawed. Accordingly, late nineteenth to early twentieth century art and cultural practices display a strong aversion to facial marks of any type. Most likely it was Ife King Obalufon II who helped promote this change after his return to power as part of his plan for a more lasting truce. This change, and the need sometimes to cover one’s historical family and dynastic identity for reasons of political expediency, is also suggested by two masks, one of terracotta and one of copper, both identified with Obaufon II. One of these (Fig. 1) is plain-faced and the other (Fig. 24) has prominent vertical markings. Consistent with Obalufon II’s role in bringing to Ife, and serving as a key early art patron, his association with masking forms that shield (cover) the identities of the once-competing Ife groups is<br />
noteworthy. Like a majority of ancient Ife sculptures with and without facial marks, these works appear to date to the same period, underscoring the fact that different groups were living together at Ife at this time.<br />
Like the Wunmonije king figure (Fig. 15), the bronze head associated with the goddess Olokun (Fig. 14) also has vertical facial marks and a rosette-decorated crown. Olokun, the ancient Ife finance minister and later commerce, bead, and sea god, is said to date to Ife’s first dynasty. The copper alloy head now in the British Museum, with both vertical facial marks and a concentric circle diadem, appears to reference a chief in one of Ife’s autochthonous lineages (e.g. a number of first dynasty elite) who lived in Ife in the early second dynasty era before the ban on facial marking took effect.<br />
Several Ife heads show thick vertical facial lines. These marks seem to depict individuals participating in rituals in which blister beetles or leaves (from the bùjé plant) were employed to mark the face with short-term patterns on the skin (Willett 1967:Fig. 23). These temporary “marks” may have served as references to first dynasty elites or their descendants during certain Ife rituals<br />
(Owomoyela n.d. n.p.; Willett 1967:Figs. 13–14, pl. 23; see also discussion in Fagg and Willett 1960:31, Drewal 1989:238–39 n. 65). Interestingly, sculptures depicting these thick lines characteristically show flared nostrils and furled brows, suggesting the pain that accompanied facial blistering practices such as these. Several Florescence Era Ife terracotta heads (roughly 5 percent of the whole) display three elliptical “cat whisker” facial marks at the corners of the mouth (Fig. 25) similar to those associated with more recent northeastern Yagba Yoruba, a group who later came under Nupe rule.17 In one such sculpture, the marks extend into the cheeks in a manner consistent with later Yoruba abaja facial markings, indicating an historic connection between the two. According to Andrew Apter (p.c.), a group of Yagba Yoruba occupy an Ife ward where the Iyagba dialect is still sometimes spoken. Most historic Yagba communities are found in the Ekiti Yoruba region where early iron working sites have been found (Obayemi 1992:73, 74).19 It is possible that Ife’s Yagba population was involved in complementary iron-working and smelting activities at this center. This tradition also offers interesting insight into Benin figures holding blacksmith tools with three similar facial marks, works said to depict messengers from Ife.<br />
A rather unusual Janus figure from ancient Ife shows a man with diagonal facial markings similar to those of historic and modern Igbo Nri titleholders, suggesting the role a similar group may have played in early Ife as well. Today it is Chief Obawinrin, head of Ife’s Iwinrin lineage, who represents Ife’s historic Igbo population during the annual Ife Edi festival. Associated rites are in part dedicated to Obalufon II’s wife, Queen Moremi, who is credited with stopping local Igbo (Ugbo) groups attacking Ife in the era in which she lived. Today Igbo residents also live in nearby regions south of Ife, among these communities such as Ijale (Abimbola p.c., Lawal p.c., Awolalu 1979:26).21 These Ife area Igbo populations appear to be distant relatives of autochthonous Igbo families, many of whom were forced out of the city by members of the new Odudua dynasty. Sculptures from Ife’s Iwinrin Grove, an Ife site closely linked to Ife’s “Igbo” population,<br />
characteristically show vertical line facial markings consistent with works linked to first dynasty Ife history and autochthony. Another 5 percent of Ife sculptures portray Edo (Benin) style facial marks (forehead keloids) or patterns today characteristic of northeastern Yoruba/Nupe communities (a diagonal cheek line and/or vertical forehead line). The remaining 5 percent of the extant Ife terracotta works show unusual “mixed” facial patterns (generally “cat whisker” motifs along with other forms). These marks may reference intermarriages (social or political) at Ife in the early years of the new dynasty. The notable variety of these facial patterns in ancient Ife art makes clear the center’s importance as a cosmopolitan city sought out by people arriving from various regional centers. Features of Ife cosmopolitanism revealed in part through these variant facial markings are consistent with Ife’s identity as a center of manufacturing and trade. Similar issues are raised in Ife origin myths that identify this city as the home (birthplace) of humans of multiple races and ethnicities.<br />
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A Corpus of Remarkable Copper Heads Personifying Local Ife Chiefs<br />
A striking group of life-size copper and copper alloy heads (Figs. 27–28) was unearthed in the 1930s at the Wunmonije site behind the Ife palace along with the above-discussed king figure<br />
(Fig. 15).23 In addition to the original corpus of fifteen life-size heads from this site, a clearly related 4.25 inch high fragment of a copper alloy head consisting of a portion of a face showing a<br />
nose and part of a mouth also was collected at an estate in Ado-Ekiti and has been described as “identical with those from Wunmonije” (Werner and Willett 1975: facing p. 142).<br />
These sixteen life-size heads appear to have been created as part of the truce that Obalufon II established between the embattled Ife residents. One of the heads (Fig. 27) indeed is so similar to the Obalufon mask as to depict the same individual. Frank Willett, who published photographs of many of the life-size metal heads in his monograph on Ife, suggests (1967:26–28) that these works<br />
had important royal mortuary functions in which each was displayed with a crown and robes of office, in the course of ceremonies following each ruler’s death. Willett proposes further that<br />
the heads were commissioned as memorial sculptures (ako) consistent with a later era Ife and Yoruba tradition of carved wooden ako effigy figures used in commemorating deceased hunters. This theory, which identifies the corpus of life-size cast heads as effigies of successive rulers of the Ife city state, however, is premised on an idea (now largely discredited; see also Lawal 2005:503ff.) that the works were made by artists over a several-hundred-year period (the reigns of sixteen monarchs). This theory is problematic not only because the styles and material features of the heads are consistent, but also because the heads were found together (divided into two groups) and share a remarkably similar condition apart from blows that some of them received during their discovery. The shared condition indicates that they were interred for a similar length of time and under similar circumstances.<br />
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Figure of a Queen, Ife</div>
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The formal similarities in these heads have led most scholars, myself included (Blier 1985), to argue that the works were created in a short period of time and by fewer than a handful of artists. With respect to style, as Thurstan Shaw notes (1978:134), “…they are of a piece and look like the work of one generation, even perhaps a single great artist.” These heads, I posited in this same article, were cast in part to serve as sacred crown supports and used during coronation rituals for a group of powerful Ife chiefs who head the various core first and second dynasty lineages in the city. These rites appear also to have been associated with Obalufon since related priests have a role in Ife coronations still today. The site where the heads were found today is identified as Obalufon<br />
II’s burial site (Eyo 1976:n.p.). Ife Chief Obalara (Obalufon II’s descendant and priest) crowns each new monarch at a Obalufon shrine (Igbo Obalara) near the Obatala temple a short distance<br />
from here (Verger 1957:439, Fabunmi 1969:10, Eluyemi 1977:41). Today, when a descendant of King Obalufon wishes to commission shrine arts in conjunction with his worship, two copper alloy<br />
heads, one plain faced, the other with vertical line facial markings, are created (Oluyemi p.c.) (Fig. 30). Some of these ancient Ife life-size heads have plain faces. Others show vertical lines. These facial marking variables support the likely use of these heads in coronations and other rites associated with the powerful early Ife first- and second-dynasty-linked chiefs who were brought together as part of Obalufon II’s truce. The grouping of these heads, which in many ways also resemble the Obalufon mask (Fig. 1), together reference (and honor) the leaders of key families (now seen as orisa or gods) who had participated in this conflict. Obalufon II also created a new city plan as part of this truce, one in which the homesteads of these lineage leaders were relocated to sites circumscribing the center of Ife and its palace (Blier 2012). In the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries, when the city came under attack, the heads appear to have been buried for safe keeping near their original shrine locale after many centuries of use and their location eventually forgotten.<br />
There are several ways that the heads could have been displayed in early Ife ritual contexts, among these earthen stepform altars and tall supports similar to one photographed with heads in Benin in the late nineteenth century (Fig. 29). The latter staff would account for the presence of holes near the bases of these works. Wooden mounts such as those known today here as ako were fashioned to commemorate Ife elephant hunters. These also could have been used for display purposes. A perhaps related Ijebu-Ode known as okute and discussed by Ogunba (1964:251) features roughly 4-foot wooden staffs with a symbolic human head. These pole-like forms were secured in the ground and “dressed” during annual rites commemorating early (first dynasty) rulers of the region.<br />
A striking terracotta vessel (Fig. 30) buried at the center of an elaborate potsherd pavement at Obalara’s Land, an Ife site long affiliated with the Obalufon family, also offers clues important<br />
to early display contexts of these heads. This vessel incorporates the depiction of a shrine featuring a naturalistic head with vertical line striations flanked by two cone-shaped motifs described by Garlake (1974:145) as crowns. The scene seems to portray an Obalufon altar with different types of crowns and a an array of Obalufon and Ogboni ritual symbols that find use in coronations,<br />
among these edan Ogboni, consistent with the use of the Ife life-size heads in chiefly and royal enthronements overseen by the center’s Obalufon priesthood.<br />
In a community outside of Ife, I learned of an important tradition that offers additional insight into this corpus of ancient Ife life size heads. In the local Obalufon shrine are found sixteen copper<br />
alloy heads. While I was unable to see these works, in the course of several interviews with the elderly temple chief, I learned a considerable amount about them. He described them as erunmole<br />
(imole, earth spirits).28 This identity underscores the likely association of the heads as sacred icons honoring ongoing offices and/ or titles (Abiodun 1974:138) rather than simple portraits (i.e. references to a specific person) (Underwood 1967:nos. 9, 11, 12). Consistent with this, each of the sixteen copper alloy heads located in this rural Obalufon temple is said by the priest to have been identified with a “powerful” individual from Ife’s distant past who was subsequently deified, among these Oramfe (the thunder god), Obatala (god of the autochthonous residents), Oluorogbo (the early messenger deity), Obalufon (King Obalufon II), Oranmiyan (Obalufon’s adversary, the military conqueror), Obameri (an ancient warrior associated with both dynasties), and Ore (the autochthonous Ife hunter). These names harken back to important early personages and gods in<br />
the era of Obalufon II and the Ife civil war when the Ife life-size metal heads were made. The descendants and priests of these ancient heroes still play a role in the ritual life of this center. As<br />
explained to me by the priest of this temple: “These imole are sixteen in number, all sixteen heads are kings [Oba, here meaning also deified chiefs], the sixteen kings of erunmole.” The Ogboni<br />
association, of which this rural priest also was a member, similarly comprise here sixteen core members (titled officers). Lisa Aronson (1992:57) notes for the Yoruba center of Ijebu-Odu<br />
that nearly 90 percent of the chiefs in this center are members of Ogboni. There are other connections between the tradition of Obalufon metal heads honoring historic leaders and Ogboni<br />
arts. Not only are a majority of modern Yoruba copper alloy sculptures identified with both Ogboni and Obalufon, but the “sticks” (staffs) said to be secured to the modern Obalufon heads during display (Oluyemi p.c.), a ritual and aesthetic continuum extending back to the ancient Ife Florescence Era.<br />
*As with the two Ife king figures (Figs. 15–16), differences in the ancient Ife life-size heads’ facial markings and other features offer additional insight to their identity and meaning. Half of these sixteen life-size metal heads display vertical line marks that I have identified with autochthonous (first dynasty) elites; the others have plain faces complementing the new dynasty’s denunciation of facial marking. As explained to me by the priest at the rural Obalufon temple where the grouping of copper alloy heads were housed: “there were sixteen crowns in the olden days, eight tribal and eight nontribal.” In using the term “tribal” here, he is referring to Ife’s autochthonous residents. Like the new city plan created by Obalufon II as part of his truce, these heads give primacy to the display and sharing of power by lineage heads of both dynasties.<br />
Other features of these works also are important. A majority of the plain-faced heads, but not the striated ones, include holes around the beard line probably for the attachment of an artificial beard of beads or hair. In the twentieth century, beards in Yoruba art often identify important leaders, priests, and others by signaling senior age status and rank.30 Because all the plain-faced heads include beard holes, but only a few with facial markings do, the plain-faced works seem to be linked to power and/or status different than that of the heads with vertical facial lines. The non-bearded heads conceivably reference ritual status and sacral power consistent with Obatala lineages today; the bearded heads instead seem to convey ideas of lineage leadership and political status consistent with the center’s new rulership line.<br />
Interestingly, four of the eight heads with facial lines are—like the Obalufon mask (Fig. 1) and the two of the Tada figures (Figs.11, 13)—cast of nearly pure copper (96.8–99.7 percent), a feat that<br />
artists of ancient Greece and Rome, the Italian Renaissance, and Chinese bronze casters never achieved. The pure copper heads in this way differ materially from the stylistically similar heads that incorporate sizable amounts of alloys along with the copper (the associated copper content ranging from 68.8–79.8percent). A majority of the latter are without vertical facial lines. The five<br />
nearly-pure copper heads additionally contain no detected zinc, a mineral that in the copper alloy heads ranges from 9.3–13.9 percent. Since half of the nearly- pure copper striated heads (two of the four) have beard holes, this small subset of works may have been intentionally differentiated in order to identify chiefs of both sacred and political status. One of these pure copper heads additionally displays red and black lines around the eyes (Fig. 28). This feature is said by Adedinni (p.c.) to identify a “most powerful person,” someone who is also a powerful imole (sacral power). To Obatala diviner Akintitan (p.c.), these eye surrounding lines reference someone who “can really see,” i.e., a person with unique access to the supernatural power that imbues one with spiritually charged insight.<br />
Metal differences in these heads also carry important color differences that were significant to the ancient Ife patrons and artists. The pure copper works would have been redder, while those made from copper alloys were more yellow. The redder, nearly pure copper heads may have been linked to ideas of heightened potency or danger. And since casting pure copper is technically far more difficult than casting copper with alloy mixtures, the former heads also display greater skill, challenge, and risk on the part of the artist, attributes no doubt important to the meanings of these heads as well. This material feature, in short, also gives them special iconic power. The use of nearly pure copper in these works suggests not only how knowledgeable Ife artists were in the materials and technologies of casting, but also how willing they were to take related risks to achieve specific visual and symbolic ends in these works.<br />
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<br />
Dating Ancient Ife Art<br />
How do the diverse forms and meanings of Ife’s early arts inform dating and other related questions? Dating ancient Ife art has posed many challenges to scholars, largely because many<br />
of these artifacts come from secondary sites, rather than from contexts that can be dated scientifically to the period when the works were made and first used (e.g. primary sites). While developing a chronology of Ife art has proven difficult, several schema have been published in recent decades. Following the late Eko Eyo, some Ife scholars have utilized the term “Pavement Era” (and concomitantly “Pre-Pavement” and “Post-Pavement” periods) to distinguish those art works that are linked to the period of Ife’s famous potsherd pavements. However, because these<br />
pavements are still seen (and used) in abundance in the center today, and in some cases reveal several different construction periods, the term “Pavement Era” is problematic. Ife historian<br />
Akinjogbin instead takes up (1992:96) local temporal terms to discuss Ife chronology. Without attributing dates, he notes that one such local term, Osangangan Obamakin, in some situations<br />
designates Ife King Obalufon I (the father of Obalufon II) and in others the early (first) dynasty with which he was affiliated ....” Drewal ([1989:46] 2009:79) has attempted a temporal ordering<br />
of ancient Ife sculpture based on differences in media (stone vs. terracotta or metal) and/or assumed “expressive” qualities, but this has been dismissed by archaeologists due to contradictory<br />
evidence from related sites.<br />
Yoruba archaeologist Akin Ogundiran (2001:27–28, 2003) provides a more scientifically grounded chronology for Ife and the broader area. His overview of artifact remains and other sources contributes to my own Ife chronology, one that combines archaeological with stylistic, oral historical, and other data. For some periods, however, I employ different terms and distinguishing features than does Professor Ogundiran. Most significantly, I have simplified this chronology into three main periods (with subgroupings) using the term Florescence (cultural “flowering”) for the period of Ife’s major artistic and cultural innovation, along with periods prior to (pre-Florescence) and following (post-Florescence) this era. An early Ife date of c. 350 bce. purportedly based on<br />
radiocarbon (Folster in Ozanne 1969:32), cited by both Ogundiran (2002, p.c.) and Drewal<br />
(2009:80), has been rejected by Frank Willett (2004) and others for lack of supporting<br />
scientific evidence. I concur with this assessment.<br />
The main art-producing era of early Ife, what I define as the Florescence Period (Ogundiran’s Classical Period) is distinguished by both roulette- and cord-decorated ceramics. Within a relatively short time span in this period, what I identify as Ife’s High Florescence, most of the early arts appear to have been made. One can date this period to c. 1250–1350 ce based on a range of factors, including the thermoluminescence tests of key metal works and the likely reign era of Obalufon II as delimited in Ife oral histories and king lists. It is this era that appears to mark the beginning of the “Odudua” or second dynasty of Ife. Associated with this High Florescence era are arts not only in “bronze” (Fig. 1) and stone (Fig. 2), but also terracotta (Fig. 24).<br />
The above time frame is consistent with the dating for Ife and its arts by Peter Garlake (1977:72), based on his excavations at the Obalara’s Land and Woye Asiri sites, both of which are closely linked to King Obalufon II whose descendant and current priest is Chief Obalara. From work Garlake undertook at the Obalara Land site, he would publish five radiocarbon dates reflecting three likely phases. The first is an initial occupation period of circa the twelfth century ce. The second phase constitutes a c. fourteenth century occupation period identified with the laying of the pavements, the creation of an array of sculptures, along with the site’s eventual fourteenth–fifteenth century abandonment. The third and final phase at the Obalara Land site consists of Post-Florescence era finds subsequent to the main site occupation and abandonment.<br />
Garlake’s recalibrated radicarbon dates (1974:146) for the Ita Yemoo site layer of terracotta sculptures excavated by Willett indicate a period potentially coeval with the radiocarbon dates of the Obalara’s Land sculptures (1312–1420 ce). As Garlake observes for this important and diverse group of terracottas (1974:146): “… on the dating evidence presently available, it seems that Obalara’s Land was occupied at the same time as Ita Yemoo although it is likely, but not certain, that Ita Yemoo was first occupied at an earlier date than Obalara’s Land.” The likely period of overlap between these two sites is 1310–1350 ce, or what I posit as the High Florescence Era. Thermoluminescence dates for the clay cores extracted from two of the Wunmonije site life-size heads indicate a similar period of 1221–1369 ce (Willett 1997:28). This period also is consistent with the likely reign era of Ife King Obalufon II. This dating additionally conforms with this king’s identity as the ruler who introduced bronze casting at Ife. A majority of Ife’s ancient arts thus were created in a relatively short time period, within a single generation of artists, in the early fourteenth century.<br />
An in-depth analysis of ancient Ife sculptural style by art historian Barbara Blackmun (n.d. in Willett 1994) reveals that works from a variety of Ife sites show discernable clusters of similarity<br />
consistent with artists working within the same broader time frame. Significantly, Garlake also furnishes evidence (1974, 1977) that Ife’s High Florescence Era came to a relatively quick end, a change accompanied by a notable shift in pottery decoration forms, specifically from roulette to cord impressions (see also Shaw 1978:155).<br />
Possible outside confirmation for this Ife early fourteenth century High Florescence Era is found in a well-known (but unexplored for the Yoruba) written source, namely Ibn Battûta’s 1325–1354 travel account. Here we read (1958:409–10) that southwest of the Mâlli (Mali) kingdom lies a country called Yoûfi [Ife?] that is one of the “most considerable countries of the Soudan [governed by a] …souverain [who] is one of the greatest kings.” Battûta’s description of Yoûfi as a country that “No white man can enter … because the negros will kill him before he arrives” appears to reference the ritual primacy long associated with Ife, in keeping with its important manufacturing and mercantile interests, among these advanced technologies of glass bead manufacturing, iron smelting and forging, and textile-production. Blue-green segi beads from Ife have been found as far<br />
west as Mali, Mauritania, and modern Ghana, suggesting that Battuta may well have learned of this center in the course of his travels in Mali.<br />
There also appears to be a reference to Ife on a 1375 Spanish trade map known as the Catalan Atlas. This can be seen in the name Rey de Organa, i.e. King of Organa (Obayemi 1980:92),<br />
associated with a locale in the central Saharan region. While the geography is problematic, as was often the case in maps from this era, the name Organa resonates with the title of early Ife rulers,<br />
i.e. Ogane (Oghene, Ogene; Akinjogbin n.d.). The same title is found in a late fifteenth-century account by the Portuguese seafarer Joao Afonso de Aveiro (in Ryder 1969:31), documenting<br />
<br />
Benin traditions about an inland kingdom that played a role in local enthronement rituals. While the identity of this inland ruler also is debated, Ife seems to be the most likely referent (see Thornton 1988, among others). On vessel from Obalara’s Land, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Terracotta Ancient Ife art works, as we have seen, are works not only of great visual power, striking beauty, and rare technical accomplishment, but also objects that speak to core issues of history and politics in this early center. As such these sculptures offer unique and critical insight into the social fabric of the city. Looking at the complex visual codes of these remarkable objects through details of body form and proportion, gesture, facial marking, material properties, regalia form, animal symbolism,<br />
<br />
site locations, oral history, mapping and traveler accounts, as well as modern day Ife beliefs and rituals about this center and its arts allows us to see these ancient Ife works as a vital part of the city’s early history. The artists of these works clearly were interested in the sculptural meanings being known, and through an in-depth analysis of the variant symbolic formula at play, we<br />
now have a much better understanding of both this important early city and its arts.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">Kings, Crowns, and Rights of Succession: Obalufon Arts at Ife and Other Yoruba Centers</span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"> Suzanne Preston Blier</span><br />
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The life-size copper mask from Ife (Fig. 1), the ancient religious center of the Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria is one of the most familiar, yet enigmatic, of all African works in metal.1 It was first published in 1937 by the late king (Oni) of Ife, Adesoji Aderemi, in the journal Nigeria.<br />
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Copper mask said to represent Ife king Obalufon II, 12th-</div>
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15th century A.D., h. 29.5cm. From king's palace, Ife. Nigeria,</div>
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Museum of Ife Antiquities, No. 12</div>
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The king identified the mask at the time as representing Obalufon II, a legendary early ruler of Ife who is credited with the invention of brass-casting at that center. This lifesize mask was said by the king to have been kept on an altar in the Omirin room of the royal palace at Ife ever since its manufacture. A near flawless casting in ninety-nine percent pure copper, it is one of the most beautiful and technically accomplished of all works from ancient Ife. Ekpo Eyo and Frank Willett date the mask to the twelfth through fifteenth centuries A.D.<br />
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(Fig 3) Ife copper head, 12th-15th century A.D., h. 29cm. Traces of</div>
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white pigment in corners of eyes, black on pupils, and red</div>
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around eyes and on neck. From Wunmonije compound of</div>
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king's palace, Ife. Nigeria, Museum of Ife Antiquities, No. 6</div>
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Like related Ife brass and copper heads (Figs. 3, 4), the Obalufon mask is a work of extraordinary naturalism. Except for the characteristic Ife-style almond-shaped eyes and the distinct stylization of the ears, the face of the mask shows striking physiognomic accuracy. The naturalism of this work is heightened by its fully life-size proportions, and by the fact that it was apparently intended to incorporate an attached beard, for holes have been placed around the mouth and chin areas so that a beard could be inserted.<br />
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(Fig 4) Zinc brass head from Ife, 12th-15th century A.D., h.29.5cm.</div>
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Wunmonije compound of king's palace, Ife. Nigeria, Museum</div>
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of Ife Antiquities, No. 12</div>
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Additional holes around the hairline, Willett notes were probably used to secure a separate headdress, perhaps a prototype of the divine crowns worn today by Yoruba kings at Ife and other royal centers. Although close in style and decorative detail to the life-size brass and copper heads<br />
from Ife, the Obalufon mask is distinct from these, for it was intended to be worn, and has narrow slits beneath the eyes, so that its wearer could see. In addition, holes have been placed around the mask's lower edge for the attachment, presumably, of a costume or robe.<br />
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(Fig 5) Ife terra-cottam ask from Obalara'sC ompound( Obalufon</div>
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St.), Ife, 12th-15th century, A.D., h. 32cm. Nigeria Museum of</div>
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Ife Antiquities, No. OC2</div>
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Unlike Ife brass and copper heads that at one time were buried (and eventually forgotten), this mask, remaining at the palace, could have retained its original identity. A recent find at Ife offers evidence that supports the identification of this mask with Obalufon. The find consists of a stylistically similar life-size mask - this one in terra-cotta- which was unearthed on Obalufon Street, appropriately enough, twenty feet from the site of the city's Obalufon shrine. This mask (Fig. 5), like the copper Obalufon mask, was also intended to be worn, for slits are incorporated beneath the eyes. The terra-cotta mask is different from the copper one, however, in that incised striations cover the face, and both a headdress and stylized beard have been included in the modeling. Eluyemi, who published the mask, notes that this find does not necessarily offer conclusive proof of the identity of the copper mask with Obalufon, but it does suggest the possibility that the two<br />
may ultimately be linked. Masks in any medium are extremely rare among extant works from ancient Ife. The identification of the life-size copper mask from Ife with Obalufon II is further supported by the importance of metal masks in the corpus of later Yoruba Obalufon religious arts.<br />
It is quite possible that the copper Obalufon mask may have served as a prototype for this later Obalufon cireperdue tradition.<br />
The meaning and role of the Obalufon mask at ancient Ife have not been thoroughly explored. Only three scholars have attempted to discuss the possible function of this work. Leon Underwood was the first. He noted that "The slits beneath the eyes indicate its use . . . in some sort of ceremony."<br />
Justine Cordwell next commented that it may have had a funerary use, asserting that ". . . the life-size, naturalistic portrait mask . . . could be worn on the head of a living man, who. . . bowing and waving, thus [carried] to the ultimate the illusion of the return of the dead ruler."<br />
Most recently, Frank Willett presented two theories for its possible use (pp. 29, 150). His first theory supports Cordwell's view that the work may have been worn during funerals. He noted that:<br />
"Unlike the other [Ife] bronzes, this is a true mask intended<br />
to be worn over the face, with slits below the eyes<br />
so that the wearer could see out . . . In the course of<br />
Yoruba funerals nowadays an egungun masquerader<br />
takes it upon himself to speak as the voice of the deceased,<br />
to reassure the living that he has been satisfied<br />
with his burial . . . It is possible that this mask was used<br />
in such a funeral ceremony . ."<br />
According to Willett's second theory, the mask may have been linked to an Ife tradition in which a servant impersonating the king put on the robes and crown of state in order to prolong the ruler's reign. The mask, Willett suggests, might have been used in the course of such an<br />
impersonation."<br />
Except for Underwood's very general idea about a ceremonial use, there is no real evidence to support these theories. The key to the mask's symbolism, it is suggested here, is found instead in the figure of Obalufon II himself, both as a historic ruler at Ife, and, following his death, as a deity<br />
of the Yoruba people. In this analysis the first theme will be coronation ceremonies at Ife. It will be argued that the mask is integrally associated with these ceremonies and with the related rites of rulership transition. Following this, the figure of Obalufon II and his place in the early formation of the Ife state will be discussed. The mask will be seen to symbolize Obalufon's role in assuring the future of the citystate through his association with problems of the succession of rulers and popular support for the throne. Later Obalufon religious arts and liturgies (explored as a distinct corpus here for the first time), can be seen to reinforce the identity of the mask both with themes of coronations and with the exigencies of autochthonous rule. The well-known Ife brass and copper heads as well as a number of other cire-perdue works from the period also may be associated with these ideas, for they, like the mask, appear to be identified with Obalufon and with succession to the throne.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">The Arts and the Succession of Rulers: Ife Coronation Ceremonies and the Obalufon Mask</span></b><br />
Present-day traditions at Ife provide us with clues as to the possible functioning and symbolism of the Obalufon mask in the city in ancient times. Contemporary evidence suggests that the mask traditionally may have had a role in Ife coronation ceremonies. M. A. Fabunmi, author of a 1969 catalogue that inventories local Ife religious shrines and ceremonies, explains in this light that during Ife coronations the royal crown was placed on "the head of Obalufon" before the new ruler was allowed to wear it (p. 11). What is meant here by the phrasing "the head of Obalufon" is not clear, but it appears to be a reference to a sculpture from the Ife shrine of Obalufon. Perhaps the ancient Obalufon mask also once had a role in Ife coronation rites. Because it is life-size, it could easily have been worn in related ceremonies. Holes placed around the hairline probably served to secure a crown. Fabunmi notes that the priest in charge of Obalufon is chief Obalara (p. 10). Obalara's<br />
descendants, this author explains, play a major part in the coronation ceremonies of the new king. The original Obalara was the son of Obalufon, and, as Eluyemi has noted (p. 41), the Obalufon priesthood to this day has remained within this family.<br />
The possible association of the Obalufon mask with Ife coronations is reinforced by the fact that, according to the late king of Ife (quoted in Verger, 439), the crown is brought from the Obalufon shrine (a sanctuary identified with the deified Obalufon). As the late king of Ife explained it, "The<br />
Oni of Ife is proclaimed king at the temple of Odudua but he receives his crown the following day at the temple of Orisala [Obatala] where it has been brought from the temple of Obalufon." By maintaining control over the crown in this way, the Obalufon priests could also control those who were to be crowned, thereby assuring that a legitimate ruler was indeed coming to the throne. The importance for Ife coronations of Obatala, the deity of the autochthonous people, should not be underestimated. Not only does the coronation take place at the temple of Obatala, but the royal scepter is also associated with this deity (Idowu, 28-29). However Willet suggest that the crowns were probably kept in the palace. The coronation rites at Ife are discussed by several scholars. Fabunmi (p. 25) notes that the new king is crowned on a spot called Igbo Kubolaja at Ideta in the Ilode quarter. According to K.C. Murray (in Willett, personal communication, March 7, 1985), the king is crowned at Ojubo Obalufon. This is near the shrine of Obatala. The king, according to Fabunmi (p. 25), must also ". . . spend a period of probation before taking up residence at the palace at Atobatele house, at present occupied by Barclays Bank, which stands to the northwest of the palace." Abraham also describes (p. 279) the coronation of the Ife king. He notes that "the coronation is a long ceremony as he has to attend rites at many of the 201 shrines traditionally believed to have been established by Odudua in Ife . . On another day occurs the iwesu ceremony wherein a stone is washed to ward off the evil influence of Esu . . . On his appointment . . . a<br />
ceremony takes place at the Igbo-ade where he receives gifts in multiples of 201 on the day before the work of the new Oni begins."<br />
On this same day, the new king pays homage to the dignitaries and people of Ife, showing them<br />
the throne of Obalufon, according to Palau-Marti (p. 22). Additional support for this linking of the Obalufon mask with ceremonies of royal investiture is found in the fact, discussed by Ogunba, that the word Obalufe (the title for certain Ife priest-chiefs), means "king or chief at Ife" or the "the king or important person who owns Ife."<br />
The word "Oba" in Obalufon likewise refers to "king," implying that Obalufon was closely identified with Ife rule and, by extension, with the transfer of royal power. If the mask was worn, as its design suggests it was intended to be, it was probably in the context of related coronation<br />
ceremonies. According to Lloyd, during Yoruba coronations reenactment scenes drawn from the early period of the city-state were often presented. In such performances, the indigenous inhabitants of the city had a central place. Indeed in many Yoruba cities, the event often took place at one of their compounds. In view of the important place of Obalufon in the Ife coronation rite, it is quite possible that a scene drawn from the life of Obalufon (similar perhaps to the Ede reenactment - see p. 389) may have been incorporated. A priest wearing the Obalufon mask might have had a central role in such a dramatization.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Obalufon II: A King Who Ruled Twice</span></b><br />
In view of the apparently close association of the Obalufon mask with coronations, the question naturally arises as to why Obalufon II would have been so closely identified with the succession of rulers at Ife. The answer appears to lie in the figure of Obalufon II himself, who, as Ife's third ruler, played a decisive role in political events of the early city-state. Obalufon II is presented in Ife oral accounts as a powerful ruler who, after being dethroned, returned to power and brought the city's diverse factions into accord, thereby assuring the future of the newly emerging state.<br />
Three aspects of his reign will be explored here: his dethronement by Oranmiyan and subsequent return to power; second, his identity as a valiant warrior, protector of the local populace, and symbol of political harmony, and third, his association with the Ogboni society and the arts of casting. Obalufon's central role in the early Ife citystate is reinforced by the meaning of his name, which, as suggested above, incorporates the word "Oba" (king), indicating his important place in Ife rule. Obalufon II, like many Yoruba kings, also had several subsidiary names. One of these was Alaiyemore, meaning "owner of the world known as Oreluere," Ore or Oreluere referring to an aboriginal hunter who was a menace to the foreign ruler "Odudua." The significance of this last name will be seen shortly, in that Obalufon II played a central part in the dispute between the autochthonous peoples of Ife and supporters of "Odudua" over rule of the city-state. Since the<br />
oral accounts do not discuss any trauma or difficulty associated with Obalufon II's death, it can be inferred that he died peacefully of old age. Following his death, Obalufon II is said to have been buried near the Wunmonije compound) at the palace. Frank Willett, however, believes that this grave is identified with Lafogido rather than Obalufon. It is here that the brass and copper heads that are stylistically similar to the Obalufon mask were also buried.<br />
The events surrounding Ife's founding and Obalufon II's role in the early Ife city-state are described in some detail in Ife oral accounts. Present-day scholars of Yoruba religion such as Idowu (p. 23) and Awolalu (p. 27) see the city as developing its political and religious primacy as a result of the arrival of a militarily powerful group of foreigners who were part of a distant branch of the Yoruba people. Unfortunately the name of the leader of this group is not known, because in the accounts his identity is subsumed by that of his patron deity, Odudua.<br />
At the time of the arrival of this outsider and his party, Ife was occupied by an indigenous people who were under the leadership of a hunter named Ore (Oreluere). Not surprisingly, the original<br />
inhabitants of Ife do not appear to have supported this foreigner, "Odudua," in his attempts to gain control of the city. The leader "Odudua" also appears to have suppressed the worship of the local Ife deity, Obatala. Awolalu summarizes (p. 27) the situation at Ife at this time as follows:<br />
"(a) that the original inhabitants of Ife knew and acknowledged Obatala<br />
as the deity that created the earth and to whom worship was due and<br />
given; b) that at a stage in the early history of Ife, some intruders who<br />
were migrating from somewhere, came into Ife, and conquered the original<br />
inhabitants who were devotees of [Obatala]; c) that the newcomers<br />
suppressed the worship of Obatala and embraced that of Oduduwa who<br />
was possibly a female divinity; d) that at the death of the conquering<br />
leader, his followers and admirers deified him and called him Odudua<br />
after the primordial divinity whose worship he had encouraged. Thus<br />
Odudua is portrayed as a primordial divinity and as a deified ancestor."<br />
This foreign ruler was, however, by all accounts a strong and politically effective leader. One of his most important decisions was to establish a series of marriage alliances with the local populace. Accordingly, both he and his party married indigenous women "of the land," in order to create a new generation of Ife residents who, in Idowu's words (p. 24), "... . would be at home in both worlds . . . people who were without bitterness towards either of the opposing parties." In the course of these marriages, the new ruler fathered a number of children, many of whom eventually set out to found their own dynasties in other Yoruba states.<br />
On "Odudua's" death, one of his sons, Obalufon I (Ogbogbodirin), succeeded him to the throne. Obalufon I's reign appears to have been beset with problems. Unlike his father, "Odudua," he was a weak ruler. Indeed, the state that his father had recently formed seems already to have begun to disintegrate in the course of his reign. According to the Oni of Ife (in Verger, 141-42), Obalufon I's father, Odudua, would have preferred to leave the throne to his oldest son, the warrior Ogun. When the latter died, Odudua remarked, "I have no longer a powerful son to watch over the totality of my kingdom; Obalufon is not enough the warrior, and he will divide the lands among his diverse<br />
sons." Odudua here seems to be anticipating the breakup of the kingdom under the reign of Obalufon I. It was this division, and the question of who would rule at Ife, which, as will be seen, played a central part in the rule of Obalufon I's own son, Obalufon II. Little else is known about the<br />
reign of Obalufon I, but there is some evidence that the deity Obatala (the god of the autochthonous people - and presumably of Obalufon I's mother) may have been made a state deity around that time. This was most probably in response to the continued pressure on the new ruler by the local populace for royal support of local religious belief. Evidence for this comes from the statements of Johnson (p. 11) and Beier (p. 18) that during the reign of Obalufon I's eventual successor, Oranmiyan, an Obatala priest had a position of great importance in the palace. Presumably this priesthood had already been established by the time he came to power. As already noted, Odudua and his successors married local women, and they also may have been instrumental in bringing Obatala into the palace<br />
In addition, during his rule there appear to have been frequent attacks against the palace by the indigenous occupants of Ife. Into this insecure political situation Obalufon II was thrust when, following Obalufon I's death, he appears to have ascended the throne. So weakened was the city-state of Ife by this time, that soon after he came to power, Obalufon II was forced from the throne by a man named Oranmiyan. According to one account (Verger, 329), it was against Obalufon I that Oranmiyan fought to take over Ife rule. This account states that when Oranmiyan ". . . learned that Odudua had died and that Obalufon had inherited from his mother, and had become first king of Ife, Oranmiyan sent a message to Obalufon, menacing him with death; Obalufon fled to Ido, fifteen miles from Ife. Oranmiyan . . . stayed a certain time at Ife, then went to Oko Igboho and finally Oyo... " The confusion of the two Obalufons and their respective reigns also occurs in Yoruba religious ritual associated with Obalufon (see n. 35).<br />
This latter figure, a powerful warrior who is also said to have ruled at Oyo and Benin, is identified variously as Obalufon's I's brother and as his nephew. Aderemi (as in n. 2, 3); Smith (p. 19); Fabunmi (pp. 16-17). The accounts also vary as to whether or not Oranmiyan had any legitimate claim to the throne. The "official" version (Fabunmi, 16) suggests that it was Oranmiyan and not Obalufon II who had been the intended successor of Obalufon I. According to this version, at the time of the latter's death, Oranmiyan was away from court on a military campaign and could not<br />
be found. For this reason Obalufon II was crowned instead. When Oranmiyan returned, he proceeded to claim what was rightfully his. Other evidence suggests, however, that Oranmiyan had no legitimate right, and was indeed a usurper. This evidence is that Oranmiyan is identified as the youngest son of "Odudua" (Smith, p. 34). Since Oranmiyan is said to have had many older brothers, he would not have been called on to succeed his father. Furthermore, the accounts suggest that on Odudua's death, Oranmiyan inherited none of his father's moveable properties<br />
(Johnson, 8). This view of Oranmiyan as a usurper is also suggested by Frobenius (p. 205), who notes that Oranmiyan's father was a man named Laro, and that Oranmiyan had ". . . once conquered [Ife], but was driven forth again." Ulli Beier argues in turn (Yoruba Myths, Cambridge, 1980, 65) that Oranmiyan may not even have been part of the royal line. He asserts that Oranmiyan is ". . . obviously representing a late immigrant with no real land rights."<br />
Little is told of Obalufon II's short reign prior to his overthrow, but he appears to have already had the strong backing of the local populace, for it was he, rather than Oranmiyan, who they are said to have supported as ruler. Obalufon II, although forced from the throne by Oranmiyan, waged a hard battle to regain control of the kingdom. In the end, his endeavors appear to have been successful,<br />
for the accounts indicate that eventually he returned to power. According to John Abiri (in Adedeji, 327) the defeat/return of Obalufon II may have taken place after Oranmiyan's death during the reign of his son, Layiamisan. This, as Adedeji points out, also ". . . usefully explains the reason for Alaiyemore's [Obalufon II 's] return to the throne as one of the terms of the rapprochement." This also explains Obalufon II's eventual marriage to Moremi, who in some accounts is said to have been previously married to Oranmiyan. In his fight against Oranmiyan to regain rule, he benefited from the support of the indigenous Ife population. According to Adedeji, this conflict between Obalufon II and Oranmiyan over the throne parallels a conflict in religious doctrine between the followers of Obatala and Odudua, the patron gods of Obalufon and Oranmiyan respectively. This dispute, which is frequently discussed in the Yoruba literature, centers on the question of who deserves credit for creating the world. Most accounts suggest that it was Odudua who actually did so, but that Obatala (Orishanla) rightfully should have. The right was said to have been taken away from him because he was viewed as unfit (he had gotten drunk); then, while he lay sleeping (i.e., in a state of being unaware), the power was assumed by Odudua (Idowu, 23; Willett, 121- 23). As Idowu points out, however, a number of accounts contradict this view, some stating not only that Obatala did not become drunk but was able to carry out the creation. Regardless of the considerable differences between the various Yoruba myths as to which deity could claim to be the world's creator, all agree on one factor, the presence of a hunter named Ore at the time. In the<br />
most widespread account, when Odudua came down to create the Earth, he found that Ore, an aboriginal hunter, was already established there (Idowu, 23). In the major opposing legend, in which Obatala is credited with creating the world, Ore (Oreluere) is said to have come down with<br />
the first party that Obatala sent to Earth (Idowu, 20). Both versions express concern for a legitimate claim to the Ife lands (i.e., creation of) and, in turn, control over them. Though the accounts differ as to the creator (Odudua or Obatala), they both indicate that the hunter Ore (Oreluere) had rightful claim to the land. Interestingly, according to T. J. Bowen (Adventures and Missionary Labours in Several Countries in the Interior of Africa from 1849 to 1956, London, 1857, 267), the "great mother" of the Yoruba is worshipped under the name of Iymmodeh (Iya ommoh Oddeh) "the mother of the hunter's [i.e., Ore's] children."<br />
The legends portray Obalufon II at this time as an ingenious military leader. In his campaign against Oranmiyan, he is said to have dressed the local warriors in straw masks which made them appear to be spirits from another world. This disguise frightened and confused Oranmiyan's warriors so that they were unable to fight effectively. Eventually, however, Obalufon II's masking deception was discovered. On one of his raids, a local Ife woman named Moremi allowed herself to be taken captive by Obalufon's forces. In her captivity, Moremi was able to learn that it was not spirits from another world but rather the original Ife inhabitants under Obalufon II's direction who<br />
were menacing the capital. When she later escaped, she went home to tell Oranmiyan of her discovery. In Obalufon II's subsequent raid, his men were met by Oranmiyan's torch-bearing warriors who soon "unmasked" and defeated the autochthonous troops.<br />
This same Moremi helped to bring Obalufon back to the throne. She was viewed as a heroine because of her role in Obalufon's capture, and with her new status she insisted that a more permanent peace be established at Ife. With this in mind, she asked that Obalufon II, the exiled king, be returned to power. In turn, she became his wife. Moremi, as a local woman, clearly had allegiance in both camps. Accordingly, the solution that she proposed benefited both equally, and indeed, her decision to seek a more permanent peace was a critical one for the long-term stability<br />
of Ife. This move brought to the throne not only a forceful leader, but also one who had the strong support of the original Ife inhabitants. With the return of Obalufon II to Ife, the autochthonous Ife citizens also appear to have returned to this center, and the second part of Obalufon II's reign appears to have been marked by peace and prosperity.<br />
Many sculptures and shrines in and around Ife are identified with persons and events in this dispute. The most important are the mask of Obalufon II and a large stone "staff" associated with Oranmiyan. There are also a number of sacred areas and sculptures that refer to the family, supporters, and patron deities of these two historic figures. Many of these are described in Fabunmi's analysis of Ife shrines. One such shrine is associated with Moremi; another is identified with her son Ela. A quartz stool that is now in the British Museum is identified with another son,<br />
Alashe (Oluorogbo). Alashe (Oluorogbo) is also said in some accounts to be Moremi's husband (R. E. Dennett, Nigerian Studies, London, 1910, 23; Fabunmi, 9). Other examples of Ife art of this period have been found in the Iwinrin or Igbo Grove, a sacred area closely identified with the original Ife inhabitants. In addition, both Obatala, Obalufon's patron deity, and this deity's wife, Yemo, have shrines at Ife. Odudua and several of this god's wives, Olokun and Omitoto-Ose, also have shrines. Oranmiyan's father, Ogun, and several of Oranmiyan's warriors have shrines with art of this period as well. According to Willett (pl. 77), this stool was found in the Ife Oluorogbo grove. The leader of the autochthonous peoples, Ore (Oreluere), also has a shrine. At the back of this area is a stone carving representing Ore's gate man, Edena (this sculpture is now in the palace museum).<br />
The great day in Ife history when Obalufon II was returned to the throne following his defeat is reenacted at Ife in a special yearly pageant at nearby Ede. In it, a character named Ajagemo, who simultaneously symbolizes the autochthonous peoples, the deity Obatala, and Obalufon II, dances to meet his armed opponent Olunwi who represents the newcomers, "Odudua," and Oranmiyan. In this combat, "Obalufon II" is overpowered and is taken into the palace. He is soon released, and is carried triumphantly back to the arena. This reenactment takes place during the<br />
festival held in honor of Obatala, the deity associated with Obalufon, and the original residents of Ife. The associated song/prayers reinforce the importance of Obatala and the indigenous Igbo at this festival. The following was recorded by Adedeji (p. 329).<br />
"Obatala<br />
The Oba that we praise<br />
The truly king<br />
Who was born in the city of Igbo<br />
And went to become king in the city of Iranje<br />
The great Orisa<br />
The divinity of Igbo<br />
They showed him ingratitude<br />
They tricked him with palm wine<br />
They then deserted the divinity from heaven<br />
When they had vanished<br />
They then asked where else could the secret be found?"<br />
At the opening of this event is a ceremony dedicated to the Ogboni society. Adedeji, 328. The relationship between Ogboni and Yoruba rulership is clear. According to Justine Cordwell ("Some Aesthetic Aspects of Yoruba and Benin Cultures," Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1952, 43), "The Ogboni society acts not only as advisor to the ruler and court of justice but in some areas actually controls the ruler and his decisions." Furthermore, both Obalufon and Ogboni are associated with the left hand. "Osi la njo ijo Obalufon" or "It is towards the left hand that you move<br />
when you dance in honor of Obalufon," say his worshippers (Awolalu, 107). A somewhat parallel ceremony is also performed at Ijebu-Ife, at which time Obalufe priest-chiefs are identified with persons having prior claim to the land, who were ousted wrongly from political power. These prior claimants are in control of many of the sacred aspects of political rule. The ritual, Ogunba suggests (as in n. 14, 99), "... gives the impression that the priest-chief has in fact been cheated of power and the yearly meeting and parting becomes something of an atonement for the irrevocable seizure, so that the indigenous gods of the land may not revolt against the new political overlord." Appropriately, during the festival it is the priest Obalufe who sacrifices to the Earth, a mark of his close association with it. Ogunba notes in this study (p. 99), in turn, that "priestchiefs like . . . the Obalufe, bear names which sound more akin to the ownership of the land than the priest kings." Henry Drewal suggests (personal communication, April 9, 1984) that at this shrine, Obalufe is also<br />
the head of the Odudua association. This society, which is important in Yoruba art patronage today, is said to have been formed around the time of the above conflict by the followers of Obatala to fight political injustice. According to Idowu (p. 24):<br />
"Everything points to the fact that it was at this time that<br />
the Ogboni cult began. This was a secret cult formed, in<br />
all probability, to protect the indigenous institutions of<br />
the land from annihilation under the influence of the new<br />
regime. It must have been originally an exclusive organization<br />
limited to the original owners of the land."<br />
<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/102_2931.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
The close relationship between Obalufon II and the Ogboni society is of considerable significance because Obalufon is said to have introduced brass casting at Ife. According to Idowu (p. 208) at Ife there was also a house associated with the brass casters; this house was called Ile Asude, "the house of those who smelt brass." It is interesting that Obatala, the deity Ogboni had been formed to support, is frequently identified as the sculptor divinity (Awolalu, 21). Today this same society is one of the principal patrons of Yoruba brass casting arts. Unfortunately, the historical accounts<br />
provide few further details on this matter. Most probably, however, Obalufon II's close association with the Ogboni society was the basis of his identification with the introduction of brass casting. It seems very plausible that with the return of Obalufon II to the throne, the Ogboni society gained legitimacy and considerable power at the palace.<br />
Their arts presumably also flourished at this time. It was, it would appear, because of Obalufon's association both with brass casting and with peace and legitimate rule at Ife that the copper mask bearing his name came to be associated with coronation ceremonies at Ife. Further evidence that reinforces the identity of the Obalufon mask with coronations and themes of rulership is found in the religious rituals and beliefs that developed following Obalufon II's eventual death and deification. In the present era he has been, as we will see, viewed both as the god of good government and as the patron deity of the arts of beadwork, brass casting, and weaving. In addition, brass crowns and masks form a significant part of the Obalufon art corpus.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: magenta;">Obalufon, a God with Many Identities: Deity of War, Peace, Prosperity, and the Arts of Beads, </span></b><b><span style="color: magenta;">Brass, and Weaving</span></b><br />
Obalufon II, like many great Yoruba rulers, was deified at his death. According to Idowu (p. 69) "Obalufon is one of the divinities worshipped at Ile-Ife and all over Yorubaland. But he began by being an ancestor." Unlike other Yoruba deities such as Shango, Eshu, Ogun, Odudua, and Ifa, this god has not been the object of any study, nor have the wealth and diversity of religious ritual and art associated with him been examined. Although today Obalufon's followers are found in many parts of Yorubaland, Ile-Ife still remains an important center for Obalufon worship. Ulli Beier notes (Yoruba Beaded Crowns, London, 1982, 9), that while Obalufon is worshipped in a number of Yoruba towns, his worship is especially identified with Ife - just as Shango's worship is especially associated with Oyo. Although it is Obalufon II who is generally viewed as the ruler who is deified as "Obalufon," it should be noted that Obalufon the god seems in some cases simultaneously linked to both rulers bearing that name. Thus while Abraham asserts (p. 491) that it was Alaiyemore (i.e., Obalufon II) who is worshipped as Obalufon, Fabunmi indicates (p. 10) that the worship of Obalufon is identified with Ogbogdirin (Obalufon I). Although the assimilation of the two kings in Obalufon worship appears to be a natural outgrowth of their close association with each other (and the fact that they share the same name), most of the rituals, religious tenets, and works of art of the Obalufon association seem to be identified more closely with Obalufon II and the various attributes of his rule.<br />
Other places where worship of Obalufon (Balufon, Obalifon, Abalufon, Abalifon) is especially strong include towns in Ekiti where Obalufon II is said to have taken refuge during the period of his banishment. Still other major centers of Obalufon worship are identified with places where the children of Obalufon II eventually settled. Once established in these towns, his descendents are said to have set up shrines to their father. Thus Verger notes (p. 453) that "... at Ido Osun, near Osogbo, one finds a temple for Obalufon, it was said to me: 'Olufande, son of Obalufon, installed himself at Owaluse near Isesa, then at Igbokiti where he died. His successor... went to Igbo Oyao<br />
then came to establish himself here at Ido Osun.' " Unlike most deities in the Yoruba pantheon, Obalufon is surrounded with considerable confusion in the literature. In Yoruba Ifa divination, William Bascom notes (Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa, Bloomington, 1969, 49) that the eighth odu (owonrin meji) refers to Obalufon. But the ranking<br />
of this odu with respect to the total of sixteen odu, shows, as with the life of Obalufon, a conflict over legitimacy and place. According to Bascom, although owonrin meji is seen to be equal to ofun meji, in rank they are seen to fight each other for eighth place. A legend provided by Bascom<br />
explains this conflict:<br />
"Ofun meji was the first born of all the figures and the first to come to<br />
earth. He was the head of all the other figures and ruled them like a<br />
king, but because things went badly under his rule, they sent to Ifa in<br />
heaven to tell him how hard things were on earth. Then Ifa sent Ogbe<br />
Meji down to earth to take Ofun Meji's place as the head of the other<br />
figures. Ofun Meji fought [to retain his place] defeating all combinations<br />
until he reached Owonrin Meji. These two fought and fought and<br />
fought, until the others sent to Ifa in heaven. Ifa ruled that Ofun Meji<br />
and Owinrin Meji should be equal in rank, taking turns in priority.<br />
This is why Ofun Meji outranks Owonrin Meji when Ofun Meji is<br />
thrown first; but when Owonrin Meji is thrown first, it outranks Ofun<br />
Meji."<br />
There are interesting parallels between this Ifa account and legends of Obalufon's life, and that of his own deity, Obatala (see n. 23). This is particularly true in the discussions of his powers, habits, and associated symbols. Interestingly, in the division of orisa at Ife between those who are followers of Obatala and those who are followers of Odudua, Obalufon (along with Agemon, Osonyin, Esidale, Obameri, Oranyon, Moremi, Obameri, Eleshije, Ija, and Olokun) is often identified as a supporter of Odudua (Forde, as in n. 27, 37; Abraham, 483).<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20140625_115038.jpg" height="360" width="640" /><br />
According to Fadipe, Obalufon is the god of warriors; to Farrow he is the god of peace or, more specifically, peace of the kingdom. S. S. Farrow, Faith, Fancies, and Fetish, London, 1926, 59. Obalufon, in his deification, is also associated with uprightness and high ethical standards. This appears to have partial basis in Obalufon's support of Obatala (the god identified with ethical purity) against the insurgent followers of Odudua (Adedeji, 336). Adedeji suggests accordingly that ". . . like Obatala, he is the embodiment of morals and ethics of the Yoruba." These qualities are especially important in the selection of Obalufon priests. Thus, Awolalu notes (p. 170), Obalufon worship is sometimes suspended if a priest of high moral character cannot be found. At Owu-Ijebu he explains, ". . . worship was suspended because it was difficult to get a man of high probity and integrity to preside at the shrine of Obalufon. The Oba explained to the people the high standards required of a presiding priest and added 'If a man has evil mind and still has the audacity of coming to officiate at the shrine of Obalufon such a man will not last the year.<br />
J. Johnson (in Verger, 457) and Dennett offer a similar view, signaling that Obalufon is the "god of the prosperous empire." Also of significance is the fact that Ore (Oreluere), the original hunter whom Obalufon supported, is also associated with ethical standards and morality. According to Idowu (p. 23), Oreluere himself ".o. . was the guardian of domestic morality and preserver of sound family traditions." Talbot (II, 60, 87) calls him the god of fortune, success, and greatness. Obalufon also has a place in agricultural ceremonies, particularly those linked to yams and to their harvest. Thus at Ido Osun ". . . yams cannot be eaten before one has celebrated the offering of first fruits to Obalufon in September" (Verger, 453). Obalufon's identity with agriculture seems to be founded at least in part on the mythical dispute between Obatala and Odudua (see n. 26). According to one myth (Idowu, 94), during the period of their dispute a great drought prevailed in which all crops failed and many people died. It was only after the conflict had been resolved, and peace had been restored, that the fields again flourished. It is also not surprising that Obalufon, as the representative of the original owners of the land, would play a central part in ceremonies associated with the productivity of the fields. Like many benevolent Yoruba deities, Obalufon is also said to bring children to his followers (Awolalu, 150). The Yoruba literature suggests<br />
that Obalufon may have been the deity of speech as well (Talbot I, 87; Verger, 452). This is based on the identification of Obalufon as the first man on Earth. According to Bowen (as in n. 26, 314) "the name of the first man was . . . Obbalufoh, and the name of his wife was Iye. They came from heaven and had many children. . . Obbalufoh means the King or Lord of Speech, because the first man was the first speaker; Iye .. signifies life." Verger points out, however, that this identity appears to be a mistaken one since Bowen apparently confused Obalufon with Osalufon (or Obatala).<br />
These associations with war, peace, and prosperity clearly conform with what we know about<br />
Obulafon II's life. He was known as a valiant, relentless, and ingenious war leader who never gave up in his fight to gain back his throne, and who never turned his back on the autochthonous peoples without whose support peace would have been impossible. It is Obalufon II's association with peaceful and prosperous rulership that is emphasized accordingly in the Obalufon offerings in Ilawe, Ekiti, where Obalufon is the tutelary deity. The relationship between Obalufon and prosperous rulership is reinforced in the religious ceremonies associated with this deity. According to Awolalu (p. 105), during the offerings to Obalufon in Ilawe, it was the representative of the king who brought the offerings of the people to the Obalufon priest. This royal representative knelt down before the priest... and prayed for everybody and everything in the community."<br />
In addition to being closely tied with kings and the peace and prosperity of their reigns, the deity Obalufon is also associated with a number of Yoruba art forms. Thompson identifies Obalufon as the patron god of beadworking, today the principal material of the royal crowns and scepters. Robert Farris Thompson (Black Gods and Kings: Yoruba Art at U.C.L.A., Los Angeles, 1971, 8:1) explains accordingly that, "Men like to be different. The deity Obalufon therefore invented beads and strung them in different colors on bracelets and necklaces so that gods, and men who follow them, might stand in proud distinction . . ." In other Yoruba areas, however, beadwork is more often associated with Olokun. Verger (p. 452) and Abraham (p. 501) describe Obalufon (Balufon) as the patron deity of weaving and clothing. Obalufon is also generally viewed as the patron deity of the various brass-casting arts. William Fagg suggests that this association is fairly common throughout Yorubaland.<br />
<img src="http://www.reunionblackfamily.com/oduduwa.jpg" height="480" width="640" />The sculptural forms that today are found in the various Obalufon shrines also add to our understanding of the possible meaning and role of the earlier Ife Obalufon mask. Many of these works, like the original Obalufon mask, are cire-perdue castings. Some of the most important information on these arts comes from the town of Obo Ile which was settled by immigrants from Ife. The field notes of William Fagg document the close relationship between Obalufon and brass casting at this center. At Obo Ile, the tradition itself was said to have originated at Ife. Fagg's field<br />
notes indicate that brass arts were so important in the nineteenth century that one third of the population may have been brass casters. In this town, furthermore, the king of the brass casters, Oba Legbede, is also the head of the Obalufon association. Additional support for the identification<br />
of Obalufon with the brass-casting arts is found in the fact that at Obo Ile, Obanifon (Obalufon) is used as the generic word for all works in this medium.<br />
Several types of Obalufon arts from Obo Ile have been documented by Fagg. One tradition indicates that a brass object (perhaps a staff) was brought to Obo Ile from Ife. This object has the name of Obalufon. Interestingly, at Ife a brass staff is carried by Chief Obalara and other Obalufon<br />
priests, Fagg also saw several brass masks associated with Obalufon when he was in Obo Ile area. He describes the masks as modern castings, oval in shape, and roughly five to six inches in height. Possible parallels with these masks should also be noted. Denis Williams has published two brass masks from Oyo, probably of the 19th century, which were used in conjunction with Shango, the patron deity and first ruler of Oyo ("Art in Metal," Sources of Yoruba History, ed. S.O. Biobaku, Oxford, 1973, 163-64). These were worn at the annual Bere festival, a ceremony that, like many of those of Obalufon, took place at the yam harvest. The name of these masks, alakoro, derives from the word, akoro, meaning chief's headgear. Thus these masks, like that of Obalufon, may be ultimately identified with crowns. One of these Oyo alakoro brass masks has three markings converging at the lips (Williams, 61) a motif similar to that found on a number of Ife works. Several small brass alakora masks also appear on a Shango drum documented by Thompson (as in n. 42,<br />
1/18). One of these masks also was called Obanifon (Obalufon).<br />
At Isare, Fagg's information suggests that Obalufon arts have a clear royal identity. Here it is the local Alare (king/ chief) who is head of the Obalufon (Onifon) association. The emphasis both on brass masks and on ideas of rulership in these traditions suggests important secondary support<br />
for the identity of the classic Ife copper mask with Obalufon and with coronations. This parallel, in turn, offers evidence for a possible thematic continuum in Obalufon arts extending from the present era back to the time when the Ife Obalufon mask was made. In addition to brass masks and scepters, Obalufon is also associated with brass crowns. Several of these have been documented; one is illustrated by Thompson (p. 10). This Obalufon crown (Fig. 7) is from Obo-Aiyegunle, Ekiti. It incorporates central and side faces around its base, and is surmounted by a bird. Frank Willett photographed another brass crown associated with Obalufon (Obanifon) at Obo Aiyegunle (Thompson, p. 13, personal communication from Willett). The identification of these brass crowns with Obalufon suggests another parallel with Ife Obalufon traditions, for in these, it will be recalled, crowns and coronations were all-important concerns.<br />
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" 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(Fig 7 Obalufon brass crown from town of Obo-Aiyegunle, Ekiti.</div>
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After photograph by R. F. Thompson (pl. 10)</div>
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Figural traditions in brass are also associated with Obalufon. Geoffrey Parrinder, in his description of the Obalufon shrine at Ibadan, notes (Religion in an African City, London, 1953, 30) that the door of that shrine could not be opened by the uninitiated for fear that they would be struck blind, suggesting to Parrinder that the work inside could have been of brass, a material whose shine might have been identified with such a response.<br />
The only example of an Obalufon brass sculpture that has been published to date is in the Nigerian National Museum at Lagos. This work is one of a pair of Obalufon brass sculptures from Ijebu-Ode. A distinctive attribute of this sculpture is the portrayal of fisted hands placed parallel to the ground in front of the body. The work appears to portray serpents issuing from the nostrils, a feature very unusual in Ogboni brass sculptures but occasionally found in ancient Ife art and in Benin brass-casting traditions. The motif of the serpent issuing from the nostril is also found on Benin "Spirit" heads and Agwe masks, on the headdress of the "Tsoede" warrior figure, and on several works from ancient Ife. Stylistically, the published Obalufon brass figure shares closest ties with face bells from the Yoruba area around Ijebu-Ode. These bells, Thompson notes (79, n. 13), are identified with royal lineage chiefs. This similarity is reinforced by the fact that the head of the published Obalufon brass figure is cast separately from the body, so that the head, when seen alone, looks remarkably like these bells. A spike that extends from this head is inserted into the hollow brass torso, the two parts then being strapped together.<br />
The corpus of Obalufon-related arts is, as we have seen, quite diverse. Several features of these sculptures, however, suggest that they may have parallels with the Obalufon mask from ancient Ife. These attributes include the predominance of brass in Obalufon art in general; second, the importance of crowns and masks among these cireperdue works, and third, an emphasis on rulership and coronation themes in the rituals and religious forms of Obalufon worship. These more recent Obalufon works clearly reinforce the identification of the ancient Obalufon mask.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">Obalufon and the Head of Lajuwa: </span></b><b><span style="color: magenta;">A Terra-Cotta Identified with a Tale of Court Intrigue</span></b><br />
Visual and thematic evidence suggests that the Obalufon mask may be associated with the ancient Ife terra-cotta head of a court servant named "Lajuwa" (Fig. 9). The terra-cotta head that is said to represent Lajuwa was published by the late Ife king, Adesoji Aderemi, at the same time as the Obalufon mask.<br />
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(Fig 9 Ife terra-cottah ead said to representL ajuwa,1 2th-15thc entury</div>
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A.D., h. 32. 8cm. From king's palace, Ife. Nigeria, Museum</div>
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of Ife Antiquities, No. 20 (79.R.1)</div>
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Although the dating of the king identified with Lajuwa is open to some dispute, this terra-cotta head<br />
was clearly made around the time of both the Obalufon mask and the life-size brass and copper heads. Aderemi (as in n. 2, 3) identifies this king as Aworokolokin. In style, Willett suggests (p. 58) that it "is almost identical with the Wunmonije bronzes and could well have been made by one<br />
of the same artists." The two works also appear to be closely tied because they were kept in the same chamber at the palace. Both sculptures, Willett suggests, may have been associated with an incident in Ife history in which a servant assumed the role of a king in order to extend his rule. At<br />
Ife and other Yoruba city-states, certain court servants had the right to personify the king. We know from Johnson (p. 59) that at Oyo on a number of occasions, surrogates of the king would represent him by assuming his robes and crown. Here, according to Talbot (iII, 569), it was a eunuch with the title of Olosi or Osi'efa' who took on the king's identity during judicial proceedings, battles, and certain affairs of state. This Olosi had considerable power in the palace, for he was one of the principal advisors of the king, and had a major role at each coronation. As Johnson suggests<br />
(p. 59),<br />
"The Osi'efa or Olosi . . . represents the king in all occasions<br />
and in all matters civil as well as military. He<br />
sometimes acts as commander in chief in military expeditions,<br />
he is allowed to use the crown, the state umbrella,<br />
and the kakaki trumpet, and to have royal honors<br />
paid to him. On such occasions, he is privileged also to<br />
dispense the king's prerogatives."<br />
Johnson further notes (p. 163), that "The Osi-efa is always the first as well as the last in the king's chamber. If the king is ill, he takes his place on state occasions, putting on his robes and crown; in war he appears as the king's deputy, invested in all the paraphernalia of royalty." Perhaps related to this practice of a court figure being asked to portray the king for certain state events is a tradition at Ife described by Idowu (p. 208) and Willett (p. 150) in which it is said that a particularly beloved king died, and one of his servants decided to hide his body and pretend that he was still alive by wearing the royal regalia himself. The hoax worked for a time, but eventually it was discovered. The new king, furious that he had been kept from the throne, ordered the servant and the palace artists to be killed. The court servant who is said to have masterminded the deception is identified as Lajuwa, the chamberlain of King Aworokolokin. Lajuwa, Willett notes (p. 57), is now identified as the patron deity of palace servants.<br />
Interestingly, Hambly, in his description of the Lajuwa head (p. 465) identifies it as "Lajuwa, the messenger of Onis," suggesting that Lajuwa's role at Ife may have been more that of a representative/advisor than a servant per se. He may have acted as a trusted aid and surrogate of the king. The Obalufon mask, as Willett has noted (p. 150), could easily have been worn by someone intending to impersonate the king. It is tempting to suggest in this light that the Obalufon mask may also have been worn by designated court officials in their roles as representatives of the king. Yoruba crowns today incorporate a long fringe of beads that hide the ruler's face. Sculptural portrayals of ancient Ife crowns (see Fig. 10) show no such fringe, suggesting that a naturalistic mask might have been an important part of the representative's costume. Possibly the Obalufon mask, through its identity with royal investiture, also had a secondary role in masking those at court whose duty it was to serve as royal personifiers.<br />
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(Fig 10) Ife brass figure of a king, 12th-15th century A.D., h.</div>
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47.11cm. From the Ita Yemoo site, Ife. Nigeria, Museum of Ife</div>
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Antiquities, (79.R.12)</div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: magenta;">Ife's Life-Size Brass and Copper Heads: </span></b><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: magenta;">Evidence for Their Identification with Obalufon</span></b><br />
The copper Obalufon mask is also stylistically related to the ancient Ife brass and copper heads (Figs. 3, 4) that were unearthed in the Wunmonije compound near the palace. The Obalufon mask is close enough to one of them to be a portrait of the same person. Frank Willett, who published many of these naturalistic copper and brass heads in 1967 in his work on Ife, presented a theory as well of their possible use and meaning. This theory, which had originally been suggested by William Fagg and then supported by Justine Cordwell, suggests that the heads probably played a central role in the Yoruba institution of Ako, a tradition in which memorial figures were constructed to represent the deceased. The life-size brass and copper heads, this theory suggests, were incorporated into memorial figures that served as surrogates for deceased Ife kings during funerary<br />
commemorations. At Owo the documented use of a naturalistic wooden Ako memorial figure was seen to offer a contemporary counterpart for this tradition.<br />
This theory, though still held by most African art historians, has been brought into question by several scholars. Kenneth Murray in a letter to Odu was the first to raise doubts about this view, basing himself primarily on the stylistic congruity of the works involved. He notes that these cast life-size heads appear to have been produced within a relatively short period, probably by one or two artists working within a close-knit school. Indeed, according to Murray, ". . . it might be argued that only one artist, working perhaps for only a couple of years, made the majority of the heads."<br />
The stylistic congruity of these works would thus rule out the possibility that the fifteen heads were commissioned as funeral memorials for successive Ife kings. To the contrary, the probable average reign of twenty years which Willett suggests for the Ife kings (p. 130), or one of thirteen years now considered to be more realistic, would stretch their execution over two or three hundred years (i.e.,<br />
twenty, or thirteen, years times fifteen heads). This time span is far too long, since they show remarkably few stylistic or formal elements of variance. Equally problematic is the fact that the heads are all in a somewhat similar condition (apart from blows that some of them received) suggesting that, rather than having differential lengths and places of burial, they were probably all buried for about the same length of time, under the same or similar conditions.<br />
Furthermore, if we look at sculptural forms elsewhere in Africa, it is clear that artistic traditions show very significant stylistic changes over comparable periods of time. At the royal city-state of Benin, for example, Dark notes that there is an enormous stylistic difference in the bronze heads<br />
made over the course of several centuries. Garrard has shown that brass "gold weights" from the kingdom of the Ashanti in Ghana during the same time span show equally striking changes. Great differences can also be seen, as Rosenwald points out, between the early and late commemorative figures of the Kuba kings, even though they were made over a much shorter period. Willett was aware of the problems in the several hundredyear period of manufacture that his memorial theory necessitated. He suggested accordingly (p. 130) that Ife kings may have been ritually killed after a short reign of only seven years. There is, however, no evidence for the ritual killing of kings in any of the accounts of Ife history, nor in the other Yoruba city-state histories. The only evidence that Willett cites as support for his contention is an account given by Ulli Beier coming from the southern Yoruba city of Ijebu, which refers to traditions about events assumed to have taken place in Ife.<br />
<img src="http://orishada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/IMG_0372.jpg" height="360" width="640" /><br />
Even if we were to accept a seven-year reign for the kings of Ife, however, this would still indicate a period of manufacture of roughly 112 years, a span of time still too long for these stylistically similar works. Willett also appears to have been aware of this difficulty, for he suggests (p. 130) that the heads may have portrayed not only kings but also palace retainers - i.e., those who would have been killed to accompany the king at the time of his death. The possibility that any of these copper and brass heads represented court servants, however, is extremely slight, in view not only of the scarcity of copper and brass at Ife at this time, but also because, as Willett notes, each head appears to have been intended to wear a crown. More recently Rowland Abiodun has raised further questions about Willett's memorial theory for these heads. Abiodun points out that ". . .if the 'effigy represents the dignitas of the office itself,' it is strange that we have not yet found a single instance where the ako effigy has been made specifically for [a king] . . ." He goes on to note that<br />
"..if [kings] are honored as seconds of the gods . ..<br />
and if 'it is dangerous to stare at his naked face' . . . and<br />
if at his death there is even greater secrecy and mystery<br />
surrounding his person, would it not be incongruous to<br />
carve an ako or even to make any image of him in the<br />
characteristically naturalistic style and parade the town<br />
with it the way the known ako are treated?"<br />
Murray and Abiodun have not, however, suggested any alternatives for the possible meaning and use of these heads. It is just such an alternate theory that the above discussion of the Obalufon mask may now permit.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBWwdQPwY12oYZ39c77VG-BAzS4maRnvXzvsu3AfhphFUwb8mxoDEDH1rx4J5lQD9AtzEfdnoGuuukDiPrarsSTKegJgdC-PsxMMwEcPoE9MRjpFez3tsY3pYTV7hu__7fEZmIRxWtu4/s640/DSC05429.JPG" height="480" width="640" /><br />
I propose in this light that these heads, like the life-size copper mask, may have been identified with Obalufon II and with his later worship as a god. There is considerable evidence to support this view. First, all the brass and copper life-size heads from Ife were found in the Wunmonije compound (Fig. 6),6 a part of the capital that is said to be near the place where Obalufon II himself was buried. According to Fabunmi's map (n.p.), this is also near the place where the new kings of Ife are crowned. It is also possible that these heads may have originally been housed on an Obalufon shrine, on the analogy that at other Yoruba centers, brass crowns, masks, and figures are frequently found on shrines identified with this deity.<br />
The only other major shrines specifically associated with brass sculptures are those of the Ogboni and Agemo societies. The placement of these heads on the Ife Obalufon shrine would also conform to the Yoruba tradition that identifies Obalufon as the patron deity of brass casting, and attributes to Obalufon II the introduction of the casting arts. Furthermore, if the heads were intended, as Willett<br />
suggests, to be seen with actual crowns, and if, as stated above, these crowns were kept on the Obalufon shrine, it follows that the heads and the crowns would have been kept together.<br />
The association of these heads with Obalufon also emerges from the probable circumstances of their late burial in the Wunmonije compound in the palace. When the works were brought into the palace for interment, which Willett suggests (pp. 27-28) probably took place sometime before the early nineteenth century, it seems likely that this was done with the intention of protecting them from further attack. With this in mind, the place selected for their burial undoubtedly would have been chosen with considerable care. Assuming this to be the case, it would follow that the heads would be buried in a palace area closely associated with the patron deity in whose shrine they had<br />
originally been found. Since the heads were buried near the assumed grave of Obalufon II, it seems likely that originally they had also been associated with this ruler.<br />
Read further here: <a href="http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/artbulletin/Art%20Bulletin%20Vol%2067%20No%203%20Blier.pdf">http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/artbulletin/Art%20Bulletin%20Vol%2067%20No%203%20Blier.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>Cosmic References in Ancient Ife</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Suzanne Preston Blier</span></b></span><br />
THIS ESSAY CONSIDERS one of the most important Yoruba cosmological referents, the plan of the capital Ile-Ife and its palace (fig 11.1), and examines a number of artworks associated with this urban center, especially at its height around 1300 CE. The Yoruba cosmos has often been compared to a gourd or calabash cut horizontally so as to form a separate base and cover, with the upper half identified with the sky-linked creator god, Obatala, the lower half with the earth god and new dynasty founder, Odudua (see Lawal, this volume). The form of the gourd sometimes is used in scholarly diagrams that seek to show the Yoruba cosmos as a well-ordered layering of human and supernatural actors (see fig. 12.6). In my view, however, this neatly delimited model reflects in part a Western taxonomic conception, since to the Yoruba, religious forces and persona are continually moving, intersecting, cross-pollinating, challenging, and energizing one another (and humans) across a myriad of celestial and earthly spheres. Human and sacral worlds, in short, are conjoined here.<br />
There also are noteworthy historical contradictions around the identity of this calabash-form as cosmological model, particularly in its references to Obatala and Odudua. Both of these deity pantheons appear to be relatively late inventions in Yoruba religious history, emerging most likely in the aftermath of the establishment of Ife’s second dynasty in about 1300 CE when many of Ife’s famous early arts appear to have been made, a period closely identified with King Obalufon II. This ruler is credited not only with bringing peace to this center, and with commissioning an array of important arts (bronze casting, beaded regalia, weaving), but also with a new city plan in which the palace and market are located in the center surrounded by various religious sanctuaries arrayed in relationship to it. This plan features four main avenues leading into the city, each roughly running along a cardinal axis through what were once manned gates that pierced the circular city walls at points broadly consistent with the cardinal directions. The plan of Ile-Ife, which may have housed<br />
some 125,000 inhabitants in that era, offers important clues into early Yoruba views of both cosmology and directional primacy.<br />
<br />
SUN, MOON, THUNDER, AND LIGHTNING<br />
There is compelling evidence supporting the importance of both the sun and moon in early Ife and broader Yoruba thought. Celestial light, P. A. Talbot points out, is identified by the Yoruba with the sun (male), the moon (female), and the stars (their children), all traveling each day in enormous canoes beneath the earth and across the sky. In ancient Ife contexts certain sculptural forms are identified with these heavenly bodies. The sun is referenced here, in part, by a tall, triangular menhir (fig. 11.2; see also fig. 11.5), which seems to have served as a calendrical device. In Ife there are beliefs (taboos) about the sun’s importance to the use and display of certain ancient Ife<br />
sculptural arts, in particular, the ancient terracotta head identified with the early King Osangangan Obamakin (Obalufon I), which was not supposed to ever see the sun.<br />
Ife oral histories note that this sculpture was shielded by an overturned pot to safeguard it from daylight. This practice also may have political and temporal connections to this king based on his prominent associations with the first dynasty at Ife, the era prior to Odudua’s arrival and cultural enlightenment. Significantly, it was this same king (now god) who is credited in Obalufon family myths with bringing light to earth, an act that complements the use of shining, reflective mica for the diadem on the royal Ife crown (are) that Ife’s Obalufon priest places on the head of each newly crowned king.<br />
The moon finds notable reference here, too. Not only is the festival calendar a lunar one, but according to Euba, Ife rituals of divine kingship that form part of the yearly. Oduduwa festival necessarily “take place on a moonless night because the real moon in the sky must not confront the symbolic moon of ‘Oduduwa,’ the latter, a flat slab of stone referred to as orun Oduduwa, ‘Oduduwa’s heaven,’ that is carried by the high priest round the various spots in the town where sacrifices are made.” Another moon-linked stone, thought to be of quartz (or mica), was reportedly “stolen” in the early part of the twentieth century by a European visitor intent on discovering the properties of “electricity” presumed to be associated with it. This stone carries associations, Euba<br />
suggests, with the ancient thunder and lightning god Oramfe (Ora). Its name, osupa Ijio, “the Moonstone of Ijio,” also links it to Ife Chief Obajio (Oba Ijio), the head priest of Olokun, the ancient god of large water bodies (the ocean), trade, and beads. The close link between lightning, thunder, rain, bodies of water, and the annual cycle of the seasons seems in this way to have informed this unusual now-missing object.<br />
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(Fig11.2) Ita Ogun Esa “sun dial” menhir (dating ca. 1300 CE) located near the Obatala Temple, Ife.</div>
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The early Ife god of thunder and lightning Oramfe (Oranfe/Aramfe, Ora, the precursor of Sango) is identified at once with rain (storms), royal power, and jurisprudence. E. B. Idowu identifies Oramfe additionally with control of the solar system. Euba not only describes Oramfe as Ife’s once powerful “solar-thunder god,” but also characterizes this “high god” as Ife’s “most senior of the humanized spirits,” honored simultaneously as Onile Ina, “Owner of the House of Fire,” and Ooni Ale, “Owner of the Land.” She also highlights Oramfe’s identity as “the Olodumare of the Ife” (since both are “worshipped in the same simple way”), noting that Oramfe’s Oriki praise names identify him, in turn, as the “supreme ase,” namely Orisa.<br />
The latter creative force, she adds, is not only symbolized by “whiteness and personified as the sky god” but also evokes “the humanized ase emanating from the black earth,” the latter also frequently linked to Odudua. There is another cosmological aspect as well, for as Euba explains: “In the Ife creation myth it is Olodumare (sometimes said to be Ora) who sent down these divinities to aid ‘him’ in the creation of the world and of mankind.”<br />
The god Oramfe has a political role at Ife, and is said to convey to Ife kings and others the ability to attract and stop rain, to control the seasons, and to regulate the cycle of the universe more generally. Royal power also is associated with Oramfe, consistent with this god’s affinity with protecting the kingdom and its rulers. Indeed, as Emmanuel Eze suggests, the act of prostration before the king reinforces this tie: “The practice of lying flat when in a thunderstorm is regarded by the early Yorubas as an act of worship of Sango [and by extension Oramfe] who becomes appeased and consequently spares the life of the worshiper.”<br />
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Several Ife sculptures dating to ca. 1300 CE are identified with the celestial features associated with Oramfe, among them a Janus figure (figs. 11.3a, 11.3b) depicting on one side a standing human and on the other a raptor. The man bears unusual diagonal facial markings and appears to be spitting or vomiting a stone ax (celt, “thunderbolt”), the latter a key icon of Oramfe (and of this god’s successor as thunder deity, Sango). The man depicted here grasps a club in his left hand and, in his right, what appears to be a piece of cloth or feather. The club and cloth/feather seem to signal the primacy of balance and contrast. Whereas the cloth or feather suggests the wealth, plenty, and<br />
calm that come to Oramfe devotees who follow his laws, the club signals the potential blows that are meted out to social deviants, such as thieves, who go against Oramfe’s wishes. At the rear of the man’s left shoulder is a branch of leaves, most likely akoko, a plant form that figures prominently in Ife enthronement rites, perhaps underscoring the role of Oramfe in conveying dynastic power. Ife chief Obaluru, priest of Ife’s Oramfe temple, describes this thunder and lightning deity in ways that inform the sculpture further:<br />
"Fire comes from Oramfe’s mouth, so you cannot sit near him or else you will<br />
burn. He also has stone axes [edun àrà] that come from his mouth, and kills people<br />
when lightning strikes."<br />
Following one particularly active lightning storm in Ife in 2004, I was told that powerful local babalawo (healers, diviners) would come out to collect the fallen celts (thunderbolts) for later use in making potent medicines, pointing to connections between these celts and an array of protective or empowering medicinal forms.<br />
<img src="http://www.timsedhotels.com/data/images/tourist_site__oranmiyan_staff,_ileife.jpg" /><br />
(Fig 11.4a and 11.4b) Staff of Oranmiyan (including detail of nails) dating ca. 1300 ce , Ife<br />
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On the reverse side of this sculpture (see fig. 11.3b) is a large-eyed bird with looping, snake-like<br />
wings. When asked about the significance of birds with this wing attribute, Chief Obaluru noted “this bird was sent to people by Oramfe when he wanted to do favors for them.” The bird, he explained, carries Oramfe’s lightning and thunder celts to earth, and will bring both punishment and favors from this god to humans. The exact species of this bird can be debated, but it may depict the owl resembling African pennant-winged night jar (Cosmetornis vexillarius). When in flight, its white flash of under feathers is reminiscent of lightning. The birds, known to the Yoruba as ase, the phoneme se referring to a command or order, also evoke larger Yoruba notions of authority and power (ase) linked to Oramfe, the thunder, lightning, and omnipotent solar-linked god who safeguards society and helps to preserve effective rule. The pennant-winged nightjar also carries certain sorcery associations here, actions that Oramfe was believed to counter, connecting this sculpture to both positive (kingship) and negative (sorcery) ends.<br />
<br />
CELESTIAL- LINKED STONE MONUMENTS<br />
A grouping of menhirs, or tall standing stones, is among the most interesting of ancient Ife artworks that carry cosmological significance. These monuments were a major part of the Ife landscape of circa 1300 ce—and still are today. Sculpted from granite in the same period as the famous Ife copper alloy castings and terracottas, they were erected in various parts of the city, often in conjunction with temples, shrines, and groves. Many carry features that offer insight into ancient Ife beliefs about the cosmos.<br />
One of the city’s most famous monuments is the approximately 16 feet 10 inches tall (above ground) staff of Oranmiyan, located around a quarter mile south-southwest of the palace, and identified with King Obalufon II’s main adversary (figs. 11.4a, 11.4b). The Oranmiyan staff is dedicated to the famous warrior and military leader who is said to have conquered Ife and forced King Obalufon II from the throne, the latter eventually returning to power and bringing peace to the then warring citizens. Before or after this event, Oranmiyan is credited with founding new dynasties<br />
at Benin and Oyo. Oral tradition suggests that this tall granite staff represents the sword Oranmiyan used to fell Ife’s citizens, a weapon he purportedly thrust into the ground before leaving Ife for good. Most likely this monument was created and positioned in Ife in the era following his departure during Obalufon II’s second reign, in conjunction with the truce he forged after Ife’s painful civil war. This was a period when many of the famous early Ife heroes appear to have been commemorated with shrines and associated sculptures.<br />
This staff integrates on its surface a sculpted ram horn or ax motif (evoking ase, or vital power/force) and a pattern of iron nails. Although various interpretations of the unusual iron pattern have been given, most likely it depicts a multi-branched staff, a three-arm version of the Y-shaped<br />
beaded staff carried by the Ooni in the course of the annual Olojo ceremony, a context in which the richly costumed and crowned king is said to attract rain. As such the Oranmiyan monument also seems to symbolize the power of kings to control storms and rain, a characteristic linked both to Oramfe (the ancient thunder god) and to Sango (the Oyo-linked god identified with Oranmiyan).<br />
Another important ancient Ife stone menhir comprises a 7 foot 8 inch tall work known as Ita Ogun Esa, a sculpture identified by Leo Frobenius as a “sun dial” (fig. 11.5; see also fig. 11.2). This menhir is located southeast of the palace on Itapa Street near the temple of Obatala. A tall, narrow, three-sided work, the menhir appears to have had calendrical functions. As Frobenius explains, “When the shadow of this stela fell in certain directions and reached a point drawn on a circle around it, it was time for certain sacred festivals.”18 A stone sundial of this type would have been critical for determining not only festival times, but also other events. The identification of this<br />
stone with the Obatala temple complex reinforces the larger celestial associations of Obatala with both the heavens and related light.<br />
An additional stone menhir was positioned in the now-destroyed Ijugbe temple on Famia Road in the city’s western Modakeke sector, a site dedicated to the Obatala-linked agricultural deity, Orisa Teko. This work, a long, thin 6 foot 6 inch rectangle, was identified by Willett as the temple’s monument to Ogun, consistent with the importance of iron in agricultural (and other) tools. Orisa Teko is known in Ife today as an early yam farmer (now the god of yams), the forerunner of the Yoruba agriculture god, Orisa Oko. Historically, the priest of the Ijugbe temple also is said to have been in charge of rain. This menhir, like the Ita Ogun Esa monument discussed above, possibly<br />
functioned as a sundial (calendar stone, gnomon), in this case probably helping to determine the best time for planting yams and other agricultural produce. This menhir, like the one identified with the Obatala temple, is thus linked in important ways to the cycle of time.<br />
Yet another menhir, a work once positioned in the Ore Grove (and now located in the National Museum, Ile Ife), stands about 5 feet 2 inches above ground and incorporates the unusual pattern of four holes cut roughly equidistant from the other (and between 11 and 16 inches apart) in such a way that they run down each side of the four-sided column. Iron inserts were secured in four of the holes, only the bases of which remain. The work is thought to have had spiral-shaped inserts of iron similar to those embedded in the Oranmiyan staff. Frank Willett notes that these holes were positioned consistent with the cardinal directions, suggesting that the menhir is associated with cosmological order. An additional stone form with a plausible cosmological reference was housed at the palace Ogun temple, Ogun Ladin, this work integrating a pattern of four holes marking the corners of a square, at the center of which was a fifth stone, suggesting the four cardinal points and the sun at the middle. In many ways this form also suggests a schematic model of the city itself, with its historic four main entries leading through the walls into the city center where they meet at the palace and nearby market.<br />
<br />
IFE, A CARDINAL CITY<br />
Ife is an unusual city in many respects, not the least of which is the number of different plans that figure in its conceptualization. At its most basic, Ife is a central-plan urban center, with its (originally four?) main avenues at one time piercing the city walls near the cardinal points and joining at the palace and market that delimit the center, a plan similar to many other early Yoruba walled cities. In addressing both the Ife city plan and the cardinal directions, the local Yoruba concept of north (traditional north, e.g., northwest) is employed, one that defines the directions vis-à-vis orientations several degrees off true north, probably as determined around the time of the winter solstice when the sun sets on the horizon in its most westerly position.<br />
P. A. Talbot provides additional insight into Yoruba views of the cosmos and how issues of shape and directionality figure in them. He notes that the Yoruba identify the earth as square and that their names for the cardinal directions reflect this understanding: the east is known as ila orun (appearing of the sun), the west as iwaw orun (the sinking of the sun), the north as igun keta (third corner, or ariwa otun ila orun, the coming to the right of the earth), and the south as igun kerin aiya (fourth corner of the world). Leo Frobenius provides a version of the Yoruba creation myth that speaks directly to this dynamic, noting that a cardinal plan is identified with the earth’s creation, a<br />
process said by Idowu to have taken four days. Frobenius also identifies each direction with a specific god (deity complex): the east as Edju/Eshu, the west as Sango, the north as Ogun, and the south as Obatala (fig. 11.6). A complementary sculptural form can be seen in the double Janus (four-headed) figure documented by Idowu26 at the Odudua temple. This unusual Ife sculptural<br />
work, like several others, references the four faces (directions) of the Ifa oracular divinity Orunmila (fig. 11.7). Other motifs on this sculpture represent eternal knots, double-headed serpents, an Odu head, and figures of the messenger god, Eshu. The unique shapes of Yoruba Ifa divination boards (rectilinear, circular, a half circle, or a combination thereof) underscore ideas of cosmological organization as well. While rectilinear forms evoke time and space as delimited by the cardinal points, the circle suggests round celestial bodies and ideas of perpetuity. According to Idowu, when<br />
a worshipper creates a circle of ashes or white chalk on the ground, in the center of which he places an offering, the circular form is seen to reference eternity.<br />
The cardinal directions clearly constitute one of the key means through which the Ife space, planning, and time are delimited and experienced, a factor reinforced through the array of ancient potsherd or stone and potsherd pavements that mark this center and its past. These are largely oriented approximately northeast to southwest or to northwest to southeast, consistent with an overall cardinal direction primacy. In the historic Ife city plan, the palace is at the center (see fig. 11.1). Each grouping of gods also has its place consistent with their religious and cosmological associations. In the section of the city broadly to the east of the palace are the shrines of Ifa (Orunmila), the god of divination, located atop Ife’s highest hill (Oke Tase). Also east of the palace is the main Edju (Eshu, Esu) shrine, dedicated to the Ifa divination-linked messenger god. The temple of Olurogbo, the ancient Ife messenger between humans and gods is located in this sector as well, as is the Ife shrine to the moon goddess. These Ife temples seem to share an association with heavenly communication, consistent with the positioning of the king’s residence (bedroom) on the eastern side of the palace.<br />
West of the palace are temples linked especially to rain and storms, including not only that of Oramfe, the ancient Ife deity of thunder and lightning (Ife’s precursor to Sango) and Ogbon Oya<br />
(Sango’s wife), but also the Ife god of agriculture, Orisa Teko. At this latter temple, also sometimes called Ijugbe, were observed stone seats, a large copper alloy frog pierced by an arrow, and a ram fashioned from quartz, the latter used for offerings during the annual March festival cycle. The military conqueror and cultural hero, Oranmiyan, who is identified variously as the father or son of Sango in Oyo (Yoruba) contexts, has his monument west of the palace as well.<br />
In the northern quadrant of the city is the main Ogun temple, dedicated to the powerful god of war, iron, and the advancement of civilization. Also found in Ife’s northern quadrant is the temple of Orisa Akire, the autochthonous Ife warrior god. Another temple, this one dedicated to King Obalufon II, founder of Ife’s second dynasty and the main king/deity credited with enlarging Ife’s road system and establishing its city plan, is sited in the city’s northern sector as well, not far from the western city wall and gate leading toward Ibadan. Both the Ife palace and the Obalufon temple face north (northwest), the direction important to Ogun. In the southern quadrant of Ife is another grouping of Ife sanctuaries. These are identified with Obatala (the sky god), Olokun (the sea god, also Olokun Walode), and an array of royal burial sites or shrines (Wunmonije, Lafogido, and Igbo Odi).<br />
Each cluster of Ife gods thus is identified with a different quadrant of the city, consistent with its cardinal and broader cosmological associations: east (with life and renewal: Ifa, Eshu), west (with dark skies and storms: the thunder and agriculture gods: Oramfe, Orisa Teko), north (with power, war, and technology: Ogun), and south (with creation, fertility, and the ocean: Obatala, Olokun). The importance of the sun and moon within the city landscape and the cardinal orientation of the four main avenues and palace show that space in Ile-Ife carried sustained cosmological significance.<br />
Taken together these diverse sculptural, architectural, and ritual forms point to the high degree of early and ongoing Ife interest in cosmology, issues referenced not only in the primacy of cosmological attributes (the sun, the moon, lightning) but also in an array of important calendrical features (stone menhirs functioning as time markers), as well as roads, pavements, palaces, and temples linked to the cardinal directions.<br />
source:<a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/blier/files/blier_cosmic_references_in_ancient_ife._african_cosmology_ed._kreamer_2012.pdf">http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/blier/files/blier_cosmic_references_in_ancient_ife._african_cosmology_ed._kreamer_2012.pdf</a><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><b>Olojo Festival</b></span><br />
The Olojo Festival is a festival in Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. It is the celebration of the remembrance of “Ogun” the god of Iron, who is believed to be the first son of Oduduwa, progenitor of the Yoruba people.<br />
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On this day, the Ooni (king of Ife) appears after several days of seclusion, communing with the ancestors and praying for his people. This ritual is to make him pure and ensure the efficacy of his prayers. Before the Ooni emerges, women from his maternal and paternal families sweep the Palace, symbolically ridding the Palace of evil.<br />
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The Ooni later appears in public with the Are crown (King’s Crown), which is believed to be the original crown used by Oduduwa to lead a procession of traditional Chiefs and Priests to perform at the Shrine of Ogun. The next stage of the ceremony is to lead the crowd to Okemogun’s shrine. Here he performs duties including the renewal of oath, divination for the Ooni at the foot of Oketage hill by Araba (Chief Priest), as well as visiting places of historical importance.<br />
At the shrine, the traditional Chiefs with the swords of office marked with chalk and cam wood, appear in ceremonial attire and dance to rhythms from Bembe, a traditional drum. The style of drumming and singing for each Chief is different. Only the Ooni can dance to the drum called Osirigi.<br />
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Olojo has remained popular in Ile-Ife due to its myth and history. It connotes the day in the year specially blessed by Olodumare (the creator of the Universe). Olojo can also be literally translated as the “Owner for the day”. Prayers are offered for peace and tranquility in Yoruba and Nigeria. All age groups participate and it’s significance is in the unification of the Yorubas.<br />
Tradition holds that Ile-Ife is the cradle of the Yorubas, the city of survivors, spiritual seat of the Yorubas, and land of the ancients<br />
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Photo source:<a href="http://orishada.com/wordpress/?p=267">http://orishada.com/wordpress/?p=267</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-32399807888536939992014-09-13T18:45:00.000-07:002014-09-13T18:45:07.175-07:00K. O. MBADIWE: CELEBRATED NIGERIAN NATIONALIST, PAN-AFRICANIST, FEMINIST ADVOCATE AND A WORDSMITH KNOWN FOR HIS FLAMBOYANCE AND POLITICAL SHOWMANSHIPKingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe or K O Mbadiwe(1915–1990) was a celebrated Nigerian nationalist, Pan-Africanist, politician, feminist advocate, statesman and former government minister. He was one time Minister of Lands, Minister of Trade and Commerce, and Minister of Aviation. He was also appointed as the first and so far, the only "Ambassador Extra-Ordinary and Plenipotentiary" of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. KO, popularly known as "Man of Timber and Calibre" was a larger than life character with awesome accolades; he was the Agadagbachiriuzo of Arondizuogu, the Ononenyi of Orlu, the Maye of Lagos, the great eagle around whose name many legends are spun.<br />
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Dr Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe, celebrated Nigerian nationalist, Pan-Africanist, politician, feminist advocate, statesman and former government minister. </div>
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As Uche Ohia (2008) put it, next to the celebrated Nigerian scholar, politician, last Governor-General and first ceremonial president Nnamdi "Zik" Azikiwe, "K.O ranks among the greatest nationalists of Igbo extraction that ever trod this land. This colossal image was recaptured by another orator and hero Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who wrote in a befitting tribute "K.O was grand, his actions grandiose, his speeches grandiloquent". He is the father of the dashing and popular Nigerian Igbo billionaire and auto-freak Ambassador Greg Mbadiwe, who owns vintage cars, fancy speed boats, and collection of most expensive and trendy hats and wrist watches.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Greg Mbadiwe, son of famous K O Mbadiwe looking the part in his Emmy Collins London monogramed panneled black top with red details. Courtesy <a href="http://diarybyemmy.com/297">http://diarybyemmy.com/297</a></span></div>
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Mbadiwe, an Igbo, was a central figure in Nigerian political life for more than forty years. Starting in 1936 as a protégé of Nnamdi Azikiwe, then Nigeria’s most renowned nationalist, Mbadiwe<br />
by the late 1940s had become a frontline nationalist, and, next to Tafawa Balewa from the north who became prime minister in 1957, Mbadiwe was the most important figure in the Nigerian federal government between 1952 and Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966.<br />
During this time he held a succession of important cabinet positions and was the parliamentary leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which was in a ruling alliance with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). In contrast, his older prominent political contemporaries, Azikiwe of the Eastern Region, Igbo leader of the NCNC; Obafemi Awolowo, Yoruba leader of the Action Group; Ahmadu Bello of the Northern Region, and Fulani, leader of<br />
the NPC, all carved out their political careers totally or largely at the regional level. Throughout his political career Mbadiwe operated at the national level. It has been stated that Mbadiwe “was one of the founding fathers of the Nigerian State.”<br />
He “was indisputably the most colorful, flamboyant and most glamorous politician of his time.” His gracious yet forceful personality; his colorful robes; his inventive, picturesque speech; his progressive ideas and his unabashed patriotism made him an object of adoration by his followers who bestowed on him a slew of sobriquets all indicating purposeful strength. “A Man of Caliber and Timber” was the most popular, but among others were “The Iron Man of the East,” “The Caterpillar,” and “The Juggernaut.” He was a frontline nationalist and politician, an avowed patriot<br />
and a leading Nigerian statesman. A staunchly pan-Africanist and internationalist figure, he was obsessed with the idea that Nigeria was potentially a great nation and worked assiduously toward that end.<br />
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Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe (center), head of the Academy of African Arts and Research, which is presenting the festival, talking to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, sponsor and Guest of Honor of the African Dance Festival. with Mbadiwe was Mazi Mbonu Ojike (aka Boycot King) who came from the University of Chicago representing the African students. Image: Bettmann Collection' Circa Monday evening, December 14, 1943 at the Carnegie Hall.</div>
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As Nigeria's most flamboyant politician and wordsmith, Nigerian writer Ndubisi Nwafor-Ejelinma avers in his book "Ndi-Igbo of Nigeria: Identity Showcase" published in 2012, "The Man of Timber and Calibre. K O was the most flamboyant, 'superlative' 'bombastic' indefatigable political demagogue on the Nigerian political scene in the immediate post independence era." In 1953 when NCNC won 72 out 84 seats of Eastern House Assembly elections, Mbadiwe`s forceful role in the the political drama that occurred earned him the sobriequet of "the Iron Man of the East."<br />
Mbadiwe was one of the seven brilliant young men who were inspired and encouraged by Dr Nnamdi "Zik" Azikiwe to sail to United States "in search of the Golden Fleece" in December 1938. The group includes Mazi Mbonu Ojike aka Boycott King, Otuka Okala, Dr Nnodu Okongwu, Engr. Nwanko Chukwuemeka, Dr Okechukwu Ikejiani, Dr. Abyssinia Akweke Nwafor Orizu and George Igbodebe Mbadiwe. Mbadiwe always referred to this group as "Seven Argonauts." "Even before he left home in 1938, age 23, to study in the United States, he had already emerged as a full-fledged nationalist and businessman. In his nine-year stay, he carved out the most spectacular career ever accomplished by a foreign student in the United States. Capitalizing on the profound new interest in Africa created by World War II, Mbadiwe harnessed the small group of fellow African students and won the support of liberal whites and African Americans, thus becoming perhaps the leading pan-African spokesman in the United States. To facilitate his role, he was instrumental in founding the African Students Association in 1941 and in 1943 the African<br />
Academy of Arts and Research, which organized lectures, conferences, cultural events and publications. His social reach extended to the White House where twice he was the guest of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who became a staunch supporter of his Academy, as did a host of prominent black and white Americans. The publication on March 15, 1943, of his first book, British and Axis Aims in Africa, predictably anti-colonial and pro-Africa, naturally added to his prestige and influence" (Lynch, 2012)<br />
It is said that on his return from the US in 1948 after completion of his studies, K O took an exhibition tour of the country with a movie he had done in US; he tagged the tour "Operation Greater Tomorrow" as a promotion of African Arts and Science.<br />
Mbadiwe was the most pro-Western of his colleagues. In a Cold War setting the NCNC and other major Nigerian parties opted for a foreign policy of neutrality and nonalignment. However, Mbadiwe’s own Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroons (DPNC), formed in 1958, had<br />
among its foreign policy goals “the reinforcement of our friendship with the United States” and “the proclamation of our interest in American Negroes.” In Nigeria he was proud to be known as “Mr.<br />
America.” Throughout his life he maintained strong links with leading black and white Americans.<br />
According to Dr. Hollis R. Lynch, Professor Emeritus of History Columbia University and author of the biographical work "K. O. Mbadiwe: A Nigerian Political Biography, 1915-1990," Mbadiwe was a supreme statesman. His statesmanship derived from his patriotic fervor for Nigeria. More than any other Nigerian he was preoccupied with promoting its unity, stability, and development. He was Nigeria’s biggest booster, and during times of crisis “he was invariably in the vanguard of those who sought to mediate, to contain, to conciliate, to compromise.” Whatever the shortcomings of politicians, he was unwavering in his belief that Nigeria’s future should be as a vibrant democratic nation. This is why he was so actively involved in the drafting of the constitution that would return Nigeria to a presidential-style democracy after thirteen years of military rule.<br />
As a strong believer of united Nigeria devoid of tribalism and suspicion, when the Northern Nigerian party, NPC legislators lead by their leader, Mallam Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Mallam Ibrahim Imam of Bornu, felt betrayed and refused to be pressured into accepting 1956 as the year for Nigeria`s independence, Mbadiwe chastised them verbally and called their action as "mischievous.... and an insult to the principles of democracy." Mbadiwe stood out as “a leader who never discriminated among the various ethnic groups.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was deeply democratic. He was accessible, a consensus builder, tolerant of long debates and discussions, and an excellent organizer.He bemoaned the "little minds," the "little visions" and the widespread mutual suspicion that pervaded Nigeria: "your brother is suspicious of you, your country-man is fearful of you; the North is suspicious of the East and the East is suspicious of the West, and the West of the others." He contended that the Northerners fear of the South is "unfounded and retrograde....they are the sons of men who led us to self government. Before British thought of having Ministers.... the Hausa states....had already adopted ministerial form of government and their history has been a great inspiration to us all." He asserted that the North is "the great custodian of the medieval heritage of Nigeria," that it had "an enormous reservoir of goodwill" throughout the country, and Northerners should thus join the front ranks in the struggle for political freedom. He remained optimistic that there "was a great future" for Nigeria and resolved that "we will not falter, we will not equivocate."<br />
No Nigerian politician was more responsible for establishing the identity of Nigeria than Mbadiwe. Years after its independence in 1960, Nigeria still did not have an established identity internationally: It was often confused with Liberia and Algeria. However, in his travels abroad, Mbadiwe attracted considerable media attention and aggressively promoted Nigeria. The response of the Manchester Guardian of July 4, 1955, was typical. It confirmed to readers that Mbadiwe was “known to his admirers as ‘Knock Out’,” but he was also “a most genial diplomat,” and the newspaper added that “wherever he goes he makes a most notable figure in his colorful Nigerian dress.” His attempts at projecting Nigeria internationally can further be seen by three events he engineered that generated substantial international publicity: the holding in Nigeria of the 1962 world middleweight championship fight of Dick Tiger, an Igbo Nigerian; the inauguration in 1964 of a Nigerian Airways weekly flight between Lagos and New York; and the unsuccessful attempt in<br />
1965 to win for Lagos the headquarters of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). "It is said that as a Minister of Aviation he structured the Nigerian Airways partnership with the Pan American Airways and took his native Igbo exotic acrobatic Atilogwu dancers and two royal trumpeters from Kano on the maiden flight from Lagos to Nigeria which he tagged "Operation Fantastic`."<br />
The internationalism of Mbadiwe and his enormous capacity for organization and publicity are clearly seen in his successful attempt to build the Ojike Memorial Hospital in Arondizuogu in honor of his close friend and fellow patriot, Mbonu Ojike, who died prematurely in 1956. It was a highly ambitious project estimated to cost the large sum of about £1 million, but Mbadiwe was able to use his vast global contacts to raise the funds. Its construction was interrupted by the civil war, but the hospital was opened in 1974 with great fanfare. Such an effort remains unmatched.<br />
Older Nigerians remember him for his flair and appetite for coinages and usage of jaw-breaking bombastic words especially as an originator of phrase "men of Timber and Calibre" which became his trademark. Mbadiwe was always inventing words. He did so with domestic confidence. He was never kept in check by official linguistic conventions. In the several tributes to him when he died, there was this unseeming penchant of the people to employ lofty and grandiloquent expressions to bid him farewell, mainly as a mark of honour, given that his flamboyancy, even in words, was his trademark. As one Nigerian historian concluded, "K O was a flamboyant man who thought only in superlatives." In the words of Eric Teniola, a journalist in Mbadiwe's time, Mbadiwe "was the most flambouyant, the most ornate and the most baroque politician that I ever met."<br />
It said that on one occasion while defending his position on zoning of public offices in the country, Mbadiwe said: "If all my proposed rotational zones, in their turn, produced Presidents over the years, the need for zoning could perhaps no longer arise, and we would have zoned to unzone". His submissions were standing perfect platitudes.<br />
Several times, he said his philosophy in life was that "if you want to achieve greatness, then you must be ready to finance greatness." In an address to the Constituent Assembly in 1977, he said: "Logic and illogicality can never meet. If you want the Presidency, that is the logical sequence. If you throw in any other thing, it can never meet, and illogicality and logicality will produce tautology". On another occasion, he said. "Let finance jam with finance, when one irreducible minimum confronts another extreme irreducible minimum on another side, the net result is cataclysm and catastrophe." Even at the risk of not making meaning, he once blurted out ."When the come, come to become, the unbecome, must become." Mbadiwe never failed to thrill his audience. He was a political equilibrator. His amusing vocabulary helped tremendously to reduce the tension associated with politics. He brought fun and laughter into the political arena.<br />
Given that Mbadiwe was a patriotic politician and statesman with an enlightened democratic approach, his life and achievements are relevant to Nigerians today who are still struggling to entrench democracy. It seems, however, that his flamboyant style so far has not been replicated.<br />
In 2009, a Nigerian commentator noted, “Since K. O. died, no politician with the same vivacity and audacity has illuminated the Nigerian political landscape.” The same writer also lamented that Mbadiwe “has not yet received his deserved honor” and recognition. It is my hope that this biography will begin to address that omission.<br />
As a feminist advocate, Mbadiwe became an early and vociferous champion of rights of women in a country in which women’s rights prior to the 1979 constitution were widely curtailed, especially in the Islamic north. When in conflict with Azikiwe, he formed his own party in 1958; its platform uniquely emphasized “the need for the development of opportunities for women side-by-side with our men-folk.” He himself was an exemplary family man. A contemporary has written that “of all his colleagues . . . Dr. Mbadiwe had the most stable family life.” Mbadiwe insisted that “a woman President [sic] for Nigeria is no idle dream,” a prediction, I am sure, that will be noted by politically<br />
ambitious Nigerian women (Lynch, 2012)<br />
In a country in which corruption was widespread, Mbadiwe himself did not escape being accused of such. However, no major charge of corruption was ever proved against him. He was a successful businessman and could easily have become a Nigerian mogul, but politics with a patriotic goal was his passion.<br />
<img height="521" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWRrppEI80zmWXR5GB7BU0-lhojGiSVFsDVqKtSuJdsk0iR-yCJGjZ92YWLGco7u1MPNklkT8L-JHHoRuy-E2MYPewwiAMAlj3cIqYOGqv18RT5nVYTTLLSV7fFx8bcEdrFlE9FZ9pWb0/s640/Azikiwe-Mbadiwe.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
(L-R): Judge James S. Watson with Alain Locke, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kingsley O. Mbadiwe, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Clarence Holt and unidentified guest at the African Dance Academy Festival hosted by Mbadiwe. Jamaican born Judge Watson was elected municipal judge in 1930 and one of the first black judges in New York. Alain Locke, distinguished as the first African American Rhodes Scholar and architect of the Harlem Renaissance. Location: New York. Date: December 1943. Image: Campbell & Harper/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.</div>
<br />
Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe was born at Oneh in Orumba in the Orlu division of present day Imo State on March 15, 1917. He belonged to Mbadiwe Odum of the wealthy Odum family of Ndianiche Uno, Arondizuogu in the present Ideato North Local Government of Imo State.<br />
KO, at birth, was proclaimed to ba a reincarnation of Okoli Idozuka, a famous warrior and wealthy merchant whose title, Agadagbachiriuzo (the great tree that blocks the way), he inherited and bore all his life. Thus imbued with the heart of a lion from a tender age, KO began school at St. Marys Catholic School, Port Harcourt where his brother, David, was a staff of the Nigerian Railways. His assertive character began to manifest at this time. During the late 1920s while he was holidaying in Arondizuogu, KO who had become fascinated by the aura of Catholicism decided to relinquish the Anglican faith of his family. He walked up boldly to the Irish priest at St. Philips Catholic Church, Ndiakeme to request for baptism. The bewildered priest hedged until an older communicant, Mazi Stephen Okafor Ogbaji, volunteered to mentor the boy who was eventually bestowed with the name Gabriel at baptism. Today, in the large Odum kindred, KO's nuclear family remains Catholics among Protestants.<br />
After completing his elementary education at Government School, Aba, KO attended Aggrey Memorial College Arochukwu, Baptist College, Lagos and Igbobi College, Lagos. On leaving Igbobi in 1934, he tried his hands at trading, an occupation that made him to settle in Port Harcourt. His residence there proved providencial. When Zik returned from the Gold Coast with the gospel of nationalism and visited PH on a lecture tour in 1937, KO who had just turned 20 at the time was captivated by Zik's erudition. He got close to Zik and arranged for the orator to meet his wealthy elder brother, J. Green Mbadiwe, then a gold miner and railway contractor in Minna. At the meeting, Green readily subscribed to the setting up of the West African Pilot which became the flagship of the Zik group of newspapers with the motto "show the light and the people shall find the way". KO became the representative of the newspaper for PH, Aba and Onitsha but not for long.<br />
With Zik's encouragement, KO was one of the seven young men who were inspired to sail to the United States on December 31, 1938 in search of the Golden Fleece: others were Mazi Mbonu Ojike, George Igbodebe Mbadiwe, Otuka Okala, Dr. Nnodu Okongwu, Engr. Nwankwo Chukwuemeka, and Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani. They were later joined by Dr. Abyssinia Akweke Nwafor Orizu. KO was to refer to this group as the Seven Argonauts.<br />
On his return to Nigeria in May 1948, KO undertook a tour of the country with a movie "Greater Tomorrow" which he had made in the US to promote the cause of his African Academy of Arts and Science. With interest generated by the film, the Academy was able to send a batch of 16 students to the US before the end of that year. in the words of Lynch (2012) "He had all the equipment necessary to tackle his mission: He was financially independent, supremely self-confident, extremely hardworking, possessed a forthright but genial personality, and was a master of publicity and public relations. True to his pan-African thrust and his flair for publicity,<br />
Mbadiwe undertook a five-month triumphant return to Nigeria in 1948, via London, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Gold Coast, and instantaneously became one of Nigeria’s leading nationalists. With<br />
his transplanted Academy as his base he spent three years trying to establish a broad-based<br />
nationalist movement, and when that failed, he joined the NCNC in 1951 and became a leading deputy to its president, Nnamdi Azikiwe."<br />
In April 1951 KO joined the NCNC. Not long after, the Macpherson Constitution was promulgated which introduced regionalism into the political matrix. With radical nationalism manacled by the ban placed on the Zikist movement, KO contested and won election as member for Orlu in the Eastern Regional House of Assembly from where he was elected to the Federal House of Representatives in Lagos. In 1952, KO was appointed the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. The journey through political minefields which saw him remaining in the limelight for almost four decades had begun.<br />
K.O made persistent calls for the ‘rebirth' of this nation. Over fifty odd years ago, he convened the first committee on National Rebirth, a forum for all political leaders. Even his authobiography published in 1990 is aptly titled ‘Rebirth of a Nation'. Today Nigeria has adopted and institutionalized both the catchphrase and the idea. K.O fought for the institution of a zoning system (which was encapsulated in his typically illustrative coinage "zoning to unzone" as a sine qua non for equity and national development. It was K.O who secured the inclusion of the clause "25% of votes cast in at least two thirds of the states of the Federation" in the 1979 constitution during his days in the Constituent Assembly to counteract the dangers of electing a president by "simple majority".<br />
In his lifetime, K.O showed a preference for a nationally based political party over any regional or ethnic party. This has become accepted today as the only panacea for national unity. How many residents of Surulere today know that this model estate was conceived and established in a virtual forest by K.O as Minister for Lands to settle victims of the Lagos slum clearance project, a scheme that was resisted and opposed by the Action Group? Indeed, when K.O moved a motion in 1952 to remove Lagos from the Western Region in view of its status as a capital city, the same Action Group opposed and caused the motion to fail. But K.O's DPNC struck an alliance with Action Group in 1958. At that time he was thought by Ndigbo to have committed political sacrilege. Today, the ‘handshake across the Niger', a synonym for Igbo/Yoruba political co-operation has become a favourite song in the Igbo political hymnal<br />
Even before 1958, K.O's vision, amiability and candour had moved him to earn the trust and confidence of the northern political establishment. This made it possible for him to engineer many monumental political alliances: the NCNC/NPC alliance (1954), the NPN/NPP alliance (1981) and, when that failed, the multi party alliance which K.O the quintessential wordsmith tagged ‘accord-concordiale' (1982). K.O Mbadiwe was a flamboyant man who thought only in superlatives. As minister of Aviation, he structured Nigerian Airways partnership with Pan-American Airways and took exotic Atiliogwu dancers and two royal trumpeters from Kano on the maiden flight from Lagos to New York which he tagged "Operation Fantastic". In the thick of his debacle with Zik in 1958, K.O declared that if Azikiwe was "iwe" that he (Mbadiwe) was "iwe" too – an onomatopoeic reference to the identical suffix of their surnames which translate to "anger". At the height of the 1965 political crisis in the former Western Nigeria, KO was reported as saying that "when the come comes to become, we shall come out".<br />
At various times KO served this country as Minister of Communications, Minister of Aviation, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Minister for Trade, Personal Adviser to President Shehu Shagari on National Assembly Affairs, and the first and, so far, only ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary' of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. K.O had an abiding respect for the press which nourished his relationship with the fourth estate of the realm which so glamorized him that even his silence on issues made as much headline news as his comments.<br />
Next to Zik, K.O ranks among the greatest nationalists of Igbo extraction that ever trod this land. This colossal image was recaptured by another orator and hero Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who wrote in a befitting tribute "K.O was grand, his actions grandiose, his speeches grandiloquent". In his lifetime K.O was like the phoenix, a mythical bird that always rose rejuvenated from it's ashes: there was no single political conflagration from which he did not emerge straight into power or, at worst, into the corridor of power. Today, we refresh our memory on this unforgettable man who (like many other heroes of yesterday) has not received his deserved honour from the government of Nigeria.<br />
<img height="480" src="http://diarybyemmy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/greg-mbadiwe-041.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Greg Mbadiwe (L) with his friend sitting on some of his vintage and fancy cars at his garage. Courtesy <a href="http://diarybyemmy.com/297">http://diarybyemmy.com/297</a><br />
source:<a href="http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/hist2012/browse/inside/inline/9781137002624.pdf?chapterDoi=$%7Bchapter.getDoiWithoutPrefix()%7D">http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/hist2012/browse/inside/inline/9781137002624.pdf?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/hist2012/browse/inside/inline/9781137002624.pdf?chapterDoi=$%7Bchapter.getDoiWithoutPrefix()%7D">chapterDoi=$%7Bchapter.getDoiWithoutPrefix()%7D</a><br />
<a href="http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/uche-ohia/remembering-ko-mbadiwe-by-uche-ohia.html">http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/uche-ohia/remembering-ko-mbadiwe-by-uche-ohia.html</a><br />
<a href="http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/archive/2003/oct/18/032.html">http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/archive/2003/oct/18/032.html</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>K. O. Mbadiwe: A Nigerian Political Biography, 1915–1990</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;"> <b><span style="font-size: large;">By Hollis R. Lynch</span></b></span><br />
<br />
Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe, an Igbo, was a central figure in Nigerian political life for more than forty years. Starting in 1936 as a protégé of Nnamdi Azikiwe, then Nigeria’s most renowned nationalist, Mbadiwe by the late 1940s had become a frontline nationalist, and, next to Tafawa Balewa from the north who became prime minister in 1957, Mbadiwe was the most important figure in the Nigerian federal government between 1952 and Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966.<br />
During this time he held a succession of important cabinet positions and was the parliamentary leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which was in a ruling alliance with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). In contrast, his older prominent political contemporaries, Azikiwe of the Eastern Region, Igbo leader of the NCNC; Obafemi Awolowo, Yoruba leader of the Action Group; Ahmadu Bello of the Northern Region, and Fulani, leader of<br />
the NPC, all carved out their political careers totally or largely at the regional level. Throughout his political career Mbadiwe operated at the national level. It has been stated that Mbadiwe “was one of the founding fathers of the Nigerian State.”<br />
There is a consensus among his contemporaries that Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (1915–1990)<br />
“was indisputably the most colorful, flamboyant and most glamorous politician of his time.” His<br />
gracious yet forceful personality; his colorful robes; his inventive, picturesque speech; his progressive ideas and his unabashed patriotism made him an object of adoration by his followers who bestowed on him a slew of sobriquets all indicating purposeful strength. “A Man of Caliber and Timber” was the most popular, but among others were “The Iron Man of the East,” “The Caterpillar,” and “The Juggernaut.” He was a frontline nationalist and politician, an avowed patriot<br />
and a leading Nigerian statesman. A staunchly pan-Africanist and internationalist figure, he was obsessed with the idea that Nigeria was potentially a great nation and worked assiduously toward that end.<br />
Even before he left home in 1938, age 23, to study in the United States, he had already emerged as a full-fledged nationalist and businessman. In his nine-year stay, he carved out the most spectacular<br />
career ever accomplished by a foreign student in the United States. Capitalizing on the profound new interest in Africa created by World War II, Mbadiwe harnessed the small group of fellow African students and won the support of liberal whites and African Americans, thus becoming perhaps the leading pan-African spokesman in the United States. To facilitate his role, he was instrumental in founding the African Students Association in 1941 and in 1943 the African Academy of Arts and Research, which organized lectures, conferences, cultural events and publications. His social reach extended to the White House where twice he was the guest of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who became a staunch supporter of his Academy, as did a host of prominent black and white Americans. The publication on March 15, 1943, of his first book, British and Axis Aims in Africa, predictably anti-colonial and pro-Africa, naturally added to his prestige and influence.<br />
The question arises: how does a foreign student make such a spectacular political impact in the United States? The answer lies in the favorable liberal atmosphere of World War II, in his financial independence, and in the nature of his character and mission. His political goals were clear: the political, economic, and social freedom of all African peoples but more particularly Nigerians. He had all the equipment necessary to tackle his mission: He was financially independent, supremely self-confident, extremely hardworking, possessed a forthright but genial personality, and was a master of publicity and public relations. True to his pan-African thrust and his flair for publicity,<br />
Mbadiwe undertook a five-month triumphant return to Nigeria in 1948, via London, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Gold Coast, and instantaneously became one of Nigeria’s leading nationalists. With<br />
his transplanted Academy as his base he spent three years trying to establish a broad-based<br />
nationalist movement, and when that failed, he joined the NCNC in 1951 and became a leading deputy to its president, Nnamdi Azikiwe. Elected to the eastern House and the federal House in 1951 and named to his first cabinet position in 1954, Mbadiwe became increasingly a dynamic political force in Nigeria.<br />
His goal was a stable, thriving, and integrated nation. Because of profound ethnic and regional differences, it was a difficult goal, but no politician was more committed to its realization than Mbadiwe. For Mbadiwe it was imperative that Nigeria succeed not only for itself but the entire black world. He was saddened by the Nigerian civil war in which circumstances forced him to support the seceding Biafrans, but he was always for reconciliation. After the civil war he was in the forefront in fighting for the restoration of Igbo property outside of the former “Biafra” and the reintegration of the group into national life.<br />
His vision for Nigeria required the massive economic development of the country. At a time when most African and other developing countries espoused socialism because of fears that foreign investment would foster neo-colonialism, Mbadiwe unabashedly sought to promote capitalistic investments. However, the capitalism he promoted was not the unbridled, rapacious variety. He believed in what he called “philanthropic capitalism,” which emphasized sharing acquired wealth with the community and which, he asserted, was the traditional African approach. As far as foreign investments were concerned, it was up to the Nigerian government to ensure that the necessary terms and conditions existed for the benefit of both the investors and the country.<br />
Trained in business, and a businessman himself, Mbadiwe remained the leading spokesman on economic affairs during his legislative career. He was in the forefront, particularly as minister of Commerce and Industry (1957–1958) and minister of Trade (1965–1966), in devising policy and passing legislation that would foster industrial development. He also worked tirelessly to develop a Nigerian entrepreneurial class. He got legislation passed to strengthen and stabilize indigenous banks, hitherto massively discriminated against by the colonial authorities. He made government loans more easily available to small businesses. In 1952 he was the first legislator to call for the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which came into existence in 1959. He organized trade conferences and exhibitions and insisted that Nigerian export products be of superior quality.<br />
Economic development he saw as essential for the unity and stability of the country.<br />
He did not see the fostering of Nigerian capitalism as inimical to the interests of the working class, and he promoted those interests by encouraging the strengthening and unification of the labor movement. He saw the role of the state as promoting the interests of all segments of society as equitably as possible. He subscribed to the philosophy of social welfarism, which he believed was derived from traditional African values and practices.<br />
In a country in which women’s rights prior to the 1979 constitution were widely curtailed, especially in the Islamic north, Mbadiwe became an early and vociferous champion of those rights. When in conflict with Azikiwe, he formed his own party in 1958; its platform uniquely emphasized “the need for the development of opportunities for women side-by-side with our men-folk.”<br />
It is noteworthy that, through the influence of progressives such as Mbadiwe, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), 1978–1983, whose major base was in the Islamic north, gave unprecedented political opportunities to women. He himself was an exemplary family man. A contemporary has written that “of all his colleagues . . . Dr. Mbadiwe had the most stable family life.” Mbadiwe insisted that “a woman President [sic] for Nigeria is no idle dream,” a prediction, I am sure, that will be noted by politically ambitious Nigerian women.<br />
In a country affected by rampant ethnic partisanship, Mbadiwe stood out as “a leader who never discriminated among the various ethnic groups.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was deeply<br />
democratic. He was accessible, a consensus builder, tolerant of long debates and discussions, and an excellent organizer. Mbadiwe’s reputation as a populist stemmed as much from his creative flamboyant rhetoric as from his progressive ideas. A short, stocky, gracious, good-humored man, he titillated his audiences with verbal pyrotechnics eliciting mirthful shouts of “K. O., K. O.” A contemporary wrote: “He was never short of sparkling language . . . What Shakespeare was to Britain, and Daniel Webster was to America, Mbadiwe was to Nigeria.” Another succinctly stated, “K. O. was grand, his actions grandiose, his speech grandiloquent.” And a reviewer of this work<br />
while in manuscript has elaborated as follows: He was “an icon of political oratory and . . . an exemplar of the art and poetics of political flourish . . . Mbadiwe indeed pioneered a new genre of political speech in Nigeria, one that has spawned its own literary canon and can be found in many politically flamboyant and grammatically verbose characters in Nigerian politics today and in fictional representations in the current wave of Nigerian literary writing. Mbadiwe normalized<br />
political verbosity and highfalutin robust political speech as essential aspects of political praxis in Nigeria.”<br />
Mbadiwe was a supreme statesman. His statesmanship derived from his patriotic fervor for Nigeria. More than any other Nigerian he was preoccupied with promoting its unity, stability, and development. He was Nigeria’s biggest booster, and during times of crisis “he was invariably in the vanguard of those who sought to mediate, to contain, to conciliate, to compromise.” Whatever the shortcomings of politicians, he was unwavering in his belief that Nigeria’s future should be as a vibrant democratic nation. This is why he was so actively involved in the drafting of the constitution that would return Nigeria to a presidential-style democracy after thirteen years of military rule. With Nigeria divided into 19 states, that constitution met his long-held wish for a strong federal government and for an extension of Nigerian democracy by giving the vote to 18 year olds and enfranchising Muslim women of northern Nigeria. In his continuing concern to promote integration, his singular contribution to the new constitution was the insertion of a clause that the president should not win just by a simple majority but should have at least 25 percent of the vote in two-thirds of the 19 states. Even though the Shagari government was ended by a military coup on December 31, 1983, Mbadiwe never ceased demanding that Nigeria return to democracy.<br />
No Nigerian politician was more responsible for establishing the identity of Nigeria than Mbadiwe. Years after its independence in 1960, Nigeria still did not have an established identity internationally: It was often confused with Liberia and Algeria. However, in his travels abroad, Mbadiwe attracted considerable media attention and aggressively promoted Nigeria. The response of the Manchester Guardian of July 4, 1955, was typical. It confirmed to readers that Mbadiwe was “known to his admirers as ‘Knock Out’,” but he was also “a most genial diplomat,” and the newspaper added that “wherever he goes he makes a most notable figure in his colorful Nigerian dress.” His attempts at projecting Nigeria internationally can further be seen by three events he engineered that generated substantial international publicity: the holding in Nigeria of the 1962 world middleweight championship fight of Dick Tiger, an Igbo Nigerian; the inauguration in 1964 of a Nigerian Airways weekly flight between Lagos and New York; and the unsuccessful attempt in<br />
1965 to win for Lagos the headquarters of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).<br />
The internationalism of Mbadiwe and his enormous capacity for organization and publicity are clearly seen in his successful attempt to build the Ojike Memorial Hospital in Arondizuogu in honor of his close friend and fellow patriot, Mbonu Ojike, who died prematurely in 1956. It was a highly ambitious project estimated to cost the large sum of about £1 million, but Mbadiwe was able to use his vast global contacts to raise the funds. Its construction was interrupted by the civil war, but the hospital was opened in 1974 with great fanfare. Such an effort remains unmatched. Another distinguishing feature of Mbadiwe is the fact that he was the most pro-Western of his colleagues. In a Cold War setting the NCNC and other major Nigerian parties opted for a foreign policy of neutrality and nonalignment. However, Mbadiwe’s own Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroons (DPNC), formed in 1958, had among its foreign policy goals “the reinforcement of our friendship with the United States” and “the proclamation of our interest in American Negroes.” In Nigeria he was proud to be known as “Mr. America.” Throughout his life he maintained strong links with leading black and white Americans.<br />
In a country in which corruption was widespread, Mbadiwe himself did not escape being accused of such. However, no major charge of corruption was ever proved against him. He was a successful businessman and could easily have become a Nigerian mogul, but politics with a patriotic goal was his passion.<br />
Although he was almost certainly Nigeria’s ablest national politician, the fact that he was Igbo and remained politically number two in the eastern region behind Azikiwe, militated against his goal to<br />
lead Nigeria. Moreover, his goal of setting his nation on the path to greatness had to contend with harsh realities: widespread poverty, high illiteracy, a grossly underdeveloped private sector, fierce ethnic and regional conflicts for the control of governments and resources, and massive corruption. These conditions, in turn, led to prolonged military rule—20 years in Mbadiwe’s lifetime—which<br />
was often more corrupt and repressive than civilian rule and was bitterly deprecated by Mbadiwe. By contrast, Mbadiwe’s vision for Nigeria and his efforts on its behalf are entirely praiseworthy.<br />
Given that Mbadiwe was a patriotic politician and statesman with an enlightened democratic approach, his life and achievements are relevant to Nigerians today who are still struggling to entrench democracy. It seems, however, that his flamboyant style so far has not been replicated. In 2009, a Nigerian commentator noted, “Since K. O. died, no politician with the same vivacity and audacity has illuminated the Nigerian political landscape.” The same writer also lamented that Mbadiwe “has not yet received his deserved honor” and recognition. It is my hope that this biography will begin to address that omission.<br />
K. O. Mbadiwe first came forcefully to my attention in the mid-1970s when I was doing research for an article on the pan-African activities of African students in the United States during and immediately after World War II. There were about sixty students, and K. O. Mbadiwe without question was the most formidable anticolonial pan-African activist among them. This plus his distinguished public career in Nigeria made me later undertake to write a political biography of him. However, at the time of Mbadiwe’s death in 1990, I succumbed to a serious illness that ended my academic career. Remarkably, however, in the last three years, I have made enough of<br />
a recovery to resume and complete the biography.<br />
<br />
Dr. Hollis R. Lynch<br />
Professor Emeritus of History<br />
Columbia University<br />
New York City, August 1, 2011<br />
<a href="http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/hist2012/browse/inside/inline/9781137002624.pdf?chapterDoi=$%7Bchapter.getDoiWithoutPrefix()%7D">http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/hist2012/browse/inside/inline/9781137002624.pdf?chapterDoi=$%7Bchapter.getDoiWithoutPrefix()%7D</a><br />
<img height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnXysaIGknuC16dS8viyCM0ZTrdhlTDpnmHimXVNioHZAZlZzLnWrtanAbcJ4TdNXXFaOHWc2W-Rt_gLZMVU2LwDRr5m5K86-it4yE3bBXcv4AAhH3z6kjWHB1r6LrIZlL8yXUafMsShC/s640/_MG_4743.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Greg Mbadiwe and his pal Bayo Abdulkwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-19256019619844832552014-09-12T20:22:00.001-07:002014-09-13T18:45:22.541-07:00THE GREAT AKWASIDAE FESTIVAL OF THE ASANTE PEOPLETo every African, festivals hold a special place in everyday life. They are occasions for re-union, remembrance and merry-making. Festivals are also occasions of mixed feelings as the dead are remembered through organized rituals and mourning. The rituals are performed by social groups under clan heads who are responsible to contact the dead to invoke their blessings for the people.<br />
<img src="http://photoblog.wildernesstravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Carlo-Natali-Ghana-Kumasi-GHA_1542-cr-adj.jpg" height="428" width="640" /><br />
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene (King of the Ashantis) sitting in state during Akwasidae festival of the Asante people, Kumasi, Ghana. Courtesy <a href="http://anthony%20pappone/">Anthony Pappone</a><br />
<br />
Among the Akans, especially the Asantes and its allied groups like Denkyira, Akuapim, Akyem, Kwahu and others Akwasidae rituals and events are held every six weeks, honouring the ancestors and in the Ashanti region the Ashanti king.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2440/4052950135_633a1c723e_z.jpg" /><br />
Akwasidae celebration at Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana, Courtesy <a href="http://imknowmadic2/">imknowmadic2</a><br />
<br />
All Asantes (Ashantis) as well as the Ashanti diaspora participate in this cultural festival. The Akwasidae Festival is next only in importance to the National Day celebrations. Akwasidae, according to the Ashanti cultural archive records is an ornate ceremony, commemorating the date that the Ashanti Golden Stool was magically brought down from heaven.<br />
<img src="http://sbcreativestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_0894.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Asante girl in her Kente cloth dancing at Akwasidae festival at USA<br />
<br />
The festival therefore features a golden stool alongside the central feature of attention, the Ashanti King, who is carried on a palanquin through the procession of Ashanti people who have come to pay homage to him. A visit to Kumasi during an Akwasidae celebration is an invitation for spectacle. A celebration which parades colourful canopies and umbrellas amongst fontonfrom, kete and mpintsin drummers, dancers, horn blowers and singers who perform in honour of their ancestral spirits.<br />
<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7113/7649337090_e487b6f5c7_z.jpg" /><br />
Asante chief sitting in state during Akwasidae festival in Kumasi, Ghana. Courtesy <a href="http://anthony%20pappone/">Anthony Pappone</a><br />
<br />
Many have heard of and witnessed Akwasidae festival of the Akans, but why the festival is called ‘Adae’ is little known to them. In Akan “adae” means rest place, so to bother you a bit, Akwadae is observed with a visit by the chief and some of his elders to the stool-house (Royal Mausoleum) where past chiefs had been buried to invoke their blessings for the people.<br />
During such moments, a sheep is slaughtered and some of the blood sprinkled on the stools, which is accompanied by pouring libation amidst drumming. Akwasidae takes place in a 40-day cycle and in some years it is observed eight times and in others nine times.<br />
<img src="http://sankofaonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/otumfuo-566x357.jpg" height="404" width="640" /><br />
King of the Asantes<br />
<br />
Akan Calendar<br />
The Akan annual calendar is divided into nine parts, each lasting approximately six weeks but varying between 40–42 days in a period; the celebration of this period is called the Adae Festival.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0EjPNSVdvaQ3GVu3hcBEHwVFNj_6VH6Q8tzik3zXPT0OUDmd6xD4b9GI35_z2c00ulYqiK5bQ7zrJM3_zkesN69wF_RXbERw1bJnpitX2DDyDPdETCjaGYWjbMUrtYSKMiHi2kV9mFj4l/s640/ghana+festivals3.jpg" height="279" width="640" /><br />
The Adae Festival has two celebration days: the Akwasidae Festival is celebrated on the final Sunday of the period, while the Awukudae Festival is celebrated on a Wednesday within the period. The Friday preceding 10 days to the Akwasidae is called the Fofie (meaning a ritual Friday). As the festival is always held on Sundays (Twi in Kwasidae), its recurrence could be after 40 or 42 days in accordance with the official Calendar of Ashanti. During the last Akwasidae of the year, which coincides with the Adae Kese Festival, special attention is given to make food offerings and donations for helping people. The festivals of Adae are not interchangeable as they were fixed from ancient times<br />
<img src="http://www.transafrica.biz/images/festival-akwasidae-ashanti-3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
Late Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II at Akwasidae festival<br />
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Celebration<br />
To celebrate the Akwasidae, elderly women versed in traditional songs, would go to the palace continue, towards the evening of Saturday called Memenedae Dapaa, to sing, memorial songs until late in the night.<br />
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A gathering called Akom occurs, here drums are beaten and horns sounded to welcome the festival amidst dancing and merry making. In the early hours of the morning the drums are resumed to rouse the dead kings (nananom/nsamnafo ahenfo) and their elders (nsamanfo) from their sleep to partake in the festival.<br />
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Between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., the queen mother with some elders would go to the palace of the paramount chief to greet and wish him well.<br />
The paramount chief dressed in his mourning costume would ride in a palanquin to the mausoleum. With the exception of the paramount chief and the Banmuhene, no one is allowed to enter wearing sandals. What really happens inside the mausoleum?<br />
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In there, the stools are placed on a raised dais and the paramount chief, divisional chiefs and elders in order of precedence, go in and pay homage to the dead kings. Food in the form of mashed yam (eto) which has been prepared in the mausoleum is offered together with strong drinks to the dead kings.<br />
A sheep is slaughtered and the blood which is drained into a bowl used to smear the stools with pieces of meat including the lungs placed on the stools while the fat is spread over the centre support of the stools.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8175/7980891524_02c6b5ae5f_z.jpg" /><br />
The belief is that the blood revitalizes the stools and the ancestral spirits, and the lungs; a symbol of breath of life serves the purpose of giving new life to the stools. Concluding the ceremony in the mausoleum the paramount chief orders drinks to be served to all present who later depart leaving the stools and the ancestors to eat and drink what had been served them.<br />
After the rituals in the morning, a ground durbar is held at the fore court of the Manhyia Palace where the Asantehene sits in state for his people to pay him homage.<br />
As early as 7 a.m. preparations for the event had begun and by 10 a.m. the forecourt is filled to capacity by traditional rulers and the general public.<br />
<img src="http://omgghana.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/asantehene-osei-tutu-ii.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
The arrival of the Asantehene at the durbar grounds is heralded by a retinue of courtiers led by a man carrying a brasspan containing talisman and herbs believed to drive away evil spirits.<br />
Others carry the traditional sandals of silver and gold keys (the Nsafoahene).<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8234/8473400353_c81555b19c_z.jpg" /><br />
The key, in folklore, signifies that when the Asantehene is out of the palace all doors are shut.<br />
The Asantehene emerges holding a traditional sword in one hand and a whisk in another and dances to traditional music and steps out of the palanquin.<br />
As the procession passes, he bows gently to the chiefs and other subjects to acknowledge their presence.<br />
<img src="http://static.nationalgeographic.nl/pictures/genjTravelPhotoPicture/original/03/04/00/akwasidae-festival-403.jpg" height="425" width="640" /><br />
During Akwasidae, traditional rulers usually wear mourning clothes (Kuntunkuni) but with this year coinciding with the birthday of the occupant of the golden stool, they wore kente among others including Otumfuo himself who was dressed in a beautiful kente to match the occasion.<br />
The gold ornaments he wore that day made it difficult for him at times to lift his hand.<br />
Only the Bantamahene, Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia V, was dressed in a traditional mourning cloth. This, according to tradition followed the revolt and subsequent capture of the Bantamahene during the days of King Osei Tutu.<br />
<img src="http://images-02.delcampe-static.net/img_large/auction/000/202/900/912_001.jpg" height="439" width="640" /><br />
As he was freed he became the best ally of Osei Tutu and since then any occupant of the Bantama stool has to be in perpetual mourning.<br />
Sitting in state, he combined the celebration of the Akwasidae and his birthday with pomp and pageantry characterized with traditional drumming and dancing which showcased the rich culture of Ashanti.<br />
<img src="http://madinghana.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/fanfare-for-the-king.jpg" height="426" width="640" /><br />
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Role of Asante chiefs<br />
In the Ashanti Region chiefs are highly visible and organized strongly hierarchically, from the Asantehene, king of Asante, at the top through the paramount chief (omanhene), divisional chief (ohene) and local village chief (odikro) to the clan or family head (abusua panin).<br />
<img src="http://asantemanusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/asantehene.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
In the literature, the person and function of the chief are very much connected to traditional religion (Busia 1951; Hagan 2003; Rattray 1969; Ray 2003b). Busia wrote in 1951 that ancestor-worship was the basis of the chief’s authority as well as the sanction for morality in the community. The belief that the ancestors were the custodians of the laws and customs and that they punished those who infringed them with sickness or misfortune acted as a check on commoners and chiefs alike<br />
(Busia 1951: 24, 136; Fortes 1962: 78. Cf Nukunya 1992: 128).<br />
<img src="http://madinghana.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/20121017-182251.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
According to Rattray, the basis of the respect accorded to the chief is not only that the chief derives his power from the people, but also that the stools, skins and other symbols of office have a spiritual significance –the chief deriving his power from the ancestors and mediating between the people and the ancestors (Rattray 2003b: 7).<br />
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Ashanti chief during the Akwasidae the great celebration of the Ashanti in Kumasi.<br />
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Photosource:<a href="http://anthony%20pappone/">Anthony Pappone</a>kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-43124669483122838082014-09-09T15:35:00.001-07:002014-09-09T15:35:58.926-07:00KOBINA SEKYI: NATIONALIST LAWYER, HARDCORE PAN-AFRICANIST, LAST PRESIDENT OF ABORIGINES RIGHT PROTECTION SOCIETY (ARPS) AND THE ONLY EDUCATED ELITE IN COLONIAL AFRICA VOWED NEVER TO WEAR EUROPEAN CLOTH AND WAS THE FIRST TO APPEAR IN COURT IN TRADITIONAL AFRICAN CLOTHWilliam Esuman-Gwira Sekyi, better known as Kobena Sekyi (1 November 1892, Cape Coast – 1956) was a nationalist lawyer, politician, writer a celebrated Pan-Africanist in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). As a firebrand nationalist he became the president of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS), an aboriginal organization that fought and won their battle against the British obnoxious Land Bill of 1897 that seek to give Queen Elizabeth of England all the unoccupied lands in Gold Coast (Ghana) and also entire British West Africa in general.<br />
Kobena Sekyi was also executive member of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), and member of the Coussey Committee for constitutional change that finally pave way for the independence of Ghana.<br />
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Kobena Sekyi, nationalist lawyer, politician, writer. a celebrated Pan-Africanist, last president of the Aborigines Right Protection Society (ARPS) in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the only educated elite in Africa who vowed never to wear European clothing again, and became the first lawyer in the British colony to appear in court in a traditional African cloth. He never wear coat and European dress until he died in 1956.</div>
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As a person born into the Gold Coast coastal aristocratic Fante family and a highly educated member of his society, he was brought up to believe that European culture was superior to African culture. But it did not take long for Sekyi to commit class suicide and transmogrify into an unshakable apostle of African values, traditions and culture. Sekyi did not only became an unrepentant hardcore Pan-Africanist in his days, but, in fact, he lived and practiced African culture and traditions to the very core; so much that 'he vowed never to wear European clothing again, and became the first lawyer in the colony to appear in court in a traditional African cloth. He never wear coat and European dress until he died in 1956.<br />
Though an ethnic Fante man himself, Kobena Sekyi criticized the manner his Fante coastal towns have became anglicised to such an extent that even now a Fante cannot speak a sentence without less than four English words. They anglicised their local names into English such that you can hear Koomson, Blankson, Menson, Filson etc. Some have all foreign names without a local name. To show his utter abhorrence and disdain for this anglicization of Fante names and outright adoption of foreign names, Kobena Sekyi as a matter of principle and leading by example removed "William" from his names and became just "Kobena Sekyi."<br />
Kobena Sekyi was born in November 1,1892 into Cape Coast (Oguaa) aristocratic family. His father was Mr John Gladstone Sackey (note, Sackey is the anglicization of Fante name "Sekyi" to suit European tongue), headmaster of the renowned Wesleyan School (Mfantsipim) in Cape Coast. Mfantsipim is the first secondary school in Ghana and was established in 1876. Mr John Gladstone Sackey himself was a royal and a the son of Chief Kofi Sekyi, the Chief Regent of Cape Coast.<br />
Kobena Sekyi`s mother was Wilhelmina Pietersen, also known as Amba Paaba, daughter of Willem Essuman Pietersen (c.1844-1914), an Elmina-Cape Coast businessman and one-time President of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS), a later president of which was Sekyi's uncle, Henry van Hien, whose heir Sekyi was.<br />
Like his father, Sekyi was also educated at Mfantsipim School and and went on to study philosophy at the University of London. He was accompanied to Britain by his maternal grandfather. Sekyi was originally to study English Literature, however, a fellow student (Nigerian) persuaded him to give up English Literature in favour of Philosophy.<br />
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Lawyer Kobena Sekyi in his African cloth</div>
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After completing his philosophy degree, Sekyi returned to Gold Coast to teach for sometime and participated in the political affairs. Realizing that Gold coast has many lawyers and liberal art scholars, Sekyi went back to England in 1915 with plan to become an engineer like his mother's younger brother, J.B. Essuman-Gwira, but because his family controlled the purse strings and they wished him to study law, so that was the career he entered. He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in 1918 and also awarded MA in philosophy. Sekyi became a lawyer in private practice in the Gold Coast.<br />
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Lawyer Kobena Sekyi (L) in his Western dress before he became Pan-Africanist who never wear European cloth until his death in 1956 with his grandfather Willem Essuman Pietersen (ca. 1844 – 6 January 1914) also known as Willem Edmund Pietersen, was a Gold Coast merchant, politician, and educationist. He is also remembered as a goldsmith and watch repairer. Pietersen was co-founder of Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast and a one-time president of Aborigines Right Protection Society (ARPS).</div>
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It should be emphasized that Kobena Sekyi had life changing experience whilst traveling on a ship to England. It is said that "On the voyage out his boat, the SS Falaba, was torpedoed by a German U-boat and some lives were lost. Sekyi managed to get to a lifeboat, at which point a European shouted at him that he should get out of the boat, as a black man had no right to be alive when whites were drowning. It was this incident that had a profound effect on him, confirming his rejection of European pretensions to superiority. </div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Robert Ross in his book "Clothing: A Global History' published in 2008 citing authors White and White, "Slave Clothing" page 156 averred that "Equally, in the Gold Coast, Kobena Sekyi, a coastal lawyer, is said, in the family tradition, to have been subjected to racist racist insults when wearing a suit while being trained in London during World War I. In consequence, he vowed never to wear European clothing again, and became the first lawyer in the colony to appear in court in a cloth."</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Whilst practicing law in Gold Coast Sekyi </span>married Lilly Anna Cleanand, daughter of John Peter Cleanand and Elizabeth Vroom.<br />
<img height="416" src="http://www.jeffreygreen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Falaba.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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SS Falaba, a British ship which was torpedoed by German U28.in 1915. Of the 145 passengers and 95 crew, 104 lives were lost. One was the American mining engineer Leon Thraser, who was returning to the Gold Coast (today: Ghana). Lawyer Kobena Sekyi was one of the lucky people who survived.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Sekyi was later elected as a president of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, succeeding his uncle </span>Henry van Hien. The Gold Coast Aborigines' Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was an association critical of colonial rule, formed in 1897 in the Gold Coast, as Ghana was known. Originally formed by traditional leaders and the educated elite to protest the Crown Lands Bill of 1896 and the Lands Bill of 1897 that threatened traditional land tenure, the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society became the main political organisation that led organised and sustained opposition against the Colonial Government, laying the foundation for political action that would ultimately lead to Ghanaian independence. J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford and John Mensah Sarbah were co-founders. </div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">ARPS prominent success was its victory against the obnoxious Land Bill of 1897 that seek to give Queen Elizabeth of England all the unoccupied lands in Gold Coast (Ghana) and also entire British West Africa in general. ARPS sent delegation to British parliament using celebrated Ghanaian (Gold Coast) lawyers and some of their Nigerian and Sierra Leonean lawyer friends to argue their case that in Africa when a land is unoccupied it does not mean the land has no owner "all you need to do is to enter an unoccupied land" or start develop it and the real owner will show up. They won their case in the British parliament and 1897 land Bill was thrown into oblivion thereby saving entire West Africa from their lands from being appropriated like what the British did in East and Southern Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Kobena Sekyi ably led ARPS as a vocal mouthpiece of the Gold Coast people against British imperialism until the organization started declining in the mid-1930s and dying out finally. That saw Kobena Sekyi as the last president of ARPS. The ARPS colapsed because i</span><span style="text-align: start;">n the first place, it never gained strong roots beyond Cape Coast in the Central Province. For example, the society never developed in the adjoining Eastern Province. The society also remained elitist, and its decisions were made by a few individuals at the helm of the organization. Above all, the Cape Coast elite, in spite of the rapid economic transformation and social change as well as the vigorous consolidation of colonial rule, had called for radicalization of African protests and could not disengage from the old reformist protests of the nineteenth century. Thus, by the 1930s the ARPS, having lost popular support, existed as a ghost of its former self. Indeed, in the 1920s it had been taken over by the equally elitist but broader-based and more radical NCBWA, which sought to bring about fundamental change in colonial rule.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Sekyi also became </span><span style="text-align: start;">an executive member of the National Congress of British West Africa after the demise of ARPS and contributed towards radical opposition to the British colonial regime. </span>The cofounders of NCBWA included Thomas Hutton-Mills, Sr., the first President, and J. E. Casely Hayford, the first Vice-President. Other co-founders and early officials included Edward Francis Small, F. V. Nanka-Bruce, A. B. Quartey-Papafio, Henry van Hien, A. Sawyerr and Kobina Sekyi.</div>
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With the involvement of Sekyi, The Congress agitated for the establishment of a West African Court of Appeal, where judges would be nominated Africans. As a result of their demands, when </div>
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In his regard as an astute politician and celebrated Gold Coast lawyer, Kobena Sekyi was appointed as a member of the Coussey Committee for constitutional change. It must be stressed here that in 1948, a chief of Osu Alata in Accra Mantse Nii Kwabena Bonnie III led a a group of Gold Coast workers, ordinary citizens, politicians and demobilized Gold Coast soldiers to boycott all foreign goods and also a peaceful march to the Christianborg Castle to present a petition to the Governor about the plight of veterans. The veterans were shot at the Osu Christianborg crossroads resulting in three casualties; Sergeant Cornelius Frederick Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey. The riots that ensured led to the taking into custody, in remote parts of northern Gold Coast, six of the nationalist leaders of the UGCC, namely, Ako Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, Emmanuel Odarkwei Obetsebi-Lamptey, William Ofori-Atta and Kwame Nkrumah and the setting up of a Commission of Enquiry under the chairmanship of Sir Aitkin Watson. The detained nationalists have since then come to be known as the “Big Six”. The Watson Commission of Inquiry reported that the Burns constitution of 1946, which had granted Africans a majority in the legislative council, was “outmoded at birth.” The outcome of Watson’s Commission was an all-African committee under a eminent Gold Coast jurist and a president of West African Appeals Court Sir James Henley Coussey which was set up in December 1949 to draw up a new Constitution for the country. The recommendations of the Coussey Constitutional Committee formed the basis of the 1951 Constitution, which marked a giant step forward towards independence. It was this important Committee that lawyer Kobena Sekyi was an integral part of. It was so unfortunate that Sekyi did not live to see Ghana`s independence in 1957. He died in 1956.</div>
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In his capacity as one of the early Gold Coast writers, Kobena Sekyi famously authored a hard-hitting comedy "The Blinkards" (1915) which satirized the acceptance by a colonized society of the attitudes of the colonizers. His novel The Anglo-Fante was the first English-language novel written in the Cape Coast.</div>
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As a political theorist and playwright Kobena Sekyi predicted in the early part of the century that what was needed most for Gold Coast Africans to survive the modern world was not dwell on the dichotomy between European and African cultures, between the "civilized" and the "savage," but a pragmatic drama and concerts that creates space for critical evaluation and selective appropriation. He was of the opinion that the day when Africans were told they have to learn to speak English, eat with fork and knife, wear covered shoes and Western clothing, value nuclear family over the extended matrilineage, marry one spouse, stop paying homage to ancestors, and attend Christian churches must not portrayed to in plays and concert as the only way Africans can fully partake in the economic advantages of "progress." Unfortunately, in today`s drama world both Nollywood and Ghallywood in Nigeria and Ghana respectively are still portraying what Kobina Sekyi admonished Africans to avoid, instead of concentrating on creating space to show the rich African culture to the world.</div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><b>A REVIEW OF KOBENA SEKYI`S "BLINKARDS" BY NANA FREDUA AGYEMAN</b></span><br />
The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi<br />
Title: The Blinkards, A Comedy and The Anglo-Fanti - A Short Story<br />
Author: Kobina Sekyi<br />
Genre: Play/Short Story<br />
Pages: 256<br />
Publishers: Heinemann/Readwide<br />
ISBN: 978-0-435-92784-4<br />
Year of Publication: 1974 (this edition, 1997)<br />
Country: Gold Coast (Now Ghana)<br />
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<b>Setting:</b> This book contains two stories: The Blinkards - a play and The Anglo-Fanti - a short story. Though the stories are from two different genres, one theme thread through them: the effect of absolute cultural osmosis or better still the consequences of swallowing an alien culture without much scrutiny, as happened in occupied countries popularly referred to by the occupiers as colonies (colonies of what? Ants? Bees?) Both stories took place in Cape Coast and the setting is very significant to the story. Apart from the author being a Fanti and hailing from Cape Coast, Cape Coast was the first point of introduction to colonial rule. As a seaport city, it was the first town that was first brought under colonial rule; hence there are numerous Castles and Forts scattered in Cape Coast and surrounding towns like Elimina and Anomabo. However, the inhabitants of this great city, which was the first capital of Ghana before it was moved to Accra in 1877, became anglicised to such an extent that even now a Fanti cannot speak a sentence without less than four English words. They anglicised their local names into English such that you can hear Koomson, Blankson, Menson etc. Some have all foreign names without a local name. Yes, it is that serious. And it is this that Kobina Sekyi, who was also known as William Essuman-Gwira Sekyi was speaking against. Here, it would serve a good purpose if one realises that the play was first performed somewhere around 1915 whereas The Anglo Fanti short story was first published in the West Africa magazine in 1918.<br />
To understand why Kobina Sekyi, who himself was from the elite who were eagerly morphing into caricatures of hybrids, turned around to criticize the status quo, which in the beginning of the nineteenth century marked the borderline between civilisation and bushmen up to today, one needs to read about his biography above.<br />
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The Blinkards<br />
The Blinkards is a satirical play written in English and interspersed with Fanti (all the Fantis have been translated on the left hand side of the page or the even-numbered pages). It tells of the consequences of blindly mimicking the European culture.<br />
Mrs. Borɔfosεm (someone who exhibits too much European tendencies in his/her actions) eats only European foods, though we know that at several points in time she yearns for locally prepared food such as roasted plantain. She goes everywhere in a frock, boots with an umbrella and a lorgnette. Though she speaks bad English, she does so with a forced English accent. As a wife to Mr. Borɔfosεm, she forces him to behave as an Europeanised man: smoking cigar, eschewing local foods and dresses.<br />
Mr. Tsiba (a cocoa farmer) brought her daughter to Mrs. Borɔfosεm to train so that her daughter would become just like her and this Mrs. Borɔfosεm did with eagerness, instilling in her 'proper' English mannerism. Later, Miss Tsiba met a young man, who to attract her attention as an Europeanised man, had also gone to work with Mr. Onyimdze - a lawyer who avoided anything European except those that are germane to the execution of his profession such as the wearing of black gowns and white curled wigs.<br />
As the play goes on we find that the two (the young man Okadu and Miss Tsiba) finally met at a garden party thrown by Mrs. Borɔfosεm and there and then got engaged in manner of one they had read from an English novel (without the presence of any family member). Mrs Borɔfosεm told Mr Tsiba that her daughter was about to marry and that he, Mr. Tsiba, had to buy the clothes for the impending wedding. He got furious but calmed down when he was told that it was the ways of the Europeans for the bridegroom's father to purchase the clothes for the bride and bridegroom. When Na Sompa (wife to Mr. Tsiba) heard the news she got furious and insulted Okadu. It was in the middle of one of such vituperations that she got a heart-attack and died. Nana Katawerwa, hearing that her daughter (Na Sompa) was dead and her granddaughter was marrying without following tradition stormed the chapel and disrupted the whole program.<br />
Nana Katawerwa refused to let Miss Tsiba into her 'husband's' house. Later Miss Tsiba was to marry another man through the traditional mode. This infuriated Okadu, who got grandmother and granddaughter arrested. The case went to court and Nana Katawerwa and her daughter won under the exposition of the Native Law.<br />
The story is deep and borders on several aspects of our lives. It is a pity that the situation still pertains today. People cannot speak their local language properly and yet would do everything to show that they can speak English including faking the voice. It is easier to see people in three piece suits walking under the scorching sun. Still the borderline between enlightenment and colloquialism is measured by how much one has adopted Christian and European values. But there is hope: gradually people are changing, people are finding their roots... it is a slow process now but it would work out. It is the language that is becoming a problem. There is a former presidential candidate who changed his name from Joseph Houston-Yorke (yes he is a Fanti) to his local name.<br />
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The Anglo-Fanti Short Story<br />
Like The Blinkards, this story concerns blind assimilation of European culture. It's about a boy who was brought up to become an aficionado of European mannerisms, while shunning African culture. Following this path and learning very hard he got a scholarship to London where he studied Law. Whilst there he realised that London was not all that they say it is. There are classes and divisions and the people they imitated are on the lower scale of their social ladder. He also recognises, that no matter what he did he was described as a savage especially when people began asking whether he wore clothes or not (and they do now ask Naipaul!).<br />
"It does not take him long to find out that he is regarded as a savage, even by the starving unemployable who asks him for alms. Amusing questions are often put to him as to whether he wore clothes before he came to England; whether it was safe for white men to go to his country since the climate was unsuitable to civilised people; whether wild animals wandered at large in the streets of his native town." (page 230)<br />
However, there were many Africans who also came to a similar disillusionment when they saw England with their own eyes; yet these group began to accept these disconcerting matters as incidental to civilisation.<br />
"... but if his friends, even those who had been similarly disillusioned, have begun to accept certain disconcerting matters as incidental to civilisaiton, and instead of arguing from the unpleasantness of such incidents to the inherent unwholesomeness of that to which they are incidental, they conclude somewhat perversely that whoever cannot explain cannot explain away such unpleasantness is not civilised. " (page 231)<br />
Time came for Kwesi Onyidzin (Kwesi without a name) - known as Edward Cudjoe - to come to Gold Coast and to Cape Coast. His family were all expecting him to behave like an European man. So when he set down to work and began wearing native dresses and eat native foods they became disappointed in him. Some even considered him mad. Others made it their duty to show him the way. After he was virtually thrust into marriage, it became his wife's pursuit to force her husband to behave like an European. Later, she resorted to the cooking of European foods and throwing of garden parties. Working harder and ever harder to avoid these incidents, Kwesi Onyidzin broke down.<br />
The issue of cultural invasion is one that has taken the world by storm especially in these days of globalisation. Should there be a universal earth culture? and who would determine what should be in such a culture? or each country should keep its culture? Are other cultures at a threat from European culture? These are questions we need to ask. Culture is something you are born into. It grows with you. Yet people who were born outside of it like VS Naipaul and other aliens who spend a day or two in ones country, only to label their culture as backward, are either insane or mentally distabilised. To me such behaviours and thoughts are infantile and express nothing save folly. Ignorance is no sin yet ignorance expressed in hatred or bad language is stupidity.<br />
This story is purely narrative with no dialogue in it. If you love a narrative novel I recommend this to you. If you are a staunch believer of the communalism rather than individualism, I recommend it to you. If you believe in selective cultural absorption, incising certain unproductive parts of culture and replacing it with tested ones not just dumping the whole into the society, I recommend this to you.<br />
source:<a href="http://freduagyeman.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/blinkards-by-kobina-sekyi.html">http://freduagyeman.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/blinkards-by-kobina-sekyi.html</a><br />
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kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-14028968002541121242014-09-07T19:59:00.001-07:002014-09-09T16:49:18.996-07:00GEORGE EMIL EMINSANG: THE FIRST WESTERN EDUCATED LAWYER IN WEST AFRICA, A POLYGLOT, MERCHANT AND THE FACILITATOR OF TRANSFER OF DUTCH POSSESSIONS IN WEST AFRICA TO THE BRITISH IN 1872George Emil Eminsang (ca 1833 – 1901) was the first Western-educated lawyer on Gold Coast (now Ghana), an unquestionable authority on aboriginal laws, an expert in commercial law (in today`s world mergers and acquisition) and a prominent merchant. He was arguably the first native West African European trained lawyer. He was also gifted polyglot who spoke five languages, viz: Dutch, Portuguese, German, English and Fantse.<br />
Eminsang was the leading lawyer who single-handedly facilitated the commercial transfer of the ownership of Dutch possession in Elmina and Gold Coast to the British in 1872. This legal genius was made a Commander in Elmina once the British had bought Elmina Castle, but the locals mistrusted the situation and he relocated to Cape Coast.<br />
Among his many achievements, Eminsang served as consular agent to the Dutch in Elmina (1878–1879), and to the Congo and the United States in Cape Coast Castle (1890).<br />
<img src="http://www.engelfriet.net/Alie/Aad/elminaurban5cemeterydutch.jpg" height="386" width="640" /><br />
Dutch cemetery in Elmina<br />
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Geroge Emil Eminsang was born in 1833 at Elmina to Joseph Emil Eminsang, a merchant and innkeeper, and an unknown lady from a prominent Dutch/Fanti Euro-African family. He was also the nephew of the great ensign of Elmina, Kobena Eminsang. His name Eminsang was anglicized form of indigenous Fante name "Eminsa." Eminsa is the name of a Fante River Deity. Eminsa means "flowing and dancing thing." Fante River Deity "Eminsa," which constitute one of the 77 Fante deities, is well-known ancient river goddess that gives twins (ntafo) to people that consult it. That is why when Fantes are celebrating "Ntafo Adze" (festivals for Twins) and the twins are dancing in a circular and whirling manner because climaxing spiritual trance, the akomfo (traditional priests) sing their appellation "Odosa! Odosa! Egya Eminsa o! Hen na Eminsa o!" (Lovers dance! Lovers dance! Father River that flows and dance! Our Mother the River goddess that flows and dance!). Nowadays, the Fante name Eminsa is spelled "Amissah." Very few people who really understand the meaning of the name maintains its original form "Eminsa."<br />
Anyway, Eminsang was a very intelligent child and had his early education at home, where his Elmina parents were literate in their native Fante, Portuguese and Dutch and at the Elmina Castle. Eminsang endeared himself academically in his early teens to the Dutch teachers and these made it possible for him to be sent to Holland to continue his studies. It is said that Eminsang studied law and philosophy in Holland and later in Germany before returning to Gold Coast.<br />
Back home in Elmina, Eminsang devoted much of his time to teach for several years at the Elmina Castle School, where he had completed his primary education.<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7qBjzoQClbWp5kIbe2cXQymfCtmYD6mBIS8wvxrJJaAmG131T1xm03L3KKWEvZhYtPaeq9j-EFwnnRl48aO2PrhIo_Sn7ynB3cuxehXyekamADj-org-iVB3VXCf9pP9mA9PWhjG-QKCS/s640/Picture5.jpg" /><br />
Elmina Benya Lagoon<br />
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He later turned to trading and became a successful Gold Coast merchant, whilst putting his legal training for effective use for his people. Eminsang was appointed to the Dutch Legislative Council and was the principal lawyer to negotiate the sale of the Dutch Gold Coast possessions to the British Government in 1872. After the sale, he was appointed Civil Commandant in Elmina by the British authorities. The Elminans, who were traditionally aligned with the Ashanti and the Dutch, distrusted the sale and eventually drove Eminsang out of the country. He then settled in Cape Coast where he continued to practice law and pursue his merchant career.<br />
<img src="http://www.farelli.info/images/books/colonies/africa/el%20mina/Copy%20of%20Elmina-castle.jpg" height="488" width="640" /><br />
Fort Elmina. Castle is the same, more or less, of the Dutch conquest in 1637. Outside the fort is still well preserved the Dutch Reformed church built at the end of the Dutch rule.<br />
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That the Elmina people distrusted their own son Eminsang was very unfortunate incidence. This is because his inability to use his singular membership in the Dutch Legislative Council halt the sale of Elmina Castle was no fault of his. T. P. Manus Ulzen in his recent book "Java Hills: An African Journey" published in 2013 demystified the issue. Ulzen (2013:132) averred that "on August 6, 1868, the chiefs and people of Elmina on their own concerted effort sent a formal petition to the Netherlands to register their opposition to the handover of the castle to the British. They received no response from The Hague. As the people became more restless in February 1869, the King sent a personal message via George Emil Eminsang (Amissah), prominent Elmina businessman." Ulzen explained further that Eminsang traveled to Eminsang to The Hague on behalf of the King of Elmina and was "met by a Dutch government stonewall. It was suggested to him that he meet the former Dutch Governor Nagtglas. This was of course a snub of Mr Eminsang and the message he bore for the Dutch King and parliament. Eventually, Eminsang was able to deliver his message to the appropriate forum. The hope of Elmina people was that the Dutch would send an expeditionary force to protect them against the British tidal wave, which was about to sweep through their lives and history. The Elmina government was unaware of the inferior position from which the Dutch approach their dealings with the British (Ulzen 2013:133)<br />
<img height="409" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/558615_2045095302727_1134494374_n.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Elmina Castle, then a Dutch property that Eminsang negotiated its transfer to the British in 1872<br />
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In contemporary Ghanaian history, celebrated Gold Coasters Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford and John Mensah Sarbah are touted respectively as the first solicitor and barrister in Ghana. Whilst Casely Hayford`s case is historically true, that of Mensah Sarbah as first Lawyer in Ghana is without merit. In the preface of his own book Fanti Customary Laws, John Mensa Sarbah wrote in a letter to Eminsang:<br />
"Dear Mr. Eminsang, — Pardon the liberty I take in sending you this open letter, with this my first attempt in the Thorny paths of literature. I dare do so, for not only you are a Native of the soil and one of my father's friends, but also the senior member of the Bar of the Western Province of the Supreme Court of the Gold Coast, having commenced to practice when we, who are now members thereof, were but schoolboys.<br />
—John Mensa Sarbah, Law Courts"<br />
The argument that Eminsang was the first West African European trained lawyer is premised on the fact that the first known other native West African lawyer was Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams (1855–1915), who was the first indigenous Nigerian lawyer, to be called to the English bar on 17 November 1879. Since the records show that Eminsang was the principal lawyer who negotiated the sale of the Dutch Gold Coast possessions to the British Government in 1872, at a time when Williams had not been called to the bar shows that Eminsang precedes Williams in the legal profession.<br />
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References<br />
^ Fanti customary laws, a brief introduction to the principles of the native laws and customs of the Fanti and Akan districts of the Gold Coast, John Mensa Sarbah<br />
^ Isaac S. Ephson (1971). Gallery of Gold Coast Celebrities, 1632-1958. Ilen Publications.<br />
^ "Gold Coast Database". http://gcdb.doortmontweb.org. Retrieved 12 August 2013.<br />
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PHOTOS OF THE PROPERTIES EMINSANG OVERSAW ITS TRANSFER FROM THE DUTCH TO THE BRITISH<br />
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/ElMina_AtlasBlaeuvanderHem.jpg" height="482" width="640" /><br />
Fort Elmina in Ghana, slavendepot van de WIC, J. Vinghboons 1665<br />
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<img src="http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Elmina.jpg" height="511" width="640" /><br />
Fort Elmina in Ghana, slavendepot van de WIC, J. Vinghboons 1665<br />
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<img src="http://www.antiqueprints.com/images/af7/f7143.jpg" height="528" width="640" /><br />
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Johannes-vingboons-11-kasteel-elmina-en-fort-nassau-ghana.jpg" height="363" width="640" /><br />
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<img src="http://yaodenyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Elmina-Castle-Ghana-1990s.jpg" height="431" width="640" /><br />
Elmina castle.<br />
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<img src="http://thumb10.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/332512/332512,1279623605,3/stock-photo-view-of-fort-st-jago-from-elmina-castle-in-ghana-57522256.jpg" height="455" width="640" /><br />
View of Fort St Jago from Elmina castle in Ghana<br />
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Fort_st_jago_elmina_ghana.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
View of Fort St Jago from Elmina castle in Ghana<br />
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<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Elmina_Castle_from_afar_30_Aug_2012.jpg" height="424" width="640" /><br />
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<img src="http://thegoodholiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ElminaCastle_332.jpg" height="429" width="640" /><br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRjuq3pvbApp4UFbegVMbEjFcsFcmETRxaZgCKoiYBhD7U0R6rH4xH5BXRtf27Fh6gIHPuh_5usdMGj1n4alVevkKn2rFTWdScI3BsHpmk9Za7LBPBnK73oS-u0CwTABvmOg-X6lEr7Sc/s640/10.08.28+Ghana+018.jpg" height="379" width="640" /><br />
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<img src="http://images.travelpod.com/tw_slides/ta00/9ce/304/elmina-castle-from-fort-elmina.jpg" height="480" width="640" />kwekudeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469929357196320372noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988511051603684451.post-57356485369585391222014-09-06T20:05:00.000-07:002014-09-06T20:05:27.219-07:00UNIQUE AND CULTURALLY FLAMBOYANT FUNERAL CELEBRATIONS OF ASANTE (AKAN) PEOPLE OF GHANA<br />
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The Asantes (Ashantis) are traditional strict observers of Akan culture and as they are noted for "they don`t do things by halves." When Asantes do things they do it to the fullest, hate it or like it, that who they are! They are truly a people of culture and they are worthy ambassadors of rich Akan culture and traditions.<br />
One of the Akan culture that Asantes do not joke with with is their funerals. They are well known for their strict observance and cooperation during funeral to commemorate the deceased and they unique event that takes place after the burial.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10472692_840722575937807_3001947585995641890_n.jpg?oh=776ab729eafa62bdfc7957e556e55006&oe=54A7A581" width="640" /><br />
Wife displaying items she has brought to celebrate the death of her mother-in-law at a funeral in Kumasi. The items are what the women are carrying their heads<br />
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Like every culture, Asantes celebrate the transition of the soul of the deceased, into the ancestral world where it becomes a protective spirit for the clan, as a result the dead person is highly venerated through funeral celebrations. Family, friends and acquaintances, sometimes in their hundreds, take part in the celebrations. The participants dress in accordance with tradition, the dress worn by relatives is in red while the others wear black cloth and every piece of gold jewelry their bodies can support. There are many rituals: giving offerings to the spirits of the ancestors, food, drinks, traditional dances accompany him in the world of the ancestors in a flurry of drumming and wild dancing.<br />
<img height="426" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8302/7980661226_4a496c8909_b.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Asante traditional rulers greeting at a funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Courtesy<br />
<a href="http://anthony%20pappone/">Anthony Pappone</a><br />
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To the Asantes, funeral is like a festival of a sort to them. They hardly have festival except their Odwira festival of the Asantehene. Funeral ceremonies are not only a time of mourning to them but also a festive occasion and an avenue for meeting long lost friends and family. As a result of these funerals has become a serious business and social gathering that no Asante wish to miss at the weekends. Every amount of money is spend to celebrate a funerals in Ashanti Region.<br />
<img height="426" src="http://helengigliotti.com/webgallery/west-africa-4-2-13/album1/images/Ashanti_Chiefs_at_Traditional_Funeral._Kumasi_Ghana.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Guests at funeral greeting one another at a funeral in Kumasi. Courtesy <a href="http://anthony%20pappone/">Anthony Pappone</a><br />
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Professor Kwabena Nketia, the great Ghanaian and international musicologist and living African traditional scholar par excellence writing in the 1950 concerning the unchanging lavish display at Akans funerals averred: "The celebration of funeral is regarded as duty and no pains are spared to make it a memorable event. `Was it well attended?` (Ayie no nkrofuo bae?), `Was it exciting?` (Ayie no soe?) Those are the questions that may be asked as a test of successful funeral (Nketia, 1954: 48)<br />
<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10386380_840722499271148_3991027501548041877_n.jpg?oh=9030d2249378cd1385c60596c9aa8548&oe=548A2E48&__gda__=1418856738_7859938bb1fdcb22bbb77733fb60ba60" width="640" /><br />
Funeral celebration in Kumasi<br />
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A few years later Field (1960:48) stressed the same point:"A funeral must always be grand and expensive." But Dr J Danquah, the the celebrated "doyen of Gold Coast Politics," the first African to gain doctorate degree from British University and one of the first Western educated Ghanaian scholars, sounded a critical note when writing when describing Akan funeral customs. Here he in his 1927 writing he added a footnote to apologize to the reader:<br />
"There is no concealing fact that the account of customs as here<br />
presented would seem repulsive, perhaps objectionable, to the<br />
sympathetic student of Akan customs, whereas to the more<br />
sophisticated, civilized man, it may seem possible entertaining.<br />
Reading this chapter in 1927, I feel strongly inclined to omit it from this book..."<br />
Funerals still cause ambivalence. Their high cost and extravagance are frequently criticized in articles and letters in newspapers and in recent times the new media, the speeches of politicians, and in sermons of pastors. In fact some traditional rulers have condemned it. A brief notice in the Ghanaian State-owned newspaper Daily Graphic of June 3, 1994, speaks of "expensive coffins, psychedelic funeral parlous, elaborate banquets, and display of extravagant items." Such funerals "are not meant to express grief but rather to show off." A related criticism is that family often spend more money on funerals than they did on the care of the elderly. In other words, they take better care of the dead than of the living. They seem interested more in post-mortem than pre-moterm care. As Akan proverb goes: "Abusua do funu (The family loves the corpse)<br />
<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10417544_840722422604489_556978848600283393_n.jpg?oh=2c4921ac4f2c8970ab9f4e59df29c1af&oe=54966C07&__gda__=1419825742_b35e1990c5a5363359f2f492393f9480" width="640" /><br />
Wife displaying items she has brought to celebrate the death of her mother-in-law at a funeral in Kumasi. The items are what the women are carrying their heads<br />
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Whatever may be the criticism, Asantes still perform their funerals in the manner they deem fit per what their pockets determines. Buses and domestic air-line travels to Kumasi on the weekends is a sight to behold! According April 20, 2014 edition of Daily Graphic when Asantehene put a temporary ban on funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Regional capital, the patronage of domestic airline services dropped over 'the past two months" thereby affecting "revenues of the domestic air traffic of the six airlines operating domestic air services in and out of the region." Kumasi is the biggest market for the operators and currently accounts for about 50 per cent of their passengers.<br />
The Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, Mr James Eric Antwi, confirmed in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on April 20 that the ban had led to a reduction in the number of people his outfit flies on a weekly basis. “The numbers in our weekend flights have dropped. Mostly, the funeral travellers go on Friday and return on Monday or Sunday but that is no longer the case because of that ban on funerals in Kumasi,” he said in an exclusive interview.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10255120_840722659271132_836172244194783329_n.jpg?oh=b73c6d54547e01145247f83075a4ed52&oe=548508EA&__gda__=1419804017_ac2455d264e851919acd33b51e2d0188" width="640" /><br />
Concerning the Asante funeral rites, authors like Forde and Jones (1950), Rattray (1927), Mbiti (1975) have written that the rites which intend to assist the deceased in his life after death often imply the generally conceived intention of getting rid of him and to prevent his return either in body or as a ghost. Elderly Asantes opines that in the Asante society people are very sensitive to what is done when there is a death in the family. Death marks a physical separation of the individual from other human beings. This is radical changes, and the funeral rites are intended to draw attention to that permanent separation. As a result of the above elucidation, meticulous care is taken to fulfill the funeral rites, and to avoid causing any offence to the departed. By so doing, the body is subjected to all forms of body art in many ways.Among traditional Asantes, when everything pointed to the imminent death of a person, there would always be some relatives around and when his condition worsened, they would give him his last gulp of water to quench his death thirst. Right from the preparation of the corpse to final funeral rites, art is employed.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8423/7834454300_a1a3dcd778_z.jpg" /><br />
In the event of the death of a husband, the widow is expected to provide (artefacts) sponge, soap, towel, cloth, blanket, pillow and a long piece of hand-woven cloth called ‘Danta’ which was used in the olden days as underwear. These items are used for the bathing and lying in state of the dead husband. Upon death, the corpse may be washed, shrouded, dressed up, or laid on the ground or in a state with ritual objects or funerary artefacts near it. Religious Obsequies may be observed at the<br />
house, at a place of worship or at the place of disposal with funerary arts. The actual disposal of the body may include the provision of the dead person’s necessities such as amulets, food, weapons and treasures.<br />
Before the burial is mourning this varies from different mourners and relatives. Some of the various ways in which this is expressed are funerary banquet, the wearing of distinctive colours, or special hairdo. Libation is pouring and its associated artistic performance, offering, abstention from certain aspects of social life, purification and the like form part of mourning activities. Society at large also participates with the immediate mourners through response to graphic arts of obituaries, notices (a relatively modern trend), verbal arts of speeches, as well as visits and attendance at various ceremonies.<br />
<img height="427" src="http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000LaI3pOLvD1I/s/850/680/MG-7354.jpg" width="640" /><br />
The mode of disposal of the body in Asante culture is usually dictated by cultural, religious, economic, political and social differences or factors. Butt-Thompson (1929) also asserts that in<br />
some cases it may be determined by membership of a particular social group, clan association, degree of initiation into a secret or ritual society, rank or status such as chief, sex, age, achievements, ethico-social status like criminal, hero, villain, and manner of death such as suicide or accident. It is no gainsaying that the above factors also determine the extent to which art is used. The bottom line, however, remains that funerary art permeates anything associated with death.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8019/7567171320_5a155809c1_z.jpg" /><br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">Asante Chief arriving at a funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana with his retinue leading the way to ensure his safe passage. Courtesy </span><a href="http://anthony%20pappone/" style="text-align: start;">Anthony Pappone</a></div>
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Funeral Songs<br />
Africans express themselves at various occasions through songs. The Akan of Ghana use songs and dance to express emotions including thankfulness, seek explanations and convey messages of condolences to the bereaved family. They spend time and huge sums of money to perform funerals. Akans especially the Asantes attach great seriousness to funeral ceremonies.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8287/7834452732_b7131a4c49_z.jpg" /><br />
During funerals, different songs are sung irrespective of the type of music, be it Hi-Life, Adowa, Sikyi, Bosoe or Christian. At the various stages of the funeral, different songs are sung to convey different messages directed at different audiences or issues. The messages may be directed to God, the dead person, the bereaved family or to death itself. The stages can be when the person is laid in state, moving towards the graveyard, saying the final goodbye, after the burial, at the thanksgiving service or during the final funeral rites.<br />
<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1205/1191457697_d086c1a7f3_z.jpg" /><br />
Funeral drums<br />
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The singing of dirges is not an organized performance. Bereaved mourners friends and sympathizers can join in the wail by singing a dirge of one sort or another. Singers are supposed to sing well and use appropriate gestures and steps where necessary. Regarding performance. Nketia (1969:9) offers the following observation:<br />
"A good singer wins in emotional appeal: She moves her audience.<br />
Nevertheless, a funeral is the Kind of occasion for mere display,<br />
though the temptation is great and many succumb to it. One of the<br />
requirements of a performer is that she ,should really feel the pathos<br />
of the occasion and the sentiments embodied in the dirge.<br />
Pretense is condemned and mock-sadness is discouraged.<br />
A tear should fall, lest you are branded a witch and a callous person.<br />
If a tear is physiologically difficult to shed, you must induce it by some<br />
means; but if it is physiologically impossible for you, it would be better<br />
to have the marks of tears on your face than nothing at all.<br />
The singers of the dirge rarely sit down: they pace up and down the<br />
place of the funeral, flanked on all sides by members of the lineage,<br />
friends and sympathizers seated on stalls, raised planks, chairs or on<br />
the ground. Each circuit brings them in front of the corpse or where<br />
the lineage head or the bereaved father, mother, husband or wife sits.<br />
Some walk out then come in again."<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8244/8474485592_c006737347_z.jpg" /><br />
In specific forms, popular culture is reflected not only in the dirges and odes sung to praise the deceased, but more importantly in music and dance. During the public funeral celebrations traditional singing and drumming groups may provide entertainment for those present. The most popular of these traditional dance ensembles are adowa, nwonkoro, adenkum, kete, asaadua, and bosoe, in most of which women are the lead singers. Some of the accompanying musical instruments, such as the firikyiwa or nnawuruta (bells) and donno (gong), are played by experienced women. Many of the women singers learn the art of singing early in their youth and<br />
an accomplished performer is very pleasing to listeners' ears. A person will be roused to join a singing group or dance if the song reminds him or her of a series of events in his or her life. As in the case of the dirges, the lead singers learn to be adept at manipulating people present by drawing on the direct and indirect experiences of people in the community and by being acutely sensitive to the reactions of the sympathizers and celebrants of the funeral. In this regard, a mutually supportive<br />
relationship between the traditional singer and the dancer is established. The singer can work the dancer to high frenzy and the dancer can do the obverse. Both depend on each other for the desired outcome. Until recently, the traditional dance ensembles were rarely paid for their performance at funerals.<br />
<img height="428" src="http://galenf.com/africa/kumasi04.jpg" width="640" /><br />
An effective combination of excellent choice of text, poetic recital, and appropriate gestures is sure to captivate the audience and the bereaved lineage.The dirges themselves cover the whole spectrum of social life, including kinship, marital and familial relations, economics, political activities, and societal values. Below are selected examples of dirges usually sung in praise of the deceased. The selections are taken from Nketia (1969) and McCaskie (1989)<br />
(I) An Expression of the Extent of Loss <br />
Ahunu mu nni me dua bi na maso mu There is no branch above which I could grasp<br />
Asuo ayisi me oo, na Otwafoo ne hwan? I am in flooded waters. Who will rescue me?<br />
Agycl hehu mefi na onhu me yie bi When father meets me, he will hardly recognize me.<br />
Obehu me, na meso ketego ne nwansena For he will meet me carrying all I have: a lorn sleeping mat and a horde of flies.<br />
Mene womma bewe unanse oo, Your children and I will feed on the spider; <br />
Na akura dee} obopou The mouse is too long a game<br />
Praa e, mene wo mma oo Your children and I (what will become of us!)<br />
Ena e, me nko m'anim I am done for<br />
Ayya e, ahia me I am destitute<br />
Praa e, ahia me Your children are poor<br />
Wo mma rehwe w'ano Your children are looking for you<br />
Onwunu redwo oo} dee awisiaa afe ne nca" The night is fast approaching where the orphan is dying to see its mother" (Nketia 1969:47-48)<br />
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(II) An Expression of Desire for Continued Fellowship and Love<br />
"Obi reba a, mane me Send me something when someone is coming<br />
Mane me na mene wo di mane Send me something for you and I exchange gifts<br />
Eye a, mane me denkyemmoo na Send me parched corn so that I can eat it raw if I am<br />
mannya gya a, mawe no mono unable to find fire to cook it on<br />
Wore mane me a mane me When you are sending me something, I would like a<br />
sen kese a egye ahohoo" "a big pot that receives strangers" (Nketia 1969:49)<br />
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(III) For a Deceased Mother/Father<br />
"Eno, nko nnya me akyire oo 0, mother do not leave me behind<br />
Eno, nko nnya me akyire oo, Osiantan 0, mother, please do not leave me behind<br />
Ena awu agya me oo: Mother has died and left me alone: <br />
Na mene hwan na ewo ha yi?" With whom am I now here?"<br />
OR<br />
"Agya e, aka me nko "Father, I am here alone<br />
Mene wo beko I shall go with you<br />
Agya e, befa me ko Father, come and take me away<br />
Eye a, ma yenko yen dee mu Let us go back together to the place where we came from Na enye yen tenabere ne ha" We do not belong here" (Nketia 1969:45-46)<br />
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(IV) For a Deceased Priest<br />
Obosomfoo Kosekose oo: Farewell, thou priest<br />
Ohene ni, nkumankuma brebre Fare thee well, mother of the king<br />
Woko a, duom oo, ohene ba When you start, do not tarry, Prince<br />
Gye due na duom oo! Receive condolences and proceed on<br />
Wo duru Kurotia a, ho wodin ma ahrane When you reach the outskirt,s of the town,<br />
mma wo so nu wodi amantire nu mention your name so that strong men carry you shoulder high for you rule two worlds. (Nketia 1969:44-45)<br />
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<img height="479" src="http://www.lsa.umich.edu/magazinemail/2013-spring/CGIS-images/10-CGIS-slideshow.jpg" width="640" /><br />
(V) For a Deceased Asantehene (Asante King)<br />
Nana atu ne kyinie Nana (the Asantehene) has removed his umbrella<br />
Awia na ebeku yen. We shall be scorched to death by the sun.<br />
Womim dee wo gyaa me You know the condition in which you have left me<br />
Ya ma nsuo nto na ma so bi anom. See to it that there is rain so that I can collect some of it to drink.<br />
Se womane me a mane me denkyembrebo If you are sending me parcel,send me a crocodile's liver<br />
Mannya gya a mawe no mono. Which I can eat raw failing to get fire with which to<br />
cook. (McCaskie 1989:424-25)<br />
Singing a dirge in the past usually signaled the commencement of the funeral ceremony and remained its mainstay for a long time, until it was reinforced and eventually overshadowed by music and dance (Nketia 1969: 17). The very enactment surrounding singing dirges is a clear testimony to the artistic endowment of Akan women<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8179/7981033326_630c7eec93_z.jpg" /><br />
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The use of coffin<br />
Osei (2002) agrees that coffins are quite common in Asante culture. They were used in olden times. They are said to have been fashioned out of the great flat buttress roots of the onyina (silk tree). Rattray (1927), asserts that when a coffin was used, the body was wrapped in mats.The current study revealed that modernisation has influenced, to a greater extent, the arts associated with funerals in Kumasi.<br />
<img src="http://www.travelgeo.it/zenphoto/albums/africa-ghana/18ghana%20pop%20ashanti%20funeral.jpg" /><br />
Oral tradition suggests that in ancient times, hollowed-out tree trunks or barks of trees were the commonest objects within which dead Ashanti bodies, wrapped up cotton wool, were placed before burial. The current practice is that expensive locally made coffin and even in the case of wealthy individuals, coffins made of silver, brass or glass and like media are sometimes<br />
imported to befit the position and status of the deceased or to display the wealth of the living relatives.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8174/7981029666_3b912875d6_z.jpg" /><br />
Customarily, it is the children of the deceased who purchase coffins in Asante. Sometimes, too, it is some organisation to which the deceased belonged which provides the coffin. A most recently emerging trend in the Asante region is that neighborhood welfare groups Koroye- kuo, as part of members’ show of love and unity to a departed colleague; offer to provide the coffin for the burial, among other things.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8039/7981029182_89904487ec_z.jpg" /><br />
Body art of the corpse<br />
Before narrowing down the discussion on this to Asante, it would be appropriate to look at the universality of this practice based on available literature.“The body is not only depicted in art. It is used in making art, or is transformed to become art itself. The human body is material for art making. It can be painted or sculpted, or can be part of a performance or spectacle.” Lazzari & Schlesier (2002) Asantes cannot agree with the above assertions more and have therefore adopted the human body (both dead and living) and incorporated it in their funerary arts to convey ideas and beliefs at the expense of words. As a result, they have a repertoire of funerary body art<br />
comprising painting of the skin, coiffure or hairdressing costume including footwear, wearing of amulets, bracelets, necklaces, anklets and general body adornment to portray certain beliefs in connection with the death. Asantes can also be identified with burying artefacts together with the dead. However, this practice is not the preserve of only the Asantes, rather, a custom in many parts of Africa. Mbiti (1975) identifies some of the works of art as spears, bows and arrows, stools, snuff, ornaments, tools, and domestic utensils. The greatest treasures ever discovered in a burial place were those of King Tutankhamen of Egypt who died in B.C. 1352. These were discovered in his tomb in Upper Egypt nearly 3,300 years later in 1922. They comprised jewels, furniture, shrines, and portrait masks all covered with gold, worth an inestimable amount of money.<br />
In Asante, there are variations in the body art of the dead. These are dictated by factors such as the circumstances of the death, age, social position, and status of the deceased. Various forms of ‘ghost’ or ‘soul’ currency (Saman-Sika or Kra-Sika), in the form of ornaments of a certain shape and design, are bound round the wrists of the corpse. Gold dust is often put into its ears and into the hollow above the zygomatic area, known as sikagubea (the place for pouring gold dust). Gold dust is also bound up in a small packet and tied to the loin cloth; hair is sometimes placed in the mouth. The research revealed that the hair is a form of money or has some value in the world of ghosts (Rattray 1927). The current researchers recognized that sometimes, the head of the corpse is<br />
shaved and marked with alternate red, white, and black stripes, made with sono (red dye), white clay, and bidie (charcoal). Benenneh, 1999 (unpublished thesis), however, gives a different interpretation of these colours as follows: “Invariably, the red represented the blood of the living relatives, the black, death and the white the ancestors. The motive behind this was also to subject the dead person to easy recognition should he or she walk as a saman (ghost).<br />
<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10509633_840722805937784_8446366263791265219_n.jpg?oh=4271399227163474498a5ba21ddb6b3f&oe=54A44641&__gda__=1420153337_fbc64fa8f873d289340c9068cf5d436e" width="640" /><br />
Also in the indigenous presentation and the preparation of the corpse, the Study revealed that Asantes occasionally placed a brass pan beneath the head and later this is buried in this position, in order toreceive the head when it drops off and instead of the hands being folded, they are sometimes allowed to rest with the fingers on one of the metal vessels called Kudoͻ which contain gold dust.<br />
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The bottom line still remains that the dead body was dressed and adorned far more opulently than it might ever have done when alive. Highly polished brass beds were in common use. These were covered with several layers of blanket and multi-coloured expensive and good quality Kentecloths. Generally, the body was laid in a supine position with the hands either folded across the chest or lying parallel to the trunk. It was covered with a very expensive εfununtoma (shroud) which was usually a Kentecloth and adorned with every available form of “ghost or soul currency” in the form of golden or silver ornaments of various shapes, sizes and designs. This has also been confirmed by Benneh (1999).<br />
<img height="426" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7110/7649336220_eab95099f9.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Funeral donations<br />
As result of using cotton wool for burial practices, it became scarce and consequently treasured. Relatives then began to experience difficulty in getting the required quantity and due to this; they called on sympathizers, friends and well-wishers to donate some cotton for wrapping the corpse. This practice brought about the concept of nsaabodeε a corrupted form of asaawa (cotton) and aboadeε (helper).This also brings into focus the concept of asiedeε (funeral goods). This is a practice where a widow or widower of a deceased as well as his or her loved ones give items ranging from mats, pillows, pieces of cloth to handkerchiefs and rings. A western dimension of<br />
wreath presentation has also become a common practice. Another school of thought among Asantes opines that the term nsaabodeε has been derived from the practice of offering small quantities of palm-wine nsafufuo as donations to assist the bereaved family to enable it offer drinks to the sympathizers during the funeral. Thus, nsaaboadeε, literally means wine assistance. Whatever the etymology of nsaabodeε, all contributions in this regard either directly to the bereaved family or indirectly to the deceased was termed thus.<br />
<img height="426" src="https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/54326679/disp/68c6ad53c407455379e3b7aee58f26f6.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Foreign religion and westernization have suppressed the use of certain traditional requirements of money and the other numerous items which used to accompany the dead to the spirit world. The dress code of the corpse, apart from traditional rulers, is also yielding to pressure from westernisation. This is partly attributed to the scorn with which Christianity, Islam and western culture look at this practice, as it is considered idol worship. The marginalization of these traditional requirements is also blamed on the activities of grave looters, who, it is alleged, spy on the proceedings at funeral grounds and later loot graves containing such wealth. This second assertion is buttressed by the fact that grave looting is prevalent in urban centres where extravagance is displayed during funeral ceremonies. The application of art in the funeral ceremonies of Asante has brought about some cultural conflicts. There were situations when the researchers came across a dead Asante chief adorned in typical Asante regalia but was mounted in a sitting posture.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1937461_840722849271113_4855309739311165924_n.jpg?oh=6738aad6a9a487e70c41d0303e8130b1&oe=549B0E9F" width="640" /><br />
The Funeral Scene<br />
Traditionally, Asante funeral days are Mondays and Thursdays if they happen not to be nnabͻne (bad days), days especially reserved for the deities to descend and partake of men’s affairs. This situation has changed over the years and nowadays most funeral ceremonies in in the region are held on Saturdays when government and other workers are free to attend. Thus, the complexity of modernization has influenced all facets of life including funeral ceremonies.<br />
It used to be sheds constructed of sticks and covered with palm fronds that provided shade for funeral ceremonies.<br />
<img height="480" src="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10485358_840722895937775_952794037044027453_n.jpg?oh=0bd28183145b427b2135b5eb30b25d7b&oe=54A9536A" width="640" /><br />
Socio-technological advancement has however brought in its wake a more convenient environmental art piece for funeral ceremonies in Kumasi as well as in many other parts of the country. Hired canopies are the order of the day. It must be stated that this new practice has led to the proliferation of canopy-hiring commercial ventures in the region. Close relatives of the deceased sit upon mats provided for that purpose in front of the sheds or canopies while the rest, well-wishers, sympathizers and friends, are provided with benches and or foldable wooden chairs. Plastic chairs are now largely in use at funeral grounds in Asante region.<br />
Opportunities are provided for well-wishers, sympathizers and friends to express their sympathy in monetary. In this regard, male relatives take their positions at strategic points behind tables to receive donations for which receipts are issued. It is an almost obligatory practice to announce such donations at the funeral grounds for all present to hear. No tangible reasons have been assigned to these announcements as the donor is given a receipt to show acknowledgement of the donation. It is now a common phenomenon to see donors crowding at public address systems at funeral grounds waiting impatiently for their donations to be announced. Formerly, only drinks were provided but now food is served to participants in the family house, or in cases where there are huge numbers of people to be served, other places, apart from the family houses, are sought within the vicinity to them. Sometimes, a catering service enterprise is contracted to prepare and serve the food.<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8301/7834451198_8c1927189b_z.jpg" /><br />
The Adoa procession in Asante culture has not given way to modernity. Instead, this has been<br />
magnified to reflect a show of wealth. At certain funerals, especially those of elderly people, one may notice that a procession of women and girls dressed in Dansinkran outfits led by a group of others carrying well-polished brass bowls containing well-arranged items depicting an almost infinite aesthetic appeal. This procession would suddenly appear at a corner amidst chanting of appellations by onlookers. They will then proceed in a retinue, characterized by an uncompelling majestic walk, round the funeral grounds. Thus, Adͻsoa appears to exhibit almost all the art forms in the funeral rites of Asantes. The Adͻsoa bundles trace their origins to the funerals of kings.<br />
Traditionally, the grand children of the deceased are not left out in the body art as well as the performing art<br />
associated with funeral ceremonies. These children, who are not expected to fast, move from one end of the community to the other stamping the ground with old pestles and chanting, “Nana awuoo!”, “Yεmmuannaoo!” It is said that by so doing, they are insisting on a demand for money to purchase food, implying that if the demand was not met, they would disrupt proceedings at the funeral grounds (Nketia, J.H.K. 1955). This performance has however ceased in Asante due to acculturation. The grand children are no longer identified by this performance, rather by arranged black and white cloths.<br />
Widowhood rites are still observed today in Asante. One must however be quick to state that aspects of these rites considered to be idol worship by foreign religions are left out. The widow contributes to the adesiediε (funeral goods) that are used to wash and prepare the corpse. Asantesbelieve that it is important to wash off the earthly pollution of the body so that the spirit can be transmitted into the spirit world. The items constituting a widow’s funeral goods may include a blanket, bed sheet, pillow, mat, ahenemma (native sandals), bucket, assorted soaps, sponge, cloth, perfume and power, danta (loin cloth). Identifying the widow by smearing of the widow with<br />
ntwima (red clay) on the face and shoulders on the day of burial is no longer a common practice except in the case of a dead chief. Again, at the funeral grounds, instead of traditional leaves held by the widow, specially designed synthetic flowers are used. The dress code of the widow still remains kuntunkuni (black) and kͻbene (red).<br />
However, the red cloth is now worn over the black, a reversal of her dressing when the death occurs initially. Sackey (2001), confirms that even in the face of modernity, a widow cannot put on any form of jewellery until after a year.<br />
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Significance of Color in Asante funeral dress and body art</div>
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Apart from the shaving of the hair, the people smear their bodies with white clay, a sign of death and mourning, the first striking thing about an Ashanti funeral is the clear colour distinctions in the clothing of mourners. As Rattray observed it, "The blood relations smear three lines of red clay (ntwuma) or odame, from left to right on the forehead (known as kotobirigya). A similar one called ntwomampaemu (division of red clay) is made from the back of the shaven head to the forehead and the same pattern referred to as "asafe" are made on the upper arms. Ameyaw-Benneh (1994), observes that, these patterns portray the particular mourner as very close or dear to the deceased. The three lines are probably related to the three principles which feature quite prominently in Akan culture: first, Onyame (God), the giver of the Okra and to whom it returns upon death; second, AsaseYaa (mother earth goddess) which would accept the body and third, the ancestors who would</div>
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welcome (or reject) the Saman (ghost) of the deceased into their fold.</div>
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Asante women wearing Adinkra cloths at a funeral of an elderly person</div>
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Mourning bands (abotiri) are fastened round the head, into which red peppers are sometimesplaced; the russet-brown mourning cloths are put on; these are sometimes marked with Adinkra stamped designs" (1929, p. 150). Clay symbolizes the dirt or filth which death has brought upon the family and it is dumped on the bodies of only the blood relations and the widow or widower. </div>
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The sons of the deceased wear net caps with miniature ladders, red pepper and egg shells attached to it. The net symbolizes the helplessness of the wearer - Nsuoayiri me, na -hwan-naͻbε to atenaayi me? (I am drowning in the flood waters, and who would rescue me with a net)?The red pepper indicates the seriousness of the occasion, M’aniaberesεmako (My eyes are as red as pepper). Pepper is red as well as hot, therefore, it symbolises grief, sudden calamity, violent pain and an act of war. The egg shells portray the saying, Atome ne nkosuahono (I am left with only egg shells). Had the father or mother been alive, it would not have been egg shells, rather a whole fowl. The miniature ladder on its part indicates the saying, owuoatwedeε, baako mforo (the ladder of death is not mounted by only one person). This is a clear manifestation of Asantes’ belief that death is universal.</div>
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The mourners who are not blood relations (and these would include non-matrilineal relations, affines and personal friends) put on black. Thus at this level black and red refer to opposite categories and relationships. But all "the outward and visible signs of mourning, the red ochre and the funeral clothes affected by the ordinary mourners, are taboo to a priest" (1929, p.175). So that</div>
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a matrikin of the dead in the priesthood "must wear white and sprinkle himself with white clay (hyere), as if as far as he is concerned, death and mourning and sorrow do not exist. The corpse of a dead priest is draped in white and sprinkled with white clay, symbolizing the antithesis of ordinary funerary customs, which possibly mark out the wearers as being in a state of sorrow or defilement"</div>
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(1929, p.175).</div>
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In respect of the corpse In terms of whose connections these categories are distinguished, Rattray remarks that "Sometimes the head of the corpse is shaved and marked with alternate, red, white, and black stripes, made with esono (red dye), white clay, and bidie (charcoal). This, I am informed, is done so that the dead person may be readily recognized if he or she walks as a saman (ghost), (Rattray 1929, p.152).</div>
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We see another use of colours in the ritual which terminates Kunaye, the ritual which among Akans a person performs to mourn the death of a spouse. According to Kofi Antubam, "After a year's period of wearing black cloth, a married person who has lost his or her partner closes the Kunayq rites at the end of the year, and In the morning of the first day of the second year she or he throws</div>
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off the black and puts on Kobene (red cloth) for the ceremony, weeping in memory of the dead. Towards noon on that day, he sheds the red too and puts on white cloth tinted with green" (1963, p.85).</div>
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In Battray's description of funeral costumes, it is clear that the different colours worn by mourners serve as labels to differentiate groups in terms of their relationships to the dead. Red marks out the matrilineal relatives of the dead, black, non-matrilineal relatives and the principal group in this class of relations is the affines of the dead. For the priestly class however, none of these labels Is used. Those in priestly office can only use white. A shorf comment on this is necessary.</div>
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The use of colour in denoting the specific classes and therefore the role of individuals in funerary ritual here employs two distinct levels of classificatory categories. In the one case a distinction is made between those who belong to the abusua (clan/family)of the dead and those who are outside it. Red for the former and black for the latter. But at another level, a contrast is implicit between those in the aforementioned statuses together and those in the sacred office of priesthood This distinction rests at a deeper level of classification, on the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. And this level of analysis is supervenient to the former, hence the fact that a priest, be he a maternal relative or not must use white, the colour of purity and sacredness.</div>
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Rat tray makes this antithesis clearer in his observation that while the head of any ordinary dead may be "marked with alternate, red, white, and black stripes", the corpse of a dead priest "is draped in white and sprinkled with white clay", as if even in death, the priest is undefiled by death. This also shows the dominance of the sacred/profane categories over all other modes of classification.</div>
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I have personally been curious to find out what the combination of red, white and black stands for. Here one observes that another use of this tricolour is in the decoration of the funeral vessel "abusua kuruwa" (the clan or lineage pot vessel). The "abusua kuruwa" is usually of burnt clay pot and it "has a lid or cover which has been fashioned to represent the dead; it has frequently also red and white and black stripes. All the blood relations of the deceased now shave their heads; this hair is placed in the pot", (Rattray 1929, 169, 165) which the women in the maternal line of the dead carry to and leave at the place of the pots (esenso) in the cemetery where their relation was buried. I should like to suggest that the symbolism here is the same as the symbolism of the alternate red, white and black painted on the head of the dead; and that the idea that the colours should make it possible for the dead to be identified in the nether world rests on the fact that every individual, or his status, can be identified in terms of three things: his relations with his maternal relatives (red), his connections with non-maternal relatives (black) and finally, his relationship with the spiritual world (white). If the dead must be identified in the afterworld It is in terms of his social status that he must be identified which is meaningful in the light of Akan belief that the place the spirit</div>
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of the dead occupies in the next world depends on the social status he attains before death.</div>
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Coming as it is at the end of the funeral observances of a bereaved spouse, the ritual of which Antubam gives a description serves to move the bereaved spouse from the profane to the sacred.</div>
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And it is the stations in the process of transition which the distinct colours specify: black, the symbol of death, red a sign that she is in transition from the profane to the sacred; and, white, a sign that she is purified, and sacred, and the tinge of green is a clear indication of the assumption of new life.</div>
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In the contexts above, the emotions which the colours used express are explicit enough. Those who put on red and smear themselves with red ochre to indicate they are the blood relatives of the deceased are in an extreme traumatic state, and every effort is made to dramatize this fact. Those who put on black because they are not related to the dead by blood only share in the sorrow of the kinsmen of the dead; their grief does not approximate to that of the kinsmen of the dead. The third category of people is the category of priests, who, whether as blood relatives or other, express, as is due to their office, their complete disassociatlon from death, suffering and sorrow. In the midst of grief, the office of a priest stands for the spiritual joy of which the living are assured.</div>
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In looking at the ritual which terminates Kunaye (widowhood rites) as a ritual of transition one would see beyond these two levels - first transition from an old disrupted status to a new one in the society and second a transition from the sacred to profane — a third, the transition from sorrow to joy. The black colour which the widow wears to show she has lost a loved one gives way to red, which might here express extreme sorrow caused by the memory of the death or the sorrow and danger felt in the crisis of transition.</div>
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When she sheds the red and puts on white she puts away sorrow. She also moves from the state of danger inherent in transition and arrives in a state of joy. One interesting point here is that the emotional states which are prescribed for individuals or groups particular ritual roles and stations in a ceremony as indicated by the colour in use might not correspond to the actual emotional state of the person performing the ritual. And what strikes me as an important aspect of this conflict between actual emotions and prescribed affection is that the latter might be used as a means of controlling the former to bring about the emotional adjustment one has to. make in situations of crises. This is what might be at the bottom of the traditional practice that when a sudden death occurs, death through accident, childbirth or other (Atofowu), relatives do not put on black or red. They must, like the dead himself, be in white. On such occasions Akans who are given to much emotional wailing at funerals are forbidden to weep. By this device the suden surge of emotion is dammed and the excessive sorrowing which might stimulate the desire to revenge and lead some people to behave in ways which might be anti-social are allowed to peter out. Also, when a very old person dies, white is the colour tradition prescribed for use. In this instance, people are not only required to control their emotions, but are also asked to rejoice. It is a common belief that when the aged die they bring the blessings of many children to the lineage. In this hope sorrow is banished.</div>
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Source: <a href="http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Institue%20of%20African%20Studies%20Research%20Review/1970v7n1/asrv007001003.pdf">http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Institue%20of%20African%20Studies%20Research%20Review/1970v7n1/asrv007001003.pdf</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_16_Special_Issue_August_2013/12.pdf">http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_16_Special_Issue_August_2013/12.pdf</a></div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">Clothed in symbols: wearing proverbs</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"> BY DANIEL MATO</span></b></div>
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Much of Akan ritual practice, religious activity, social life, and art is directed towards funerary ceremonies and observances. Death and life are acknowledged and celebrated through ritualized behavior, stylized art forms, and full community participation. Funerals are occasions for deep sorrow and celebration as they recognize that the death was not only the ending of an individual's life but a reaffirmation of the life of the family and continuity of the community. This prominence of funerals was noted by the first European visitors and continued to be recorded by subsequent observers up to the present. Intriguingly, a number of these early comments on Akan funerals could serve today to describe aspects of present funerary activities (deMarees 1604, Bosman 1705, Atkins 1735, Bowdich 1819, Cruickshank 1853, MacDonald 1898). Descriptions of more recent Akan funerals and burial practices have been recorded by a number of authors and need not be given here in detail (see Rattray 1927, Nketia 1955, Antubam 1963, Denteh 1975, Bellis 1982, Mato 1987 et al.).</div>
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Dormaahene Osadeayo Agyeman Badu at a funeral </div>
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Families will acknowledge the recently deceased during ceremonies of remembrance held on the eighth day (nawotwe da) after death with dancing and wearing of "funeral cloths." Other rituals take place forty (adaduanan) and eighty (adadutwe) days after death with an important ceremony one year later (afehyia da). Important ceremonies of remembrance are also regularly held in the community to celebrate not only those recently deceased but to honor all those who have died (owuofo). These take place every forty days (adae or kwasidae) with a major country-wide ceremony (odwira) held yearly.</div>
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Funerals and later ceremonies of remembrance (ayie pa) are prescribed to follow established protocols of behavior and conduct in order to insure their success as a rite of passage and as a "social event." Funerals among the Akan have considerable communal prestige so that they are not only measured as ritual process but also as public display. The proper conduct of a funeral acknowledges established social and ritual protocols and must reflect appropriate artistic and aesthetic concerns so that ceremonies will not only be measured by their content, but could be equally compromised by not being well done. As was stated at a funeral: Se fun nya asoayia a, nna ototo no kon, or "A decent funeral procession is in itself a tribute to the success of the funeral of the deceased" (collected in Kumasi 1988, see also Rattray 1916: No. 452). The social component is acknowledged by people who will ask when discussing a funeral: "Were there many in attendance, was there much to drink, was there much singing and music for dancing? Were the funerary gifts for the deceased sufficient and did the family receive donations to defray the cost of the funeral?" A family's prestige was at risk if the local community did not think that appropriate efforts had been made to "send the dead off in style" or if those attending were not "treated properly." Attendance at a funeral is a matter of paying respect to the deceased and their family as well as being a major social occasion. People attending will wear appropriate funerary cloths and contribute to help the family pay for the funeral, for which they are publicly acknowledged and given receipts. Those attending will also expect to be entertained with music, dancing, and refreshments to lighten the day.</div>
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Funerals serve to recognize the fact that the deceased was not only a member of a complex structure of lineage relationships but also a member of the local community. Much of Akan ritual and ceremonial life is open to public demonstration and communal participation; their highly visible funerals are occasions not only for the expression of sorrow but equally opportunities for socializing with family and friends. It is an occasion of celebration as well as sadness and is aptly summed up by Field in her observation that: "At no time in a person's life is he as sociable as at death" (1948: 138). The funeral of an Akan adult sets into motion ceremonial and ritual activities which express personal and communal loss and allow the common sharing of grief while celebrating the advancement of a new ancestor through a collective feeling of community.</div>
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Akan funerals are not only a rite of passage during which the deceased is mourned through highly ritualized displays of grief and loss, but are also the occasion for the appearance of a number of different art forms which state and confirm relationships among the living while honoring the dead. These specialized funerary arts are the instruments whereby contact is established with the new ancestor(s) (saman(fo)) and through which people can express their familial and lineage relationships to the deceased. One's rank and status within one's lineage and concurrently one's position within the political and social structure of the community will be reflected in the arts displayed during funerals and subsequent ceremonies of remembrance. Akan funerary arts are closely associated to cosmological and religious beliefs and are shaped to reflect views of life and the afterlife, as literal and symbolic references are made to principles and deities.</div>
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The public proclamation of a death initiates a period of mourning and concurrently the first appearance of funerary arts. Funerals are publicly active and communally experienced; they continue from the announcement of the death through the burial (detie yie) and during later ceremonies of remembrance. It is a complex period of activity which may appear to be tumultuous and unorganized to "European" eyes (deMarees 1600: 343; Bosman 1705: 364; Atkins 1735: 105; Bowdich 1819: 284 et al.). However seemingly disjointed, each of the funerary activities has its place in a coordinated and traditional scheme of appearance which allows and encourages spontaneous demonstration of grief and sorrow</div>
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. Drumming and dancing, the presentation of symbolic gestures by individuals, the singing of dirges and laments are art forms which incorporate social participation on the broadest scale. These active and transitory art forms known as anigyedee have their "existence" while they are performed by family and friends. The materially permanent funerary arts of the Akan are well known; they include ritual pottery (abusua kuruwa), terracotta figures (nsodia or sempon), figurative smoking pipes (ebua) and the various cloths worn especially during this time. Personal objects of everyday use such as stools, toilet articles, family heirlooms, and possessions of the deceased may also be included as funerary goods and presented at the time of burial. The recitation of proverbs (ebe or mmebusem) and aphorisms appropriate to Akan ideas regarding life, death, and the afterlife are often stated during funerals and subsequent ceremonies of remembrance. They will be voiced by individuals who may spontaneously declaim a proverb with related gestures or be sung by a group of mourning women. They are now even worn as T-shirts and head bands at funerals. Proverbs and aphorisms will often have as subject matter themes which refer to human mortality and the universality of death:</div>
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Owuo see fie—"Death spoils the house"</div>
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Owuo begya hwan—"Whom will death spare"</div>
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Owu adare nna fako—"Death's sickle does not reap in one place alone"</div>
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Obi nim nea owu wo a, anka onsi ho ara da—"If one knew where death resided one would never stop there"</div>
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Closely allied to the verbally stated proverbs, physically displayed symbolic gestures depict proverbial statements in visual form. Proverbs and aphorisms take on added weight of meaning reinforced through body movement, expressive stance or gesture. The physical gesture is closely allied to its verbal component by restating the expressed sentiment or proverb in tangible, physical form. As McLeod has noted, what occurs is "... conjunction of, or an interaction between, two different modes of communication: the verbal and the physical" (1976:92). A simple gesture or body position may have a number of proverbial analogues to it. For example at the time of the funeral or lying-in-state, one will often see individuals, with their hands clasped on the top of their heads, declaiming: Ahia me o, aka menko o!—"I am left alone, I am cast away thirsty and hungry!" Others may stretch their arms towards the deceased and state: San bra—"Do come back!"; or they may simply extend arms and show fingers in a 'V' towards the deceased (collected in Kumasi 1988 and Assamang 1992). There is a direct connection between proverb and gesture in these two cases while other symbolic gestures will be more open-ended. For example the gesture of the arms crossed over the chest with the hands resting on the shoulders may have any of the following proverbial associations:</div>
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Mafo ma awo ade me—"I am wet and feeling cold"</div>
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Osu kese bi ato aboro me—"A great rain has fallen and soaked me"</div>
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Mennya gya na m'ato bio—"I am forever deprived of the fire that warmed me"</div>
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There are a number of symbolic gestures in common use which are also found sculpted in clay as individual figures or attached to funerary clay pots known as abusua kuruwa. These pots are often embellished with symbolic motifs which have cognates in the stamped motifs found on the various funerary cloths. Other objects demonstrate this tendency towards the visualization of proverb in material form. The well known goldweights, linguist's staffs, umbrella finials, as well as figural embellishments of swords and stools act as carriers of symbolic form with associated proverbs or statements. As has been often noted, proverb and visual symbol are ubiquitous in Akan art. They are the means whereby a statement of fact or principle or a comment upon the human condition is given visual form and context. It is through this unique alliance of verbal-visual elements that the Akan state the "concrete and abstract" (McLeod 1976:9, see also Cole and Ross 1977).</div>
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The idea of a verbal/visual/symbolic literacy emerges from the cultural nexus of Akan society in which all are to some degree versed in the proverbs, symbols, and traditional lore of the society. Among the Akan, one's wisdom and the ability to present an argument, debate in public or at court, or to give opinion upon any issue is gauged by the ability to draw upon proverbs to support or make a case. This is often done by literally stacking individual and different proverbs to make a point. The importance of the spoken word in a non-literate society allied to an ability to draw upon the traditional wisdom of proverbial lore raises ordinary discourse to an elegant art form of poetic dimension and metaphorical subtlety.</div>
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When a proverb is supported by a visual image its metaphorical meaning is reinforced and literally raised to another level of subtlety and discourse. Inasmuch as the visual symbol can only be identified through its associated proverb or verbal element, it assumes the ability to apply the appropriate proverb to the particular situation. This process of interrelationship and dependence is to bring the weight of traditional wisdom, law, and precedent—characterized through an allusive structure of parallel metaphors—to address situations or circumstances which may not be addressed directly or are of too sensitive a nature for direct comment. Akans will also seek to address sensitive issues obliquely through the use of parables in speech or by some mode of symbolic display, rather than confront them directly. </div>
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For example when referring to the death of a king one might say: "The king has gone to his village," or "a mighty tree has fallen," or "he has fallen asleep" rather than state the fact directly (interviews with Okyeame Bafour Osei Akoto and Okyeame Bafour Boasiako). Many adinkra stamps work with the same process inasmuch as they will present the viewer with a symbol and it is left to the viewer's knowledge and sophistication to apply it to any number of possible circumstances. Visual symbols, as proverbs, are contextually directed inasmuch as they are perceived as a single motif with the potential for interpretation on a number of levels. Therefore, when looking at an adinkra symbol one may be interpreting only the most obvious proverbial association and missing a number of other symbolic allusions. This, however, also allows the opportunity for the viewer to interact with the stamped symbol and to choose the proverb or parable he thinks appropriate.</div>
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It is an everyday experience in Akan towns and villages to see individuals going to or returning from a funeral wearing some form of funerary cloth. The wearing of special raiment or funerary attire by mourners during funeral ceremonies is an extension of the idea of communal participation through public display. Traditionally the wearing of colored funerary cloths known as ayitoma (funeral cloth) or akonini ntoma ("cloth for the strong heart") was coded to the cycle of the funeral and would indicate the relationship of the mourner to the deceased and their standing within the family lineage (abusua).</div>
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These various cloths are described as follows: kuntunkuni, a deep russet-brown cloth was customarily worn by the abusua panyin (lineage elder) and close family members the first day after death and often through the burial. Traditionally kuntunkuni cloths are older cloths and often frayed, in some instances previously stamped cloths which have become soiled and have been redyed. As was stated: "The older and more worn the cloth the more it would indicate their loss and grief" (collected in Kumasi, 1988). A favorite cloth for dyeing as kuntunkuni are old cocoa bean sacks which may bear some resemblance to the old bark cloth (kyenkyen) which served as funerary dress. This was said to reflect that one "had been 'made poor' or impoverished by the loss of the family member." Dark red or vermilion cloths (kobene) would be worn by relatives, friends, and neighbors during the funerals and frequently by all mourners during later memorial ceremonies. Today kobene is the most predominant cloth visible at funerals. In some Asante areas of central Ghana, a dark blue-black cloth known as birisi will be worn by the widow and immediate family through the funeral and subsequent memorial ceremonies held forty days after burial. For women this will include the wearing of an upper garment in red (dansekra) with a black or dark skirt. Birisi may have two levels of appearance, for it will be worn at funerals as a simple dark cloth whereas at later memorial ceremonies (ayie) it may appear stamped with symbolic motifs. These motifs, known as adinkra, also lend their name to the cloths upon which they are stamped so that when one refers to adinkra it may not only refer to the individual (stamped) motif but equally to the cloth which has been stamped. For elders of great age white cloths (fututum or tutum) will be worn to celebrate their deaths.</div>
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Symbolic motifs had been traditionally stamped on the so called "dark cloths" known as kuntunkuni or birisi. The fact that dark symbolic images would be stamped on dark cloths may comment upon a level of subtlety not yet perceived or fully understood by the non-Akan observer as adinkra stamps with their specific identities are carried on a colored cloth with broad collective associations. Adinkra images and symbols draw upon the same symbol pool found deeply fixed throughout Akan culture and expressed in all of their arts, permanent and transitory. Adinkra symbols are a complex interplay of the visualization of proverbs, moral maxims, and popular sayings. Some stamps are self-evident in their meanings through visual alliance to their associated parable or verbal analogy while others are more removed and often abstractly distant. Stamped adinkra images embody principles of behavior, and contain homilies or maxims characterizing man's relationships in the face of life's shortness and unpredictability. They comment upon the family or the structure of society or refer to historical events. A number of stamps can be described as royal regalia in that they are conditionally reserved for use as a component of statecraft. Certain adinkra stamps would be included as a element of the king's own royal regalia whose associated proverb would be associated to kingship.</div>
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Some stamps appear more often than others, some have fallen out of favor, while others, newly created, are added to the adinkra symbol pool for their uniqueness of design to which established proverbs are attached. Though certain older stamps may not be popularly used today they are not forgotten and are as valued as stamps which are newer and possibly more evident. Many adinkra stamps depict commonplace objects that have been given symbolic value applied to everyday experience or royal statement. Newly carved stamps comment upon political events of the past and present while others are created to serve a more fashionable trade with the growing social (non-funerary) wearing of adinkra cloths (known as kwasidae or Sunday cloths). This addition of new stamps to the "symbol pool" and the increasing use of adinkra cloths for purely social occasions reflects the elasticity and resilience of Akan art and culture in its ability to meet the changing contemporary world while drawing upon a heritage of tradition.</div>
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Adinkra stamped cloths are some of the earliest examples of textile art documented from all of West Africa. Thomas Bowdich, a British envoy to the King of the Asante in 1817, commented upon the wearing of "fetish" cloths or stamped adinkra cloth while residing in Kumasi. Sometime during the year of 1817, he in fact commissioned an adinkra cloth to be stamped for the collection of the British Museum in London where it is today (British Museum no. WA-22, see Bowdich 1819: 310). A few years later in 1826, the resident Dutch governor of a fort on the Guinea Coast commissioned an adinkra cloth to be made to be presented to the Dutch King. The cloth was made as a traditionally stamped adinkra cloth; however an embellishment was added which included a rather crudely painted Royal Coat of Arms of the Royal House as a central device. This cloth was originally presented to the Court in Holland and is now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden (#360-1700).</div>
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These dates of 1817 and 1826 point to a fully developed usage of adinkra, including a number of documented motifs still in use today. The date of 1817, however, is at some variance with the traditional accounting of how the practice of adinkra came to the Asante. Local oral histories state that the use of adinkra came to Asante as a result of a war between the kingdoms of Asante and Gyman whose king was said to be wearing an adinkra cloth when he was defeated and killed sometime between 1818-20. The defeated king's name in fact was Kofi Adinkra and one of the most famous adinkra symbols, known simply as adinkra, is said to have been worn by him. So according to local traditions, adinkra did not arrive among the Asante until after the war of 1818-20; however the cloth collected by Bowdich dates to 1817, therefore predating the traditional date of its appearance. Recent field work suggests that this traditional oral history is taken more as an explanation of how the techniques of making adinkra came to Asante rather than the use of the symbol-stamped cloth itself. The techniques of cloth stamping are said to have been brought to Asante through the knowledge of the son of King Adinkra who was also captured during this struggle and today has a stamp named after him adinkra ba apau—"Adinkra's son" (Interviews with Nana Akwesi Mensa, Odikro of Asokwa and Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II). There have been oral histories collected at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi which discuss the use of adinkra cloth at Court during the 1700s, so that it could be argued that the tradition was most probably in place sometime during this time (Okyeame Bafour Osei Akoto and Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II).</div>
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Though primarily identified with funerary cloths, it is surprising that only a few adinkra symbols with their associated proverbs or aphorisms allude directly to death. These symbolic allusions may be direct or oblique depending upon the symbol or metaphor being addressed. An example of direct reference is the well-known "ladder of death": Owuo atwedee baako mmforo, obiara bewu—"All men will climb the ladder of death." (The image of the ladder is also found worked on clay funerary pots, as well as on the bronze gold dust containers and on the bronze weights used in the weighing of gold.) There is a modern adinkra stamp which has the depiction of a skull on it with the associated statement: Owuo begya hwan—"Whom will death spare." Another example of the stamped skull has the phrase Owuo see fie—"Death breaks the house." A new stamp, carved in 1992 by Joseph Nsiah in Ntonso, has death as its topic: Kotonkrowei da amansa kon mu—"If death holds you by the neck surely it will carry you away." It is only now coming into use.</div>
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Adinkra stamped symbols will address the insecurities and stresses of life with injunctions such as: Daben na me nsorama bepue—"When will my star change!" or Atamfo atwa me ho ahyia— "My enemies surround me." Symbols will set precepts for behavior as well as recognizing individual responsibility: Obra tese ahwehwe—"Life is like a mirror (not only is it fragile but it reflects one's character)." The well known image Sankofa—"the chicken looking over its back"—is an injunction to balanced and responsible behavior. Proverbial admonition symbolically states balance and peaceful intent through forms known in other uses as motifs for linguists' staffs or umbrella finials: Kosua—"The hand holding the egg" and Ekaa akyekyedee nko a nka etuo nto kwae mu da—"Left to the tortoise alone there will not be any shoots in the forest." Adinkra symbols also reflect the pragmatism of Akan society to correct behavior and to be able to meet the demands of life's situations: Sesa wo suban—"Change your life" or Nkyinkyin—"Twisted patterns, changing oneself, being able to play many roles."</div>
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There is evidence to indicate that the wearing of adinkra cloths was once a "royal" prerogative and that through a process not yet fully described adinkra came down to the general populace during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, becoming incorporated as an element of general Akan funerary usage (interviews with Okyeame Bafour Osei Akoto, Okyeame Bafour Anti Boasiako, Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II, and Nana Akwesi Mensa, Odikro of Asokwa). Stamped adinkra cloths are worn by the King during the weekly sessions at Court when the state council, the Asanteman, meets on Mondays and Thursdays and when he holds public sittings on Saturdays. When meetings of the state council are in session at Manhyia Palace, members of the Asanteman wear dark cloths (birisi) which are often stamped. This reflects the seriousness of the meetings and the responsibility of those in attendance. Royal precedence is reflected in a protocol at the Court in Kumasi which forbids wearing the same adinkra symbol as the Asantehene when sitting in state. To do so would seem to be a challenge to the King leading to an awkward if not intolerable situation.</div>
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It is during these meetings that the King will not only wear stamped adinkra cloths but, depending upon the gravity of the meeting, a cloth calligraphically inscribed with suras or protective verses from the Koran: Nsumankwahene Nana Domfeh Gyeabor. This protective cloth is also known as an adinkra symbol: Hyewo a enhye—"I burn but do not burn (it is fireproof, literally against others' magic)." Early use of Islamic cloths comes from a description provided by Dupuis when visiting Kumasi in 1820 as he records the King's wearing "a large white cotton cloth which partly covered his left shoulder, was studded all over with Arabic writings in various colored inks, and of a most brilliant well formed color" (1824: 142).</div>
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If it is a meeting of extreme gravity to discuss, for example, the possibility of war, the King would wear a dark brown kuntunkuni cloth known as (A)pese Ntowma, which has twigs of the (A)pese tree stuck into it. The Chief Priest for Asante, the Nsumankwahene, stated that he had calligraphically inscribed cloths to wear for protection when he met with other priests. He also had a large umbrella (kyini) stamped with the adinkra symbols Etuo (Rifle) and Afena (Crossed Swords) that was held over him at state functions to protect him. Another cloth, worn by a royal in the area of Tewobaabi, has porcupine quills set in a design pattern on a dark cloth worn when "serious things are spoken of at the local court" (Nana Kwaku Dua II, Tewobaabi). He also commissioned cloths inscribed with Islamic calligraphy known as Nsebeon Ntowma from a local Moslem cleric in Ntonso. In fact he has started a shop in which adinkra, inscribed cloths, and Islamic amulets (suman or nsebe) are sold to a ready market.</div>
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Cloths in fact are chosen for the King to wear with particular emphasis upon the appropriate symbol for a specific occasion or ceremony as an aspect of polity and statecraft. This selection is done by the Abanasehene. These adinkra images would proclaim the strength or power of the King, and therefore of the kingdom, which would be seen and understood by visually and proverbially literate viewers and especially by those visiting the royal courts upon diplomatic missions. Adinkra symbols worn by the King serve as visual validation of his authority and claim to power. The symbol Aban—"The King's house"—worn at Court refers to the stone house built by Osei Bonsu I (1802-23) and has come to symbolize royal power, authority, and wealth. The Aban was the first two-storey stone house in Kumasi and became the repository for objects, gifts, and the King's clothes under direction of the Abanasehene (Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II). A number of the stamps argue the peaceful intent of the King, but also the ability to meet any threat once aroused. Allusion to nature is often metonymically at play in the use of symbols on the king's cloth when for example the adinkra symbol known as Okoto—"The Crab"—is stamped. The meaning is that it is difficult to draw a crab out of its hole, but once out it fights with total commitment and ferocity. The stamped symbol Obi nka bi—"I offend no one without provocation"—argues the King's inherent peacefulness. Once aroused, however, the King is to be highly feared as projected through the image of Odenkyam—"The Crocodile," worn during time of war and strife. The adinkra stamp of crossed swords, Afena, or of the king's rifle, Ohene Tuo, or of a sword and rifle crossed are direct references to his might. A number of symbols have specific references to victories gained by the King, the most well known being the adinkrahene—"Taken from the cloth worn by the defeated Gymanhene Kofi adinkra." It is also known as the "king of the adinkra stamps."</div>
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There are certain symbols which were traditionally reserved to the King. In the past they included adinkrahene—"The king of stamps" and Osono—"The Elephant"—among others. A new stamp carved in 1992 is coming into use in the direct portrayal of royal regalia: Ohene Kyini—"The king's umbrella." This follows the use of the state sword (Afena) as a chiefly symbol already in use for some time. Data recently collected records that each king would have a stamp carved which was to state in graphic form those attributes or characteristics he wished to be known by and which became identified to his reign (collected in Kumasi 1988, Asokwa 1992). These stamps are rarely worn publicly. One of these stamps indicates the strength, power, and wiliness of the King: Osono tia afidie so a enhwan—"When the elephant steps on the trap it does not spring." This is an allusion to the idea that a great man's troubles are dealt with so quietly that few are aware of it. It is therefore apparent that when dealing with adinkra as a means of political discourse, visual and proverbial wisdom are required to participate in and fully understand a system of symbolic interchange of subtlety and multilayered textures.</div>
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Historical anecdotes or observed situations are subject for symbol and metaphor. Gyau Atiko describes a particular style of hair pattern used as an adinkra stamp. It is drawn from historical fact for it refers to an event which occurred during the Gyman-Asante war when the Asantehene asked for the Bantama war leader, Gyau Atiko. The King was informed that Gyau Atiko had rushed so quickly to battle that all that was seen was the back of his head. Later Gyau Atiko wore this pattern of haircut during an adae ceremony. Not only did this indicate his bravery but equally his initiative. Another popular adinkra stamp often seen is Nkotimsefuopua—"The eagle's talons." It represented a design cut into the hair of the young girls who served the Queen Mother (Ahemaa) in her court. There is a corollary for this stamp relating to the servants of the Queen who are to exercise their duties and "Don't speak back!" So the symbol is not only a badge of office but equally an injunction to carry out their duties without question. This is extended to the general population so that when a superior tells one to do something they are to do it without question or argument.</div>
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The various people of central Ghana today have a marvelously developed system of visual symbolic communication associated with a rich oral tradition. However in the past they were a society with no written language. There is therefore some question as to the development and incorporation of stamped graphic images among the "non-writing" Akan. With this in mind the most commonly ascribed source for writing or the use of graphic images on cloth has been the Moslems of the northern part of Ghana. Trade with the Islamized north, prior to and after consolidation of the Asante state, carried with it Islamic culture as well as goods. Trade routes to the north which were travelled as early as the fourteenth century grew into a complex network of interchange by the time of the consolidation of the Asante kingdom (Wilks 1971: 381). Major centers of trade became sources not only for goods but equally for Islamic civilization, for the Moslems were active proselytizers of their faith and disseminators of culture. By the eighteenth century Moslems were at the royal court of the King in Kumasi as advisors and record keepers and were involved in the trade and politics of the Asante nation (see Wilks 1961, 1971). Under the Moslems the northern towns became major centers for the production of cloth and provided cloths to the Royal Court in Kumasi. There was also in Kumasi and elsewhere brasswork from North Africa with Arabic "kufic" script worked onto the surfaces into near abstract patterns (see Silverman 1985). Some of the design patterns found on these bronze vessels can be found in adinkra stamps.</div>
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The elegant shapes and nearly abstract forms of Islamic calligraphy can be appreciated for their purely graphic imagery. Literally the "words of God" from the hand-written Koran are appreciated as much for their sense of design as their religiosity. Non-Moslem Akan incorporated verses (suras) from the Koran—either as magical or protective formulas—which would be written on small pieces of paper and often wrapped in leather to serve as amuletic packets, or the small pieces of paper would be actually tied to a man's gown. It becomes clear that what was important to the illiterate viewer was the Islamic graphic image to which a meaning would be given consistent with Akan beliefs and principles. Therefore this belief in the "magic of the mark" as much as its textual meaning perhaps led to the development of the use of the stamped graphic image with an Akan subtext; the proverb: the maxim or homily.</div>
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Rod McLaren, also known as Nana Akwasi Amoako Agyemen, is dressed in traditional regalia for a funeral. After moving from Canada to Ghana, he was given the esteemed title Nkosuohene. Picture supplied by Rod LcLaren.</div>
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The position held by a number of writers regarding the source and dominant influence upon the use and history of adinkra can be best summed by McLeod's statement that: "These adinkra cloths seem originally to have been imported from the north, and the patterns upon them may ultimately derive from Islamic writing" (1981: 150). There is support for this thesis and the so called "northern connection" with Islamic culture through the use of adinkra stamps whose proverbs or associated saying are directly related to Moslems sources. These include the Nyansoa po—"Moslem's Knot of Wisdom," Nkrado—"The Moslem's Lock," Nsaa —"A Northern textile Pattern." There are a number of stamps whose design is based upon Islamic sources with Akan proverbs assigned to them.</div>
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Cloths covered with Moslem script were worn in the past and continue to be worn today by priests and royals for protection and power and to proclaim their faith in that power in a public manner. Moslem clerics continue to write charms for the Asantehene today under direction of the Chief Priest of Asante (Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II, July 16, 1992). Bravmann describes this balance of message with its visual carrier: "African aesthetic sensibility merges everywhere with the literary and graphic potential of Islam, bringing a particular stability and form to God's words" (1983: 19). It is this capacity for giving the verbal statement visual form that adinkra shares in principle with Islamic forms. Yet it is important to keep a balance of the assimilated Moslem graphic images with Akan elements, for the imported Moslem forms were applied to already established Akan proverbs. Thus it can be argued that adinkra motifs balance the verbal statement and the visual image to characterize complex thoughts through simple visual forms. It is an example of the ability of the Asante/Akan to assimilate external influences and produce a hybrid that is more than the mere sum of the constituent elements.</div>
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The growing popularity of adinkra has evolved to the point where the wearing of stamped cloths upon non-funerary occasions becomes a common experience. Stamped cloths may be worn at parties, social gatherings, or merely for "show," or for going to church on Sunday. This new use of adinkra has been given a name: when cloths are destined for social wear, they are now called kwasidae—"Sunday cloth." Increased use of adinkra cloths has led to increasing acceptance of industrially produced factory stamped cloths. They replicate traditional adinkra motifs and symbols but are printed with commercial dye so that they do not fade and can be washed without losing the image. This social use of adinkra has led to other changes, so today it is not uncommon to see non-traditional and gaily-colored green, yellow, and even plaid cloths being stamped. Fashion also appears to play an increasing new role in the use of adinkra cloth. Stamped funerary cloths are mainly worn by men at funerals while women wear the unstamped dansekra and skirt (red top and black skirt). There has been an increased tendency over the last few years for women to wear tailored dresses made out of stamped adinkra or factory stamped cloth. Here again the idea of the unity or identity of the abusua (matrilineage) is conveyed by the wearing of a common symbol or motif, often tailored in a similar style of dress. Symbolic display, familial alliance, and fashion are fused through new senses of dress and design. There is an additional interesting and somewhat disquieting observation to be made in that as the wearing of adinkra cloths becomes more popular, those who wear them are unfamiliar with most of the symbols and do not know most of the associated proverbs or sayings. Also as more cloth is stamped for purely secular use, fewer of the cloth stampers (who are increasingly young men working part-time) know the associated proverbs and one must again turn to the few elders for information.</div>
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A number of recently developed adinkra stamps address the issue of death directly and in non-symbolic imagery as stamps have been carved with "Western style" written texts in lieu of a stamped image to display the proverb. These new textual adinkra stamps will state in written form:</div>
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Owuo begya hwan—"Whom will death spare"</div>
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Omipa bewu sika te ase—"People will die but money will live"</div>
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Asem pa asa—"Goodness has no rewards"</div>
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Nseu adgere yen—"We are flooded in tears"</div>
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The use of a written text in place of the stamped image reflects the growing literacy and comfort of the population with the written word as an adjunct to abstracted visual images of traditional usage. This transfer from the visual to the textual occurs in the transfer from symbolic motif to written text in the case of the adinkra stamp: Ekaa nsee nkoa, the proverb being: "If it were left to nsee alone the tree would die." (The woodpecker (nsee) can only live in the dead onyina tree where it hollows out its nest). Both a symbol and text, it has the same meaning but obviously the form of the proverb has changed. Unfortunately, as a number of recent interviews recorded (1988-1992), it also reflects the loss of what can be described as an Akan symbolic literacy. As was observed by a number of senior cloth stampers and carvers, "People go to school and they learn how to read and forget adinkra and their meanings" (Joseph Nsiah and Nana Kwasei Tawiah at Ntonso). The use of western text for adinkra stamps dates at least to the 1940s if not earlier, when a factory-made cloth was stamped with letters ABCD. Not only was it familiar to the literate purchaser, but, purchased in quantity, it would be worn by women to funerals and thereby indicate their being members of the same family! The use of text in adinkra reflects an interactive dynamic that allows stamp carvers and cloth stampers to exercise artistic imagination, as well as to respond to market forces in a search for new and prominent images to make cloths more saleable.</div>
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Modern politics with parties, platforms, and emblems also find a place in the development of adinkra symbols. During the first independent government in 1957, under Kwame Nkrumah, an adinkra stamp based upon a well known proverb became the Convention People's Party symbol. The symbol was of a rooster— Akokonini—and the associated proverb stated Akokoberee nim adekye na ohwe onini ano—"The hen knows the hours of the day, but it watches for the announcement of them from the cock who has to crow." What better metaphor for the leader of a political party and the nation! When a new government came into power in 1969, an adinkra symbol was also carved to reflect changing views: Owia apue esunu—"The sun finally appears." But perhaps the experiences of the last decades have tempered ambitions and beliefs in promises with some cynicism, for the same adinkra symbol now is titled: Ebi te yie—"Some sit better." During the run-up period to the election of 1992, when political parties were forming, there were numerous symbols appropriated from the corpus of adinkra motifs. Well known symbols such as the umbrella, elephant, eagle, and the hen with her chicks served to give visual, graphic identity to new political parties. They served to easily identify the party through the use of well known symbols and associated proverbs and to direct the non-literate in their support and ultimately their vote.</div>
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Death symbols, proverbs, and economics can interact, for when Ghana shifted over to driving on the right side of the road as opposed to the British system of driving on the left on August 4, 1974, it obviously led to an extended period of confusion as well as a substantial number of accidents. This lead to a popular new adinkra stamp known as: Steer (na) bekum driver—"It was the steering wheel which killed the driver." The accident rate today is only slightly less, but the stamp is still in use with a new title created by the market women to make the cloth more saleable. It is now stylishly known as "Mercedes" or simply "Benz."</div>
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There was in the past a large lighted sign in Kumasi for the United Africa Company, which was a popular place for people to meet and talk in the evening. Sometime in the late 1950s a stamp carver in Asokwa drew upon this non-Akan but popular element to serve as subject for a stamp known as U.A.C. Kanea—"U.A.C. Light," literally "meet me under the U.A.C. Light." Other stamped symbols or iconic motifs used today include "Benz," the "VW" emblem, and the radiator emblem of Bristol trucks. Bottles, flags, maps, advertising logos, book covers, and the symbol of the World Food Program which was taken off of a tin of tuna donated by Japan, are now apt sources for adinkra stamps. This creation of new stamps raises interesting questions of cultural dynamics as proverbs are either created or reassigned to serve the past in meeting the present.</div>
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Yet there are positive aspects to these new appearances of adinkra as individuals seek to wear cloths which are part of their heritage and thereby keep the tradition active in a new domain of appearance. There are also new adinkra symbols added to the corpus of known stamps that continue the interplay between the verbal statement and the visual image. This attests to the dynamism of Akan society as they actively incorporate the arts of the past to the present, changing appearance and use to produce an art form suited to its time.</div>
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1955 Funeral Dirges of the Akan People.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Rattray, R. S.,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1916 Ashanti Proverbs, Reprinted 1969.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1927 Religion and Art in Ashanti, Reprinted 1969.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Silverman, R.,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1985 History, Art and Assimilation: The Impact of Islam on Akan Material Culture., Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Washington.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wilks, I.,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1961 The Northern Factor in Ashanti History, Legon.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1961 "The Northern Factor in Ashanti History: Begho and the Mande," Journal of African History 2(1).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1971 "The Mossi and the Akan States 1500-1800," History of West Africa. ed. M .Crowder and J. F. A. Ajayi.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1975 Asante in the Nineteenth Century.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Field interviews</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okyeame Nana Bafour Osei Akoto, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, August 3, 1988.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okyeame Nana Bafour Anti Boasiako, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, August 2, 1988.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nsumankwahene Nana Domfeh Gyeabor, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, August 3, 1988.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Abanasehene Nana Asafo Agyi II, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, July 16, 1992</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Odikro (of Asokwa) Nana Kwasei Kroko, 1988, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nana Kwaku Dua II, Tewobaabi, July 28, 1991</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nana Kwasei Tawiah, Ntonso, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Reverend Agyeman Duah, Kumasi, 1988, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Joseph Nsiah, at Ntonso, 1988, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Steven Appiah, Asokwa, 1982, 1988, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Kusi Kwame, Asokwa, 1982, 1988, 1991, 1992.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Appreciation to Dr. Steven Andoh, Secretary to the Asantehene, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi, for his assistance and advice during this study.</div>
</div>
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<img src="http://herbertmensah.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_0581.jpeg" /></div>
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<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10489731_840722695937795_6270979626600184346_n.jpg?oh=695ae76eb792aef1e76436bdb5431f9b&oe=5483E8EB&__gda__=1419317633_27032e34586fd0dd0d75100caeb3435b" width="640" /></div>
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<img height="425" src="http://omgghana.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/akuffo_addo_mills_funeral.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10487475_840722212604510_2603254998645349404_n.jpg?oh=a582da8c5beb7306292b6741a6eb184f&oe=548A61A1&__gda__=1418605771_edf1a47acee27c8950c6503f2139b04e" width="640" /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<img height="426" src="http://photos.peacefmonline.com/photos/gallery/201303/37124704_56062804_746418.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<img height="426" src="http://photos.peacefmonline.com/photos/gallery/201303/37125017_750207284_743458.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<img height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10487475_840722212604510_2603254998645349404_n.jpg?oh=a582da8c5beb7306292b6741a6eb184f&oe=548A61A1&__gda__=1418605771_edf1a47acee27c8950c6503f2139b04e" width="640" /></div>
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