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Journal articles on the topic 'Igbo cosmology'
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Eze, Odinaka Kingsley. "Crossroads: leprosy, Igbo cosmology and cultural worldviews." Africa 94, no. 4 (2024): 556–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972024000573.
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AbstractThis research examines the continuity and changes in Igbo thoughts on leprosy by exploring Igbo cosmology and its relationship with Christian and colonial ideas about the disease. The perception of leprosy in precolonial Igboland reveals a shocking similarity with the later Judeo-Christian identity and the perception of leprosy that dominated the area during colonialism. It argues that colonial and Christian missionary ideas did not radically transform the perceptions of leprosy in south-eastern Nigeria. Instead, what happened was merely an adaptation and continuity of prevailing thoughts about the disease. Using oral evidence, archival materials and existing anthropological works on Igbo worldviews and cosmology, this research shows the changes in the colonial socio-cultural knowledge of leprosy. After careful analysis, it concludes that, while colonial medicine and the missionaries’ idea of leprosy healed leprosy sufferers and transformed their identity, most Igbo people continued conceptualizing the disease as an aberration and maintained the stigmatization of sufferers.
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Peter Chukwuemeka Iloanya and John Nwanegbo-Ben. "Entrepreneurship and dignity of man in Igbo Worldview." World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews 12, no. 1 (2021): 047–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2021.12.1.0498.
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One of the greatest values in Igbo cosmology just like most people of the world is the dignity of the human person; and the parlance that there is dignity in labour is not strange to the Igbo people of Nigeria. In fact, it would be said that ndi Igbo are the people that understood the parlance better than every other people of the world. Consequently, an Igbo person does anything humanly possible to acquire the dignity bestowed by labour on humanity through genuine means he or she knows how.One will now wonder little why ndi Igbo engage in all sorts of enterprise excluding none. This is because they believe that it is in enterprise that man’s dignity is haboured. Physically, among the factors that enhance man’s dignity, wealth is the simplest and most visible that one can easily access; ndi Igbo believe that it is through ones enterprise that wealth can be created. Therefore, the paperseeks to consider analytically those enterprenual activities that ndi Igbo explore such as Igbaboi, Imuahia, olu aka and other entrepreneurial and apprenticeship system through which they ensure that wealth keep on circulating in their midst in other to ensure that man’ dignity remains sacrosanct in Igbo cosmology.
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Peter, Chukwuemeka Iloanya, and Nwanegbo-Ben John. "Entrepreneurship and dignity of man in Igbo Worldview." World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews 12, no. 1 (2021): 047–55. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5594065.
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One of the greatest values in Igbo cosmology just like most people of the world is the dignity of the human person; and the parlance that there is dignity in labour is not strange to the Igbo people of Nigeria. In fact, it would be said that ndi Igbo are the people that understood the parlance better than every other people of the world. Consequently, an Igbo person does anything humanly possible to acquire the dignity bestowed by labour on humanity through genuine means he or she knows how.One will now wonder little why ndi Igbo engage in all sorts of enterprise excluding none. This is because they believe that it is in enterprise that man’s dignity is haboured. Physically, among the factors that enhance man’s dignity, wealth is the simplest and most visible that one can easily access; ndi Igbo believe that it is through ones enterprise that wealth can be created. Therefore, the paperseeks to consider analytically those enterprenual activities that ndi Igbo explore such as Igbaboi, Imuahia, olu aka and other entrepreneurial and apprenticeship system through which they ensure that wealth keep on circulating in their midst in other to ensure that man’ dignity remains sacrosanct in Igbo cosmology.
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Okeke, Ikedimma Nwabufo, and Patrick Nwike Ojiakor. "IGBO COSMOLOGY OF DEATH AS EXPRESSED IN SOME SELECTED IGBO FOLK SONGS." Hofa: African Journal of Multidisciplinary Research 4, no. 1 (2019): 116–24. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3334891.
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ABSTRACT The traditional Igbo society though deficient in written tradition employed different oral means such as: folksongs, folktales, proverbs, histories, legends, myths, drama etc in explaining the realities among them. Death is one of those realities that have continued to receive widespread explanation in Igbo culture. The mention of death in Igbo culture fascinates and frightens the broad range of humanity. This work therefore explored and studied the Igbo metaphysical sense of death as expressed through some selected folk songs. The work strived toward a musical cum anthropological analysis of some Igbo concepts of death composed in songs. The bulk of data (folksongs) gathered for the research were analysed using the analytical method of data analysis.
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Onyebuchi, Ndiribe Matthew. "Language, personal names and the Igbo culture: A cosmological appraisal of two Igbo names -- Ọfọ and Chi". IKENGA International Journal of Institute of African Studies 26, № 1 (2025): 458–80. https://doi.org/10.53836/ijia/2025/26/1/009.
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The issue of language cannot be over-emphasised in any culture. This is because language houses culture and also plays a crucial role in personal names. The Igbo language portrays the culture of the Igbo people as it an integral part of it. Names are not just given to an individual in the Igbo setting purposelessly; there are always some significant traditional rituals that precede the coinage of the name/s. This study investigates the concept of language in giving personal names in the Igbo cultural milieu and the image that a name evokes on the bearer and the environment. The aim of the study is to highlight the nexus between the language and the culture as they relate to personal names in Igbo cosmology This study, therefore, considers as its limitation, Igbo names with two morphemes/affixes Ọfọ and Chi. The investigation shows that the two personal names tell stories of events or a life story that necessitated the naming. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative means of data collection. Written materials and oral interviews were employed in the course of this study. The study summarises that those personal names are rooted in the cultures of anecdotes, satire, and innuendoes. In Igbo cosmology, the interpretation of any name is deciphered from the life experience of the person who christened the names or the general meaning of the name.
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Setka, Stella. "Phantasmic Reincarnation: Igbo Cosmology in Octavia Butler’sKindred." MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 41, no. 1 (2016): 93–124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/melus/mlv059.
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E. Nwobodo, Dr Ratzinger E. "Hermeneutics of Ikenga and its Significance in Igbo Culture." Universal Library of Arts and Humanities 01, no. 03 (2024): 16–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.70315/uloap.ulahu.2024.0103003.
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The indigenous Igbo of the South-Eastern Nigeria, possess a rich cultural heritage deeply rooted in symbolic representations. This is reflected in the abundance of sacred objects that permeate Igbo culture, encapsulating their worldview. While each household has numerous sacred objects, their significance varies. The most universally significant of these objects, and the one accorded the highest status along with the Ofo, is the Ikenga. This study’s hermeneutic approach seeks to answer the questions: What is Ikenga? What is the psychic and cultural significance of Ikenga? What function does it perform in Igbo culture?To do this, it extensively explores the Ikenga symbol and its place in Igbo cosmology. The study digs into the meaning, types, structures, consecration, ritual practices, and functions ofIkenga and significance within Igbo culture, thereby enhancing our understanding of this cultural artifact. In doing this, the study discovers that the Ikenga symbol holds a profound significance within Igbo culture. Thismanifests in its esteemed status in the cosmology and worldview of the people. It is indispensable to every household, serving as the foremost deity sought by young men at the commencement of their careers and as a source of good fortune in all their endeavours. The Ikenga epitomizes a man’s physical strength, which is intrinsically linked to his future success (Arinze, 1970). As Metuh (1981) notes, “As a deity whose role is very similar to that of chi (personal god), it symbolizes the strength of a man’s right hand, hence a man’s right hand is sometimes referred to as Aka Ikenga” (p. 70). The study concludes by categorically affirming that theIkenga holds substantial importance for the ancient Igbo, regarded as sacred and uniquely significant to individuals.
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Onwuatuegwu, Ignatius Nnaemeka. "Philosophical Examination of the Unique Characteristics and Cultural Identity of the Igbo People." Journal of Public Representative and Society Provision 3, no. 1 (2023): 23–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.55885/jprsp.v3i1.182.
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This article explores the intrinsic characteristics of the Igbo people from a philosophical perspective. Drawing on Igbo cosmology and metaphysics, the paper argues that the Igbo possess certain distinctive traits such as communalism, practical intelligence, and a deep sense of spirituality. These traits are embedded in the Igbo worldview and shape their cultural practices and social structures. The article further suggests that an understanding of the Igbo's intrinsic characteristics can deepen intercultural understanding and promote a more equitable and inclusive global society. The writer, therefore employed the hermeneutics methodological approach. This approach involves a critical examination of the beliefs, values, and practices of the Igbo people, and how they relate to their worldview and metaphysics. It also considers the ways in which these intrinsic characteristics shape the social structures and cultural practices of the Igbo people, and how they can contribute to a more equitable and inclusive global society.
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Chuks, Madukasi Francis. "Igba-Ada Festival: Commemorating the Ohafia Invaders as a Kind of Traditional Carnival through Ovala Festival in Aguleri Cosmology." Randwick International of Social Science Journal 1, no. 2 (2020): 213–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.47175/rissj.v1i2.62.
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The ritual festival of Igba-Ada is a traditional carnival which symbolizes commemoration of the synergy between the living and dead and it acts as a spiritual conduit that binds or compensates the entire villages that constitutes Aguleri as a kingdom of one people with one destiny through the mediation of their contact with their ancestral home and with the built/support in religious rituals and cultural security of their extended brotherhood. This research work discusses Mmanwu Festivals and their symbolic representation in an Igbo community focusing on Igba-Ada carnival in Aguleri, Anambra East local government area. Secondary source as a kind method were reviewed and analyzed using the area cultural approach. This festival is a commemoration of how the Ohafia invaders were chased out and conquered by the egalitarian youths of Aguleri by reinenforcing themselves in other to wage war against their enemies. Basically, it usually an occasion for jocundity and thanksgiving; people appear in their best through mimic forms and give of their best. The carnival reunites their intimate brotherhood and shows how the Aguleri community uses this through the mediation of its rituals to reassert or validate the continuity and existence of Aguleri [Igbo] Traditional Religion. It is very significant in the sense that at the conclusion of the Igba-Ada carnival, the King acquires the symbolic and political authority to rule and the power to face his enemies and symbolically preserve his realm.
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Njoku, Francis O. C. "A Philosophical Rationalization of Initiative-Democracy and Covenant-based Authority as Inspired by Igbo Non-Philosophy." IKENGA International Journal of Institute of African Studies 24, no. 3 (2023): 1–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.53836/ijia/2023/24/3/001.
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The paper studies some aspects of the Igbo non-philosophy, which include elements such as cosmology, myth, language, culture, belief system, folklore, and so on which, though not philosophy, can offer materials for philosophical reflection. It then goes ahead to conceptualize ‘initiative-democracy’ and ‘covenant-based authority’ as implicit in Igbo non-philosophy. By making explicit what is implicit in Igbo non-philosophy, the author hopes to offer some grounds for answering the question of why political centralization was/is resisted in Igbo society. Initiative-democracy is a form of social structure, while covenant-based authority is a an ordered or prescriptive way of securing the well-being of persons and communities. Both social engagements, as existential and dispositional attitudes, will foreground the organization of human affairs within the Igbo environment of occurrence. The Igbo are a people for whom reality is hugely encountered from the standpoint of process; hence, one thinks they are primarily inclined to abhor a centralized system of control. The method of hermeneutics is adopted in this study to reveal the philosophy hidden in the non-philosophical corpus of some aspects of Igbo life.
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Dr., Ratzinger E. E. Nwobodo (Ph.D). "UNALIVING THE LIVING TO BURY THE DEAD: AN EXAMINATION OF EXORBITANT BURIAL CEREMONIES IN IGBO LAND." ISRG Journal of Arts Humanities & Social Sciences (ISRGJAHSS) III, no. II (2025): 203–12. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15128863.
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<em>The doctrine of complementarity, encapsulated in the Igbo saying ihe kwuru ihe akwudobe ihe akwudobe ya (when something stands, another stands beside it), is central to Igbo cosmology. This worldview emphasizes the interconnection of opposites, such as the complementarity between male and female, the earth and the sky, spirits and humans, and the living and the dead. Particularly, the relationship between the living and the dead informs the meticulous care the Igbo take in burial practices. For the Igbo, death is not viewed as a final cessation but as a transition. Consequently, significant effort is invested in ensuring a smooth transition for the deceased, as failure to do so risks turning them into wandering spirits, potentially disturbing the living, especially their families. It is this belief that fosters the desire to provide proper burial. However, over time, the concept of a "proper burial" has evolved into a troubling trend marked by extravagant material demands, turning burial ceremonies into displays of wealth. The focus has shifted from honouring the dead to inflating the status of the bereaved. In contemporary Igbo society, families often face societal pressure to sell property or incur debt to provide what is now termed a "befitting burial," plunging economically disadvantaged households into severe financial crises. This paper addresses this emerging phenomenon by posing critical questions: How are Igbo burials traditionally conducted? How do modern burial practices undermine the well-being of the living? What are the impacts of this trend? And what factors contribute to the current escalation of burial costs? Employing a method of critical analysis, this study draws on journals, books, online articles, magazines, and newspapers to answer these questions. The paper concludes that the current exorbitant burial practices in Igboland represent a distortion of traditional burial customs. Finally, it advocates for a reorientation towards a more authentic understanding of Igbo burial rites.</em>
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Chuks., Madukasi Francis. "Aso-Ebi (Group Uniform): An Imported Symbolic Culture That Projects Solidarity And Cohesion in Traditional Igbo Cosmology." International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention 5, no. 3 (2018): 4461–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/ijsshi/v5i3.01.
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It is a known fact that every culture has the responsibility of describing reality, its origin and models of structural development as well as the hidden knowledge and truth about being. This responsibility is evidently illustrated, addressed or depicted in Igbo paradigm in form of symbols. Devoid of these symbols, signs and images, the traditional life experiences of the Igbo’s will completely be void, abstract and meaningless because some of these symbols represented in tangible visible forms were believed to be real and living. This paper focuses towards understanding Aso-ebi cloth in the Igbo context through the examination of the dynamics of the cloth production, patronage, consumption and social significance of dress projecting high social solidarity and powerful cohesion in traditional Igbo paradigm. The proper underpinning of this social psychology of Aso-ebi cloth on the indigenous people of the Igbo’s will go a long way in the full integration of the Igbo people’s life and their immediate cultural ecology with messages it disseminate. It must be noted also that despite the significance of this integration, it must be informed that such is evidently limited in their transmission of reality. This paper investigates how the Aso-ebi clothe although an imported culture from the Yoruba tradition basically play significant roles in mediating and facilitating religious communication in Igbo Traditional Religion, giving rise to thought, interpretation, and symbolic meanings. In Igbo cosmology and leadership, the Aso-ebi fabrics encapsulate so many things which are very distinctive thereby representing so many things and ideologies.
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Chukwumah, Ignatius, and Cassandra Ifeoma Nebeife. "Persecution in Igbo-Nigerian Civil-War Narratives." Matatu 49, no. 2 (2017): 241–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/18757421-04902001.
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Abstract Sociopolitical phenomena such as corruption, political instability, (domestic) violence, cultural fragmentation, and the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) have been central themes of Nigerian narratives. Important as these are, they tend to touch on the periphery of the major issue at stake, which is the vector of persecution underlying the Nigerian tradition in general and in modern Igbo Nigerian narratives in particular, novels and short stories written in English which capture, wholly or in part, the Igbo cosmology and experience in their discursive formations. The present study of such modern Igbo Nigerian narratives as Okpewho’s The Last Duty (1976), Iyayi’s Heroes (1986), Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), and other novels and short stories applies René Girard’s theory of the pharmakos (Greek for scapegoat) to this background of persecution, particularly as it subtends the condition of the Igbo in postcolonial Nigeria in the early years of independence.
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Fourqurean, Megan. "Literary Realism, Speculative Fiction, and Queer African Futures in Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater." Science Fiction Studies 51, no. 3 (2024): 456–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sfs.2024.a938534.
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ABSTRACT: This article positions Akwaeke Emezi's novel Freshwater (2018) as a text that challenges definitions of multiple genres, namely literary realism and speculative fiction. I argue that Freshwater 's seemingly fantastical elements are in fact iterations of Igbo cosmology, which recognizes coterminous human and spiritual realms as part of material reality. By positioning Igbo ontology as the grounding principle of earthly existence, Freshwater contests the division of realism into multiple subsets (magical, animist, literary). Furthmore, I argue that the novel playfully refigures ogbanje identities and Igbo cosmological structures to envision new horizons for future kinship. Rather than speculating about futures that respond to African histories of European colonization, Freshwater reconfigures uniquely Igbo concepts such as ogbanje and iyi-uwa into means for queer agential re-destination. Thus, the novel shifts the speculative focus away from postcolonial efforts to "write back," and instead locates the basis for speculative futures within Igbo ontological structures. Freshwater 's complex navigation of not only multiple realisms and speculative fiction, but also tradition and change, defies easy categorization and instead offers open-ended avenues for queer Igbo and other African futurities.
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Salami, Ali, and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari. "IGBO NAMING COSMOLOGY AND NAMESYMBOLIZATION IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S TETRALOGY." Folia linguistica et litteraria XI, no. 33 (2020): 39–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.31902/fll.33.2020.2.
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Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God and A Man of the People, the first four novels by Chinua Achebe, the contemporary Nigerian novelist, are among the most outstanding works of African postcolonial literature. As a matter of fact, each of these four novels focuses on a different colonial or postcolonial phase of history in Nigeria and through them Achebe intends to provide an authentic record of the negative and positive impacts of ‘hybridity’ on different aspects of the life of native subjects. Briefly stated, Achebe is largely successful in taking advantages of variable discursive tools he structures based on the potentials of the hybrid, Igbo-English he adopts. Thus, it might be deduced that reading these four novels in line with each other, and as chains or sequels of Tetralogy, might result in providing a more vivid picture of the Nigerian (African) subjects and the identity crises emerging in them as a result of colonization. To provide an account of the matter, the present study seeks to focus on one of the discursive strategies Achebe relies on in those four novels: Igbo Naming Cosmology and Name-symbolization.
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Salami, Ali, and Bamshad Hekmatshoar Tabari. "IGBO NAMING COSMOLOGY AND NAMESYMBOLIZATION IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S TETRALOGY." Folia linguistica et litteraria XI, no. 33 (2020): 39–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.31902/fll.33.2020.2.
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Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God and A Man of the People, the first four novels by Chinua Achebe, the contemporary Nigerian novelist, are among the most outstanding works of African postcolonial literature. As a matter of fact, each of these four novels focuses on a different colonial or postcolonial phase of history in Nigeria and through them Achebe intends to provide an authentic record of the negative and positive impacts of ‘hybridity’ on different aspects of the life of native subjects. Briefly stated, Achebe is largely successful in taking advantages of variable discursive tools he structures based on the potentials of the hybrid, Igbo-English he adopts. Thus, it might be deduced that reading these four novels in line with each other, and as chains or sequels of Tetralogy, might result in providing a more vivid picture of the Nigerian (African) subjects and the identity crises emerging in them as a result of colonization. To provide an account of the matter, the present study seeks to focus on one of the discursive strategies Achebe relies on in those four novels: Igbo Naming Cosmology and Name-symbolization.
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Ossai, Anayo Benjamin. "Time in Igbo cosmology: the ritual and its values." OGIRISI: a New Journal of African Studies 12, no. 1 (2016): 54. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/og.v12is1.4.
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Ossana, Eugenia. "Precolonial Igbo Voices in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (2018): A Palimpsestic Search for “Home”." Complutense Journal of English Studies 29 (November 15, 2021): 81–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/cjes.66754.
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The present article examines how Freshwater (2018), the debut novel of the Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi, offers a layered portrayal of precolonial Igbo and western narratives. By recourse to the auto-fictional narrative mode, the fiction deploys a constant tug of war which suggests the culturally hybrid nature of discourses connected to spiritual belief, self-identity dynamics and gender. My analysis pivots around three main discussions. Firstly, I trace and exemplify the aesthetic and thematic imbrication between Igbo cosmology (and Animism) and Christianity. Secondly, I seek to evince the unconventional depiction of plural consciousnesses coexisting in an individual in an effort to contest long-established truisms of self formation. I also focus on the ensuing amalgam between western conceptions of mental illness, trauma and Igbo mystic interpretations of reality. Considering the peripheral Igbo stance the novel depicts, the fiction will be contextualised within the current literary meta- and trans-modernist axis. Thirdly, I refer to transgender issues mapped up and brought to the fore through the main character’s predicament; a search for existential answers commingling divergent paradigms. Thus, Freshwater offers a peculiar polyphony of numinous narratorial voices which strive to question extant (neo)postcolonial truths.
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Nnaemeka Onwuatuegwu PhD, Ignatius. "AN OVERVIEW OF THE IGBO COSMOLOGIC-ONTOLOGICAL CONCEPTION AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD: A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION." International Journal of Advanced Research 9, no. 5 (2021): 25–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/ijar01/12803.
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Practically speaking, the way people understand reality (ontology) cuts across the nexus of their thought pattern, belief system and consequently their general attitude to life. Hence, ontology and cosmology are at the basis of Igbo conception of reality and also the spiritual and physical operations of the human world. It is an established fact that a traditional Igbo would like to hold tenaciously to the already established concepts by the Igbo forebears. Hence, any attempt at a critical analysis of these accepted concepts are quickly waved off with such statements as: it has been so and has to remain so. For the Igbo, it is morally wrong to question the wisdom of the ancestors. The wisdom of the ancestors is to be cherished, preserved and propagated to the future generations and not to be questioned or criticized. But materiality is part of reality. As such, neither the created beings nor the universe in general are static but rather dynamic. Dynamism is the natural condition of existence in the world of the moving and sensible reality. Hence, peoples concepts of reality should be necessarily subjected to constant evaluation and re-evaluation in order to ascertain their validity. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to challenge and encourage Igbo-African scholars to delve into many traditional concepts as to critically evaluate them either to discover the truth hidden in them or to make possible the attainment of certainty. However, the research adopts primarily the method of philosophical appraisal to reach to the goal of the research.
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Onyibor, Marcel Ikechukwu Sunday. "Igbo Cosmology in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God: An Evaluative Analysis." Open Journal of Philosophy 06, no. 01 (2016): 110–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2016.61011.
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Ugochukwu, Françoise. "Jell-bahlsen Sabine, The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology. Ogbuide of Oguta Lake." Journal des Africanistes, no. 78-1/2 (March 1, 2008): 346–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/africanistes.2788.
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OKOYE, Chike, and Ikechukwu Emmanuel ASIKA. "Totems and Pantheons: Paradigmatic Muses in Achebe’s Poetry." Nile Journal of English Studies 1, no. 1 (2016): 47. http://dx.doi.org/10.20321/nilejes.v1i1.36.
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<p>Poetry is arguably the most ancient, direct and forceful genre of literature; whether written or oral. African’s foremost novelist and widely acclaimed father of literature, Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe, is mostly known for his prose works, especially the novel Things Fall Apart. Little comparatively, is known of his poetry. But the fact remains that Achebe is a good poet as he is widely recognized as a good novelist. Although the scale of preference tilts more to his prose works than poetry nevertheless; he made lasting impressions and remarks with his poems which are worthy of note. The collection, Beware Soul Brother exists to bear testimony on the personality of Achebe as a poet and what poetry achieves in society. Incidentally, his collection of poems, Beware Soul Brother is a veritable and worthwhile corpus of his characteristic package of Igbo lore, reminiscences, experiences and unique writing style; in the grand genre of poetry. Select poems in the collection make deft use of Igbo religious and cultural tenets which Achebe the poet masterfully weaves as muse, paradigm and cultural rooting in order to portray the Igbo cosmology and worldview. This paper explores his art and style in presenting the gods, totems and guiding ancestral wisdom of the rich, ancient lore of the Igbo. Select poems from the collection form the crux and illustrations of the thrust of this paper and demonstrates Achebe’s strong affinity with the cultural artefacts of his native custom. The implications of these in his culture are also predicated on his poems for effectiveness and to achieve a desired goal of portraying the poet as not just purveyor of his native custom and tenets but a crusader who preaches for social restoration and the need to mend walls and build bridges after years of war and wreckages.</p>
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Okwuobi, Charles. "The long lost Ebionites. A relook at the Ibo region of West Africa." International Journal of Modern Anthropology 2, no. 20 (2023): 1346–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ijma.v2i20.4.
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The Ebionites were a Jewish sect that knew Jesus intimately; had their own Nazarene Gospel; but held immovable beliefs that challenged key tenets of Christianity. They disappeared in the fourth century leaving a vacuum physically and ideologically. About a millennium later, the Portuguese reported of a people in West Africa with a Pope and Papacy similar in structure and veneration as the Roman Catholic Pope. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, missionaries and anthropologists scouring the region confirmed those reports, as well as the presence of other Levitical influences amongst the Igbos of Nigeria. This paper researches those similarities with a focus on the religious cosmology of the Ibo people of Asaba. It applies ethnographic qualitative research, then places the findings over the tenets of Catholicism with respect to their organizational structure; sacraments; rites; and steps to becoming sons of God. The results show that the ideologies of the Ibo and the Romans were deeply intertwined in every area of the study. The paper posits that the only way the religious ideologies of the Romans and the Ibos could have so closely mirrored each other, is if they were both in the same place at the same time. Thus, concludes that the Ibos [Eboe, Igbo] are the Ebionites. The paper offers hypotheses to explain the role of the ego in creating the core tenet of this unifying cosmology, and possibly how the convergence occurred. The paper could form the basis for renewed research in Hebraic-African studies; Black-American dispersion; Mary Magdalene; Jesus’ crown of thorns; the sequence of biblical gospel events; and even a template for future religion in this ego-driven civilization.
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Masombuka, Thobekile. "“Both Exist at the Same Time”: Reconceptualizing Religious Syncretism in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (2018)." Research in African Literatures 55, no. 2 (2025): 36–49. https://doi.org/10.2979/ral.00058.
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ABSTRACT: This article explores how Akwaeke Emezi’s novel Freshwater (2018) reconceptualizes Christianity and represents religious syncretism as an inevitable, rather than elusive, aspect of contemporary African identities. Because of the protagonist’s identity as an ogbanje—both spirit and human and yet neither—the novel presents a narrative that challenges the concepts of religious syncretism as a contamination of one religion by another, and it accomplishes this by representing the process of syncretization between Igbo cosmology and Christianity in its plot and characterizations. One of the ways in which it achieves this is by characterizing Christianity’s Christ as “Yshwa” and portraying his contentious and ultimately reconciled relationship with the ogbanje. Some readings of the novel underscore the dichotomy between the ogbanje and Yshwa, and this approach not only perpetuates binaries and purist impressions of religion and spirituality, but it also presents religious syncretism as elusive because of presumably stubborn dissimilarities. By resisting this dichotomous reading of the novel and understanding how and when religious syncretism is represented, I suggest that this narrative contributes to current discourse on literary representations of syncretism in ways that dismantle hegemonic representations of Christ as a Western-centric symbol of Christianity and reconfigure Christianity by characterizing Yshwa through an Igbo ontological lens.
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Egbung, Ede Itang. "Cultural Expression in Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus." NDỤÑỌDE: Calabar Journal of The Humanities 13, no. 1 (2018): 62–70. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1467443.
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Abstract This paper identifies Chimamanda Adichie as a post-colonial African female writer who shows her African consciousness and commitment by creating characters who are awakened and grounded in their culture. Adichie in Purple Hibiscus explores the Igbo culture where she comes from through her characters who uphold the customs and traditions of their people. Using the post-colonial theory that rejects western values and celebrates African cultural identities and values, this paper argues that Adichie creates characters who express their culture unashamedly and undermine imperialism. The paper therefore concludes that Adichie"s characters" stance represents Africa"s stance against cultural exploitation since Africans still cherish their cultures, traditions, norms, values and cosmology. An aspect of style such as language use has also been deployed by the author to explicate the theme Résumé Cet article identifie Chimamanda Adichie comme une écrivaine africaine postcoloniale qui montre sa conscience et son engagement africain en créant des personnages qui sont éveillés et enracinés dans leur culture. Dans Purple Hibiscus, Adichie explore la culture Igbo d'où elle vient à travers ses personnages qui défendent les coutumes et les traditions de leurs peuples. Utilisant la théorie postcoloniale qui rejette les valeurs occidentales et célèbre les identités et les valeurs culturelles africaines, cet article soutient qu'Adichie crée des personnages qui expriment leur culture sans honte et se moquent de l'impérialisme. L'article conclut donc que la position des personnages d'Adichie représente la position de l'Afrique contre l'exploitation culturelle puisque les Africains chérissent encore leurs cultures, traditions, normes, valeurs et cosmologie. Un aspect du style tel que l'utilisation de la langue a également été utilisé par l'auteur pour expliquer le thème.
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Awuzie, Solomon. "Grief, resurrection, and the Nigerian Civil War in Isidore Diala’s The Lure of Ash." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 58, no. 2 (2021): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/tl.v58i2.6793.
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As part of the third generation of Nigerian poetry, Isidore Diala’s The Lure of Ash focuses on the Nigerian Civil War experience of 1967–1970, the grief associated with it, and the resurrection of the Biafran agitation. Being a collection that is derived from the rural world of the Igbo cosmology, Diala’s The Lure of Ash portrays the Nigerian Civil War in a sensuous and emotive tone. It accounts for the poet’s belief in the regeneration of the lives of the dead Biafran soldiers. The symbols of fire and ash are significant for interpreting the poet-speaker’s grief in the collection. The collection also succeeds in painting a picture of the Nigerian Civil War experience where the bitter memory of the war resonates, while representing poetry as the healer of the pain and wounds of the war.
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N. Oriji, John. "Transformations in Igbo Cosmology during Slavery: A Study of the Geneses of Place-Names, Totems & Taboos." Cahiers d'études africaines, no. 196 (December 8, 2009): 953–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.15717.
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Nwaokocha, Odigwe A. "The Symbolism of the Pre-Colonial Concept of Anikanmadu among the Ibusa People of Aniomaland." IKENGA International Journal of Institute of African Studies 24, no. 3 (2023): 1–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.53836/ijia/2023/24/3/003.
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This work attempts a deep exploration of the concept of anikanmadu among the Ibusa people of Aniomaland, an Igbo group, who inhabit a section of the western bank of the Niger. While considerable scholarly attention has gone into studying ani, the earth goddess, a powerful deity all over Igboland, the political connotation of ani (land) as the community has not received much consideration. The current paper focuses on understanding ani as a political force akin to the state by employing the pre-colonial Ibusa political order as a case study. The study focuses on locating and discussing political power relations within the community by exploring the deeper political meaning of the importance of the state being greater than the individual. While noting that ani occupies a unique position in Igbo cosmology and greatly influences behaviour, this work explores the more profound significance of ani, representing the community as a kind of leviathan that towers above all in society and commands the respect of all. Focusing on the pre-colonial Ibusa community and using primary sources, this work also explores the anikanmadu group as a vital political organ that operated nocturnally and clandestinely while enforcing the will of the community in a way that demonstrated the supremacy of the community over all individuals. The work concludes that the concept of anikanmadu that underlays the secret executive organ, also known as anikanmadu, was instrumental in maintaining the oneness, well-being, and sovereignty of the community while ensuring that societal rules and laws were applied enforced and sanctions placed on recalcitrant members of the community.
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Harlin, Kate. ""One foot on the other side": Towards a Periodization of West African Spiritual Surrealism." College Literature 50, no. 2-3 (2023): 295–322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lit.2023.a902220.
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Abstract: For both writers and scholars of African and diaspora literature, genre is a fraught concept. Western institutions, especially departments of English literature, have used the tool of genre to discipline Africana literatures and the people who create them, at once reducing conventional realism to a source of anthropological information and mischaracterizing realism with an indigenous or Nonwestern worldview as fantasy or "Magical Realism." "West African spiritual surrealism," as defined in this essay, offers a generic rubric that both attends to the literalization of Igbo and Yoruba cosmology in fiction as well as the ways these cosmologies can give rise to literary devices that resist hegemonic, Anglo-American centric literary interpretation. Through close readings of Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl (2005) and Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater (2018), this article historicizes West African spiritual surrealism as a geographically and ideologically diasporic genre that cannot be properly understood through frameworks of globalization alone. This genre and its writers require critics to read both deeply and widely in order to understand how West African spiritual surrealism places African cosmologies and people always already at the center of literary production.
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Bula, Andrew. "Dimensions of Intertextuality in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God." Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature 3, no. 3 (2022): 15–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.46809/jcsll.v3i3.149.
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The readings on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God are, for the most part, steeped in Igbo culture and cosmology as well as the deployment of language in the texts. None, consequently, has taken up the question of examining both texts by means of Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality. This research report occupies that critical void. Concretely, it utilizes select dimensions of Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality in investigating Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. This is in order to understand what the characters are saying and what the narrator is saying, the role played by culture in these discourses, and whether the theory’s select dimensions apply to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. Ultimately, it is uncovered that indeed intertextuality is applicable to and exists in Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God by means of the various dimensions of the theory. By Kristeva’s account, these dimensions are the intersecting of citation and narration within the novel, dyadic figuration and arbitrary termination, the relationship between the literary text and the text of culture, the figure of double destinations, the horizontal dimension of the function of the symbol, the non-conformity between a named object and its name within the Symbol as Ideologeme, and the relationship between individual texts (books).
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Carwile, Christey. "Sabine Jell-Bahlsen. The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology: Ogbuide of Oguta Lake. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2008. xiv + 433 pp. Photographs. Illustrations. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. $34.95. Paper." African Studies Review 51, no. 3 (2008): 172–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/arw.0.0121.
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Piątek, Zdzisława. "The Cosmic Habitat for Earth-Life and the Issue of Sustainable Development." Papers on Global Change IGBP 24, no. 1 (2017): 13–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/igbp-2017-0002.
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Abstract The subjects under consideration here are the philosophical consequences arising as the cosmic dimension to ecology is taken into account. If the habitat for Earthlife is a part of the cosmic environment, then cosmology and astrophysics become a part of ecology. The human species is furthermore a participant in a vast process of cosmic evolution, with sustainable-development strategy thus defi ning the conditions for - and time needed to achieve - a technological civilisation allowing Earth-life to be evacuated to another part of the galaxy as and when the further existence of life on this planet becomes (or threatens to become) an impossibility. In the context of such a cosmic perspective, the value ascribable to our scientifi c and technological civilisation (and future versions thereof) changes, given that only this kind of civilisation offers a chance for Earth-life to persist in an extra-terrestrial environment.
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Ugwu, Vitalis. "Defining Life in African Igbo Cosmology." Journal of Science, Humanities and Arts - JOSHA 8, no. 3 (2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.17160/josha.8.3.755.
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Mbachi, Valentine Chukwujekwu. "Paul’s Resurrection in I Corinthians 15:33-54 in Contradistinction to Reincarnation in Igbo Cosmology." OKH Journal: Anthropological Ethnography and Analysis Through the Eyes of Christian Faith 4, no. 2 (2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.18251/okh.v4i2.104.
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This article examines Paul’s concept of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:33-54 in contradistinction to reincarnation in Igbo cosmology. The approach has been analytical or qualitative. The historical-critical method and contextual tools are used in the interpretation of the Bible text. Paul sees resurrection as a miracle, a one-time event that is not repetitive, with a body that is not only in continuity with the original body but also new, transformed and glorious and is not subject to earthly limitations. These stand in sharp contrast to Igbo cosmological notions of reincarnation where the phenomenon is a natural process, repetitive, non-identical with the former body and where the new body is subject to all the earthly limitations. Reincarnation in Igbo cosmology runs contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures. This therefore has theological implications for Christian ministry for the Church in Igboland.
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Anizoba, Emmanuel C. "Traditional Igbo Belief in Causes of Disease: An Evaluation." Pharos Journal of Theology 104, no. 1 (2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.10412.
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The mystical causes of diseases related with the Igbo traditional belief system are briefly investigated in this research. The specific goals are to look at mystical/spiritual reasons and techniques of fighting diseases, as well as their benefits and drawbacks in terms of disease therapy. For data analysis, the study used a qualitative phenomenological research design and a descriptive approach. Personal interviews were the major source of data collecting, whereas library materials were the secondary source. According to the study, several mystical forces in Igbo cosmology, sorcerers, Ogbanje, curses arising from the violation of taboos and oaths are to be blamed for untimely deaths and sicknesses befalling people. As a result, even in the face of western Germ theory, the Igbo belief in mystical causes of disease has proven that Germ theory, as far as the Igbo traditional conception of disease causation is concerned, does not satisfy the Igbo belief in what causes diseases, as some diseases have defied western medication. The study proposes, among other things, that hospitals in Nigeria should take into account mystical agents as well as pathogenic agents in order to provide proper and adequate treatment for the people who believe in such traditional approached.
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Livingstone, Justin D. "Unfinished forgiveness: dynamics of Igbo cosmology and Christian theology in Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities." Literature & Theology, August 17, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frae012.
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Abstract Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities, a novel embedded in the Igbo traditions of Odinani, is acclaimed as a literary exercise in alternative cosmology. Yet the book is also seriously engaged with Christian theology. This essay argues that the novel’s account of wrongdoing, repentance, and remission, offers a careful analysis of the dynamics of Christian forgiveness, sharpened by its Igbo cosmological perspective. The tensions that it dramatizes between an honor-shame code and the demands of forgiveness, simultaneously critique the logic of retribution and problematize romantic and therapeutic models of forgiving. By dwelling on the complications of resolving offences, and opening taxing questions around political injustices, An Orchestra of Minorities pushes towards a refined moral grammar in which forgiveness is not impossible but routinely unfinished.
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Isiani, Mathias Chukwudi, Ngozika Anthonia Obi-Ani, Chikelue Chris Akabuike, Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu, Sochima P. Okafor та Sopuluchukwu Amarachukwu Dimelu. "Creativity, spirituality and society: a study in preservation of Ikenga and Ọfọ sculptures in contemporary Igbo society". Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 18 жовтня 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jchmsd-12-2020-0178.
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Purpose The overall aim of this research is to interpret Ikenga and Ofo creativity as it is revered in Igbo societies. Igbo creativity, especially interpreted through material culture, suffers the threat of extinction resulting from the forces of modernity. Forces of modernisation, which appear in the personae of Christianity, education, urbanisation and industrialisation, denigrated indigenous creativity, brandishing them as devious, fetish and primitive. Ironically, in most cases, the drivers of such narratives keep these “fetish” items in their museums and will give a lot to preserve them. Design/methodology/approach This study centred mostly on several communities in the Nsukka area of Igboland, Nigeria. It relied on both primary and secondary sources of historical enquiry. This qualitative research discussed the nuances of the subject matter as it relates to Igbo cosmos. These approaches involved visiting the study area and conducting personal interviews. Findings Archaeologists do often rely on material culture to study, periodise and date past human societies. In this study, it is found that material culture, an expression of indigenous creativity, best interprets how society survived or related with their environment. This paper examined two Igbo sculpted artefacts – Ikenga and Ofo – while unearthing the intricacies in Igbo cosmology as regards creativity, spirituality and society. Originality/value The shapes, motifs, patterns and designs depict an imaginary history, the intellectualism of the past and even the present. This serves as an objective alternative to the twisted colonial narrative on Igbo material culture and consequently contribute to ongoing efforts to preserve, protect and promote cultural heritage resources in this part of the world.
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Mbabuike, MichaelC. "The cosmology of Igbo anthroponyms: Life continuum and liturgy of culture." Dialectical Anthropology 21, no. 1 (1996). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf00244376.
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Anderson, Claudette A. "“[Obeah] Ọbịa by Igbo Spelling”". African Journal of Gender and Religion 30, № 1 (2024). http://dx.doi.org/10.36615/mxnj5732.
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Against the backdrop of the demonization of Africana Religious Traditions (ARTs), peoples of African descent, in shame and ignorance, and seduced by the benefits of a ruthless capitalist Christianity, fail to affirm the value of their ancestral spirituality. In Jamaica and other parts of the Anglophone Caribbean, the word “Obeah”, a label for African spirituality, remains misunderstood, demonized, and criminalized as Christians consistently thwart any effort to value it. Dibịa-Professor Umeh’s spiritual oeuvre provides necessary redress to the epistemicide that fuels the continued criminalization of “Obeah”. This article presents John Umeh’s After God is Dibịa: Igbo Cosmology, Divination & Sacred Science in Nigeria, Vols. 1 and 2 as performative texts that affirm traditional African Priesthood as honorable, valuable, and necessary, while negating the myth of a superior white male god and consequent female inferiority. I explore these acts of writing the Igbo Dibịahood as sacred performances of testimony, communion and redemption. The emphasis on Dibịa ethics, I posit as offering a critique of Christian priestcraft. African defined Ọbịa rejects eurocentric impositions on the term by affirming it as a healing vocation and inclusive priesthood defined by wisdom and knowledge. Through attention to the feminine space of revival, Ọbịa balmyard, I explore similarities with continental antecedents and present female Dibịahood as a radical faith tradition that insists on the power of Nne Agwu, Mother Holy Spirit. The respell of Ọbịa through eight emanations is shown as a potent antidote against epistemicide. By affirming the sacredness of matriarchal power, the dignity of traditional Dibịahood and the ethical force of traditional knowledge, Umeh exemplifies a priest class worthy of the name.
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Onah, Tobias Chibuike, Kingsley Ikechukwu Uwaegbute, and Virginus Uchenna Eze. "Toward an Understanding of a Misconceived Igbo Deity." Journal of Religion in Africa, August 8, 2024, 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340310.
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Abstract This ethnographic study investigates the misconception among Christians and adherents of African Traditional Religion in their view and understanding of the deity ‘ekwensu’, commonly called Satan in Christian theology. The study area is Nsukka, a culture area in Nigeria. The adherents of the two religions use the words ‘Satan’ and ‘devil’ for ekwensu interchangeably. Many Christians claim that Satan is the sole equivalent of the traditional deity ekwensu in the Igbo cosmology. The aim of the work is to compare the Christian views of ekwensu as Satan, bringing out the origin, attributes, and activities of the two concepts ekwensu and Satan. The findings show significant differences between Satan and ekwensu, that Satan and ekwensu vary in their origin and attributes, and that they have different geographical locations. It is shown that some shrines and forests were dedicated to the ekwensu deity in Nsukka, and that masquerades also honour the festival of ekwensu (afor ekwensu). It is also evident that Christianity had a significant impact on the culture of the Nsukka people, which engendered the misconception of the ekwensu deity. This was partly based on Igbo Christian theolinguistics occasioned by Christian missionary activities in the area.
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Husain, Aarfa, and Sakshi Semwal. "The character of Chi in Obioma’s An orchestra of minorities in the context of Igbo cosmology." STUDIES IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, no. 58 (2024). http://dx.doi.org/10.32690/salc58.9.
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Platvoet, Jan G. "Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology: Ogbuide of Oguta Lake (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008), xiv + 433 pp., $34.95 (cloth), ISBN: 1-59221-482-7." Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 6, no. 4 (2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i4.527.
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Ebenezer, Elesemoyo. "ỌBÀTÁLA RELIGIOUS GROUP AMONG THE YORUBA OF ILÉ-IFẸ̀". Database of Religious History, 27 червня 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12574740.
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ỌBÀTÁLA RELIGIOUS GROUP AMONG THE YORUBA OF ILÉ-IFẸ̀ The Ọbàtálá religious group forms one of the cardinal traditional religious groups among the Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria. Just like most other groups, it is affiliated with one of the primordial deities in the Yoruba pantheon. Ọbàtálá is also called Òrìsà ńlá. Ọbàtálá is believed among the Yoruba of Ile-Ife to be the arch divinity whom Olódùmarè (the Supreme Being in Yoruba cosmology) saddled with the responsibility of creation of all that exists. It was noted that Ọbàtálá overindulged himself in drinking palm wine, he then stepped aside to drink wine which resulted in him sleeping off. Having slept off, another deity Odùduwà picked up the item and proceeded to carry out the assignment having heard Olódùmarè while instructing Ọbàtálá. When Ọbàtálá woke from his sleep, he discovered the situation and forbade himself and his children from ever taking palm wine. As a result, members of the group are forbidden from drinking palm wine. Another version of the Yoruba mythology notes that despite his failure in creating the universe, he was still responsible for the creation of humans. The Yoruba people believe that Olódùmarè has much trust in Ọbàtálá's creativity and capacity. Therefore, He did not commit much time into supervising and inspecting the humans he moulded before breading life into them. The myth states that Ọbàtálá's negligence resulted in creating some humans with deformities. The Yoruba classify albinos, one legged, hunchback, blind and other physical disabilities as deformities resulting from Ọbàtálá's defective creation. This act, the Yoruba traditionally hold as being responsible for the existence of people with different disabilities. In Yoruba parlance therefore, individuals with physical disabilities are referred to as ẹni Òrìsà which means the people of Òrìsà (Ọbàtálá being the Òrìsà). The group believes that Ọbàtálá being the arch divinity embraces all other deities. This is demonstrated with the presence of shrines dedicated to some other deities in Ọbàtálá compound. Ọbàtálá is regarded as the essence of justice, purity, and clear thinking. He is wisdom personified and also represents cleanliness and calmness. His wisdom and cleanness results in his use of a white robe which is also replicated by members of the group. While his adherents are permitted to use other colours, places such as shrines that are considered sacred among the group can only be accessed by individuals arrayed in white clothing alone. The group's adherence to cleanliness as exemplified in Ọbàtálá also makes it sacrosanct for anyone who would enter the compound or the palace of Ọbàtálá in Igbó-Ìtàpá in Ilé-Ifẹ̀ to put off their shoes at the gate before entry. The group worships Ọbàtálá following the Yoruba indigenous (traditional) calendar which comprises five days each week. The group also observes vigils. The Ọbàtálá worshipers have houses built as palaces and halls for worship among others. The group also established schools like Ọbàtálá Nursery and Primary School, Igbó-Ìtàpá, Ilé-Ifẹ̀ where indigenous knowledge (Òrìsà related topics) and western education subjects are taught. The group also 'has shrines where sacrifices are offered to Ọbàtálá. It is believed that children of Ọbàtálá are easily prone to stress and deadlines which often result in mental stress. However, this is often taken care of with the purchase of two coconuts, one will be offered to Ọbàtálá while two holes will be punched in the other through which the fluid inside the coconut will be poured into a cup and applied into the person's scalp for some hours or overnight. The group maintains that once this is done, the individual will surely recover due to the calming effects of the procedure.