Afikpo Bracelet

A brass bracelet from Afikpo with parallel leaf designs, taken between 1902 and 1909 by Captain James Harold Dyer during the colonial conquest of Arochukwu and what became southeastern Nigeria. Museum of Vancouver, Canada.

More Bronzes from Eastern Nigeria

Photo: A bronze double-headed python, 1.5 kg, 42.5 cm, found along with other bronze objects in Okohia village in Ihiala, dated based on some bronzes found in Ezira, and Igbo Ukwu, to a range between 900-1600 CE.

One fact which is becoming increasingly clear concerns the spatial distribution of bronze objects in eastern Nigeria. Afikpo oral tradition claims that there exists a dump of bronze/brass/copper objects in the Ogwugwu valley. The spot is very sacred to the people and my attempts at locating the exact place did not get the necessary support from the local population. The bronze objects purport to have been abandoned by the Ego (the putative ancestors of present-day Ugwuagu and Amizu communities in Afikpo). In addition, the burial of a one-time chief, Okorie Chukwu, of Uzuakoli in Imo State is claimed by the elders to contain numerous burial goods including some bronze/brass objects. This site was brought to our notice by the incessant letters of one Mr. Akwani who asserted that there exist some royal tombs in Uzuakoli which might yield valuable archaeological information. After the usual survey and consultations, we were ready to test-excavate one of the chambers. But to our surprise, an explosive politicking ensued immediately and we were forced to abandon the investigation. There are, however, many garbage dumps and mounds which hold plenty of promise for archaeological investigation in Uzuakoli.

– V. E. Chikwendu (1984). "More Bronzes from Eastern Nigeria." Anthropos. pp. 260–261.

[Southeastern Nigeria is probably scattered with other 'Igbo Ukwu,' better funding for archaeology may produce other interesting finds.]

Chi and Chi-na-eke: Dualism in divinity

Photo: Igbo double bell/gong. British Museum. 1930s.

The relationship between chi and Chineke is by far more complex and enigmatic. [...] Chineke as a single word-form for "God" suggests a later Christian missionary introduction. [...] It would appear that at the cognitive level the Igbo refer primarily to chi na (and) eke, which connotes two inseparable and complementary deities rather than the single overriding God of Christian belief. The other possible meaning [...] chi that creates, [...] is apparently foreign to Igbo way of thought. [Note:] In an original socio-literary essay Achebe (1975: 100) makes the seminal point that "the early missionaries" made the initial mistake of treating chi and eke as one God, Chineke ("Chi that creates").

[...] Thus, one of my "old" and "reliable" informants seems not to recognize the contradiction in these two assertions of [...] chineke kere uwa (chineke that made the world) but had no definite idea of him"; [...] "chi is what we know as 'god', chineke was introduced by the whiteman." [...] Eke and chi combined, if I may paraphrase his speech, exercise authority over "creation" in all its ramifications as a natural rather than imaginative or human inventive process; there is no concrete representation of eke and no sacrifices or prayers to it either; chi is the one that demands and gets all such ritual attention because eke is what chi gives to every person—that is, one's "destiny" or "fate." He added that the personal name "Ekezie" refers to the idea of "onye yo ziri uwa", i.e., one held to have reincarnated very well. My informant concluded: "eke na chi wọ otu mana eke siri na chi bia." (Eke and chi are one and the same but eke originates from chi.)

[...] [C]hi and eke are like two stones that must be struck together in order to produce a spark. [...] [T]he two tend to coalesce rather than bifurcate. In this sense the notion of duality, which [...] characterizes Igbo philosophy of life, is placed in a broader context. For not only chi and eke, a series of other analogous "stiff twin compasses" exist, e.g., ọfọ na ogu, akọ na uche, ikwu na ibe, ọgu na mgba, okwu na uka, and nta na imo. [...]

– I. Chukwukere (1983). "Chi in Igbo Religion and Thought: The God in Every Man." Anthropos, Bd. 78, H. 3./4. (1983), pp. 529–531.

Igbo Cosmology Schematic

A schematic of creation / division in Igbo cosmology (proposed). Chi represents the first and the all encompassing, Ékè (different from Èké) breaks out of this to become two with Chi. The days of the 4-day-week, izù ntà, are the divisions of the earth (the four cardinal points), the complete Igbo week is an eight-day week, izù ukwu.

Iko Concubinage

Photo: Wall painting on an Ekpe house in Umuajata, Olokoro (Umuahia) painted by an Anang artist. G. I. Jones, c. 1935.

The Igbo lay more emphasis on the father-child relationship than on the husband-wife relationship or any other relationship in the kinship syndrome. The sexual services in the 'family' are channelled towards a most important social goal: the perpetuation of the male line. There is no emphasis among the Igbo on sexual services being exclusive and confined to husband and wife. All that the cultured demands is that sex be institutionalized. Iko mbara [institutionalised male and female concubinage] is one such institution.

... In a cross-cultural perspective, it becomes quite clear that, over space and time, the evocation of sexual jealousy or sexual tolerance is the product of social values-the result of conditioning. People are sexually jealous, tolerant, or intolerant according to the ideas they have about sex.

– Victor C. Uchendu (1965). "Concubinage among Ngwa Igbo of Southern Nigeria." Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 35, No. 2. pp. 193, 195.

Origin of the Modern Igbo Number System

Entry from the dictionary of the Igbo language centering around the Onicha and Asaba dialects, by British government colonial anthropologists Northcote Thomas, 1914.

Many views and suggestions were put forward and the matter was widely discussed before the war. Two years after the war a consensus was reached and since 1972 a new counting system has been in use. …

Perhaps we might be interested in how Igbo came by the names for the place values [the Igbo Standardisation Committee, headed by F. C. Ogbalu]. It did so without borrowing except from within the rich resources of its many dialects. It specialized the meanings of single non-sentential words in the different dialects, whose meanings for the higher numbers were until then rather vague. Thus:

puku (1,000) was 'uncountable’ in a number of the Central dialects.
nde (1,000,000) was 'uncountable' in a number of the Central dialects where ǹdè was known to be higher in value than puku.
ìjèri (1,000,000,000) represented 'uncountable' in a number of West Niger Igbo dialects.

In the case of nàrị (100) certain Igbo dialects, notably in the Nsukka and Aguleri areas of Anambra State, traditionally had this for 100. So, we adopted it but modified its spelling. As for zero we specialized efu (nothingness) and, in addition, borrowed but Igbonized the words nọọ̀tụ̀ and zirò, as synonyms.

– E. ‘Nọlue Emenanjọ (1985). “Language Engineering in Present-Day Igbo.” “In: West African languages in education: papers from the fifteenth West African Languages Congress.” p. 85.

Unique Igbo Names, Past & Present

Some unique Igbo names that are from the past and some made up here, that sound quite modern and new.

Dije - di ije, master traveller
Kika - kini ka [Ika dialect] - what is greater
Zikora - zika ora, show the world
Zimoha / Zimora - zima oha/ora, show the world
Chike - chi ike, strong chi
Mozi - mọ ozi, angel
Nisi - na isi, leading the pack
Jozi - je ozi, go on a mission
Biozi - bia ozi, came on a mission
Jamike - salute me
Diji - master yam farmer
Kobi - ka obi, brave hearted
Chika - great chi
Dinka - master artisan, artist
Lema - listen [look] to your chi, look to Chi
Lemachi - listen [look] to your chi, look to Chi
Sochi - follow your chi, follow Chi
Akala - akala aka, destiny
Dinta - hunter
Ajana - earth deity
Soludo - follow peace
Tonna - praise dad
Jemma - go well
Bialije - nwa bialije, a child on a mission
Ohato - The people praised
Atata - adi atata, does not dry (of a river)
Toro - praised
Achilike - achi uwa la [na] ike, don’t rule by force
Duru - di uru, lord, master
Anya - anya ugwu / iro egbulam, may the evil eye not kill me
Ume - breath, life
Jenudo - go in peace
Jenandu - go places in life
Umike - spirited
Juba - ji uba, fill with wealth / yam of wealth
Zuoke - enough
Olanna - father’s jewel
Achike - achi uwa na ike, don’t rule by force
Obisike - strong hearted
Tango - reward eater, ‘enjoyer’
Chitango - reward getter
Ringo / Lingo - eat the reward, ‘enjoy’
Oringo / Olingo - reward eater, ‘enjoyer'
Osondu - the race of life
Bando - enter shade
Nando - in the shade
Bosah - belu olisa, if not for the supreme being

Murdering Women in Nigeria [Women's War]

The Crisis, May 1930, p. 164.

“Murdering Women in Nigeria” by Ben N. Azikiwe, better known as Nnamdi Azikiwe. This is a report concerning the Women’s War of 1929 against British taxation and the killings of women in Opobo by British forces. This was published in The Crisis, May 1930, a Black American journal for civil rights, history, politics, and culture founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the NAACP. The reference to the March 1930 issue is the single strip. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a key figure in Nigerian independence who later became the first indigenous Governor General of Nigeria on Nigeria’s independence in 1960 and the first president of Nigeria in 1963.

The Crisis, May 1930, p. 178.

The Crisis, March 1930, p. 98.

The Crisis, May 1930 [Google Books]
The Crisis, March 1930 [Google Books]

[Links Accessed September 19, 2018.]