Igbo language in vogue?

[seen]

I tend to see many threads lamenting that Igbo is dying out. Those in the diaspora aren't practising it. Funny thing is the language seems to be in vogue across West Africa due to the popularity of Nigerian English Movies. In Ghana alone popular Igbo idioms/words have become a staple part of our language-everyone uses Chineke as a form of expression. Gospel musicians sing in Twi and Igbo now...so is Igbo really dying out? If Nollywood continues, I can see Igbo being like Hausa- with most speakers not being ethnically Hausa but using it as a lingua franca.

Some examples of Ghanaian musicians singing in Igbo.

[eby187]

there r igbos in other parts of africa besides nigeria. Places like cameroon and guinea for eg. just as you will find yoruba ethnic groups in other places. we just have the biggest pop. thats all.

[seen]

Originally Posted by eby187

there r igbos in other parts of africa besides nigeria. Places like cameroon and guinea for eg. just as you will find yoruba ethnic groups in other places. we just have the biggest pop. thats all.

Eby, I have heard of the Igbos in Cameroon but never Guinea. Are these recent immigrants or large ethnic groups that trace their lineage to Igbo land. In Ghana, some believe the Ga-Adangbe migrated from Eastern Nigerian long ago. I don't know how factual this is as the scholarly work on this is non-existent.

The only similarity I see between the Ga-Adangbe and Igbo is that they are disproportionaly "yellow" when compared to their fellow Ghanaian brethren.

The Ga-Adangbe





Ga-Adangbe Association of the Triad - NC

[Enachioken]

Interesting article. It's long, but it's interesting and relates to your topic!

Odenigbo: The Challenge of Igbo Renascence

By Uche Ohia

The annual Odenigbo Lecture took place in Owerri on Sept. 6, 2008, a few days after the controversial convention and rancorous election of the World Igbo Congress (WIC) that was held in Tampa, Florida. Ndigbo (as people of Igbo extraction are called) had another opportunity to give serious thought to the problems of Ndigbo – especially, the dilemma of Igbo language and culture. Igbo language is classified as endangered and it occupies an unflattering place among the languages that may become extinct in the next fifty years.

The uniqueness of Odenigbo is that the lecture is written and delivered in Igbo in an age that Igbo language writing and reading is dwindling in geometric progression. Apart from illiterate members of the Igbo population, it is doubtful if there are still any Igbo persons in any part of the world that think or speak in unadulterated Igbo. At best, most think and speak in the mishmash which late highlife crooner, Oliver De Coque, described as “Engligbo” (a cross between English and Igbo).

Clearly, speaking the Igbo language has become a problem for most Igbo families. And I am not just referring to Ndigbo in Diaspora. Many middle class Igbo children in Owerri, Enugu, Aba, Umuahia, PH, Asaba or other major cities can hardly comprehend much more speak Igbo. I have even met university students in Nigeria who bear Igbo names but cannot speak Igbo. And they were not born abroad but grew up in cosmopolitan cities like Lagos or Kano!

To say that Igbo culture is moribund is to put it nicely. It is more like a relic of the past. An Igbo man who dares to wear the woolen cap, with a flannel or isi agu shirt on top of a george or Nigerian wax cloth to a ceremony would consider himself lucky to find anyone else sharing his sentiment. The last time I wore this regalia to portray my Igboness was three years ago at a function at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja. Only one other person was dressed like me! But he wore a resource control hat and when I tried to make his acquaintance, I found that he was from Bayelsa State.

Igbo culture has become so bastardized that some people wonder if Ndigbo ever had any culture in the first place. At traditional weddings, the fad these days is for the couple to cut a cake - often baked in the shape of a calabash; they wear any outfit however ludicrous - Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Bini, Itsekiri – anything but Igbo outfits; and they dance hipop, makossa, or any other music but Igbo folk music. The couple’s friends compete to display their asebi, gele, kente or other foreign cultural elements. In short, Ndigbo feel at home in other peoples’ outfits, other peoples’ languages and other peoples’ culinary specialties. But do other ethnic groups imitate Igbo traditions? Rarely!


But that is not all. Of all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, Igbo culture, or what remains of it, is peculiar. Among the Igbo, a man whose father has built a mansion, however imposing or magnificent it may be, is still expected to build his own house. What this means is that even when a young man has the good fortune of inheriting a sprawling house built by his father in the village, he must build his own. Otherwise, he will become the butt of sarcastic remarks by his compatriots. So, “achievement” for most Igbo men boils down to a competition to build big houses in the village and in the city, to drive flashy automobiles, and to acquire the highest sounding titles – however vain or empty they may be.

When other Nigerians emigrate to other cities or even other countries, they regard themselves as birds of passage who must return to their nests or like lions that must return at eventide to their lair. What about Ndigbo? Igbo men and women emigrate forever. They are content with buying, selling and menial jobs. And they take pride in developing other people’s homes. Ndigbo are the only group that builds expansive houses anywhere they reside - houses that are often abandoned in the event of a crisis. Igbo men engage in economic development of their towns of settlement while their homeland lies in ruins. And when they show interest in power, it is often for ostentation and vainglory than for altruism.

[Enachioken]

Odenigbo was initiated in 1996 to address these problems and to design an evangelization framework for reversing the trend. The initiator and host of the intellectual harvest, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony J. V. Obinna, the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese assailed participants with the stark realities of the Igbo condition at Obiri Odenigbo, the special pavilion constructed for the event at Assumpta Cathedral before the guest lecturer, Dr. Iheanacho Emeruwa, took the floor. The topic for the 2008 Odenigbo Lecture was Oke Chinyere Ndigbo: Kedu Ebe Anyi Nozi? (God’s Gifts to the Igbo: How Well Have We Used Them?). Over the years, Odenigbo has spawned publications in Igbo which have given fresh impetus to Igbo studies.

But can Ndigbo be pulled back from the path of cultural suicide which they have chosen to thread? Since the coming of the whiteman, Ndigbo have sought to become more English than the queen. Among the ethnic groups in Nigeria Ndigbo lost most to colonialism and the vagaries of early evangelization. Out of the ignorance of early missionaries and the overzealousness of early Igbo converts, traditional herbal remedies, artworks, and customary heritages were jettisoned. Today Chinese herbal mixtures repackaged as food supplements are overtaking the world while Igbo herbalists are still objects of derision - even when historical evidence shows that pre-colonial Ndigbo did not use western medicine to resolve healthcare problems but lived longer and healthier than the present generation.

There are many other reasons to worry about the Igbo condition. Age–old Igbo virtues and values have been desecrated. In the Nigerian economic ladder, Ndigbo have become the proverbial hewers of wood and drawers of water. Where their erstwhile competitors, the Hausa – Fulani and the Yoruba are digging in into their strongholds, Ndigbo are wallowing in discordance even in diaspora. Today, the Hausa Fulani are deftly repositioning themselves as the ultimate power incubus. The Yoruba are in control of the commanding heights of the economy – the stock market, the financial institutions, the IT industry, the professional bodies, the multi – nationals - even when Ndigbo provide the regulatory brainboxes like the Ndii Okereke – Onyiukes, the Charles Soludos, the Ernest Ndukwes and the Dora Akunyilis that secure the system.

Thirty eight years after the civil war, Ndigbo carry on as if they have learnt nothing and forgotten everything. Contemporary Igbo lifestyle can be described in two words: materialism and ostentation. Reports have it that the Centre for Igbo Studies at the London School of Oriental and African Studies was shut down not too long ago because of lack of students. About six months later, the Centre for Igbo Studies at Howard University in Washington DC was scrapped. In Imo State University, the Dept. of Igbo/Linguistics is virtually dead because of declining enrolment. What has been done about these distress signals? Ndigbo are in danger of loosing their essence which is what happens to any group that allows it’s language and culture to dissipate. Igbo leaders need to support programmes like Odenigbo to stem the slide. uchebush@yahoo. com; 0805 1090 050

[eby187]

thanks for the article Enachi. ife i kwuru bu eziokwu. I liked the pt abt. the herbal remedies that we practiced for millenia, only to completely abandon it for oyibo medicine. Sometimes i envy pple like my grandma and oldr relatives who still reside in the village, entranched in their traditions and are healthy and strong even in thier old age...some of em reaching 90 sef. They r the true wise ones.

even in areas of spirituality, we lost many of the positive aspects of it, to cling to the idea of a white Jesus with blue eyes. We fashied our own mystics ...and worship and venerate pple that dont resemble us sef. Our ancestors r rolling in thier graves right now.

[eby187]

@ seen,

honestly i am not even sure where the ibos in other pts of africa came from, i would assume that they've always been there or migrated long time ago and as for the case of the camerounian ibos, i hear many of em came from biafra during the civil war.

interesting pics btw.

[Ada-ide]

Originally Posted by eby187

thanks for the article Enachi. ife i kwuru bu eziokwu. I liked the pt abt. the herbal remedies that we practiced for millenia, only to completely abandon it for oyibo medicine. Sometimes i envy pple like my grandma and oldr relatives who still reside in the village, entranched in their traditions and are healthy and strong even in thier old age...some of em reaching 90 sef. They r the true wise ones.

even in areas of spirituality, we lost many of the positive aspects of it, to cling to the idea of a white Jesus with blue eyes. We fashied our own mystics ...and worship and venerate pple that dont resemble us sef. Our ancestors r rolling in thier graves right now.

Wow...I am so happy that I am not the only one of my generation that thinks like this.

My dear, I bu nwa ama ala igbo amuru ofuma

[Hawtie]

Originally Posted by seen

I love this

[Goddess]

This is true, I have noticed this in the Nollywood movies and see how Igbo language and culture is more westernized.

I often wonder, why we as African people feel the need to idealize western culture when they do not help Africa only when it is beneficial to them.

When one truely thinks about it, it is the west that has stolen our religion, people and original way of life and built upon it. It is the African, that the west truely admires... but for what ever reason... we are so blinded by their culture and way of thinking.

I do not look down on the west, because they have done much to help people all around the world. But they have also done much to harm people around the world, especially in Africa. That is why we should be even more proud of our heritage, language and cultural traditions. As Africans we are the true spirit of mother earth. You can tell by the way that we dance, the way that we sing with soul and from our hearts... we forget how magnificent we are at times.

[Star2u]

Oh yeah...I agree...Ibo is in vogue I was taken aback when i read that article abt Ibo disappearing too...gracias...

[Mazi Bawbee]

Seen you fit share those tracks. Abeg. Me likes. I need some Ghanaian Gospel...