Constructing Igboness: Ethnicity, Culture, and Social Change in 20th Century Southeastern Nigeria
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Abstract
Contrary to the dominant binary conceptions of Igboness (Igbo cultural identity) as either invented in response to colonial rule or an essence unchanged since early times, it is a dynamic, heterogenous, social construct which developed in continual dialogue with global knowledge systems and social currents. This idea is based on a study of Enugwu-Ukwu, a culturally iconic town in northern Igboland, in southeastern Nigeria, renowned as part of the nexus of Igbo culture and civilization. It traces how, over a century (1900-2000), local historical actors (chiefs, townspeople, town unions, women’s groups, etc.) engaged with local, colonial and global forces attempting to apply Omenana (Igbo cultural principles) to routinize a society undergoing the revolutionary changes of the 20th century. Using extensive archival records, oral interviews, museum collections, and primary and secondary literature, this study shows what changes occurred, who made them happen, how they achieved this, and why they tried.
Description
My dissertation examines the construction of Igbo cultural identity (Igboness) by local historical actors (chiefs, townspeople, town unions, women’s groups, etc.) in colonial Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria. To do this, I historicize Omenana (Igbo cultural principles) in Enugwu-Ukwu, a culturally iconic town in northern Igboland, renowned as part of the nexus of Igbo culture and civilization. I show that far from the dominant binary conceptions of Igboness as either invented in response to colonial rule or an essence unchanged since early times, it is a dynamic, heterogenous, social construct which developed in continual dialogue with global knowledge systems and social currents. Using extensive archival records, oral interviews, museum collections, primary and secondary literature, I tracked a hundred-year history (1900-2000) to explore Enugwu-Ukwu’s engagement with local and colonial forces in its attempts to routinize a society undergoing the revolutionary changes of the 20th century. In seven thematic and roughly chronological chapters, I explore seven primary areas of emphasis – historiography, religion, law, chieftaincy and local governance, women’s therapeutic agency, town union administration, and the polemic of origin traditions – to ask what changes have occurred, who made them happen, how they achieved this, and why they tried. The idea is to foreground local agency in the making of African societies both within and outside colonial contexts, and to reframe dominant conceptions of Igbo (and African) identities through critical, analytical reading of the history and historiography of Igbo culture in specific contexts.
Keywords
Igboland, Cultural history, Ethnic identities, Colonialism, Historiography