Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay

Yam Pottage
The British Colonization of the 19th century left many changes upon the villages of indigenous people in Africa. As a result their culture and history has been told throughout world literature like Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart. It is the story of a unique group of people that work hard to survive in the land of Africa, right as the land caught the eye of many colonial powers. The novel creates a world where survival is the strongest motive for these interesting people who will soon live under the influence of colonialism. A change in perspective is key to understanding and explaining why the Igbo behave like they do, because compared to the way people live in America, most of what the Igbo do might prove to be undoubtedly wrong. In this case, Achebes novel gives reason for why some things just are in the culture, which is tested during the encounter between the expanding colonist and the villages of Africa. Africa is the home of many different villages and cultures that share a fair amount of similarity. The Igbo, Hausas, and Yorubas all live among the same area. While they all may share certain traditions and practices with each other, the Igbo have a uniqueness of their own. The area that Igbo occupy is located within Nigeria of West Africa. Villages throughout the area can consist of a few hundred people and some of them can have up to a few thousand. The large land that the Igbo thrive on is called Igbo land, in southeastern Nigeria of West Africa. Through this land lays lower Niger River which heads south into the ocean and is the ideal place for trading among villages and foreigners from around the world. The Igbo have, for many years, been involved in trade with other villages from afar, but it is also the place where perhaps the first traces of colonialism had appeared into the land. Many religious aspects of Igbo culture came from Northern Nigeria. There, in the 10th century lived a sub-group of the Igbo, the kingdom of Nri. This Kingdom of Nri is the foundation of all Igbo

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay culture, where religion was the main source of rule among its people. Most would think that military power would be used to maintain order over such people, instead the kingdoms ruler never used force, but it was religious leadership that maintained order and peace throughout the kingdom. The ruler or priest king, also known as Eze Nri is someone devoted in religious practices and has divine authority in all spiritual matters. Religious leadership then translated into community leadership, where in Igbo society there was no single ruler and about almost the whole village is involved in taking part in a decision. The only other form of order that Igbo have developed are established through institutions like a council of elders, council of chiefs, or even a womens association. The aspects of religion in the Nri kingdom are clear within these people and have spread and grown with many new concepts throughout Africa and thus the Igbo of today have reflected the outcomes of a community whose sole leadership lay in the power of their deities. Life for the Igbo is full of variety, there is a lot things to be done unless where there are days of ritual that require everyone to be at rest and in harmony with each other. On the other hand it may be time to be doing work out in the fields, or the serving of gods, paying visits to families and friends, to cooking meals and breaking the kola nut between a visitor and his friends. Oji or Kola is a caffeine containing nut from the Kola tree that is native to the tropical rain forests of West Africa. Kola nut is the first thing that is served when you have a visitor come into your Igbo home; it is the beginning of all conversations and events like marriage ceremonies, family settlements, and the closing of an agreement. The breaking of the Kola nut is a sacred moment, and is broken by hand into pieces and is given to eat. If the Kola happens to break apart into three pieces then a special celebration is arranged, there are many meanings for every way the Kola breaks. From this tradition, one can tell just how much more there is to an Igbo village that makes it a unique tribe. Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart stresses the need for hard work and suffrage in order to see good outcomes. Okonkwo, a character from the novel is one of the most respected men of his village

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay because of his hard work and reputation that has been gained over the years of accomplishments. For Okonkwo his reputation was gained from wrestling, which the Igbo have on special events. The greatest warriors of the village are brought together to participate in a round of fights in front of eager people excited to see who was the strongest. Okonkwo is also a man of high title and a true follower of the Igbo culture; he vows to defend his peoples way of life against the colonist who will in time change the traditions of his people. Okonkwos character also represents his own village, at times he may not know what to do because of the sudden changes that take place in his village, but when matters fall into situations that allow him to use force he takes the chance, thus his actions became the problem colonist were to face during the times of cultural influence. Igbo society is very structured since it can be very focused around its men which have created boundaries for its people to live by. Men are the ones who have influence in their families, as well as their people, from a young age males are shown that life is about hard work and that they are expected to contribute their works into the village. Women are regarded as property, when a part of their family they may work like any other, over time their parents may be asked from someone of another family the consent to marry her as well as her bride price which is determined by how well their character and beauty is. Children dont do so much during their young years, but may help around home and work in the crop fields of their family. Titles and ranks are given out to men and women who have become highly accomplished over the years of valuable deeds that show their great stature. It is a very exclusive group, as to be admitted one may need more than just material accomplishments and are to be of great significance and integrity. They are forbidden to climb trees, lie or cheat, steal, or do anything considered to be an abomination otherwise the slightest change in their character can lead to being cast out of their title. Other class systems like the Osu are a group of people whose ancestors were dedicated in the worship of deities. These people are deemed property of the gods and are not to be interacted

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay with; any relations between them are forbidden. Igbo society is as diverse as is their culture; many of their aspects help one another in being a solid live-by-rule for the Igbo people. Igbo culture is the way its people live through their customs, traditions, and practices that have been adopted from the Nri kingdom. There customs and traditions are of visual art, music and dance forms, attire, cuisine, and language. The variety of this culture is due to other groups of Igbo across Nigeria. For instance Igbo Language or Kwa language has been developed by a large group of African villages overtime, it is an interesting area to study since it comprises of many vocal inflections, pitches, and contexts when finding the meanings of words; a single word can have many different definitions depending on those three factors. Idioms and proverbs are an important part of their language and are used extensively between people who know the dialect very well, you are also assumed to be a novice in the language if you dont use them often; it is used in daily conversation and helps in conveying a strong message. This Kwa language has been developed over time by many other villages related to the Igbo, but its basis on vocal inflections is of the Nri Kingdom. Religion in the culture is very prominent, it is seen in just about everything Igbo do and it governs most of their lives. It is a Polytheistic religion called Odinani which is parted into three level divine beings, supreme god being the highest named Chukwu, below is that of Umuagbara or the lesser gods which are minor deities that the Igbo serve on behave of Chukwu, and lowest lay the Ndi Ichie which are spirits of the dead, from there the Igbo have also created levels that separate the world and the afterlife. Belief in reincarnation is another aspect within Odinani, when someone dies they at once begin a new life in the spirit world but after sometime are born back onto earth. Villages also have priests who perform ceremonies, rituals and help people in all matters spiritual. An example of a spiritual matter can be found in one of the many troubles that Okonkwo had faced in Chinua Achebes Thing Fall Apart, it is the matter of one of his own daughters who was believed to be an Obanji child. An Obanji child is someone who is cursed by an evil spirit that tortures the victims parents by killing the

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay child during serious illnesses at an early age, the birthmother then experiences the same loss every times she conceives another child, at a situation like this one a family can be helped by an experienced man in spiritual matters such as Okonkwos Obanji child. Situations like these are the ones that convince the Igbo to live closer to their deities in order for them to live a life of peace and tranquility. Music and art have intertwined over the years for the Igbo; since in about every celebration they preform both have been used to clue ideas and messages. Igbo music is known for its various percussion instruments, most of which are made out of clay jugs or even a hollowed out log. It has since then developed through many forged iron or brass instruments like the Igba, Ichaka or Opi which is a wind instrument that is a similar to a flute. Another popular musical style that the Igbo have adopted is named Highlife, a mix of fusion jazz and traditional Igbo music. This musical style has brought up many successful artists within modern Igbo Highlife and is still played to this day to form and carry ideas through the stories they tell within art and dance. Art is mainly known for its masquerade and outfit styles that symbolize their ancestors and even animals. The Masking is the most common forms of art and is used in dance and music. They are made out of wood or fabrics and have many shapes, colors and fierce details in them that only people of Igbo ethnic may fully understand. The uses of these masks are used to honor their ancestors as well as their deities. On some occasions the Igbo will make masks as high as 12 feet with a diameter of 6 feet, these have been given the name Ijele masks. Ijele mask are made to honor their dead so that their village may continue to live and prosper, these masks are very rarely seen since the honoring of the dead is mainly given to the prominent figures within the Igbo community. The most important staple crop in Igbo agriculture is the yam vegetable; they manage to farm large quantities of them during the wet seasons and are prepared in many different ways for them to eat. Igbo will even host an annual event named the New Yam Festival which is held to secure another good yam harvest for the next year. During this festival yams are eaten throughout the day in large

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay meals such as stews or soups. Other foods like cassava, rice, plantain, starchy vegetables, sweat fruit, and meats are also part of the Igbo diet but none so as important as the yam. The Igbo of today still incorporate the yam as a part of their diet since it is the most reliable crop of West Africa. Africa has a hot climate that has influenced what Igbo wear. They wore very little clothing since the only purpose was to cover private areas; it was the Elders who would be fully clothed. Children are let nude from birth until they reach the time of their adolescence where it was considered they had something to hide. Men and women wore loin cloths, and wrappers made from beads, ornaments and necklaces; men also can be found carrying their machete for clearing out paths and for the protection of wild animals. Modern Igbo clothing has now adopted loose cotton shirts, trousers, hats and scarfs to men, women, and children. To this day Igbo culture still has its archaic practices along with new concepts that were introduced during the colonist era. By the 19th century, British colonialism had started scavenging the lands of Africa. After some time Igbo land had been gained through the introduction of new thoughts and ideas that threatened Igbo traditions. Reasons for colonizing the Igbo can be explained by looking at manifest destiny, the belief that many had at the time, that they were destine by god to expand and control a vast amount of land. Another reason behind colonialism can be from the demand of new materials that can be sold, used or shipped across seas for business. The Christian belief can be the strongest reason among them, which is what the Igbo had faced when they had started to communicate with the British. Over some time changes in culture started to appear, Igbo men and women who no longer agreed with their ancestors traditions left their groups to adopt the colonist way of life. As of today their culture is now entangled by the styles and aspects of other cultural ideas and even government. In 1960 Igbo had gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and became the secessionist Republic of Biafra, only then to be taken down by the federal government of Nigeria with the help of other world powers. Many resistance movements took place before the Igbo land had been conquered, some of the most known

Daniel Lopez 12/19/2013 English 12- Things Fall Apart essay being the Ekumeku movement, Anglo- Aro War, and the Aba womens Riots, organizations like MASSOB were formed to support Biafra Republic. Igbo land today is now made up of many states and traditional practices that still exist throughout the area with current movements to support its culture. Modern Igbo culture today has gone through many significant changes since most of the people are now Christian ever since it was introduced. Events are held to commemorate the old traditions of the culture, and many Igbo still live like their ancestors had. The Igbo community and its interesting history during the change has been another way to look at the current events that took place in the 19th century. Africa still is seen as an area with great potential in showing its great aspects in traditions also many things can be learned from its people who have gone through many challenges to protect their ancestors history. British Colonization of the 19th century has left many changes upon the villages of indigenous people in Africa, as a result their culture and history has been told throughout world literature like Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: William Heinemann Ltd , 1958. Print. Froiland , Andrew. "African People & Culture." African Tribes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ibo.hhttp://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ibo.htmt m>. "Ibgo." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibgo>. "Igbo culture." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo_culture>. "Igboland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igboland>.