Ikenga Cultic Symbol and Structural Representation of the Igbo Enterprise
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Ikenga Cultic Symbol and Structural Representation of The Igbo Enterprise Nwankwo T. Nwaezigwe, PhD Acting Director, Centre for Igbo Studies University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Abstract The Igbo of Nigeria are one of the most dispersed and highly enterprising ethnic nations in Africa. They are located in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, and form one of the three largest ethnic groups in the country; the other two being the Hausa- Fulani and Yoruba. The Igbo propensity to always migrate from their homeland to other places in search of greener pastures, the associated enterprising spirit and the resulting successes have often led to envy from a number of their host communities. This has resulted to hostilities, leading in some extreme cases, to outright anti-Igbo riots, particularly in the northern states of Nigeria. This characteristic enterprising spirit coupled with bitter experiences in the hands of their host communities has led some people to describe them as the Jews of Africa. However, many scholars and commentators have attributed the Igbo propensity to migrate from their homeland to environmental factor. Unfortunately, these writers could not link this environmental factor to the Igbo achievement-driven culture of enterprise, especially when it is gathered that quite a number of groups with similar or even more severe environmental disabilities do not posses similar culture of enterprise. This notion is further faulted by the fact that not every part of Igbo land is in lack of arable lands. On the other hand, available ethnographic evidence tends to link the Igbo culture of enterprise with the associated migratory tendency to a spirit-force called Ikenga, otherwise known as the cult of the right hand, which is structurally represented by a ram-headed man with a cutlass in the right hand, and a booty, cosmologically represented by a human head in the left hand. The Ikenga is thus a cosmological concept of the Igbo belief in an open society, which recognizes that talent leads to enterprise and enterprise to achievement, and achievement to customary privileges. Hence, the Igbo society with its characteristic republicanism is engrossed in a highly competitive personal achievement-driven motivation, which is anchored in a generative life-force structurally represented by the Ikenga. This paper therefore intends to prove that the fundamental driving force behind the Igbo enterprising culture and migratory propensity is not environmental, but cosmological, which is structurally represented by the Ikenga cultic figure. Journal of Tourism and Heritage Studies © 2013 N.T. Nwaezigwe 1 Vol. 2, No.1, 2013 2 Journal of Tourism and Heritage Studies The Ikenga is therefore an Igbo cosmological concept which memory of translation and transmission is structurally preserved by the Ikenga object. Introduction The Igbo of Nigeria are markedly the dominant entrepreneurs in small and medium scale industrial and commercial activities in the Nigerian nation today. In fact over seventy percent of Nigeria’s commercial activities are carried out by people of Igbo extraction. In other words, every major market in every major Nigerian city is under the economic grip of the members of the Igbo ethnic group. Associated with Igbo commercial enterprise is their propensity to travel far beyond the confines of their ethnic boundaries. Hence it is not mistaken evidence that even beyond the confines of the Nigerian nation prominent Igbo communities have become common features in such African countries as Benin Republic, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Basden (1966:x1) pictures the Igbo rightly in this respect when he wrote: The readiness to travel and tenacity of purpose especially when seeking employment have armed many of them far beyond their native environment. When aboard, they maintain close contact, cemented and sustained by a strong tribal bond of union. Whatever the conditions, the Ibo immigrants adapt themselves to meet them, and it is not long before they make their presence felt in the localities where they settle. But think of it, whenever an Igbo businessman, whether ordinary laborer, artisan, trader or big time transporter enters a community, in no distant time the social and economic landscapes of that community tend to wear new looks. It is therefore only a habitual anti-progress community that could discourage the presence of Igbo people in its midst. The Igbo have characteristically been compared to the Jews and Irish, as well as such people as the Kikuyu of Kenya, the Chagga of Tanzania, the Ewe of Ghana and Togo, and the Bamileke of Cameroon. Robert LeVine described these groups as the “examples of groups noted for their opportunism and industry in response to the new situation created by Western institutions in this century.” In comparing the Igbo with the Irish, Sir Rex Niven (1970: 18) wrote: The Ibo have the same courage and intelligence as the Irish and they had not come under any greater authority than the village nor had they encountered an outsider in the war-path. Every man has always been for himself and has usually done well himself. Under the new administration they now had to look over their shoulder; they were no longer alone. They lapped up education when it came their way; they took up the learned professions and did very well in them. They filled important professional and technical posts all over the North. They traded and worked with commercial firms with success. Ikenga Cultic Symbol and Structural Representation 3 However, one political denominator common with these people is their bitter experience of persecution and outright physical attacks in the hands of some of their host communities. This habitual hatred, most people tend to believe, arose out of marked jealousy arising from their phenomenal successes in their business adventures amongst their host communities. All the same, there is more to the characteristic enterprising spirit of the Igbo than the mere lack of central political authority. This is because most other ethnic groups with similar political structure do not possess similar enterprising spirit with the Igbo. Thus, if one may ask, what are the forces that propel the characteristic enterprising spirit of the Igbo, as well as their expansionist tenacity outside their traditional homeland? Evereth Lee, (1966:48) working in concert with Ravenstein’s theory of migration lists as factors which account for economic-related migrations, the introduction of bad or oppressive laws, heavy taxations, an unattractive climate, uncongenial social surroundings, as well as compulsion which may arise from either slave trade or transportation. He is however of the opinion that none of the above-mentioned factors “can compare in volume with that which arises from the desire inherent in most men to ‘better’ themselves in material respects” There is no doubt, as Lee rightly puts it that it is the desire for better economic attainments more than other motives that pushes the Igbo out of their traditional home base. Yet, it has to be made known that neither the desire for better economic needs nor the propensity to migrate from one’s home base is exclusive to the Igbo. Every group of people is imbued naturally with such desires. What then is the uniqueness of the Igbo experience which made them the most shrewd and remarkable in these matters of economic quest and expansion among their neighbors? The general trend however has been for many scholars to associate the Igbo economic adventurism with ecological disadvantages. Coleman, (1970:69) one of the major apologists of this theory writes: Ibo land is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world. In some places the density is more than 1000 persons to the square mile. Moreover, the soil is comparatively poor. As a result, in the past the Ibo expanded territorially and exported to other areas large numbers of seasonal labourers and even semi- permanent residents. In fact, the Ibo were expanding territorially in many directions at the time of the British intrusion. Since then this outward thrust has continued and has been the source of anti-Igbo feeling among the tribes bordering Iboland. However, while migration arising from expansion could readily be linked with pressure of the population on the available resources, it is unlikely that such could bring about the culture of high enterprising spirit. To say the least, scarcity of land is not a uniform feature in Igbo land. Most peripheral Igbo sub-groups have relative expansive portions of arable land enough to sustain viable agricultural communities. Linking migration with 4 Journal of Tourism and Heritage Studies scarcity of farming lands seems therefore ridiculous in the case of these Igbo sub-groups. This is evident in the case of the North-East or Ogu-ukwu Igbo sub- group, which is made up of the present Ebonyi State of Nigeria. Apart from possessing enough farmlands relative to their population, and producing enough foodstuff particularly rice and yams on commercial quantities, they paradoxically constitute the bulk of seasonal migration farm laborers in Igbo land. How then can this be explained in terms of scarcity of land arising from population pressure? In their study of Venezuela, Brown and Goetz (1987:49) while stating that: Migration in third world settings as elsewhere, results when opportunities provided by geographic places are not commensurate with the personal need(s) or capabilities of their resident. They further see outward migration “as a function of both personal attributes and places of contextual characteristics related to development.” In a similar interpretation, Ottenberg (1959: 130) links the force behind the Igbo tendency to expand beyond their traditional borders to their receptivity to culture change. He went further to associate this attribute to four major factors. These include the influence of the European slave trade on them, the nature of direct European contact following the slave trade, the nature and organization of Igbo cultures, and the Igbo population density.