Chi in Igbo Religion and Thought: the God in Every Man Author(S): I

Chi in Igbo Religion and Thought: The God in Every Man Author(s): I. Chukwukere Source: Anthropos, Bd. 78, H. 3./4. (1983), pp. 519-534 Published by: Anthropos Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40460646 . Accessed: 24/06/2014 15:46

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Anthropos Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropos.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions I. Chukwukere

Chi in Igbo Religionand Thought: The God in EveryMan

Abstract.- Thispaper attempts to showthat the concept of chigives the Igbo- speakingpeople of Nigeriaa central,unifying theme that integrates the variousfields of theirthought The author argues that chi is inextricablylinked with eke, a complemen- taryspiritual force, and bothare associatedwith the act of "naturalcreation." Thus, chi constitutesthe foundation of Igbo intelligence,providing a "satisfactory"explanatory modelfor the diversitiesof humanpersonality and the broadcategory of causation.In the lightof this,the author rejects the "established"idea thatChineke denotes God in themonotheistic sense of therevealed religions. Rather, he suggeststhat a viewof chiand ckc as inseparabledual divinityfits in withIgbo way of "thinking"as a whole.In any case theemphasis is on thecrucial interpretative role chiplays in Igbo religiousthought andphilosophy. [Igbo, Nigeria, Religion, World View ]

The categoriesare . . . pricelessinstruments of thoughtwhich the humangroups have laboriouslyforged through the centuries and where they have accumulatedthe best of theirintellectual capital (Durkheim 1915: 32).

1. Introduction

Emile Durkheim's(1915) classicpioneer study of religiousanthropol- ogy offersnot only a generalsociological theory of religion based on Australian "totemism"but also a significantintroduction to the sociologyof knowl- edge. The impactof the lattertheme on anthropologicalstudies of traditional

I. Chukwukere,B.A. (London), B. Litt. (Oxford),read Social Anthropologyat postgraduatelevel at Edingburgh,Scotland; several years of lecturingat universitiesin Ghanaand the USA; now SeniorLecturer in theDepartment of Sociology/Anthropology at Universityof Nigeria,Nsukka.- Major anthropologicalpublications are on theFante Akan of Ghana(Africa 1978 and 1982; Journalof AfricanStudies 1980; CurrentAnthro- pology1981). Address:Dept. of Sociologyand Anthropology, Univ. of Nigeria,Nsukka, Nigeria.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 520 L Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983

Africanreligions is evidentin the contributionsmade by Evans-Pritchard (1937, 1956), Nadel (1954), Forde (1954), and later eminentAfricanists (e.g., Turner1967 ; Horton1962 and 1967; lienhardt1961). In theiranalyses of diverseAfrican religions, pains are takento definethe natureof the complex connectionbetween the main categoriesof the religiousbelief and the way of "thinking"peculiar to the people in question. Evans-Pritchard's (1937) celebrateddemonstration of "the logic" behindAzande witchcraft, beliefs,and ritualsremains a locus classicusof thisgenre of Africanreligious and cognitiveanthropology. In this paper I shall examine one abstractreligious and cosmological concept, commonlyknown as chi, among the Igbo-speakingpeople of Ni- geria. I wish to show that chi is a dominantfundamental notion of Igbo thoughtand social structureas a whole, a notion thatlies at the roots of the Igbo intellectualsystem. I shall argue that (a) the individualisticprin- ciple of the chi systemof belief and ritualunderlies many areas of Igbo behaviour; (b) the representationsof chi are predominantly"religious" in character,and significantlysuggest a "collective" Igbo "mentality"; (c) as far as Igbo ideas and actionsassociated with chi sureconcerned, two major categoriesof the understandingstand out, viz. theoriesof causation (especially cosmic and certainpuzzling human events) and of the human personalityin its manifoldvariety. The categoryof causality is of special interestin this essay mainly because invisibleanthropomorphized beings tend to play a preponderant role in traditionalor non-scientific"explanation" of the universe,natural and social (cf. Guthrie1980). Partof the reasonlies in the inherentnature of spiritualpowers, which is commonto all knownreligions, but in the traditional Africancontext furthercomplicated by the extrememultiplicity of thoseproducts of man'sinventive imagination. I stressthis point here because the termchi has been differently"translated" as "god," "guardianspirit," "God," and allied theisticconcepts.1 In the sense of God, as in Christianity,some of the exponentsclaim that chi is synonymouswith Chukwuand Chineke,these two presentedas identical accurateIgbo denotationsfor the "SupremeBeing." But I shallargue below that such a renderingof chi, a centralmetaphysical conception of Igbo

1 Precise correspondentIgbo words for the English synonymousnotional terms "god"/"God" and "spirit" hardly exist. Chi is probably the nearestgeneric equivalent for "god" while muo (agbara in some dialects), roughlytranslated "spirit," is a much more inclusive term than "spirit." For example, the "gods" of village-groupsand constituentvillages, ancestors, and extremelypowerful oracles where the divineris believed to be the "spirit" itselfrather than regardedas a medium (e.g., Chukwu of the Aro and Igwekala of Umunneoha,near Owerri)all come under the categoryof muo. Chi cannot be " said to be muo in the same way that one would say in English: 'God' (i.e., Supreme) is a spirit."

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chi in Igbo Religionand Thought 521 cosmologyand generalphilosophy of life, cannot pass the simple test of systematicanthropological reasoning, which should spring from well-founded empiricevidence on chi ratherthan a preconceivedidea of Igbo monotheism, by which chi is reduced to the status of the particleof Chukwu("God") whichHe donatesto everyman.

2. The Igbo LanguageProblem in chi Ethnography

The issues outlined above are centralto any sound anthropological we tackle analysisof chi in Igbo religionand cosmology.But before them, the followingbrief digressionis necessarymainly because my analytical connectionthe main approach in this paper is broadlylinguistic. In this deficienciesI have observedin previousethnographic accounts of the chi inad- phenomenonare of a "linguistic"nature. First,the ethnographers* and equate understandingof Igbo languagepatterns of thought expression, which even to the "educated" nativespeaker of Igbo can be quite slippery and, at times,frustrating. Secondly, the authors'general lack of a certain of cate- degree of sophisticationand sensitivityconcerning the semantics the translationof goriesin cross-culturalcomparison- in this context Igbo religiouscategories into Englishand vice-versa. I may add at thisjuncture that social anthropologiststhemselves (cf. Evans-Pritchard1956: v; Fortes 1970: 164; Bohannan quoted by Winter 1966: 156) unequivocallyadmit that religiousinstitutions have proved "more complex and baffling"than the other socio-culturalinstitutions of which they have been analysingwith great successsince the emergence modern fieldworkin the firstdecades of this century.Evans-Pritchard (1965: 7) more or less expressesthe consensusof anthropologicalopinion, that the difficultylies as much in the inherentnature of religiousbeliefs- "what neitherEuropean nor native can directlyobserve, . . . conceptions, of a images,words"-as in the basic factthat "a thoroughknowledge people's beliefs.And in this language" is a sine qua non for"understanding" these sense, he adds, "fluency"in the language,which manygood fieldanthro- it." pologistsclaim theyattain, should not be mistakenfor "understanding Let us thereforelook at a few broadly sociologicalwritings on Igbo in orderto illustrate thoughtin generaland the concept of chi in particular under- the dangerfor comparativesociological analysis if the ethnographer's sense. Our standingof his or her informants'language is imperfectin any and firstexample is taken froma prolificAmerican writer on Igbo religion his criticalarticle titled "The philosophy,Professor Austin Shelton2 , who in

2 ProfessorA.J. Shelton was a lecturerin Englishat Nsukka (northernIgboland), forme to inferfrom in which area he claims to have done his "fieldwork."It is not easy the his writingsthe extentof his formaltraining, if any, in sociological disciplines.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 522 I. Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983

OffendedChi in Achebe's Novels" affirmsthat his interpretationof the tragedyof Achebe's heroes is "based upon [his] personal studiesof Igbo Weltanschauungen/*and that chi means "God Within,not 'personalgod' as Achebe blasphemouslyrefers to chi'9 (Shelton 1964: 36). Later, in an essay on Igbo proverbs,most of which could be usefullyanalysed as vig- nettesof Igbo cosmologyand thoughtin general,Shelton (1971: 47) ex- hibitsa sad superficialgrasp of the Igbo language:

enwe si na o foduru nwa ritinti,ma iku amo ya mma. "Monkey says that he would have remained a little child but [his] eyebrowsproduced his beauty [adult appearance]."

The correctliteral English translation of theproverb, however, is: "The monkeysays that his eyebrowsnearly ruined his beauty," i.e., thathis eye- browsare the onlyjjart of his body thatcome close to beingimperfect. Shelton's errorstems fromtreating a singlebut compoundIgbo word nwantinti("near-miss") as two separatewords nwa ("child," or,to be more the exact, offspringor descendantof any animal,including man of course) and ntinti(dubiously translated as "little" by Shelton,but its meaningin isolation,except perhapsas shortenedcolloquial formfor nwantinti,I do not really know). What is worse,on the basis of this sterilemorphological breakdownof nwantinti,Shelton proceeds to equate his two formswith their apparentlycorresponding "literal" Englishmeanings without due cog- nizance of the contextuallimitations of the sentence.Hence the ludicrous idea that "monkey. . . would have remaineda littlechild," and the arrant contradictionthat the monkey's negativeeyebrows contributed to "his beauty[adult appearance]" [sic]. If Shelton's gravemistake is a resultof poor knowledgeof Igbo language-the indispensablevehicle of the Weltanschauungenhe claimsexpert knowledgeof-Revs. Iwuagwu (n.d.) and Ilogu (1965), well-educatednative of commit speakers Igbo, the "cardinalsin" of uncriticalassimilation of Igbo religiouscategories into theirprobably more familiarEuro-Christian belief and practice(Beattie 1964: 203). Iwuagwuclaims that "Igbo religionbegins with the beliefin, and worship of, Chi-ukwuthe 'GreatChi' or the 'GreatGod' . . . Chi is Chukwu's essence in man conceivedeither as man's double or his guardianspirit." In short,Chukwu, admittedly morphologically speaking a weldingof chi and ukwu is the universal ("big"), Igbo termfor (Supreme)God. That is to say, Iwuagwu derivesthe meaningof the compound word chukwu fromthe separate meanings(assumed in the case of chi) of its two components, chi and and ukwu, goes furtherto generalizethat since everyIgbo man theoreticallyspeaking has a chi the "great" chi or Chukwumust be a single universal Igbo deity.This is, of course,speculation guided by preconceptions of Igbo religionmodelled on Christiantheology.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chiin Igbo Religionand Thought 523

Hogu (1965) similarlydraws a close analogybetween the Euro-Christian idea of God and Igbo conceptschi, Chineke,and Chukwu.These, he says, mean respectively:"spirit," "belief in a supremebénéficient source of creation,"and "beliefin a SupremeSpirit or WorldOver-Soul." Such facile postulationof semanticparallels between key religiousand philosophical conceptsof two basicallydifferent cultures would obfuscatethe veryterms- here chi, Chineke,and Chukwu-that need clarification,which is what I aim at providingin the restof thisessay.

3. Chi and AlliedConcepts: Description and Explanation

a) EarlyStudies In the immense but widely scatteredliterature on chi9 confusion still lingersover the exact "meaning" and full religiousand sociologicalsignif- icance of the word. The main reasonbehind this unhappy situation can be tracedback to the apparentlystrong legacy left by earlyChristian missionary scholars and amateur pioneer ethnographers(e.g., Basden 1921; Talbot 1926; Thomas 1913), fromwhich "modern" studentsof Igbo religionand epistemologyought to break away. Characteristicof theseearlier writings is the concentrationon Chukwu(taken to be interchangeablewith Chineke) as the SupremeGod while chi is seen as basicallya sort of sparkof Him dis- pensed to everyIgbo person,qua individual.And althoughthis as a preliminarydefinition of chi is neithertotally false nor altogetherinvalid, yet it remainsonly a tinyportion of the truthor "reality"underlying the social factdesignated chi.

b) Scope of theAnalysis In the lightof the above criticisms,much of thispaper in a way constitutesthe outlinesof a sociologicalanalysis of chi,based on the primaryre- cognitionof its cardinalexplanatory role in Igbo beliefsystem and world view. Chi thus representsthe central,unifying theme that incorporatesthe differentfacets of Igbo social thoughtand usages,especially those aspects concerningman's relationship with the inscrutablerealm of the supernatural. As a generalguide to the discussionlet us employa set of threemajor : propositions.First, fundamental common Igbo ideas and beliefsabout chi what is chi; how is chi conceptualizedby Igbo people; whatare its individual and social manifestationsin the language,religion, politics, ritual activities, art, systemof personalnames, etc. of the Igbo-speakingpeople? Secondly, in traditionalIgbo classificationof the universe3, what position does chi

3 It wouldbe fruitfulto adopta three-foldtypology of theIgbo "social"universe: China eke (dualdivinity), muo (as definedabove), and mmadu(human beings alive).

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 524 L Chukwukcrc Anthropos78.1983 occupy, and who are its closestrelatives in this cosmologicalscheme? The answerto this questionentails a close examinationof the relationof chi to eke, ikenga,çfo, and ogu (see below). Thirdly,chi is best explainedin the broad contextof Igbo social structureand collectivetemperament; thus its value as thehub of the Igbo cognitivesystem is clearlybrought out. Withregard to thelast assertion,my interest is focusedon the following more prominentcharacteristics of Igbo social behaviour: (a) element of "fragmentation"of social systemcoupled with individualisticconception of human personality;(b) bias towardsthe principleof dualismin thought and expression,an extension of which is the tendencyto conceptualize human relationswith preternaturalbeings and powers in relativeterms; (c) strongbut vaguely formulatedbelief in reincarnation;(d) essentially fatalisticattitude toward the material"success" or "failure"and misfortune of individualsand elementarysocial groups(e.g., family,lineage);^) practice of divinationas the key to knowledgeabout social and cosmic phenomena beyondIgbo "technical"explanation.

c) Chi Definition The belief in chi is as universalto the over ten millionIgbo-speaking people of Nigeriaas thebelief and practiceof ofo (Igbo symbolof authority and retributivejustice), yet it is not easy to get fromvarious informants a straightforward,unambiguous "definition" of the former.What is absolutely dear, however,is that chi and ofo are invariablypaired with two otherIgbo metaphysicalideas, eke and ogu respectively.This impliesa complementary dualisticrelationship, which makes the sociologicalexplication of any of theseconcepts in isolationrather difficult. Basden (1938: 46) identifiestwo dimensionsto chi. He definesit first as "a sort of guardiandeity, deputising for Chi-Ukwu" and secondlyas "almost a genericword for God," i.e., Supreme Being (Chukwu or Chineke, in his and manyother authors' usage). Grapplingwith the semanticelusiveness of the term chi, one of the firstmodern field anthropologistsin Igboland, Green (1947: 52), seems to despair:

As for Ci, the spiritwho creates people and whose name, as in Cineke, has been taken by the Christiansto denote the Creator, it is difficultto know what the real Ibo significanceof the word is. Ci and Eke togethercreate an individual,but each person is thought of as having his own Ci and whetherover and above this thereis any conception of a universalCi seems doubtful.

Green,however, usefully underscores first the fundamentalcomplemen- tary dualism of chi and eke and secondly the most distinctiveuniversal attributeof chi in Igbo thought-individuality . Lastly, Green poses a significant questionon the commonlyexpressed view that the concept of Chukwuis a

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chiin Igbo Religionand Thought 525 simple union, logical in the context of an assumed universalIgbo social development,of chi and ukwu ("big" or "great"),which implies that Chuk- wu denotesGod. I shallreturn to thisissue later. Meanwhile,our preliminarydefinition of the termchi derivesfrom its intrinsicindividuality: a spiritualbeing or force,which, theoretically speaking, everyIgbo person (adult or child) "possesses." Thus, chi's essencelies firstand foremostin its commonestIgbo modes of practicalexpression in everydaylife, which are mainlylingual and, to some extent,visual forms. Consideredthus, chi is highlightedin (a) possessivesingular adjectival usage: chim (my chi), chigi (your chi), chiya (his or her chi; (b) a thousand-and- one propernames which exist (some with markeddialectal variations)all over Igboland, e.g., Chima, Kelechi, Chidi, Onyewuchi,Anamelechi, etc.; (c) a common Igbo interjectionfor wonder and surprise:Chi n'eke hi ("chi and eke"!); (d) a commoncurse used oftenby childrenand adolescents: Chi n'eke kpo gi oku ("May chi and eke burnyou out"!). d) ChiSymbols The concreterepresentations of chi cannotbe summedup in a sentence or two. One reason forthe complexityis, althoughin theoryevery Igbo in- dividualhas his or herchi, in practiceonly adults, especially males who have marriedand femaleswho have bornechildren, establish their own chi symbol. Secondly,there are diversitiesamong the variousIgbo sub-groupsabout the exact formthe symboltakes. In some it is a special tree (e.g., ogbu, ogilisi,oha) planted in one's own compound;some use "stonesset in a depressionat theback of the compound" (Horton 1956: 20); some otherserect a kind of mini-altar:a small clay pot filledwith sand, withthree sticks cut froma special plant (ububa among the OwerreIgbo) stuckin threeequal heads into the sand, odo and waterused to plasterthe whole edifice.At this "shrine,"which is placed in a specificposition (head of the bed, right-handcorner of the livingroom, etc.) in the owner'shouse, periodic sacrifices and prayersare offered.An im- portantsociological point to note is thatonce the chi shrineis establishedit servesas the "protector"and altar for all minorsand protégésunder the particularadult owner. In this sense the chi of a newlywed bride remains herhusband's until she getsher first child. Needless to repeat,differences exist amongthe manyIgbo sub-groups regardingthe details of the above-mentionedbeliefs and rituals. But a fundamentalsimilarity underlying all the diversitiesof thoughtand actionis that chi is individualto everyIgbo person. At his or her death the shrine is destroyed.Thus, many writerson the subject have giventhe primary meaningof chi as "personal god" or "guardianspirit." Thus also one may talk of chi as the "divinitythat shapes" everyman. For seen in perspective, the individualisticstrain in Igbo notion of chi best illuminatesits tripartite relationwith eke (another"creative" force, complementary to chi), ikenga (the cult of strengthand success),and Igbo beliefin iyo uwa (reincarnation).

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 526 L Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983 e) Chi and Igbo Theory of Personality The fundamentalindividual nature of chi is evidentin Igbo beliefthat dead men and womenreincarnate among their living kin. The re-birthdoes not follow the strictrule of unilinealdescent of Igbo social organization. Lineal and collateralrelatives on both sides of Ego's parentsparticipate freelyin this process of reincarnation.The most importantaspect of the phenomenonfor our purposehere is thatthe Igbo believethat at the time that one's "creation" is initiated(could be even beforethe death of the person about to be reborn)the "creator"establishes a dialogue,somewhat like that of political negotiation,with the unbornchild's chi (equivalent hereto eke) about the child'sdestiny on earth.Stress is laid on abstractideas like "luck," "success," "fortune,""wealth," "illness," "fertility,"etc.; as such no basic connectionis claimed between the separate chis of, say, siblings,let alone remoteblood relations.(I have in factcome to thinkthat the dialogue is best conceivedof as held betweenchi and eke, inseparable deities,rather than betweena singleoverriding creator-actor and the child's chi. This I amplifybelow.) Anyway,one who getsa good chi is thoughtof as usually"lucky" and "successful";he or she is not prone to seriousirreversibly damaging mis- takes, accidents,and misfortunes.The oppositegoes fora bad chi. And in this sense it is believed that one's chi and ikengawork togetherto make successon eartha reality. But in characterwith generalIgbo thoughton relationshipbetween man and supernaturalbeings, good or bad chi is not an absolutegift. A bad one can be prayedto and propitiatedin orderto reversethe ill handsof fate; in the same way a good chi has to be regularlysacrified to and placated in orderto keep up its benevolence.Considered thus, Igbo ambivalenceabout the nature of chi- a theme that has receivedeloquent literarytreatment of sociological interestin Achebe's portrayalof the ups and downs of Okonkwo, the tragic hero of his classical novel (1958)- 4s made more intelligible.Okonkwo's eventfulattainment of highsocial statusand subse- quent adversityare "explained" in termsof his standingwith his chi (Chuk- wukere1971: 113-114). f) Chi and Its Close Relatives We turnnow to the intricateand perplexinglyintriguing relationship between chi and eke on one hand, chi and Chukwu and Chinekeon the other. In this, the historicaldestiny of the Igbo people (whichthey share withother African peoples) mustbe taken into fullaccount before one can expect to resolve the problem. By "historicaldestiny" I mean here the advent of evangelicalChristianity in the second half of the 19th century, long before the spread of literacyand documentaryhistory consciousness the among Igbo people. The implicationsof the event for Igbo religious beliefand practicein particularand Igbo culturein generaldeserve detailed and systematicdiscussion elsewhere.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chi in Igbo Religionand Thought 527

Nevertheless,it must be noted that the firstreligious question to generateconflict was findingequivalent Igbo denotations(then in spoken Igbo formonly) for key Christianreligious concepts,4 especially (Supreme) God, with its overtonesof monotheism.Against such backgroundearly missionaryscholars assertedthat Chukwu or Chineke (the latterbeing, I postulate,their mistaken notation for chi-na-eke) means God; furtherthey opined that chi- a termthey heard theirIgbo informantsuse more often but unfortunatelywith less "precision'*than Chukwuor Chineke-was the root, both morphologicallyand semantically,for the latter two terms. Plausible argumentthis is but not circumspectat least with respect to Chtneke(most probablythree separate,if interwoven,words: Chi na eke, in the originallyIgbo usage,as I will contendbelow). Chi and Chukwu It is reasonableto postulatethat Chukwuderives its basic meaningas well as primaryIgbo conceptualizationof it froma simpleamalgamation of chi and ukwu( "big," "great"). However,the sociologicalimplications of acceptingthis line of reasoningare: First,Chukwu is a grandaggregate of all the chis of the individualsof any social group,from nuclear familythrough lineages to villages,village- groups,and, by extension,all Igbo and perhapshumanity as a whole. The ethnographicevidence goes againstsuch a viewof Chukwu,for the idea of a groupchi in any fundamentalsense (e.g., familyor lineage) is not typically Igbo. The few documentedexceptions5 of Igbo subgroupsto thisgeneral rule open the questionas to whethera groupchi was not a lateraccretion to theirculture. Secondly, why is Chukwu not generallyrepresented in observable imagesor symbols?That is, if the Igbo conceivedof a singlecollective chi one, logical dynamicsof the thoughtwould be a materialrepresentation of it on the same lines as, if on a much biggerscale than, the chi of the individual. Thirdly,as already indicated,the evidence fromthe earliestrecorded accounts of Igbo religiousbelief and practice seems to confirmthat chi was the dominantand commonestIgbo correspondingterm for the general

4 Rev. Fr. Ezckwugo documents early (1857-1912) missionaryefforts to trans- late English religiousconcepts into ltfbo.According to him, the terms Ci (Chi), Cuku (Chukwu), and Cineke (Chineke) were at firstused, almost interchangeably;later, the first,Chi, was dropped, and still later, Chukwu became the established form for the notion "God." The ambiguitythat surroundsthe concept chi was made more complex by its close association with individuals,which went against the ideal of Igbo mono- theismthe missionarieswere keen to advance. 5 A notable one by Afigbo (1972: 18) refersto the Umuchieze group in Okigwe Division. In an oral discussion with the author, however, I learnt that Colonial Intel- ligence Reports, which stressed the "bonds of unity" in Umuchieze "clan," were his source.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 528 L Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983

European notion of "deity." Igbo informantsat times gave (and stillgive today) Chukwu as a synonym,but many a time explicitlyqualified as Chukwu Oke Abiame, the all-powerfuloracle and "god" of the Aro- the mostwidespread and influentialIgbo sub-groupin livingmemory. My line of thoughtleads me to hypothesizethat Chukwuwas not originally,except in a morphologicsense, a simplefusion of chi and ukwu. That is to say, it is not semanticallyspeaking the Igbo name forSupreme God, of whom none seems to exist in the Christiansense of "one and only" Supreme.6Chukwu ratherappears to be the Aro people's name for their "town" deity,which the Aro may well have conceived as a kind of their collectiveor "national"chi, at firstpeculiar to themselvesand later"adopted" by other Igbo people, whichis understandablein the contextof collective Aro achievementin Igbo history.7This idea is best examinedagainst the backgroundof generalIgbo social organization. Every village-group-the largestautonomous political entityof Igbo society-has its own deity,which is generallythought of as a "child" of ala, the supremedeity of earthlymorality. The village-groupgod is further thoughtof as the progenitorof the deitiesof the constituentvillages, each deity with its own distinctivename. The spheresof activityand influence of each god are so vaguelydemarcated that some overlappingoccurs. Ala and amadioha (the god of thunderand "supremedeity" of negative sanctions for a class of heinousoffences) are the universalconstants at each level of the social organization,very much like the dovetailedrelationship between Nuersocial orderand religiousthought (Evans-Pritchard 1956). But having thus speculated that Chukwu has intimateconnection with the Aro, one wonders about the pervasivenessof its metaphysical dimension in general Igbo thought and usages. Could it be adequately explainedin sheerdiffusionist terms of manifestAro diaspora(all overIgbo- land) and "cleverness"?What seems to be indisputablytrue, however, is that the prevalenceof Chukwu proper names among the Igbo has close linkswith the divinatorypower and influencewhich the famousAro oracle, Chukwu Oke Abiame, exercised even beyond Igboland fromaround the 18th centuryto the beginningof the 20th century.8Traditionally, the Igbo

Henotheism or a vertical conception of "Supreme" divinitywould be more appropriate for traditional Igbo theology. That is, there is more than one "supreme god," each god supremein its own sphere of authority,e.g., amadioha (god of thunder) and ala (earthgoddess). Authoritativesocio-historical assessment of well-knownAro "contributions"in Igbo historyis still fragmentaryand not accessible to a large audience (see Ekejiuba and Dike 1976; Ekejiuba 1972). Ottenberg(1958: 299) was rightto say, "The historyof the rise of the Aro to a position of influenceis uncertain." Ekejiuba (1972: 13) claims that "the Aro society was constituted" about mid- 17 th century. I have not as yet come across any date regardingthe settingup of the Chukwu oracle, but its shrine was definitelydestroyed by the Britishcolonial "con- querors" in 1902.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chiin Igbo Religionand Thought 529

referto divinerswhen a womanis pregnant.If the childarrives in accordance with the diviner'sverdict a name reflectingthe particulargod or circum- stancesinvoked at the time,or in recognitionof the generallyacknowledged supremeoracle, Chukwu,could be givento the child. Hence Chukwueke, Chukwukere,Chukwunyere, Nwachukwu, and a host of othertheophorous properIgbo names. A case-historyof an old informant(not less than80 years)Nwachukwu X, whichI recordedin the field,underlines the point.His father'sfirst wife's fivepregnancies, he said, resultedin fivefemale children. At the firstpreg- nancyof the second wife,his own mother,a son was divinedby Chukwuit- self. (Generallyin cases of child-birtha local or minordiviner suffices, but a wealthyperson, as Nwachukwu'sfather was, mightprefer to go straightto Chukwuoracle itself.) Consequently the Chukwu-"gift"name he bears. Furtherenquiry into thisaspect of the matterwould requirea detailed studyof the Igbo systemof nomenclature,which is not withinthe scope of thispaper. Furthermore,real historicaldepth mustbe givento the enquiry; otherwisethe analysiswould lose much of its sociologicalvalidity. In other words,it needs to be shownthat the namespost-date the establishmentand fame of the celebratedsupreme Igbo oracle located at Arochukwu.9The Chukwuand Chi firstnames Igbo childrenbear todaymay have only a little bearingon the traditionalpractice. In fact,the Chi and Chukwuof manyof these names are interchangeable,although one mustnote the importantfact thatexclusive Chi name-formspreponderate in number.

Chi and Chi-na-eke:Dualism in divinity The relationshipbetween chi and Chinekeis by farmore complex and enigmatic.Available earliest historical records (referred to above) showthat chi and chukwuwere the commonIgbo usagesfor the Europeanconcept of "godhead"; Chinekeas a singleword-form for "God" suggestsa laterChristian missionaryintroduction. Nevertheless, it is definitethat the Igbo people themselvesuse frequentlyin everdaylife- in factmore often than one would say of "chukwu"-three interwovenwords, chi-na-eke,which is spoken usual with native speakers of any language, particularlyrapid speech " language,sound like a singleterm "chineke. It would appear that at the cognitivelevel the Igbo referprimarily to chi na (and) eke, whichconnotes two inseparableand complementarydeities rather than the singleoverriding

9 Unfortunatelythe informationI have been able to secure (admittedlyby only cursoryand unsystematicsearch) throws no light on this. In a recent personal conver- sation with me, Dr. Ekejiuba ratherholds the contraryview that chukwu musthave been an indigenousIgbo word the Aro (a mixtureof Igbo and Ibibio groups) "adopted" and later "transformed"to an oracle. This is, of course, rational speculationthat fitsin with Aro reputationfor astute "adaptation" to situations.The matter,however, rests neither herenor there. Anthropos78.1983 34

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 530 I. Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983

God of Christianbelief. The otherpossible meaningof Chineke(as a single word), chi that creates, bears the same metaphysicalallusion to divine essence but in the sense of exclusiveCreator-God as in "revealed"religions (Christianityand Islam specifically),which is apparentlyforeign to Igbo way of thought.The indigenousIgbo frameof reference,chi and eke, im- 10 plies a dualisticdivine principle in the act of "natural"creation. My informantson this aspect of the subjectare hopelesslybut under- standablyconfused. Part of the problemarises from the discrepancybetween the writtenand the spoken usages of a languageon one hand and theform (morphology)and meaning(semantics) of the conceptsof the languageon the other hand. The Igbo informantsdo not and need not perceivethe existentialand socio-linguisticquestion raised here. For the greatermajority of them,especially before the second half of the 20th century,the wave- lengthof thoughtand speech lay in the "spoken" word.The visualsymbols of speech and thought-"written" language- have onlyrecently become part of the generalIgbo people's stockof knowledgefor conceptualizing the universe. Thus, one of my "old" and "reliable" informantsseems not to recog- nize the contradictionin thesetwo assertionsof his: (a) "ndichie(the elders) used to referto chinekekere uwa (chinekethat made the world)but had no definiteidea of him"; (b) "chi is what we know as 'god', chinekewas in- troducedby the whiteman."When I questionedhim furtherconcerning the concept eke alone the cobwebs apparentlybegan to fall.Eke and chi com- bined,if I may paraphrasehis speech,exercise authority over "creation"in all its ramificationsas a naturalrather than imaginativeor humaninventive process;there is no concreterepresentation of eke and no sacrificesor prayers to it either;chi is the one that demandsand gets all such ritualattention because eke is what chi gives to everyperson- that is, one's "destiny"or "fate." He added that the personalname "Ekezie" refersto the idea of "onye yo ziri uwa", i.e., one held to have reincarnatedvery well. My in- formantconcluded: "eke na chi wo o tu mana eke sirina chi bia." (Eke and chi are one and the same but eke originatesfrom chi.) Paradoxesdo in fact underlie many aspects of various peoples' religiousthought on spiritual beings! In the lightof the above, I derivemy speculativegeneralization that chi and eke representin Igbo religiousthought and philosophyof lifea dual divinity.I findit refreshingto view the relationbetween them in termsof a famous conceit from1 7th-centuryEnglish metaphysical poetry (A valedic- tion: forbiddingmourning, by John Donne), which likens two platonic

10 In an originalsocio-literary essay Achebe (1975: 100) makes the seminalpoint that "the early missionaries"made the initialmistake of treatingchi and eke as one God, Chineke ("Chi that creates").

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chiin Igbo Religionand Thought 53 1 loversto the two legs of a compass.Chi is the "fixed foot," and eke is the mobile complement.Or, if I may changethe metaphor,chi and eke are like two stones that must be strucktogether in order to produce a spark.Al- thoughchi and eke can be fruitfullyseparated for analytical purposes, however,in the structureof Igbo belief and social action relatingto spiritual beingsand forcesin general,the two tend to coalesce ratherthan bifurcate. In thissense the notion of duality,which we said earliercharacterizes Igbo philosophyof life,is placed in a broadercontext. For not only chi and eke, a seriesof otheranalogous "stiff twin compasses9' exist, e.g., çfç na ogu, ll akç na uche,ikwu na ibe, çgu na mgba,okwu na uka, and nta na imo. I am not hereby statinga generalhypothesis about complementary dual categoriesin Igbo religionand structureof thought.Rather, it is note- worthyand sociologicallysignificant that the twin concepts chi and eke are not unique in Igbo religiousthought or social structuretaken as a whole. Their affinitywith anotherpair of key cosmologica!ideas, çfç and ogu, is underscoredin this traditionalfolk-song of the 'OwerriIgbo' of eastern Nigeria:

Oka n'azu ka lamn'ihu Back biter"bite" in mypresence. So that Ka marathe nga'gwa y a n'ihu I mayknow what to tellhim in his face. Onyeg'egbu onye 'ari the otnere ya If you intendto harmsomeone who has A chin'eke çfç n'oguekwere Veya not offendedyou, may chi and eke,ofo, and ogu not go alongwith you (i.e.,may theythwart you).

4. Conclusion

My main interestin thispaper is not whetherthe twinnotions chi and eke or the singlenotion chukwu or chinekeaccurately denotes and connotes SupremeGod. The pointis thatthe Igbo themselvesconceptualize chi as the foundationof their intellectualefforts to make sense of the bewildering diversitiesof humanpersonality, experience, and cosmicphenomena. Chi in this sense offersthe indigenousIgbo philosophera satisfactoryexplanation formost of the "thingseverywhere around us thatare incapableof explanation" (Laye 1954: 58), e.g.,misfortunes that occur despiteall humanendea- vours (fromthe angel of the victimand close relativesanyway) to make a

11 It is not easy forme to providebrief and directEnglish glossaries of thesepairs of concepts.Each needs to be dilatedupon (whichis not possiblehere) to bringits propermeaning out.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 532 L Ghukwukere Anthropos78.1983 success of a venture,phenomenal success, and mysteriousescape from dangers and from prematuredeath, diametricallyopposed qualities of temperament,and characteramong siblings. The belief in chi also providesan adequate explanation or perhaps rationalizationfor the dominant invidualizing principle of Igbo socialorganiza- tion. Chi thereforeis a theoryof both causationand humanpersonality in the proper context of Igbo people's cosmologyand speculationupon the divinitythat determinesthe natureof man generallyand severally.In other words,chi servesas a centraland integratingconceptual framework in which the Igboman can reasonablypicture to himselfthe universe,natural and social,in whichhe willy-nillylives.

This is a completelyrewritten and largelymodified version of a paper firstpresented at a "workshop" on "the foundations of Igbo civilization" organized by the Instituteof African Studies, Universityof Nigeria at Nsukka, in May 1980. The fieldworkon chi was carried out mainly in the Owerri area of Igboland in 1977/1978 as my Institute researchproject for 1976/1977 academical year.

References

Achebe, C. 1958 ThingsFall Apart. London: Heinemann. 1975 Chi in Igbo Cosmology. In: MorningYet on Creation Day. London: Heine- mann. Afîgbo,A.E. 1972 The WarrantChiefs. London: Longman. Basden, G.T. 1966 [1921 ] Among the Ibos of Nigeria. London: Frank Cass. 1966 [1938] NigerIbos. London: Frank Cass. Beattie,J. 1964 Other Cultures.London: Cohen and West. Chukwukere,B.L 1971 Individualism:An Aspect of Igbo Religion. The Conch 3/2. Durkheim,£. 1965 [1915] The ElementaryForms of the Religious Life. New York: The Free Press. Ekejiuba, F.L 1972 The Aro Trade Systemin the 19th Century.Jkenga 1/1-2.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Chi in Igbo Religionand Thought 533

Ekejiuba, F.L, and K.O. Dike 1976 Change and Persistence in Aro Oral History. Journal of African Studies 3/3. Evans-Pritchard,E.E. 1937 Witchcraft,Oracles, and Magic among the Azande. Oxford: ClarendonPress. 1956 Nuer Religion.Oxford: ClarendonPress. 1965 Theoriesof PrimitiveReligion. Oxford. ClarendonPress. Ezekwugo, C.U.M. n.d. Chi, the True God in Igbo Religion. [Unpubl. docturate thesis in theology.]

Forde, D. (ed.) 1954 AfricanWorlds. London: Oxford UniversityPress. Fortes,M. 1970 Time and Social Structureand Other Essays. London: The Athlone Press. Green,M.M. Cass. 1964 [1947] Igbo Village Affairs.London: Frank Guthrie,S. 181-203. 1980 A CognitiveTheory of Religion.Current Anthropology 21/2:

Horton,W.R.G. 1956 God, Man and the Land in a NorthernIbo Village-group.Africa 26: 17-28. 1962 The Kalahari World-view:An Outline and Interpretation.Africa 32: 197-220. 1967 AfricanTraditional Thought and WesternScience. Africa 37:50-71, 155-187. Ilogu, E. Review 1965 Christanityand Ibo Traditional Religion. The International of Mùsions 54: 335-342. Iwuagwu,A.O. n.d. Chukwu: Towards a Definition of Igbo Traditional Religion. West African Religion 16/1: 26-34. Laye, C. 1954 The AfricanChild. London: Collins. Iienhardt,G. 1961 Divinityand Experience.Oxford: ClarendonPress.

Nadel, S. F. 1954 Nupe Religion. New York: Schocken Books. Ottenberg,S. 1958 Ibo Oracles and IntergroupRelations. SouthwesternJournal of Anthropology 14/3. Shelton,A.J. 1964 The OffendedChi in Achebe's Novels. Transition3/3. 1964 On Recent Interpretationsof deus ottosus: The WithdrawnGod in West AfricanPsychology . Man 6 4 : 53-54. 1965 The Presenceof the "Withdrawn"High God in NorthIbo Religious Belief and Worship.Man 65: 15-18. 1971 Relativism,Pragmatism, and Reciprocityin Igbo Proverbs.The Conch 3/2.

Talbot, P.A. Press. 1926 The Peoples of SouthernNigeria. London: Oxford University

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 534 L Chukwukere Anthropos78.1983

Thomas, N.W. 1913 Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria. London: Harrisonand Sons. Turner,V. 1967 The Forest of Symbols. Ithaca: CornellUniversity Press. Winter,E.H. 1966 TerritorialGroupings and Religion among the Iraqw. In: M. Banton (ed.), Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. London: Tavistock Pubi.

This content downloaded from 196.222.60.200 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:46:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions