Attitudes and behaviour toward snakes on the part of Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria

This ethnography explores the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia, an Igbo group of Southeast Nigeria, aiming to understand the mortuary rites of the Nawfia, how and why it has changed and the factors responsible for the changes. The main data collection strategy was participant observation that began in April 2014. It was supplemented with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study found Christianity as a major acculturative factor that has altered almost all the facets of the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia Igbo. Furthermore, mortuary rites do not only reinforce social solidarity among the Nawfia Igbo people but also according to what the Nawfia people believe, enable the deceased to attain his rightful position in the spirit world.

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Francophone Catholic Achievements in Igboland, 1883-–1905

History in Africa ◽

10.1353/hia.2005.0020 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 ◽

pp. 307-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eddie E. Okafor

Keyword(s):

Political Power ◽

The Other ◽

The Political ◽

Southeastern Nigeria ◽

Holy Ghost ◽

Political Sphere ◽

Igbo People ◽

Church Missionary Society ◽

African Missions

When the leading European powers were scrambling for political dominion in Africa, the greatest rival of France was Britain. The French Catholics were working side by side with their government to ensure that they would triumph in Africa beyond the boundaries of the territories already annexed by their country. Thus, even when the British sovereignty claim on Nigeria was endorsed by Europe during the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the French Catholics did not concede defeat. They still hoped that in Nigeria they could supplant their religious rivals: the British Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the other Protestant missionary groups. While they allowed the British to exercise political power there, they took immediate actions to curtail the spread and dominion of Protestantism in the country. Thus some of their missionaries stationed in the key French territories of Africa—Senegal, Dahomey, and Gabon—were urgently dispatched to Nigeria to compete with their Protestant counterparts and to establish Catholicism in the country.Two different French Catholic missions operated in Nigeria between 1860s and 1900s. The first was the Society of the African Missions (Société des Missions Africaines or SMA), whose members worked mainly among the Yoruba people of western Nigeria and the Igbos of western Igboland. The second were the Holy Ghost Fathers (Pères du Saint Esprit), also called Spiritans, who ministered specifically to the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. The French Catholics, the SMA priests, and the Holy Ghost Fathers competed vehemently with the British Protestants, the CMS, for the conversion of African souls. Just as in the political sphere, the French and British governments competed ardently for annexation and colonization of African territories.

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Archaeology of Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria

10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.556 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chioma Ngonadi

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Archaeological Research ◽

African Countries ◽

Southeastern Nigeria ◽

The Past ◽

Ground Stone ◽

Iron Smelting ◽

Igbo People ◽

Iron Working ◽

Polished Stone Axes

Archaeological research began relatively late in southeastern Nigeria compared with other African countries. The site of Igboukwu, despite the remarkable discoveries made there accidentally in 1938, was not investigated thoroughly until 1959. The first systematic archaeological excavations in the region took place between December 1959 and January 1960. The Igboukwu excavations yielded hundreds of glass beads, intricately produced bronze objects, elaborately decorated potsherds, and various iron tools that revealed the artistic ingenuity of the Igbo people. These archaeological findings laid a good foundation for archaeological research in southeastern Nigeria. Subsequently, from 1964 to 1978, human-made tools including hand axes, flakes, cores, polished stone axes, ground stone axes, and microliths were discovered at various locations in the region. At the Lejja, Opi, and Aku iron smelting sites, evidence of slag blocks, tuyere fragments, furnace remains, iron ores, and potsherds are seen on the surface, suggesting large-scale intensive iron-working production in the past. These archaeological remains from stratified archaeological deposits showcase a people with a distinctive past.

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The Rhythm of Communal Identity

Secular Studies ◽

10.1163/25892525-bja10025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 206-222

Author(s):

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Communal Identity ◽

Southeastern Nigeria ◽

Local Language ◽

Music And Language ◽

The People ◽

Igbo People ◽

The Social ◽

The Relationship ◽

Culture And Language

Abstract The relationship between language, music and cultural identity has always been of special interest in the social sciences, especially in the areas of anthropology, social psychology and ethnomusicology. The main argument revolves on how language reflected through music positively impacts on the identity of a social group, and what happens where this is lacking. Cultures die and languages go into extinction when there are no creative ways of keeping them alive. The aim of this essay is to investigate how the culture and language of a particular society could be safeguarded through music. Beyond the theoretical framework, I shall substantiate this investigation with the example of the Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria, whose cultural identity is seriously threatened by the lack of interest in the local language among the people. Part of this disinterestedness is caused by the unique tendency of Igbo people to travel outside their original communities and to culturally adapt in their diaspora communities. This essay therefore aims at a) addressing this problem of identity through a sociological analysis of communal identity, and b) seeking how identity could be rediscovered through music that is delivered in a local language, illustrated with the example of Igbo cultural group. It is hoped that such analysis would aid in presenting another means of safeguarding endangered local languages, which invariably has a lot of implications for the cultural identity of the group involved. Of course, the analysis that is advanced here is not limited to the Igbo since the argument is based on a general epistemological function of music and language with respect to cultural identity.

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The prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis and Candida albicans infection in the lower genital tracts of antenatal patients in Abakaliki, Southeastern Nigeria

Nepal Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology ◽

10.3126/njog.v4i1.3325 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 11-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

IM Sunday-Adeoye ◽

JOK Adeoye ◽

OUJ Umeora ◽

PI Okonta

Keyword(s):

Candida Albicans ◽

Pregnancy Outcomes ◽

Trichomonas Vaginalis ◽

Dropout Rate ◽

Antenatal Clinic ◽

Southeastern Nigeria ◽

High Dropout Rate ◽

Adverse Pregnancy ◽

June July ◽

A Prospective Study

Aims: To determine the prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis and Candida albican infection among anasymptomatic pregnant population and to document their pregnancy outcomes.Methods: This was a prospective study involving antenatal clinic attendees at the Ebonyi State UniversityTeaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria. They were randomly recruited and informed consent obtained. Vaginalspecimens were collected from them and analyzed in the laboratory. They were followed up till delivery andpregnancy outcomes documented.Results: Two hundred expectant mothers were recruited. The prevalence rate of Trichomonas vaginalis andCandida albicans were 0.5% and 27.5% respectively. Due to the high dropout rate in the study, it wasimpossible to make any reasonable inference about the pregnancy outcomes associated with these conditions.Conclusion: There is probably the need for the use of more sophisticated methods for the detection ofTrichomonas vaginalis. The existing methods in most laboratories in the country may not be adequate. Thereis also probably the need for a larger sample size and a stricter follow up of the patients in order to documentany adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with these conditions.Keywords: Prevalence; Trichomonas vaginalis; Candida albicans; antenatal careDOI: 10.3126/njog.v4i1.3325Nepal Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology June-July 2009; 4(1): 11-14

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Thrips (Thysanoptera) of vegetable crops (okro, spinach, garden egg and pumpkin) grown in Southeastern Nigeria

Plant Protection Science ◽

10.17221/3832-pps ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 39 (No. 4) ◽

pp. 132-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E.T. Oparaocha ◽

R.N. Okigbo

Keyword(s):

Lower Number ◽

Frequency Of Occurrence ◽

Vegetable Crops ◽

Southeastern Nigeria ◽

Amaranthus Hybridus ◽

Solanum Incanum ◽

Telfairia Occidentalis ◽

Port Harcourt ◽

Microscopic Studies ◽

Hibiscus Esculentus

Eight vegetable crops were sampled at five localities in Southeastern Nigeria and were found to harbour one or more species of thrips. The crops were Amaranthus hybridus, A. spinosus, Basella rubra, Solanum incanum, S. melongena, Hibiscus esculentus, Telfairia occidentalis and a species of Solanum. The sampled localities, with the frequency of occurrence of thrips, were Umuahia (29.6%), Owerri (28.5%), Port Harcourt (25.7%), Calabar (18.7%) and Enugu (6.0%). The studies revealed that crops with very heavy infloresences, e.g. Amaranthus hybridus, had a higher number of thrips (40%) per flower/leaf, while simple flowered crops like Telfairia occidentalis could only harbour a far lower number of thrips per flower/leaf. This showed a preference of these thrips for plants with heavy inflorescences which provided them with more protection, especially their larvae. Taxonomic/microscopic studies identified three species of thrips: Haplothrips gowdeyi that attacked 63% of all the sampled crops, Frankliniella schultzei was hosted by 50% of the crops, and Megalurothrips ventralis also preyed on 50% of the plant samples.  

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