Introduction to Nigeria

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Introduction to Nigeria
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Nigeria? Is that in Africa somewhere?
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Time Period

• Things Fall Apart takes place during Europe's
  violent colonial division of Africa at the end of
  the 19th century.
• Chinua Achebe wrote and published the novel
  towards the end of the colonial period, during a
  time of growing nationalism across Africa. (1959)

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Part 1
Pre-Colonial Nigeria
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Igbo Tribe

• Achebes book takes place in Nigeria where the
  native Igbo tribe resides.
• The first Igbo people are said to have emerged
  some 5000-6000 years ago.
• Reside near the Niger and Benue Rivers

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Igbo Tribe

• The majority of Igbo people are farmers.
• Staple crops are the yam, cassava, taro.
• Also gather fruit from palm trees and make palm
  oil.
• Harvesting is a time for celebration
• Yam Festival is in August

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Igbo Tribe

• Igbo people have no chieftaincy or kingship.
• Mainly rely on the leadership of village
  councils.
• Councils consist of heads of families, titled
  men, elders, and men who have established
  themselves economically within the community.

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Religion

• At the beginning of the colonial era, less than
  five percent of the people in Africa identified
  themselves as Christian.
• Most Igbo practiced ancestor worship.
• Idea that to succeed in the world, one must
  satisfy the spirits of the deceased.

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Religion

• Many also believe in a creator god (Chukwu), an
  earth goddess, a personal god (Chi) and many
  other deities and spirits.

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Religion

• Today, nearly fifty per cent of the people in
  Africa identify themselves as Christians.
• Colonial rule provided an environment in which
  Christianity, in many forms, spread in many parts
  of Africa due to the work of Christian
  missionaries.

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Religion

• Today, in spite of these historical changes, many
  Africans continue to hold to and practice
  traditional religions (like the kind seen in
  Things Fall Apart)

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Household Shrine
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Map of Todays Religion in Africa
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Igbo Families

• Igbo men traditionally take many wives and have
  children with each wife.
• These large families live in compounds.
• Consists of a main house for the head of the
  family, and separate houses for each wife and her
  children.

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Things Fall Apart

• Names to know
• Okonkwo (oh-kon-kwoh)
• Unoka (oo-noh-ka)
• Nwoye (n-oy-eh)
• Ikemefuna (ee-kem-me-foo-nah)
• Ekwefi (eh-kweh-fee)
• Ezinma (eh-zin-mah)

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Things Fall Apart

• Words to know
• Kola nut (koh-lah)
• Chukwu (Choo-kwoo)
• Umofia (oo-moh-fee-uh)
• Mbanta (mm-ban-tah)
• Obi (oh-bee)
• Chi (chee)

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Things Fall Apart

• Literary Techniques
• Simple sentences
• Folk Tales
• Proverbs
• A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing
• Imagery (similes and metaphors)
• Okonkwos fame had grown like a bush fire in the
  harmattan

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ColonialismPart 2
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Colonialism

• A racially-based (or racist) system of political,
  economic, and cultural domination forcibly
  imposed by a technologically superior foreign
  minority on an indigenous majority.
• Relied on "scientific" assumptions about White
  superiority. It assumed an industrial capital
  economy was the most advanced form of human
  organization.
• Assumed an inherent moral inferiority on the part
  of Africans.
• Depended on economic exploitation and political
  oppression
• Conquests were made by force sometimes by
  trickery sometimes by agreement so that the
  African nation could bargain for some rights
• Racism played a role in conquest and in colonial
  rule.

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Colonialism

• There were several different kinds of colonial
  organizations
• White settler colonies (Kenya and Southern
  Rhodesia Zimbabwe).
• Indirect rule colonies (Nigeria and Botswana).
• Direct rule colonies (Senegal).
• The direct and indirect rule systems relied
  heavily on traditional African rulers, but also
  used white administrators.

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Colonialism

• Until the last two decades of the 19th Century,
  most of Africa remained under African control.
• The Berlin Conference of 1884-5
• Within two decades after this conference,
  virtually all of the continent was under European
  control. Only Ethiopia and Liberia retained
  sovereignty.
• The colonial period in Africa was short, roughly
  1880-1960but had a heavy and lasting impact on
  economic, social and political affairs.       
• Colonialism fostered economic dependency, with
  long-term effects
• Colonialism was authoritarian and fostered
  indigenous authoritarian rule, with long-term
  effect

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Colonialism

• Colonial rule led to resistance and, ultimately,
  to independence
• African voices (not just restatement by others of
  African views) are necessary for understanding
  this period of history.
• This was Achebes personal reason for writing
  Things Fall Apart