...Chinaeny Ndukwe Annotated bibliography "AFRICAN MARRIAGE | Marriage | Pro- Life | Family | Culture." AFRICAN MARRIAGE. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/africanmarriageritual.html>. This article examines carefully what marriage is and why it is the most important ceremony in African culture. African weddings are a spiritual and social family affair and it involves the combining of two lives, two families and two communities. It illustrates different types of marriages that exist in the African societies. | Agbogun, James. "Nigeria, People and Culture: Housa Marriage." Nigeria, People and Culture: Housa Marriage. N.p., 4 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.the-nigeria.com/2012/02/housa-marriage.html>. This article describes the Hausa tribe marriage in Nigeria. The Hausas live in northern Nigeria. They are also found in Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The Hausas generally attach great importance to premarital chastity. A Hausa husband who discovers that the girl he has married is not a virgin will proclaim her shame to the entire town by breaking a pot outside his house. Among most Fulani, and other sub tribes of the Hausa, custom forbids sexual intercourse between young people who are betrothed. Egbosiuba, Michael. "Yoruba Traditional Marriage." All Things Nigeria. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.allthingsnigeria.com/2012/yoruba-traditional-marriage>. The article describes the Yoruba marriage in Nigeria. Yoruba...
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...Masculinity has a huge role when talking about people in a position of power. Society's expectations of what a man should be--has caused some men to become corrupt and abuse the power they have. Noah Brand writer for The Good Man Project stated in his article, “Masculinity as Power” that “Men in our culture are supposed to be active; they are those who act, they are defined by their actions. Masculinity supposed to be something one does, one performs; it’s not simply granted to someone for identifying as a man, but it is earned through unceasing hard work” (Brand). Men feel pressured to be masculine and our culture tends to advertise it through television and social media that masculinity can be obtained through violent or aggressive actions....
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...When it comes to agriculture, Anyanwu, Aha njoku, and Ikoro all play major roles. These gods are prayed to by everyone and hope fills the village that the gods would listen and answer the prayers for a good crop season. Farming plays a big role in the Igbo community. It represents masculinity as well as a social and financial status making it highly looked upon by their culture. The main crop to be farmed was yams for they used to give a denote financial status. The amount of yams produced by a single person shows off how powerful and resourceful they were. In hopes to produce more yams, the Igbo would sacrifice chickens to Ifejioku, the god of yams (Igbo). Yams played such a major role that if even one season were to be bad, an entire family’s...
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...Feminism or Igbo Culture? Feminism is a body of social theory and political movement primarily based and motivated by the experiences of women. Feminist theory tries to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics and relations. Subjects explored in feminism range from discrimination to stereotyping and many more. As the history of feminism has been studied, feminist movements began in the late 1800’s. Feminist ideas were not only observed in the work place or social life, but also in readings. In Things Fall Apart, there is clearly a feminist point of view. There are certain behaviors that women do not attain, they serve a specific role in the community, have arranged roles in the family, and are limited by the extended family. Although women are “Mother Supreme”, they were looked upon differently by the Igbo because of their feminist views. The opening sentence in Things Fall Apart begins with the description of an alpha male. It is hard not to have a feminist view when a role of masculinity is observed as early as the first sentence. Okonkwo is a self-made, well-respected member of the clan. He has become a wealthy farmer through his own hard work. Behaviors and attitudes that he considers masculine are to have a patriarch mindset, not show love and affection, have a great sense of personal pride, work hard, provide for your family, and being brave. Okonkwo believes that any slight show of weakness is feminine. For example...
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...Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a twentieth century work of art that serves the purpose of conveying the intricacies of African culture while at the same time giving voice to the underrepresented and exploited inhabitants of Nigeria. This work was written in response to Western writings on African culture, which treated Africa in a cultureless and subhuman light of view. “Things Fall Apart” portrays the conflict between the White colonial government and the indigenous Igbo people in Nigeria, illuminating the European and African perspectives on Colonial control, race, religion and culture. The Igbos believed that each man was responsible for his fate or destiny. They believed that a man has the ability to change his life and achieve status through economics and military accomplishments, the latter being through agriculture, and that all of this results solely from hard work. The Nigerian society, unlike European societies, was characterized by a Darwinian society in the way that people who achieved great feats were rewarded, rather than a caste-like system where there was no chance of improving one’s status. The ability to move up in rank in Nigerian culture is portrayed in the story of Onkonkwo. Born to an indebted and effeminate father, Okonkwo strives to rise through the social system and achieve everything his father could not. He is intolerant and biased towards women to the point where he describes weak men as women. Okonkwo views emotion as a weakness and thus...
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...sid=9853b735-e328-4a2c-bbcb-07824cabe5ce%40sessionmgr4001&vid=5&hid=4213 Briefly describe Okondwo and Umuofia. “If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man say yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed. And not only his chi but his clan too, because it judged a man by the work of his hands.” Overview of missionaries entering Thesis statement describing the elements of each culture, their clash, and how the English destroyed the spirit of an entire culture by imposing theirs. This collapsing culture and broken spirit of the clans led to the suicide of Okondwo. Body Paragraph 1 – Okondwo’s Culture Perception of Masculinity (Gender Roles) “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” “To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.” Traditions & Societal Status Taking titles and marrying multiple wives is the ultimate goal. “Having spoken plainly so far, Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded...
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...one another, both through taking land and permeating each other’s traditions with their cultures. With the development of colonialism and world wars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this became more and more common- but was met with backlash from native people and those whose lives were drastically changed. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe illustrates the tensions between European colonizers and Nigerian indigenous people by following the story of Okonkwo, a strong man in the Umuofian tribe . Julie Otsuka allows the reader to follow the story of a Japanese boy being displaced in an internment camp during the second World War in her piece “When the Emperor Was Divine”. Okonkwo’s violent reaction to European culture and the boy’s silent yearning for his...
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...Unit V Assignment Culture and Consumer Behavior Research Method. This research investigates the effect of culture on various aspects of consumer behavior in an integrative framework among the three ethnic groups in Nigeria. The cultural groups include an Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups. The method of research will be an experimental research on the ethnic culture and how it affects consumer behavior. The objective for doing this research are as follow: what culture it and how it impacts consumer behaviors in Nigeria, how culture asct as an invisible hand that guides consumption-related attitude, values and behavior, how culture set standards for what satisfies consumers’ needs, how consumers are always adapting to culture-related experiences, how the impact of culture on consumer behavior is measured and how core culture values impact Nigerian consumers. Using the Hofstede’s (1980) cultural framework, differences in ethnic group’s cultural orientation will be hypothesized. Then for each cultural dimension, related consumer behaviors will be identified and the differences in those behaviors will be hypothesized according to the predicted differences in each related cultural dimension. After this, the influence of the cultural dimension on the identified consumer behavior will be investigated in a multiracial West African country, Nigeria. With major corporations seeking to move into African and sell to the African consumers, it is important that solid sub cultural...
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...About Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe's college work sharpened his interest in indigenous Nigerian cultures. He had grown up in Ogidi, a large village in Nigeria. His father taught at the missionary school, and Achebe witnessed firsthand the complex mix of benefit and catastrophe that the Christian religion had brought to the Igbo people. In the 1950s, an exciting new literary movement grew in strength. Drawing on indigenous Nigerian oral traditions, this movement enriched European literary forms in hopes of creating a new literature, in English but unmistakably African. Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the masterpieces of 20th century African fiction. Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s, during the coming of the white man to Nigeria. In part, the novel is a response and antidote to a large tradition of European literature in which Africans are depicted as primitive and mindless savages. The attitudes present in colonial literature are so ingrained into our perception of Africa that the District Commissioner, who appears at the end of the novel, strikes a chord of familiarity with most readers. He is arrogant, dismissive of African "savages," and totally ignorant of the complexity and richness of Igbo life. Yet his attitude echoes so much of the depiction of Africa; this attitude, following Achebe's depiction of the Igbo, seems hollow and savage. Digression is one of Achebe's most important tools. Although the novel's central story is the tragedy of Okonkwo...
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...In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist, represents the manly ideal in a native African society of the Igbo that puts great value on masculinity. He prides himself on the fact that he became a well-respected member of the community with little help from others. However, he is not without flaws. When European powers begin colonizing Africa, Okonkwo finds his way of life disrupted. His greatest challenge becomes accepting the beliefs of others and relating to the majority. Okonkwo resists change, trying to hold onto the old way of life. In Things Falls Apart, Okonkwo proves himself to be a notorious anti-hero as he struggles with his own self-image, rules his household with fear, and rejects changes in his society upon the arrival of the white man. Okonkwo’s own destruction is a result of his high expectations and obsession with toughness. His father, Unoka, was a good-spirited but generally unproductive member of the community. He acquired no fortune and preferred music and story-telling to hard physical labor. Okonkwo dismissed his father’s outlook on life as foolish, and devoted his time to masculine things such as wrestling, sharecropping, and the acquisition of titles. The culture of their tribe is to judge an individual based on their strength and proficiency, or lack thereof. To appear sentimental would be a reflection of his father’s persona. It is Okonkwo’s greatest fear to be judged as inept or weak. When the Oracle of the Hills demands...
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...7 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE NIGERIA INDIA MATERIAL LIFE Industrial sector - structurally weak, industrial development based on import substitution strategy, production, distribution and consumption depends a lot on families and community efforts. Industrial Sector is comparatively well developed. LANGUAGE 529 languages - 7 extinct English is the official language, Other most spoken languages are - Haus, Igbo, Yoruba, Pidgin-English 780 languages – 220 lost last 50 yrs. 14 official Languages Hindi is the first official Language and English is the second, Other most spoken languages are Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Extended families-Social standing and recognition, Family relationships are guided by hierarchy and seniority. Individuals turn to members of the extended family for financial aid and guidance Very similar to Nigeria Family relationships are guided by hierarchy and seniority. Great importance is given to elders in the family who are also decision makers. AESTHETICS Ethnic, tattooing & Ornamentation, Art inspired by nature, Depends on availability of recourses, has utilitarian significance, socio-cultural significance is symbolic, Extensive use of colours. Follows similar patterns use of vibrant colours, jewellery, Colours and music art folk songs for every occasion. RELIGION Main religions of Nigeria are Islam (50%) and Christianity (48%), other religions, which includes: Judaism, Hinduism, Bahá'i Characterized by a diversity of religious...
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...human frailty. The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition. According to Gerald F.Else (1967) tragic hero means “The tragic hero is a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake." Throughout the book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe presents many aspects of how the tragic hero, Okonkwo portrays the author's own characterization of a tragic hero. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his fear of weakness, failure, the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, violence, and arrogance. In his thirties, Okonkwo is a leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status and his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. His father incurred a bad reputation for himself and Okonkwo vowed to never be like his father. This caused Okonkwo to be very determined and he formed very strong feelings to reach success in his life and do the same for his children. The narrator states "At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all of the land"(Pg 27). As a result, he renowned as a wrestler and a fierce warrior. In the village Umuofia, where he lived as well as the other tribal villages, this title...
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...From Warrior to Ruin In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist, represents the manly ideal in a native African society of the Igbo that puts great value on masculinity. He prides himself on the fact that he became a well-respected member of the community with little help from others. However, he is not without flaws. When European powers begin colonizing Africa, Okonkwo finds his way of life disrupted. His greatest challenge becomes accepting the beliefs of others and relating to the majority. Okonkwo resists change, trying to hold onto the old way of life. In Things Falls Apart, Okonkwo proves himself to be a notorious anti-hero as he struggles with his own self-image, rules his household with fear, and rejects changes in his society upon the arrival of the white man. Okonkwo’s own destruction is a result of his high expectations and obsession with toughness. His father, Unoka, was a good-spirited but generally unproductive member of the community. He acquired no fortune and preferred music and story-telling to hard physical labor. Okonkwo dismissed his father’s outlook on life as foolish, and devoted his time to masculine things such as wrestling, sharecropping, and the acquisition of titles. The culture of their tribe is to judge an individual based on their strength and proficiency, or lack thereof. To appear sentimental would be a reflection of his father’s persona. It is Okonkwo’s greatest fear to be judged as inept or weak. When the Oracle...
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...In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, the main character is represented as a successful, strong, insensitive, and most honorable tribesmen man. Okonkwo is a man with his own perspective of what being masculine is like. He is one of the most respected men in his village and in the Igbo culture. He is a strong wrestler and a leader. For Okonkwo, being a strong and cruel man is the definition of being masculine. Anything that was a sign of weakness was hated by him. He did not like unsuccessful men, as a matter of fact, he did not like anything that reminded him of his father, Unoka. Showing no emotions was also a characteristic of masculinity for him. Okonkwo was afraid of showing any kind of emotions because revealing any...
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...oral tradition of their people. The extent to see a writer uses the oral tradition is always often determined by his closeness to the Africa oral tradition. The influence of African oral tradition on African poetry helps to authenticate or establish the authencity of Africa literary tradition Orality in Modern African poetry manifest itself in a number of ways. It has to do with both the content as well as the form of African poetry. The most obvious prove that contemporary African poets are indebted to the indigenous poetic tradition of their people is in their interest in rehabilitating and excavating traditional poetic forms. For instance Wole Soyinka ‘IDANRE’ is best understood within the Ijala poetic traditions among the Yoruba culture. The poem in a sense is a form of Ijala as it celebrates Ogun- the god of Iron Kofi Awoonor also models his poem on the traditional poems of abuse among the Ewe of Ghana. Niyi Osundare has also admitted at many of his poems are written in form of ‘oriki’. Each of these poets has been extending the possibility of the same indigenous poetic The influence which the various elements of oral traditions exert on modern African writing especially poetry is indeed tremendous. In fact, major African literary texts indicate attachment to the African cosmic setting. This is the setting which Mazisi Kunene describes as the primary basis of all literatures. Part of the reasons why...
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