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Interpretation of Igbo’s Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

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Overview of igbo culture, role of language and proverbs in igbo culture, importance of religion in igbo culture, gender roles in igbo society, social hierarchy and politics in igbo culture.

• Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart. William Heinemann Ltd, 1958.
• Smith, David. "The Role of Language in Things Fall Apart." African Literature Today, vol. 17, 2010, pp. 45-60.
• Nwosu, Johnson. "Religion and Society in Things Fall Apart." Journal of African Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2012, pp. 112-128.

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Igbo People: Culture, History, and Traditions

The Igbo people, often referred to as the Ibo, are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, known for their rich cultural heritage, history, and traditions. In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of the Igbo people, exploring their history, culture, language, and traditional practices.

The Igbo people’s history can be traced back over two thousand years. They are believed to have migrated to their present-day homeland in southeastern Nigeria from West Africa, particularly the areas around the Niger River. The term “Igbo” is derived from “Ụ́gbò,” which is the native language’s name for the people.

The Igbo language, also known as “Igbo” or “Ibo,” is a tonal language with a rich vocabulary and distinct linguistic characteristics. It is primarily spoken in Nigeria, but you can find Igbo-speaking communities around the world due to migration and the Igbo diaspora. The language is written using various scripts, including the Roman alphabet, which was introduced by Christian missionaries during the colonial period.

Igbo culture is vibrant and multifaceted, with a strong emphasis on family, community, and tradition. Some key aspects of Igbo culture include:

Extended Family System: The Igbo practice an extended family system where several generations live together in a single compound. The head of the family, typically the oldest male, holds significant authority.

Religion: Traditionally, the Igbo people followed indigenous religious practices, worshiping a pantheon of deities, spirits, and ancestors. Many Igbo have since embraced Christianity, but elements of traditional religion continue to influence their culture.

Art and Music: Igbo art is renowned for its masks, sculptures, and textiles. Traditional music, often accompanied by drums and other percussion instruments, plays a vital role in cultural ceremonies and celebrations.

Masquerades: Masquerades are an essential part of Igbo culture. They are ceremonial performances featuring dancers wearing elaborate masks and costumes, often representing ancestral spirits or deities. Masquerades are prevalent during festivals and rituals.

Igbo New Yam Festival (Iri Ji): This festival celebrates the yam harvest and is one of the most significant Igbo cultural events. It involves various rituals and ceremonies, including the presentation of the new yam to the community.

While Igbo culture remains vibrant, it has faced challenges due to urbanization, globalization, and political changes in Nigeria. The Biafran War (1967-1970) had a profound impact on Igbo society, resulting in the loss of lives and displacement of many Igbo people.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in preserving and promoting Igbo culture, particularly through education and cultural organizations.

The Igbo people have a rich cultural heritage, deeply rooted in tradition and a sense of community. Their language, art, and customs reflect the depth of their history. Despite challenges and changes, the Igbo culture continues to thrive, making a significant contribution to the diverse tapestry of Nigerian society and the world at large.

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An Introduction to Nigeria's Igbo People

The Ibo or Igbo people are found in southeastern Nigeria and have many interesting customs and traditions. With a population of around 40 million throughout Nigeria, they are one of the biggest and most influential tribes. Igbos are well-known for their entrepreneurial endeavours, both within Nigeria and around the world. Here’s everything you need to know.

The Igbo people are descended from Eri, a divine figure who, according to Igbo folklore, was sent from heaven to begin civilization. Another account presents Eri as one of the sons of Gad (as mentioned in the book of Genesis in the Bible) who travelled down to establish the present-day Igboland.

In Nigeria , Igbos inhabit an area referred to as Igboland, which is divided into two sections along the lower River Niger. They live in most or all parts of five states: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, as well as minor parts of Delta, Rivers and Benue states. Small Igbo communities are also found in parts of Cameroon and Equitorial Guinea.

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Culture and traditions

The Igbo political system differs significantly from most of its West African neighbours. With exception of a few major Igbo communities which have an Obi (king), Igbos have a traditional republican system of government, which is a consultative assembly of people, which guarantees equality to citizens. This system is a departure from the usual form of government with a king ruling over the subjects. Even though there are title holders who are respected by their achievements, they are never revered as kings.

Historical findings

Many Igbo artefacts were discovered by Thurstan Shaw in 1959 and 1964 at archaeological sites in Igbo-Ukwu, including more than 700 high-quality artefacts of bronze, copper and iron, as well as stone beads, glass and ivory. Igbo bronze artefacts are said to be the oldest in West Africa. Five of the bronze artefacts from the dig are presently in the British Museum .

Traditionally, Igbos were mostly farmers, craftsmen and traders – evidence of crafts and metalwork were found in archeological discoveries. A number of the metals used by craftsmen were said to have been from Egypt , providing evidence of trade across the Sahara long before Europeans came to Africa.

The Igbo people’s most important crop is the yam, and it is the reason for the New Yam Festival (Iri Ji) celebrating the harvest of new yams. The yam is also a significant part of a traditional diet and is prepared as pounded yam, eaten with different soups or eaten immediately after being boiled. Igbos are well known for their variety of soups, made from locally grown vegetables, fruits and seeds. The most popular Igbo soups are oha , nsala , akwu , okazi and ofe owerri .

The Igbo people have a traditional religious belief that there is one creator, called ‘Chineke’ or ‘Chukwu’. The creator can be approached through many other deities and spirits in the form of natural objects, most commonly through the god of thunder called ‘Amadioha’. Others gods include ‘Ala’, the feminine earth spirit, ‘Anyanwu’ (meaning ‘eye of the sun’) a deity believed to dwell on the sun, and ‘Idemili’, the water goddess whose symbol is that of a python. After Nigeria was colonized, most Igbos (more than 90%) became Christian, which is still the predominant religion today.

In Igbo culture, a marriage is contracted by the man asking for the woman’s hand from her father, which is the first stage called ‘ iku aka ‘ (‘to knock on the door’). The second stage and second visit of the groom and his family members to the woman’s family will involve the presence of her extended family, where they must also give their consent. The groom will pay a third visit to pay the bride price and collect from his future in-laws the list of items he will bring to the woman’s family for the wedding. The fourth and final stage is the wedding itself, called ‘ igba nkwu ‘ or ‘wine carrying’ where the bride will come out to look for her groom (who will hide in the crowd) and offer him a cup of palm wine. The couple is then blessed by the family and well wishers, and celebrations begin.

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The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song Essay

Introduction, use of proverbs, folktales, and song, works cited.

The Igbo people, like many other African cultures, were an oral culture; they relied on the word of mouth as the only mode of communication. At that time, writing had not yet been introduced in this society. Their traditions, values, and conversations were therefore carried forward through songs, proverbs, and folktales. However, this was not the only function of such devices as they also served to summarize elaborate instances of wisdom in short artistic pieces thus advising recipients. They would be used to understand human behavior or to instill moral paradigms. These language devices also provided a simple way of understanding nature. Lastly, they were used to liven up speech or language.

Proverbs were used in different scenarios and different settings throughout the novel. For example, in Chapter 13, it is asserted that “If one finger brought oil, it soiled all the others” (Achebe, p. 118). This was a proverb spoken by the elders as they were instating punishment for Okonkwo’s wrongs. They wanted to explain why they needed to carry out this responsibility. In their view, one man’s problem should be the whole community’s concern because if it is not arrested then it could spread everywhere else; this could lead to a morally degenerate society. The proverb, therefore, served as a guide for instilling moral conduct. It affirmed the need for the enforcement of discipline in society. Another proverb used by Okonkwo in Chapter 8 was “A child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which his mother puts into its palm” (Achebe, p. 64). This proverb was used at a time when Okonkwo was justifying his actions for listening to what the Oracle said. The Oracle was a diviner and hence a symbol of the tribe’s belief in nature. In this particular instance, Okonkwo was trying to demonstrate the superiority of Mother Nature, so human judgment or thought processes could not understand its logic. Like a child who must unquestionably contend with its mother’s actions even when this seems odd, Okonkwo had to continue with his obligations to mother Earth even when they seemed contradictory. This proverb was used to explain human behavior.

Folktales are also another crucial feature of this rich oral culture. They have been used in the book to reinforce the heritage of the Ibo people. For instance, in Chapter 7, a folktale is told of the earth and the sky’s story which Nwoye was very fond of. In the story, the earth had been dry for very long and it decided to send the vulture as a messenger to the sky. The message was delivered and rain was placed in leaves underneath the Vulture’s wings. However, it carelessly tore up the leaves and too much rain fell that it caused the Vulture to fly to another location where it found a man and decided to warm itself near the fire. It was at this point that it ate entrails and continued to do so even up to the present day (Achebe, pp. 54-55). This folktale had three major purposes in the Umuofian culture; it was a route to social cohesiveness through entertainment and sharing, it taught people the importance of values such as obedience (the Vulture continues to eat entrails as punishment for disobedience), and explicated a natural phenomenon (eating habits of a wild bird). The use of folk tales in the Igbo culture, therefore, illustrates one of the informal ways in which children were educated. Social values were usually hidden in these kinds of approaches as they maintained the interest of the young ones but still instilled profound ideals. It is also clear that the latter society became closer because of these folktales as they had something to share besides the fireplace (Healey, p. 9).

Lastly, songs were also employed in the novel for different purposes. For instance, in Chapter 7, Ikemefuna remembers a particular song while he was busy walking (Achebe, p. 60). This song is written in the Igbo language and is not translated by the author. He sang it just before his painful demise and ironically thought that a close relative of his was dead. The song was reminiscent of his childhood where he would use it to predict something important. Children often did the same in his community and employed movements of parts of their bodies to reach certain outcomes. This particular piece demonstrates how people sought comfort in song. Ikemefuna was in a tight spot – he was uncertain about his fate amongst the elders and therefore decided to use singing as a way of getting through these tough moments. The use of song here demonstrates that members of this culture valued rhythm and could modify it to suit their particular circumstances.

The use of songs, proverbs, and folktales throughout the novel is critical in contrasting the Igbo language with that of the colonizers. It captures the complexity beauty, rhythm, and even the originality of the Umuofian people. These elements of language enable one to understand how views were expressed, ideas transmitted and values preserved in this culture. In other words, songs, folktales, and proverbs were a depiction of the political, social, and economic structures of the Igbo people. They easily summarized their worldviews and therefore distinctness as a community and people in their own right.

• Achebe, Chinua. Things fall apart . NY: Anchor books, 1994
• Healey, Joseph. Once upon a time in Africa . NY: Orbis books, 2004.
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IvyPanda. (2021, December 27). The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-igbo-culture-use-of-proverbs-folktales-and-song/

"The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song." IvyPanda , 27 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-igbo-culture-use-of-proverbs-folktales-and-song/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song'. 27 December.

IvyPanda . 2021. "The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song." December 27, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-igbo-culture-use-of-proverbs-folktales-and-song/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song." December 27, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-igbo-culture-use-of-proverbs-folktales-and-song/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song." December 27, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-igbo-culture-use-of-proverbs-folktales-and-song/.

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Igbo History and Society: The essays of Adiele Afigbo , edited by Toyin Falola Myth, History and Society: The collected works of Adiele Afigbo , edited by Toyin Falola

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Axel Harneit-Seivers, Igbo History and Society: The essays of Adiele Afigbo , edited by Toyin Falola Myth, History and Society: The collected works of Adiele Afigbo , edited by Toyin Falola, African Affairs , Volume 106, Issue 424, July 2007, Pages 529–531, https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adm029

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Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo is arguably the most renowned historian of south-eastern Nigeria's Igbo society. Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo is arguably the most renowned historian of south-eastern Nigeria's Igbo society. However, only two books by the ‘grand old man’ of Igbo historical studies are easily accessible: The Warrant Chiefs, his 1963 University of Ibadan Ph.D. thesis on colonial rule and chieftaincy in Igboland, published in 1972 by Longman, and Ropes of Sand, an inquiry into some of the exceedingly difficult and controversial issues of precolonial Igbo history, published jointly by the University Presses of Ibadan and Oxford in 1981. Several of Afigbo's works have been published in well-established academic journals, but there are many more that have appeared only as pamphlets with a very limited local distribution, or have remained unpublished. At the same time, Afigbo has exerted an enormous influence on Igbo historiography and Igbo historians, as he belonged to the early generation of historians that formed the ‘Ibadan school of African history’, taught as professor of history at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka (UNN) until the early 1990s, and became one of the moving spirits behind the creation of the Centre for Igbo Studies at Abia State University in Uturu later on. Afigbo also acted as advisor on Igbo cultural and political matters, for example in the mid-1970s, when the East-Central State government asked him to make recommendations for legislation on ‘traditional rulers’ in the Igbo-speaking areas, and more recently for Ohaneze, a pan-Igbo ethno-political organization. It would be hard to over-rate Afigbo's influence on today's thinking about Igbo history.

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Igbo culture and tradition, culture and tradition.

Ndi Igbo (The Igbo People)

The Igbos in Nigeria geographically, is located in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria and are found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Rivers State. The Igbo language is predominant throughout these areas, although Nigerian English (the national language) is spoken as well. Prominent towns and cities in Igboland include Awka, Aba, Owerri, Enugu (considered the 'Igbo capital'), Onitsha, Abakaliki, Afikpo, Agbor, Nsukka, Orlu, Okigwe, Umuahia, Asaba and Port Harcourt among others. There is a significant number of Igbo people found in other parts of the world such as in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti,[ Barbados, the United States,[ Belize[and Trinidad and Tobago, among others. For example, The word Bim, a colloquial term for Barbados, was commonly used among enslaved Barbadians (Bajans). This word is said to have derived from bi mu in the Igbo language (or bem, Ndi bem, Nwanyi ibem or Nwoke ibem, which means "My people"), A section of Belize City was named Eboe Town after its Igbo inhabitants. In the United States the Igbo are found in the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama where they remained the largest single group of Africans after the slave trade.

South-Eastern Nigeria, which is inhabited primarily by the Igbos, is the most densely populated area in Nigeria, and possibly in all of Africa. Politically, the Igbos are a politically fragmented and diverse group, with numerous divisions due to geographic differences; various subgroups delineated following umunna, clans, lineages, and village affiliations. There is no centralized chieftaincy, hereditary aristocracy, or kingship customs, as found in Hausa and in Yoruba lands. Instead, the responsibility of leadership falls on the village councils, which include the heads of lineages, elders, titled men, men who have established themselves in leadership through wisdom, philanthropy, wealth within the community. At the mantle of the leadership are Igwes/Obi/Ezeuzu and their cabinet chiefs as the case may be. It is possible for an Igbo man, through personal success, to become the nominal leader of the council.

Western Civilization: The first contact between Igboland and Europe came in the mid-fifteenth century with the arrival of the Portuguese. From 1434-1807. The Niger coast acted as a contact point between African and European traders, beginning with the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the English. At this stage there was an emphasis on trade rather than empire building, in this case the trade consisting primarily of Igbo slaves. With the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 came a new trading era, concentrating on industry (palm products, timber, elephant tusks and spices). At this point the British began to combine aggressive trading with aggressive imperialism. They saw the Igbo hinterland as productive, and refused to be confined to the coast. In 1900 the area that had been administered by the British Niger Company became the Protectorate on Southern Nigeria, also incorporating what had been called the Niger Coast Protectorate. Control of this area then passed from the British Foreign Office to the Colonial Office. Long before it had officially been conquered, Igboland was being treated as a British colony. Between 1900 and 1914 (when Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated) there had been twenty-one British military expeditions into Igboland. In 1928 for the first time in their history, Igbo men were made to pay tax – they were a subject people. The rumors that the Igbo women were being assessed for taxation, sparked off the 1929 Aba Riots, a massive revolt of women never encountered before in Igbo history.

IGBO CULTURE/TRADITION AND WAY OF LIFE

Title Holding is an enviable Position In Igbo Land; Igbo title holders hold a highly respected position in the Igbo community and all over the world, partly because of their accomplishments and capabilities. Though never revered as kings, they often performed special functions given to them by the communities and such assemblies. They are seen as part of the customary and governing system in the umunna setting and in the entire communities. This way of governing was immensely different from most other communities of Western Africa, and only shared by the Ewe of Ghana. Umunna are a form of patrilineage maintained by the Igbos. Law starts with the Umunna which is a male line of descent from a founding ancestor (who the line is sometimes named after) with groups of compounds containing closely related families headed by the eldest male member. The Umunna can be seen as the most important pillar of Igbo society. The Igbos have a very rich culture comprising peculiar ways of dressing, dancing, respect for elders and the gods of the land to food, music, and language dialects. Because of their various subgroups, the variety of their culture is heightened further.

KOLANUT (OJI)

Added to being used in soft-drinks, energy drinks and its chewing by laborers to diminish hunger and fatigue, Kolanut has sacred significance in Igboland and among the Igbos. It symbolizes love, acceptance, and blessings. Usually presented to welcome guests both at the home of a traditionalist or at events; once the 5-centimetre nut is blessed with incantations to the gods/God as religion permits, the visitors will feel assured that they are welcome and accepted with open hearts by the host/hosts. It is believed that Kolanut does not understand any other language except Igbo (Oji anaghi anu asusu ozo, ma obughi Igbo), hence the incantation following the breaking of Kolanut must be in Igbo language. When Kola is presented, the guest or representative usually, the eldest among the guests will acknowledge the presentation by briefly touching the plate with his right hand, before it is shown to less senior members and so forth, until most members have taken a glimpse of the plate. After that, the host gets the plate returned from the visitor(s) and takes one of the kola nuts and gives it to the visitor saying: ‘Öjï rue ulo, O kwue ebe O si bia.’‘ When the Kolanut reaches home, it will tell where it came from.’ Usually, the oldest man among the host audience is asked to bless kolanuts. He will take one of the nuts in his right hand and make a blessing, incantation, prayer in Igbo language; most at times, filled with proverbs and idiomatic expressions. Following is a good example: ‘Onye wetara oji, wetara ndu’ (He who brings Kolanut, brought life) ‘Ihe obula dï mma onye n’achö, ö ga-enweta ya’ (Your thoughts of good will be granted you) ‘O biara gaa igbu gi, ga kwa egbu onwe ya’ (Any who plans to kill you, will kill him/herself). I ga adi ndu were zua umu gi, i zusi kwaa ha, ha ga azu kwa gi’ (You will live to train your children, and after, they will not forget you; they will take care of you at your old age) Subsequently, the presenter breaks the kolanut with his hands or knife and passes on to a younger male among them to break into small parts and distribute to all. If in an event, the event will begin after the kolanut breaking ceremony, if at a home, the visitors will now explain the purpose of their visit, while the kola parts are distributed to the people. Occasionally, kolanut is accompanied with palm wine, (nkwu or ngwo), garden eggs and chilli peanut butter (ose oji).

The Igbo attaches great importance to the number/divisional of parts Kolanut. The more division, the more prosperity it gives to its presenter and visitors. If the nut yields only to two parts, it signifies ’bad omen’; portraying that the presenter has a sinister motive behind the kola. Consequently, Kolanuts with only two parts are avoided, therefore the purple/reddish colored nuts, cola acuminata are preferred over its greyish counterpart, the cola nitida, as the latter one only breaks up in twos. Kolanut that breakd into ‘four parts’ is said to coincide with the four market days of the Igbo week (Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwor). These of course, are the days of the market in Igbo land and are used to count weeks in Igbo. They are also the most common last names in Igbo land today. Five or more parts mean prosperity for the family/guests. In some parts of Igboland, when the kola breaks into six, a separate celebration is required and sometimes slaughtering of a goat to commemorates the good omen represented by the nut.  

Kolanut must be presented with two hands at the same time. It is also important to note that Kolanut can only be presented and blessed by men. Among women, the youngest man even if he is ‘one day old’ will perform the rites of breaking kolanut, and also as the kola tree is associated with man, only men can climb and pluck the kola tree.

Masking is one of the most common arts in Igbo land and is linked strongly with Igbo traditional music and religion. A mask can be made of wood or fabric, along with other materials including iron, raffia, fabrics, and vegetation. Masks have a variety of uses, mainly in social satires, religious rituals, secret society initiations such as the Ekpe, iba mmonwu, amanwulu society and akwam ozu (burial ceremony), as well as iri ji ohuu (new yam festival), public festivals, which now include Christmas Celebrations, and the popular ‘Imoka’ celebrated by the Awka people. Different masquerade are designed to reflect peculiar cultures and interests of each community. There is Agbogho Mmuo (Maiden spirit) masks of the Northern Igbo which represent the spirits of deceased maidens and their mothers with masks symbolizing beauty). Others are Izaga; very tall about 12ft-25ft and with tiny wooden legs. The Awka community are known for their Iga, Ayolo, and ukwuaju, seen at ’Egwu Imo Awka’. Also to celebrate the deaths prominent people and to ensure the continuity and well-being of the community by the Awkas are Okwo mma, Agaba, Idu, Oshiashili, and Ijele masks seen on rare occasions such as the death of a prominent figure in the community.

The Igbo people have a musical style into which they incorporate various percussional instruments such as udu, which is essentially designed from a clay jug; ekwe, formed from a hollowed log; and the ogene, a hand bell designed from forged iron. Other instruments include opi, a wind instrument similar to the flute, odu enyi, carved out of elephant tusk igba, and ichaka. Popular musical form among the Igbos are ‘egwu-ekpili’ and ‘Highlife’. A widely popular musical genre in West Africa, Highlife is a fusion of jazz and traditional folklore. The modern Igbo Highlife is seen in the works of Dr Sir Warrior, Oliver De Coque, Bright Chimezie, Moroco Nwamaduka, and Chief Osita Osadebe., who were among the most popular Igbo Highlife musicians of the 20th century.

Each community is known for a peculiar dance step. The Anambra, Enugu and Eboni are known for their regalia shoulder movement, while the Abias and Imos will mesmerize every occasion with their waist ‘rigling’ move. The best, perhaps, is the Atilogwu dance troops. These performances include acrobatic stunts such as high kicks, jumps, and cartwheels, with each rhythm from the traditional instruments indicating a movement to the dancer.

After a death, the body of a prominent member of the community is placed on a stool in a sitting posture and is clothed in the deceased's finest garments. Animal sacrifices may be offered to them and they can be well perfumed. Burial usually follows within 24 hours of death. This observation, though very remarkable, is fading out quick. The head of a home and titled men are usually buried beneath the floor of their main house (Obi or living room). Itg is also important to note that types of death or the way someone dies, warrant how the person will be buried. This is affected by an individual's age, gender and status in the society. For example, children are buried in hiding and out of sight, their burials usually take place in the early mornings and late nights. A simple untitled man is buried in front of his house and a simple mother including one who does not give her husband a male child or no child is buried in her place of origin in a garden or a farm-area that belonged to her father. It is believed wicked people die shameful deaths (with swollen gait) in the hand of the god of the community and are thrown into evil forest by non-indigenes of the land. Presently, majority of the Igbos bury their dead in the western way, although it is not uncommon for burials to be practiced in the traditional Igbo ways.

The process of marrying usually involves asking the young woman's consent, introducing the woman to the man's family and the same for the man to the woman's family, testing the bride's character, checking the woman's family background and paying the brides dowry. Sometimes marriages had been arranged from birth through negotiation of the two families. Following the Igbo culture, marriage does not hold until dowry and traditional rites are performed, otherwise, the relationship is described as ili-enyi (illicit relationship or friendship). Such couple are looked down in the society. In most parts, children born out of such relationship are described as bastards and are not accepted into the folds of the family of the man. In the past, many Igbo men practiced polygamy, (still practiced today, but gradually fading out). The polygamous family is made up of one man and two or more wives and their children. Men sometimes married multiple wives for economic reasons in other to have enough hands to help with farming, which was a major source of economy in the then world. Western education, Christianity and civil marriages have changed the Igbo family since colonization. Igbo people now tend to enter monogamous courtships and create nuclear families. Today, western marriage customs, such as wedding in church and court marriage is added after traditional marriage.

Traditionally, the attire of the Igbo generally consists of little clothing as the purpose of clothing originally was to conceal private parts, although elders were fully clothed. Children were usually nude from birth until they reach puberty status (the time when they were considered to have something to hide) but sometimes ornaments such as beads were worn around the waist for spiritual reasons. Uli body art (western tattoos) was used to decorate both men and women in the form of lines forming patterns and shapes on the body. Women traditionally carry their babies on their backs with a strip of clothing binding the two with a knot at her chest, a practice used by many ethnic groups across Africa. This method has been modernized in the form of the child carrier. In most cases Igbo women did not cover their breast areas. Maidens usually wore a short wrapper with beads around their waist and other ornaments such as necklaces and beads. Both men and women wore wrappers. Men would wear loin cloths that wrapped round their waist and between their legs to be fastened at their backs. Today, traditional wear for the men include red cap or black round cap and free short or long cut top and pant or wrapper. Lion head (isi agu) is very popular among the men. Women wears comprise george wrapper and lace top, hollandaise and top, and a few others from the west.

Food and Iri-Ji or Iwa ji (New Yam Festival):

The Igbos, although of several communities with some diversities, have one festival in common and that is New Yam Festival. The yam is very important to the Igbos as a staple crop. New yam festival, is held for the harvesting of the yam. During the festival, yam is eaten throughout the communities as celebration. Yam tubers are shown off by individuals as a sign of success and wealth. Today, rice and other foods such as cassava, garri, maize and plantains are popular. Soups or stews are included in a typical meal, prepared with a vegetable (such as okra, of which the word derives from the Igbo language, Okwuru) to which pieces of fish, chicken, beef, or goat meat are added. Palm wine is a popular alcoholic beverage among the Igbo.

The Igbos, 1970 to present

After the Nigerian–Biafran War, Igboland was devastated. Many hospitals, schools, and homes were completely destroyed in the war. In addition to the loss of savings, many Igbo people found themselves discriminated against by other ethnic groups and the new non-Igbo federal government. Some Igbo subgroups, such as the Ikwerre, started disassociating themselves from the larger Igbo population after the war. The post-war era saw the changing of names of both people and places to non-Igbo sounding words such as the changing of the name of the town of Igbuzo to the Anglicized Ibusa. Due to the discrimination, many Igbo had trouble finding employment, and the Igbo became one of the poorest ethnic groups in Nigeria during the early 1970s. Igboland was gradually rebuilt over a period of twenty years and the economy was again prospering due to the rise of the petroleum industry in the adjacent Niger Delta region. This led to new factories being set up in southern Nigeria. Many Igbo people eventually took government positions,[ although many were engaged in private business and constituted and still constitute the bulk of Nigerian informal economy. Recently, there has been a wave of Igbo immigration to other African countries including Europe, the Americas and South Africa.

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Guest Essay

A.I.-Generated Garbage Is Polluting Our Culture

By Erik Hoel

Mr. Hoel is a neuroscientist and novelist and the author of The Intrinsic Perspective newsletter.

Increasingly, mounds of synthetic A.I.-generated outputs drift across our feeds and our searches. The stakes go far beyond what’s on our screens. The entire culture is becoming affected by A.I.’s runoff, an insidious creep into our most important institutions.

Consider science. Right after the blockbuster release of GPT-4, the latest artificial intelligence model from OpenAI and one of the most advanced in existence, the language of scientific research began to mutate. Especially within the field of A.I. itself.

Adjectives associated with A.I.-generated text have increased in peer reviews of scientific papers about A.I.

Frequency of adjectives per one million words

Commendable

A study published this month examined scientists’ peer reviews — researchers’ official pronouncements on others’ work that form the bedrock of scientific progress — across a number of high-profile and prestigious scientific conferences studying A.I. At one such conference, those peer reviews used the word “meticulous” more than 34 times as often as reviews did the previous year. Use of “commendable” was around 10 times as frequent, and “intricate,” 11 times. Other major conferences showed similar patterns.

Such phrasings are, of course, some of the favorite buzzwords of modern large language models like ChatGPT. In other words, significant numbers of researchers at A.I. conferences were caught handing their peer review of others’ work over to A.I. — or, at minimum, writing them with lots of A.I. assistance. And the closer to the deadline the submitted reviews were received, the more A.I. usage was found in them.

If this makes you uncomfortable — especially given A.I.’s current unreliability — or if you think that maybe it shouldn’t be A.I.s reviewing science but the scientists themselves, those feelings highlight the paradox at the core of this technology: It’s unclear what the ethical line is between scam and regular usage. Some A.I.-generated scams are easy to identify, like the medical journal paper featuring a cartoon rat sporting enormous genitalia. Many others are more insidious, like the mislabeled and hallucinated regulatory pathway described in that same paper — a paper that was peer reviewed as well (perhaps, one might speculate, by another A.I.?).

What about when A.I. is used in one of its intended ways — to assist with writing? Recently, there was an uproar when it became obvious that simple searches of scientific databases returned phrases like “As an A.I. language model” in places where authors relying on A.I. had forgotten to cover their tracks. If the same authors had simply deleted those accidental watermarks, would their use of A.I. to write their papers have been fine?

What’s going on in science is a microcosm of a much bigger problem. Post on social media? Any viral post on X now almost certainly includes A.I.-generated replies, from summaries of the original post to reactions written in ChatGPT’s bland Wikipedia-voice, all to farm for follows. Instagram is filling up with A.I.-generated models, Spotify with A.I.-generated songs. Publish a book? Soon after, on Amazon there will often appear A.I.-generated “workbooks” for sale that supposedly accompany your book (which are incorrect in their content; I know because this happened to me). Top Google search results are now often A.I.-generated images or articles. Major media outlets like Sports Illustrated have been creating A.I.-generated articles attributed to equally fake author profiles. Marketers who sell search engine optimization methods openly brag about using A.I. to create thousands of spammed articles to steal traffic from competitors.

Then there is the growing use of generative A.I. to scale the creation of cheap synthetic videos for children on YouTube. Some example outputs are Lovecraftian horrors, like music videos about parrots in which the birds have eyes within eyes, beaks within beaks, morphing unfathomably while singing in an artificial voice, “The parrot in the tree says hello, hello!” The narratives make no sense, characters appear and disappear randomly, and basic facts like the names of shapes are wrong. After I identified a number of such suspicious channels on my newsletter, The Intrinsic Perspective, Wired found evidence of generative A.I. use in the production pipelines of some accounts with hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers.

As a neuroscientist, this worries me. Isn’t it possible that human culture contains within it cognitive micronutrients — things like cohesive sentences, narrations and character continuity — that developing brains need? Einstein supposedly said : “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” But what happens when a toddler is consuming mostly A.I.-generated dream-slop? We find ourselves in the midst of a vast developmental experiment.

There’s so much synthetic garbage on the internet now that A.I. companies and researchers are themselves worried, not about the health of the culture, but about what’s going to happen with their models. As A.I. capabilities ramped up in 2022, I wrote on the risk of culture’s becoming so inundated with A.I. creations that when future A.I.s are trained, the previous A.I. output will leak into the training set, leading to a future of copies of copies of copies, as content became ever more stereotyped and predictable. In 2023 researchers introduced a technical term for how this risk affected A.I. training: model collapse . In a way, we and these companies are in the same boat, paddling through the same sludge streaming into our cultural ocean.

With that unpleasant analogy in mind, it’s worth looking to what is arguably the clearest historical analogy for our current situation: the environmental movement and climate change. For just as companies and individuals were driven to pollute by the inexorable economics of it, so, too, is A.I.’s cultural pollution driven by a rational decision to fill the internet’s voracious appetite for content as cheaply as possible. While environmental problems are nowhere near solved, there has been undeniable progress that has kept our cities mostly free of smog and our lakes mostly free of sewage. How?

Before any specific policy solution was the acknowledgment that environmental pollution was a problem in need of outside legislation. Influential to this view was a perspective developed in 1968 by Garrett Hardin, a biologist and ecologist. Dr. Hardin emphasized that the problem of pollution was driven by people acting in their own interest, and that therefore “we are locked into a system of ‘fouling our own nest,’ so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free-enterprisers.” He summed up the problem as a “tragedy of the commons.” This framing was instrumental for the environmental movement, which would come to rely on government regulation to do what companies alone could or would not.

Once again we find ourselves enacting a tragedy of the commons: short-term economic self-interest encourages using cheap A.I. content to maximize clicks and views, which in turn pollutes our culture and even weakens our grasp on reality. And so far, major A.I. companies are refusing to pursue advanced ways to identify A.I.’s handiwork — which they could do by adding subtle statistical patterns hidden in word use or in the pixels of images.

A common justification for inaction is that human editors can always fiddle around with whatever patterns are used if they know enough. Yet many of the issues we’re experiencing are not caused by motivated and technically skilled malicious actors; they’re caused mostly by regular users’ not adhering to a line of ethical use so fine as to be nigh nonexistent. Most would be uninterested in advanced countermeasures to statistical patterns enforced into outputs that should, ideally, mark them as A.I.-generated.

That’s why the independent researchers were able to detect A.I. outputs in the peer review system with surprisingly high accuracy: They actually tried. Similarly, right now teachers across the nation have created home-brewed output-side detection methods , like adding hidden requests for patterns of word use to essay prompts that appear only when copied and pasted.

In particular, A.I. companies appear opposed to any patterns baked into their output that can improve A.I.-detection efforts to reasonable levels, perhaps because they fear that enforcing such patterns might interfere with the model’s performance by constraining its outputs too much — although there is no current evidence this is a risk. Despite public pledges to develop more advanced watermarking, it’s increasingly clear that the companies are dragging their feet because it goes against the A.I. industry’s bottom line to have detectable products.

To deal with this corporate refusal to act we need the equivalent of a Clean Air Act: a Clean Internet Act. Perhaps the simplest solution would be to legislatively force advanced watermarking intrinsic to generated outputs, like patterns not easily removable. Just as the 20th century required extensive interventions to protect the shared environment, the 21st century is going to require extensive interventions to protect a different, but equally critical, common resource, one we haven’t noticed up until now since it was never under threat: our shared human culture.

Erik Hoel is a neuroscientist, a novelist and the author of The Intrinsic Perspective newsletter.

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