Rationale and Purposes of Urhobo Historical Society And Editorial Policy of Its Web Sites

Urhobo Historical Society
P. O. Box 1454
Buffalo, New York 14226
U.S.A.
Web sites: http://www.waado.org/Contents.html;
http://www.urhobo.kinsfolk.com/
Email: UrhoboHistory@waado.org; Fax: (707) 276-2340

RATIONALE
and
PURPOSES OF ORGANIZATION

Inaugurated on August 29, 1999, in New York City, USA, the dominant rationale for the structures and operations of Urhobo Historical Society is to serve and promote Urhobo history and culture. Urhobo is the largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria’s Western Niger Delta. Its history and culture are intertwined with those of Urhobo’s ethnic neighbors in this region. Urhobo’s destiny is also being shaped by environmental problems that confront the entirety of the Niger Delta. In serving Urhobo history and culture, therefore, our efforts will include studying and analyzing Urhobo’s relationships with its neighbors and also studying and analyzing the environmental problems of the Niger Delta.

Our purposes have been shaped by such rationale, as follows:

(1) Urhobo Historical Society uses its resources (especially its two web sites http://www.waado.org/Contents.html and http://www.urhobo.kinsfolk.com/) to study and promote all aspects of Urhobo history and culture, including:

probing the history and experiences of the Urhobo during British colonial rule in Nigeria;
studying the inter-ethnic relations of the Western Niger Delta in order to understand the place and role of Urhobos in the history of the region and in order to find ways of enhancing good relations among the ethnic nationalities of the region;
offering a variety of perspectives and publications on petroleum oil exploration in the Niger Delta and the consequent environmental degradation of its lands; and
serving the needs of other Urhobo organizations that are engaged in specialized aspects of Urhobo culture but have no resources to promote their activities in the world wide web.

(2) Urhobo Historical Society conducts Annual Conferences and Meetings that provide the media and platforms for organizing the Society's activities and for enacting and reviewing its policies by:

bringing together intellectuals and scholars, both Urhobos and others, who are interested in advancing the study of Urhobo history and culture, and
providing the occasion for its Annual General Meetings at which its members, exercising the Society's supreme authority, approve policies, ratify the actions of the Editorial and Management Committee [EMC], and give the EMC directions for the future.

(3) Urhobo Historical Society provides current information and special features on Urhobo history and culture in its daily email services to its members and others who are interested in receiving information from the Society.

EDITORIAL POLICY

The supreme aim of Urhobo Historical Society is to create a movement that will promote the preservation of historical records and the writing of diverse historical experiences among the Urhobo. Unlike some of their neighbours, the Urhobo do not record their histories in terms of the reigns and achievements of kings. The Urhobo story is ultimately a record of multiplex achievements involving ordinary people who have risen to make differences in the lives of their communities.

Recording such a history is a much greater undertaking than that involved in chronicling the glories of kings and the great deeds of aristocratic families that we have inherited from the manners of imperial historiography. Imitation of such alien European imperial methods of history-writing has led to the diminution of the significance attached to the achievements by ordinary individuals in traditional historiography in several African societies. To avoid such pitfalls, the methodology of Urhobo history clearly calls for a more decentralized undertaking. We accordingly seek to involve all grades of people in telling and recording the Urhobo historical experience. It is a story that sometimes picks up local hues reflecting the twenty-two subcultures of Urhoboland. We will honour those who have shaped such local communities along with others who, like the great Mukoro Mowoe, have had a pan-Urhobo impact.

We welcome documents that have historical relevance for pan-Urhobo history and for local history. While we will receive printed documents, we prefer to acquire such material, whenever it is possible, in an electronic format. In any case, we encourage those privileged to know the whereabouts of significant material on Urhobo history and culture to write to us at editor@waado.org. We also encourage individuals to embark on fresh efforts that are aimed at elucidating any aspects of Urhobo history and culture.

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