Urhobo Historical Society
|
Studies
in Urhobo Culture
Edited by Peter P. Ekeh
About this Book
Studies in Urhobo
Culture offers diverse perspectives on the culture of the Urhobo
people of Nigeria�s
Niger
Delta. They include descriptive and analytical essays on naming
traditions and
practices of the Urhobo and their traditional religious beliefs and
values. An
in-depth account is given of a nineteenth century monotheistic
religious
movement, called Igbe. Its doctrine was claimed to have been divinely
revealed
to its founder, Ubiesha Etakpo of Uhwokori. This religious movement is
examined
in the context of hostile reactions from British colonial authorities
to its
explosive influences in Warri and Benin
Provinces of colonial Nigeria.
Other chapters of this book provide
important insights into
Urhobo traditions of marriage and artistic productions. A treatment of
Urhobo
traditional poetry and a selection of poems in English with Urhobo
themes yield
clues on intellectual aspects of Urhobo culture. Thoughtful comments on
the nature
of Urhobo language, including a revealing analysis of an esoteric
sub-language
of divination, strongly place Urhobo culture in the midst of Edoid
complex of
languages and cultures. Three chapters on the geography of Urhoboland
and
agricultural practices of the Urhobo people yield a good understanding
of the
physical environment of the Urhobo and their tough tropical
surroundings.
Studies in Urhobo
Culture tackles challenges that confront Urhobo culture. Indeed,
Urhobo
food and dress subcultures have already accommodated pervasive
influences of
the Atlantic world in which the Urhobo have participated for several
centuries.
Now, the urgent global problem of language endangerment, which imperils
small
and medium languages in Africa,
threatens to
weaken the hold of Urhobo language and culture on younger generations
of the
Urhobo people. Urhobo language is endangered by an invasion from
English
language and Pidgin English that followed from the era of British
imperialism
and its aftermath. An absorbing piece of folk history of the murderous
reaction
of an impotent husband to his humiliation by the extended family gives
a clue
of the expansive claims of kinship on individuals in Urhobo culture.
A unique attribute of this book is that
its chapters have
resulted largely from pioneering work of analyzing their culture by
native
bearers of Urhobo culture. Unlike other major ethnic cultures in Nigeria,
which
were studied by Western anthropologists and linguists in the nineteenth
and
twentieth centuries, Urhobo language and culture did not benefit from
such investigations
by Western scholars. The responsibility for studying Urhobo language
and
culture has thus fallen for the most part on those among the Urhobo who
have
acquired skills and the methodology for examining their own culture.
This
compendium is a handsome result of these efforts.