The effects of colonialism was immensely visible in the Igbo society. As the white men began to move inward of the native's land, their cultural beliefs were alternated. Some Examples of this were noticeable in all aspects of the Igbo people's lives, in their religion, family life, children, and the dead. Many of the Igboians were troubled by the colonialism expanding in their society, but in the end they were incapable of doing anything to overturn the modifications that had already taken place in their society.
As the Englander’s started to colonize in Igbo society, there were a few habitants or natives who repelled it, the others just felt that the English would come and go, but they were mistaking. Later, the English began to introduce “white man's religion." This new religion was complete the opposite from what the Igbo citizens were adapted to. Christianity was
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rather appealing to many of the natives and a huge portion of them turned converted and took a different path than that of loved ones. They did this to become a member of this new religion. Before this, the natives had been very superstitious, but as the new religion flooded over the people, their superstitions began to lessen and their previous acceptance in believing in a polytheistic religion (where multiply gods were worshipped) had lessened or diminished completely. Also, as many of the natives ran to the new Christian faith, many close family connections were torn apart. Before colonialism ever set foot, family was a significant thing in the Igbo society. It was not frequent that a father would give his son away for no reason, but because of the white foreigners coming in and teaching a new faith, many families were to give up their sons, daughters, and even some men were forced to give up their many of their wives they had in some cases. The new religion also changed the way certain traditions took place in the Igbo society. A case of this would be when one of the newly converted Christians killed the highly recognized snake in the Igbo society. In my opinion, the biggest change that colonialism had on the Igbo society was the way in which their dead and infants were treated. In the traditional society, those who committed suicide were thrown into the Evil Forest, and if you had twins they were thrown in the evil forest left to die. As Christianity began to expand the converts took the twins who were thrown in the Evil Forest were given homes. Also, many of those who had twins or children who died while still infants were was looked as something that can’t be changed and must be accepted. Overall, the colonialism of the Igbo society affected them in many different ways. Each aspect of their lives and culture were consumed by English's belief systems. Whether it was their religion, family life, children, or their dead, the white's beliefs and systematic way of life took over the traditional systems and beliefs. To the English men colonization is good since it expands their culture, religion, and traditions as well as the Igbo natives who converted view colonization as good since they view it as there salvation from previously worshipping false gods. On the other hand, the Igbo natives who had stuck with their old traditions and way of life, they view colonization as something that was satanic and misleading. Colonization, greed and the mistreatment of human people happens all the time in our current day life. It is very heartbreaking, but it’s true that we are currently living in one of the biggest powers of imperialism ever. In Iraq for instance, we left Sadam in Iraq during the first gulf war for a reason. We had the capability and the resources to do exactly what we are doing now back then. It is all about the oil. Technology has grown so much that we now torture, cruelty and near slavery. This comes shows that the colonizers would do whatever it took including taking over the people and using them as `near slaves' for their own personal benefits. The wickedness of imperialism is shown strongly in this quote “As Marlow travels from the outer station to the central station and finally up the river to the inner station, he encounters scenes of torture, cruelty and near slavery”. This shows that the colonizers would do anything it took including taking over people and using them as `near slaves' for their own personal benefits and how common it was at the time. The Africans were treated is said well in a quote "the men who work for the company describe what they do as `trade' and their treatment of native Africans is part of a benevolent project of civilization”. This is a precisely honest statement which shows that the way the colonizers treated the African was more like slaves rather than people. In the poem “In which the Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own” talks about schoolgirl who seemed to stripped from her cultural identity by her instructor who is abusing her parental and somewhat god like powers that she has by altering the story she is telling her students about.
This is shown the quote “I was nearly an English child. I could list the English Kings. I could name the famous battles. I was learning to recognize God’s grace in history” This shows how the teacher is able to dominate the listeners sort of like when you like in Colonialism and Imperialism. Since the teacher is able to control the situation and no one has no say in it. The speaker tries to repel or fight back the situation by telling accounts of her personal background by saying “where exactly was my old house? Its brass One and Seven. Its flight of granite steps. Its lilac tree whose scent stayed under your fingernails for days.” In this poem it underlines the negative effects that she confronts in “legends”. Since the power given to whom is telling the story is massive and it can do a lot of damage if
abused.
While reading the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there were big differences within the roles of men and women in the Igbo culture, but now there are even bigger differences between them and how they used to be. Both women and men are important in the Igbo culture, mainly because each gender has a specific value. Women in their culture have always been seen as caregivers and nurturing to children. They are expected to cook and clean, and they are expected to plan parties and feasts because their husband asks them to. Men, however, primarily have to farm, hunt, fight as warriors, and run the household with a strong hand; the Igbo culture even allows men to beat their wives if they
...taken up his religion also say that our customs bad.” Christianity is destroying and guiding two different societies. It guides the people that don’t believe in Christianity to convert because converts who once had the same beliefs as them are saying that theirs customs are bad. This causes Ibo people to convert to Christianity.Which guides the Christian society into better directions because they are gaining more converts. At the same time this destroys the Igbo religion because they are losing their members to the Christian society.
During post colonial times men and women in the Igbo society had several different roles in the household, the tribe, and in the fields. The male and female roles in the Igbo tribe are determined by many different things throughout the tribe. Genders help determine what that person will be doing. Men and women both have very important roles in the household, tribe, and fields. The women in the Igbo tribe are more in charge of the children, the cooking and the cleaning and the males are in charge of the fields and taking care of the family. The males are the more incharge gender within the tribe and the women must obey everything that the male wants.
The question of civilization is central to the conflict between the Igbo and the British. The idea that the British were responsible for "civilizing" and converting the natives on other continents because they were “savages” (according to the colonizers). Since Igbo societies were structured and functioned differently from societies in Europe, they were deemed as uncivilized. The definition of the civilized is a place or a group of people that have social, cultural, and moral development in their society. By the definition of civilized, the Igbo people are civilized because they have evidence of social, cultural, and moral development in their specific society.
Religion and the Igbo People The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). Opposing this force for good is agbara, meaning spirit or supernatural being. In some situations people are referred to as agbara in describing an almost impossible feat performed by them. In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara.
Colonialism has plagued indigenous people worldwide and has spelled disaster for countless cultures, languages, and traditions. Over the past 500 years there have been different phases of colonization in Africa as well as other various parts of earth. There were many reasons behind exploration and colonization including economic and tactical reasons, religion, and prestige. Colonialism has shaped the contemporary understanding of individuals from Niger as well as other parts of Africa and other places too, like the Chambri and Tlingit people; mainly in economics. Because of the colonial past of so many cultures, numerous indigenous people today face many issues.
To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
In conclusion, it is clear that the coming of Christianity to Africa was not greeted with open arms. While it granted Africans the chance to acquire new teachings, it also insinuated itself within politics, family, and traditions, utterly destroying them from the inside out. Having been detailed within novels by Achebe, Oyono, and Thiong’o, it is easy to see how these “pacifying” roles eventually led to a total conquest for all of Africa.
As you can see, having a social structure has its advantages and its disadvantages. The social structure promoted centralization, division of labor, a surplus of food, individual huts, and a communal society, while it also promotes separation between males, females and the elderly. Although the social structure played an essential role in balancing life in the society, it played a more significant role in the demise of the Igbo community. Because of their rigid structure, the people isolated the osu, or the outcasts, outside their society. Due to their actions, this led the osu to convert to the new religion. The Igbo people were not able to cooperate with the new religion that was imposed upon them and eventually led to the rise of disunity.
Throughout the poem two phrases are repeated many times, emphasizing their importance, and giving them more power. As they are repeated the reader is shown the indifference of the narrator when he says, "First they came for the ..." "and I did not speak out Because I was not a..." (Niemöller, 1-6). These phrases and their interchangeable endings show how the narrator does not care who is facing troubles as long as it is not them. This indifference is detrimental because it shows a lack of empathy and cares for others in the narrator. Niemöller's repetition of these two phrases during his poem highlights the narrator's consistent disregard for people different than them. A shift in the pattern of thinking of the narrator is seen when he says, "Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." (Niemöller, 7). After repeatedly ignoring the injustices against others the narrator realizes their mistake when they find themself in the same situation as the people they had previously ignored. This change in how the narrator thinks shows how their lack of action to help others face their injustices was done so partly in ignorance. The narrator had not yet realized that everyone faces struggles at a point during their lives, and that the only way to get through them is by supporting and having the support of
When the white man enters the village, the Igbo villagers feel threatened. The villagers, gathered around a stream, talk about how the white man despise of the Igbo people, “ they want to ruin us. They will not allow us into the markets,” (140). The Christian missionaries are destroying the society because the Igbo villagers no longer feel welcome in places of everyday activity and interaction. The missionaries also destroy the Igbo society by demolishing family relationships. The disfigured father-son relationship of Okonkwo and Nwoye is an example of how many families are damaged by the Christian missionaries. The Christian religion drives Nwoye to contradict with is own Igbo beliefs and inflict a hatred towards his father, “ he was happy to leave his father. He would return later to his mother and his brother and sisters and convert them to the new faith,” (132). Christianity and the Christian missionaries destroy the society as they construct conflict between family affairs, leaving the society in an environment of complication.
http://moodle.oakland.k12.mi.us/internationalacademy/pluginfile.php?file=%2F68302%2Fmod _ folder%2Fcontent%2F0%2FAfrica%20Essay%2FAchebe%20Interview%20An%20African%2 20Voice.docx&forcedownload=1>. Arinze, Francis A., and Kalu Ogbu. The "Igbo Religion" www.ic.galegroup.com.
The constant change within the society is inevitable in every culture, ranging from traditional sense of social values to the law and condition of the land that people needs to obey by as time when on. And these changes within the culture can have significant impact on the perspective of the whole community and the mindset of an individual. We can see this in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” as the old Igbo culture clashing with the Missionaries’s ideals from the western world that leads to the dividing of the two culture and create this social barrier between them as one culture would often contradict with the other. This changes unfold to the reader through the eyes of the main character of the story, Okonkwo.
Nigeria had resources that weren't available anywhere else, and British wanted to use these resources to make The 3 G’s of "God, glory, and gold" was very important to the development of Nigeria (Adebajo 2013). Through the British colonization, more people in Africa were converting to Christianity. Later, any of them became missionaries influencing others to do the same. Unfortunately, as Christianity spread, traditional beliefs suffered, which led a rift between new Christians and Muslims.
As the English began to colonize the Igbo society, there were few natives who opposed it, others just felt that the English would come and go, but they were wrong. Soon, the English began to introduce "white man's religion." This new religion was completely the opposite of what the natives were accustomed to. Christianity was rather intriguing to many of the natives and many of them turned away from their families and everything they were to become a member of this new religion. Before this, the natives had been very superstitious, but as their new religion flooded over the peoples, their superstition began to lessen and their belief in the many gods they had previously believed in.