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Igbo Culture

712 Words3 Pages

Some people believe that a person stripped of their culture, is a person that is not stripped from their soul. However, some historical figures argue that a person stripped of their native culture is a person stripped of their soul. Taking someone’s culture, affects their entire personality and strips them of their soul.
“Culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.” Culture is a very important part of Umofia, the village where Okonkwo lived, in Nigeria. While the European men were trying to come in and take over Umofia, they did not take the time to …show more content…

One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else one could include, and one must be firm in cutting out the details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger” (Achebe 209). Colonization has a negative effect on the people of the Igbo culture. When the Europeans came into the Africa they did not understand any of the Igbo culture. The “white men” wanted to “pacify the primitive people”, and they did not understand nor appreciate the richness of the Igbo culture and how well Okonkwo represents the older generation of the Igbo culture. The European people also misunderstand the depth of Okonkwo, so in return they think Okonkwo only deserves a paragraph in the book that the District Commissioner is …show more content…

"In doing so, they tried to replace our fundamental values like language and dressing mode and our way of life. Their efforts took its toll on our psyche and in the way we look at ourselves.”’ To the European men, the Igbo culture was misunderstood, and stupid. The people of Umofia were basically forced to change their language, clothes, and their way of life. However, the “white men” thought they were doing a good thing for Africa, but in return it made the African people despise the European

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