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Imperialism In Igbo Society

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Since 1880s up to the 1890s was period of ‘scramble for Africa’. It was fundamental period to the age of imperialism where the European became greedy for natural resources of Africa. They came to Africa with wicked intention to take over the land. And it didn’t take long time for white missionaries to dominate African’s social, politic, and economics. When they came there, they claimed that they wanted to do humanitarian act that was making primitive African becoming civilized society.
They regarded that Europe as the central of civilization and humanity. They called this view of the world as Eurocentric. The white missionaries thought that European culture was superior, so that the non-whites were seen as inferior society. That’s why Achebe …show more content…

Those are having many wives, producing many yams, and defeating the strongest man in the village wrestling match. Moreover, Igbo is community that ignore the rest of the world, they don’t have any knowledge about the world outside Umuofia. They even are not interested at all about life outside Umuofia. They regard that anything outside is non-existence to them. Parents of children in Igbo Society deny the opportunity of mobility from Umuofia to another competitive place where the white missionaries study. The reason of this ignorance is because they are in favor of devotion to their native …show more content…

Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, also becomes the first converts to Christianity (Achebe 107). He does it to show his protest for Igbo decision to sacrifice Ikemefuna, Okonkwo’s adopted son’. Nyowe decides to join church and choose to attend school. After knowing about it, Okonkwo gets furious and disowns Nwoye. The decision to abandon his son becomes another example of Igbo’s inability to deal with change. By changing his religion, Nwoye disregard his father in the worst way. But Okonkwo cannot fight against his son because he is uninformed about the Christian culture. It seems that committing suicide is Okonkwo’s way of going against Christianity. But unfortunately this act not only takes his life but it also takes away the respect of Umuofia for

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Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

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“...his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck. ‘Where have you been?’ he stammered… ‘Answer me,’ roared Okonkwo, ‘before I kill you!’” (Achebe 151). Okonkwo finds out that Nwoye has been spending time with Christians.

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Nigerian Genocide In 1967 a civil war started in Nigeria, this was also known as the Nigerian genocide. In 1960 Nigeria gained its independence from from Britain. Six years later the Muslim Hausas in Northern Nigeria started to kill Christian Igbos that were in the region. This caused tens of thousands to flee to the east were the Igbos were the dominant ethnic people.

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Why Was There So Much Imperialism Going On European’s taking control over Africa in a new way, called imperialism! Africa definitely changed from the European imperialism but it also benefited from it. Of course not in a fantastic way most of the time. The driving force behind European imperialism in Africa was a serious matter back in the 19th century that changed it for the better, even if it did cause a lot of controversy.

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Do you know what Imperialism means? Imperialism means when a nation takes over other countries and turns them into colonies. Imperialism changed many countries in Africa. Some examples include Egypt, Algeria, Namibia, and South Africa. Africans started Europeans colonization because Europeans, though they were racially superior.

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African Imperialism begins first with the major European powers scrambling for resources within the mostly unexplored continent in the 1870s. This, however, eventually evolved into conflicts between European powers and a conference held by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Berlin in 1884 (Edgar, Civilizations Past & Present, vol. 2, 738). This conference resulted in the colonization of Africa to happen at an increasingly faster rate than what was seen in other parts of the world. This resulted in drastic changes for both the continent of Africa as well as the people. European rule over Africa brought change to all parts of African’s life’s and country, including the political, social, economic, and religious aspects.

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As seen in Okonkwo’s participation in Ikemefuna’s death, we see a demonstration of his rash thinking. Okonkwo’s irrational decision - making, as well as his fear of being perceived as weak like his father drove him to kill Ikemefuna. If Ikemefuna has not been killed, then this would have prevented Nwoye from converting to Christianity. As seen “after the missionaries finished singing, Nwoye pondered about what he just heard, the hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul the question of Ikemefuna who died” (Achebe 128). Okonkwo’s participation in Ikemefuna’s murder ultimately pushed Nwoye to Christianity and this caused Okonkwo to lose respect in himself for not raising a better son.

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As a child, Nwoye is the frequent object of his father's criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. Okonkwo, “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough man capable of ruling his father’s household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors”(38). When Nwoye finds out that it is Okonkwo who killed a “brother” who he is extremely fond of, and grows very close with, he loses all appreciation for Okonkwo and decides to go against his father and his cultures.

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When Nwoye decides to leave his family to pursue his faith, Okonkwo realizes “But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” Leaving his family and clans, Nwoye is confronting a huge change in his life. This change may be pretty hard to make because he has to discover a new world himself. Recalling at the very beginning, it is impossible for Nwoye to leave because he is not masculine enough to take his own adventure. However, now, he is no longer a boy relied on his family; rather, he becomes a mature man to decide his future path himself and accept his coming of age.

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In the Igbo society, marriage is seen as the foundation of a lineage. It is in marriage that the family is extended. The igbo family believes so much in succession that is why for a woman to have foothold in a family she must have children especially male children. This guarantees that she earns the respect of the whole family of the bridegroom. The explains the reasons for such native names as ama efula (the posesion cant be lost), nwabuihe (a child is light) obiadichie (the terriotory has come to stay).

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The Protestant Reformation, lasting from 1517 to 1648, was a time of social and political change that split the Catholic Church in Europe, establishing the structures and beliefs that would eventually shape the Protestant religion. People’s ideas seemed to become more important in society as new religious breakthroughs began to emerge during this time. Throughout this period in world history, church leaders began to find ways to take more money from their followers, many Europeans gained a voice in governing the Catholic Church, and religious wars began to break out due to rebellion in the church between Catholics and Protestants. While the Catholic Church continued to grow in Europe, leaders of the church discovered ways that they could make

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A second reason derives from lingering bitterness over the atrocities meted out to the Igbo...by Hausa soldiers of the Nigerian army. The third is the resentment arising from the possibility of Igboland losing is long held stand as a non-Muslim territory and its image as a land of "almost total Christianity"... The fourth point is the perceived marriage of convenience between Islam and violence... Lastly, there is a worry that religious balkanization...endangers Igbo interests and survival and might bring about the eclipse of Igbo culture by the imposition of Hausa norms” (Uchendu 80-81). As noted earlier, Islam’s belief system is quite different from that of the indigenous religion.

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That is to say, the two zones did not abide by the same educational rules. This phenomenon caused inequality between the urban and rural areas. For instance, in The Joys of Motherhood, Nnu Ego was able to bring her sons to school in Lagos. Whereas, in the village of Ibuza, children worked in their parents’ farms because they did not have access to schools. For that reason, the tribes who were more educated could occupy higher positions in the society and had more advantages.

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Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his

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1908 Words | 8 Pages

Igbo is a society that also appears to be sceptical about change. They refuse to send their children to school where they stand a chance to be able to read and write in the English language. Despite Mr Brown’s efforts to show the villagers that they need to learn English because they are now being ruled by the District Commissioner and other white missionaries who only communicate in English, the villagers

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