CHAPTER ONE: ONITSHA, AN INTRODUCTION
"Instabilities" (Ancient, Modern)
The Geographical Grounding of Cultural Contrasts
A pastward look: Robert McWhirter’s Onitsha 1905-11
Brief look at “Otu-Onicha” (Onitsha Waterside)
Brief look at “Enu-Onicha” (High Onitsha)CHAPTER TWO; DEEP-SEARCHING HISTORIES
Igbo language roots and (Pre-) History
1. West Africa: Pleistocene-Holocene
2 Major subdivisions of Niger-Congo language
3. The Volta-Congo languages
1. West Volta-Congo
2. East Volta-Congo
4. Expansion-zone contexts
1. Chadic speakers
2. Nilo-Saharan speakers
5. Expansion zone contexts, continued
6. West Benue-Congo languages (including Igbo)
Niger-Benue Worlds: “Nok”, Metallurgy,
Igbo to Igbo-Ukwu, Nri
1. Metallurgy & culture change: “Nok” et al
2. The disepersions of Igbo
“Easterly core: the Igbo-Ukwu wonderland
The “Eze Nri”
M. Owuejeogwu on Nri 1981
Aboh and Aro expansions
Slave Trade and persisting Stereotypes
1. Western vs Eastern Igbo & stereotypes
2. The “Warrior-migrant people” stereotype
3. Modes of killing others:
Human Sacrifice
Cannibalism
“Eating” by slave export (Aro-Chukwu et al)
European-organized Intrusions
1. The Landers’ brothers account of 1830
2. Laird-Oldfield 1832-35
3. The Trotter Expedition of 1841
4. Laird-Baikie et al 1854-6
5. Crowther & associates invade Onitsha
Crowther’s initial descriptions
6. Further sketches regarding this history
Early & Colonial Ethnicities
1. Postlude: The “two-hearted city”
2. Hendersons lived at the “Inland edge”
3. Capsules of late 19th-century history
Intense inter-group & inter-personal conflicts
Some interactions bear productive fruit
4. Ndi-Onicha negotiate colonial worlds
“Modernizing tradtionalists”
Kola land tenure & descent groups
Onitsha “sons”:… disoriented youth
“Whereas the….Ibos fill … vacancies
A 1948 Administrative Report
5. Nnamdi Azikiwe: the “Transformer”
The West African Pilot
The Nigerian Spokesman
The “Non-Onitsha Ibos” become a force
Cultural Politics and the OIU
1. Certificate of membership
2. European lifestyles and Kingship
3. The OIU faces the Age-grades
4. Strategic defeat at Ime-Obi
5. Peter Achukwu & Agbala-na-iregu
6. Pivotal triumph for the OIU
7. The ”meanings of Igbo”
Approaching “Independence”CHAPTER THREE: THE “NEW NIGERIA”, 1960-62
Nigerian Independence Day, Onitsha 1960
Otu (Onitsha Waterside) 1960-62
Enu-Onicha (Inland Town) 1960-62
Byron Maduegbuna, a Native Anthropologist
Visits “Abroad”:
Witnessing an Aguleri Ofala festival 1960
Visit to Nnobi
A visit to Nsugbe: Igwe, Nne-Mmanwu, and Ijele
The “Black Juju” at Nkwelle
Visits to Awkuzu (Orizu the Native Doctor; Ijele, Mmanwu))
Visit to Opobo, Christmas 1961
Newcomers’ Experiences, Wider Realities
Visitors learn: Ndi-Onicha, Ndi-Igbo
Ndi-Igbo presence via the “Black Juju”
The Obosi-Igbo confrontation: Otu-Obosi “Horrors”
The opposition is stark (but moderated)
Power and Paradox in Enu-Onitsha
Obi Okosi II in 1960
Owelle title-taking at Ime-Obi
Owelle’s “outing”, Meanings of “War Dancing”
“Great Crowns” and Ghostly Ones
Okosi II Ofala for 1958
The Episode of the “Bleating Heart”
Public rituals: violent-conflict models inside & out
Leadership symbolism in Onitsha Igbo Crowns & Ijele
The Ancestral House (iba) in Onitsha,1960-61
“A Hallowed Onitsha type”
The Okpulukpu
Iba-related activities within & outside
Details of Ozi’s Iba
An Historical questionCHAPTER FOUR:. A MIGHTY TREE FALLS (FEBRUARY 1961)
The Iron is Broken
February 2, 1961, at 24 Mba road
The traditional requirement of gradual dying
ritual secrecy and the Nigerian press
Some meanings of “the Obi Lives”
Kings, Nation-States, Killings
A second ritual secret is mooted
Moral dilemmas stun naive invesstigators
Alternative interpretations are available
Real murders on a more distant stage, February 14, 1961
Lumumba reactions (a Lumumba cult appears)
Social distances and death
Obi Okosi II, Death and Burial
Formal announcments
Obi Okosi II; Final Ofala
Dancings by Daughters & Wives
Killing Three Cows
Right and Left flanks of the throne
To the inner chambers
Afternoon rituals
Backstage moments, observations
Aftermath: Onitsha market traders defy “fitting tribute”CHAPTER FIVE:. “WHEN OUR FATHER IS SOUGHT BUT NOT SEEN” (PART ONE)
Umu-Eze-Aroli and other Royals
Feb ruary 1961: first soundings
Umuezearoli & Okebunabo
1900 UEA loss to Okebunabo
Land disputes restore unity to UEA
1934-5 Interregnum
Okebunabo presents another Okosi
Reorganizing UEA in the 1950s
UEA leadership in 1960
UEA reacts to Okosi death: Enwezor wins vote
Ethnographer meets Enwezor
Some voices say, “Ab omination!”
Parties proliferate
Isiokwe villagers discuss pursuing kinghsip
Isiokwe calls “all Umu-Eze-Chima’
Isiokwe seeks a candidate of their own
Dr. Uwechia vs. Byron’s side
Isiokwe proposes Moses Emembolu
Mbamali Ajie redefines Umu-Olosi
Ofo-Diali of Ogbeozala speaks out
Peter Achukwu, Age-grades, OIU enter the game
Stirrings in Umu-Ase (non-royal clans)
Measuring oppositions
Polarization
Obiekwe Aniweta, Protean Man
Newspapers and Cultural Brokers
1, “The Ajie presents an interesting history”
2, Okebunabo J. Orakwue rebuts
3. Ajie responds
4. Renegoation oral traditions: tactics
5. Aniweta transforms the dispute
The Issues at hand
6. Some cultural entrepreneurs of the Inland Town
UEC Crises and Resolutions
The April 29 meeting
The issue of Secretariat
The resolution and its impact
Okebunabo seeks control
May 13 meeting
May 23: forming “The Committee”
Religion Matters: From “Sin” to “Alu”
1. “Religious politics” in Onitsha Urban: Otu focus
Madam Ob inwe confronts the Reverend Fathers
2. “Religious politics” in the Inland Town
Obiekwe Aniweta exposes RCM support of Odita
RCM denies involvement
3. Lamentation, Ozo title, and the RCM
Odita mourned late wife; can he take Ozo Title?
Discussion: relations between christianity and ,,, 4. The Holy Gost Fathers’ Anti-Juju Crusade in Nnewi
5. Moses Odita performs his Ozo Title rituals
6. Devout Christian commits pagan ’Sin”
7. Performing Ikpu Alu
Nigerian Spokesman: Odita’s Ozo Row ends in Ikpu Alu
8. Ideologies of discipline/rebellion
The UEC “Special Committee” at Work
1. Assessing the Membership
2. Committee task assignments
3. Candidates’ “conditions to be satisfied”
4. Site for a “Permanent Palace”
5. What is the “True Genealogy of Ezechima”
The position of “Dei” within Okebunabo
Ambiguous positions of Oreze and Olosi
Implications of the research process
The Conference Final Report
1. Development
2. New moves by Enwezor’s side
3. Secretary Onyechi changes tack
4. The “Special Committee”’s final report
Comparison withthe 1935 “Eight Age Grades”
Some major social innovations
5. The Conference submits the report to the Chiefs
The Conference (and its assisting secretary) become important players
Some reflectionsCHAPTER SIX:. “WHEN OUR FATHER IS SOUGHT BUT NOT SEEN” (PART TWO)
Igwe Enwezor Petitions Ani-Onicha
(the full ritual described in pictures and text)
“Mass Meetings” and prospective “Competition”
1. “Mass Meeting of Chiefs and Onitsha Indigenes”, August 4, 1961
Odu Mbanefo II
2. “Mass Meeting of All Onitsha Commoners” (August 6)
3. A Resolution for the Chiefs, August 8
4. The Onya’s “Meeting of all Umu-Eze-Aroli Elders” August 10
Candidate Joseph Onyejekwe
5. UmuEzeChima Confefrence announces a Competition
6. Some Chiefs sechedule a “Mass Meeting with Onitsha Peopple”
The “Manifesto Competition”
1. The Ajie sets a tone
2. Onyejekwe outlines a program
3. Onyechi improvises
4. Akunnia Emembolu does his best
5. Other candidatges perform with variable results
6. The urgent task of assessment
Umu-Eze-Chima Selects
1. Enwezor’s group declares: the contest is completed!
2. The Special Committee of UEC Conference votes
3. Announcement to “All Onitsha”
4. Reflections: aftermath of the Presentation
Who Bestows Ofo?
1. Umuato in Umuase: Byron interrupts the ritual
2. August 27; the Prime Minister calls all Ndichie
3. Newspapers discuss the selection
The O’Connor Memorandum of 1935
4. Non-royal Clans confront the Conference
5. The Conference makes a conciliatory response
6. Problems now facing the Prime Minister and Enwezor
7. Some pervasive contradictions are now manifest
8. Higher-level politics intrudes on our “Searchings”
Major Elections Intervene
(there is considerable text here, but this needs to be written properly)
Umuezechima Conference “Presents a King”
The Event
Ije-Udo Enwezor
1. Onyejekwe has been “Painted in White Clay”
2. The Newspapers respond
3. The two factions openly polarize (two “palaces”)
4. The nature and location of “Udo” is disputed
5. Enwezor Ije-Udo
(see details of this: some relevant comparative info)
Onowu Crownds a King
1. Rituals performed in Onowu’s compound
2. Processions to the Palace, crowning there
Onyejekwe Ije-Udo & “Crowning”
1. Interrim between installations (fix heading!)
(elaborate here and previous on newspapers — regional roles)
2. A votge of “no confidence” in Onowu
3. Onyejekwe goes to Udo
4. Procession to Ajie’s house
5. “Domestic services” at Ajie’s house
6. The act of enthronement
5. Competing assessments, problems of publicity (see number error here)
Bestowing Ofo; Egwu-Ota
1 The prospects of support from Umu-Ase
2. Disposition of the ancient “Anvil Ofo” (ofo-otutu)
3. Egwu-Ota at Iba Enwezor
4. The Umu-Ase-Iyawu vote, and its consequences
4. Dedicating an Ofo-Eze for Onyejekwe
4. Presenting Ofo eze to Onyejekwe) (see number errors here)
Mobilizing Support
1. Indices of commitment in the Inland Town
2. Mobilizing supporters in the Waterside
3. Attempts to influence the Onitsha Urban County Council
4. Frustrating relations with Regional and National Government
5. The Royal Clan Conference undergoes a final transformation
6. Moses Odita reappears
7. A sense of impasse arises
Harding Commission & Report, et al
1. More avenues into documentary research
2. The Harding Commission of Inquiry: inception
3. Initial testimony of Enwezor’s group
4. The Commission: Onyejekwe and the Royal Clan Conference vs. the Chiefs
5. Some aspects of ritual performance compared
6. The Commissioner’s general evaluations (note: fix the heading!)
7. Commissioner Harding’s recommendations as Western Modernist value expressionCHAPTER SEVEN: SOME CHRONICLES OF ONITSHA “STYLE”
On the significance of “Style”
Consecrating a new Ikenga
Byron Maduegbuna, a Native Anthropologist
On Peter Aniweta Achukwu (Ochanja)
Obiekwe Aniweta, Protean Man
Barrister Emejulu’s Ichi Ozo
The Death and Burial of Akukalia Obiozo
In Memory of Odu Mbanefo
M. Ogo Ibeziako, the Onoli of Onitsha
Odoje Village and “African Internal Frontiers”
Samuel Crowther, Missionary/EthnographerCHAPTER EIGHT: SOME POST-1962 AFTERMATHS
Nigerian Spokesman 1964-65
Nigerian Spokesman 1966
Nigerian Collapse and Transformation
Onitsha 1992; Brief Encounters in a Very Different PlaceCHAPTER NINE: HELEN HENDERSON ON WOMEN AND RITUAL
CHAPTER TEN: BIBLIOGRAPHY