Igbo in the Atlantic World: African Origins and Diasporic Destinations

371 Pages·2016·12.08 MB·English

by  Toyin Falola

I g b o i n t h e
At l A n t I c W o r l d

I g b o i n t h e
At l A n t I c W o r l d
african origins and diasporic destinations
edited by Toyin Falola and Raphael Chijioke Njoku
IndIana UnIversIty Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Manufactured in the
United States of America
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street Names: Falola, Toyin, editor. | Njoku, Raphael
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA Chijioke, editor.
Title: Igbo in the Atlantic world : African origins
iupress.indiana.edu and diasporic destinations / edited by Toyin
Falola and Raphael Chijioke Njoku.
© 2016 by Indiana University Press Description: Bloomington : Indiana University
All rights reserved Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
No part of this book may be reproduced or Identifiers: LCCN 2016024865 (print) | LCCN
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or 2016026274 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253022455
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, (cl : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780253022578 (e-book)
or by any information storage and retrieval system, Subjects: LCSH: Igbo (African people)—Social
without permission in writing from the publisher. life and customs. | Igbo (African people)—
The Association of American University Presses’ Ethnic identity. | Igbo diaspora. | Igbo (African
Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only people)—United States. | Igbo (African people)—
exception to this prohibition. West Indies.
Classification: LCC DT515.45.I33 I4235 2016
The paper used in this publication meets the (print) | LCC DT515.45.I33 (ebook) | DDC
minimum requirements of the American National 305.896332—dc23
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI /2016024865
Z39.48-1992.
1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17 16
To the memory of Professors
Tekena Tamuno, Adiele Afigbo, Jacob Ade Ajayi,
and Emmanuel Ayandele

Contents
LIST OF Abbreviations ix 6. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Preface and from the Bight of Biafra:
Acknowledgments xi An Overview 82
Kenneth Morgan
1. Introduction 1
7. The Igbo and African Backgrounds
Raphael Chijioke Njoku and Toyin Falola
of the Slave Cargo of the
Henrietta Marie 99
Part I
John Thornton
Igbo Institutions and Customs as Baseline
8. “A Great Many Boys and Girls”:
2. The Kingless People: The Speech
Igbo Youth in the British Slave
Act as Shield and Sword 17
Trade, 1700–1808 112
Hannah Chukwu
Audra A. Diptee
3. Igbo Goddesses and the Priests
9. Becoming African: Igbo Slaves and
and Male Priestesses Who
Social Reordering in Nineteenth-
Serve Them 28
Century Niger Delta 123
Nwando Achebe
Raphael Chijioke Njoku
4. Gender Relations in Nineteenth-
10. The Clustering of Igbo in the
and Early Twentieth-Century
Americas: Where, When,
Igbo Society 46
How, and Why? 135
Gloria Chuku
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Part II 11. The Demography of the
Bight of Biafra Slave Trade,
The Igbo in the African Diaspora:
ca. 1650–1850 147
The Mechanics and Patterns of Migrations,
Paul E. Lovejoy
Settlements, and Demographics
5. The Aro and the Trade of 12. The Igbo Diaspora in the Era
the Bight 71 of the Slave Trade 156
A. E. Afigbo Douglas B. Chambers
viii Contents
Part III 18. The Afro-Caribbean Diaspora
in Reverse and Its Implications for
Cultural Crosscurrents:
the Development of Christianity
Dimensions of the Igbo Experience
and Education in Igboland,
in the Atlantic World
Southeastern Nigeria,
1895–1925 253
13. The Igbo Diaspora in the Atlantic
Waibinte E. Wariboko
World: African Origins and
New World Formations 173 19. The Making of Igbo Ethnicity
Chima J. Korieh in the Nigerian Setting:
Colonialism, Identity, and the
14. Olaudah Equiano and the Politics of Difference 265
Forging of an Igbo Identity 188 Raphael Chijioke Njoku
Vincent Carretta
20. Ethnicity and the Contemporary
15. Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Igbo Artist: Shifting Igbo Identities
Vassa: What’s in a Name? 199 in the Post–Civil War Nigerian
Art World 285
Paul E. Lovejoy
Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie
16. Archibald Monteath: Imperial
Pawn and Individual Agent 218 21. O. SO. NDU: Patterns of the Igbo
Quest for Jesus Power 299
Maureen Warner-Lewis
Ogbu U. Kalu
17. Igbo Influences on Masquerading
Selected Bibliography 317
and Drum-Dances in the
Caribbean 228 List of Contributors 345
Robert W. Nicholls Index 351
AbbrevIAtIons
AG Action Group NCNC National Council of Nigeria and
Cameroon
BBCA Benue Basin Cultural Area
NDCA Niger Delta Cultural Area
CCN Christian Council of Nigeria
NDP National Democratic Party
CMS Church Missionary Society
NIP National Independent Party
COR Council of Rivers movement for a
Calabar-Ogoja-River statehood NPC Northern People’s Congress
CRCA Cross River Cultural Area NYM Nigerian Youth Movement
ICA Igbo Cultural Area SPILC Society for Promoting of Igbo
Language and Culture
LTC Lagos Town Council
UNCA Lower Niger Cultural Area
NCAST Nigerian College of Aviation and
Technology UNN University of Nigeria, Nsukka