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AA Table of Contents 45
Table of Contents 45
Okpoko, A.I. Archaeology and Anthropology: the Foot Prints and
Legacy of Bassey Wai Andah……………………………………….…….1
Okpoko, A.I. and Onu, A.O. Traditional Foundation for Christian Virtues
in Igboland: a Link from Bassey Andah’s Viewpoint on Religion
and Religious Life in Africa…………………………………………………23
Tubi, Paul-Kolade. Historicism, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism:
The Contribution of Bassey W. Andah to Deconstructing African
Anthropology……………………………………..…………………………..42
Ezeh, P.J. Indigenous Technology: Some Medical Examples of the
Orring And the Igbo……………………………………………………………………..57
Tubi, Paul-Kolade. Ethnography of the Dynamics of Politics and
Religion in Traditional Society: A Case Study of the OkunYoruba………………………………………………………………………………………..65
Ogundele, S. O. Towards Poverty Alleviation: Public Archaeology,
Heritage Management and Museum in Nigeria………………………………..86
Oyinloye, M.A. and Aremu, D.A. Ethnographic Study of
Wooden Objects’ Conservation: Focus on National Museums in
Lagos and Oron, Nigeria……………………………………………………………..102 -
Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Forest of the Tanoé-Ehy Swamps (FMTE) and its margins (Southeastern Côte d’Ivoire): Challenges and Prospects
$10.00Siméon K. Kouassi & Sylvain K. Koffi
Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement (ISAD)
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny/Cocody-Abidjan – Côte d’Ivoire
[email protected] & [email protected]Abstract
Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Forest of the Tanoé-Ehy Swamps
(FMTE) and its margins (Southeastern Côte d’Ivoire): Challenges and
Prospects
Archaeological investigations into the coastal area in Côte d’Ivoire has long been
dominated by research themes focused on shell mounds and ceramics, accordingly
to archaeologically-based issues. The implementation of a research project on the
margins of the Forest of the Tanoé-Ehy Swamps (FMTE) (Southeastern Côte
d’Ivoire), jointly by archaeologists and biologists, has opened a new way of
approach, challenges and prospects.
The present study consists of a preliminary report on the results of recording
of on-site oral traditions that facilitated a field reconnaissance based on surface
collection of fragments of ceramics (potsherds), smoking pipes and beads. This
joint fieldwork has revealed ?the attraction of that FMTE area on past humans
probably concerned with settlement subsistence and security potentialities. In this
regard, the major and final aim of the starting research project is to advocate for the
ecological safeguarding and the archaeological valorization of this specific land
where are living such endangered monkeys (primates) hereafter termed (in French)
as “Cercopithèque diane roloway”, “Cercocèbe couronné” and “Colobe bai de
Miss Waldron”.
Key words: Archaeological reconnaissance, Tanoé-Ehy Swampy Forest (FMTE),
Côte d’Ivoire, Safeguarding and valorization. -
Cartographic illustration problems in the UNESCO’s General History of Africa and The Cambridge History of Africa : a comparative review in the Gulf of Guinea region (West Africa)
$10.00Obarè B. Bagodo, PhD.
Maître de Conférences (Reader/Associate Professor)
Université d’Abomey-Calavi, République du Bénin–Email :
[email protected]The present review is the third emanated version from two precedent texts more or
less differentiated by the titles and contents. The first text was accepted for the 5th
Congress of the Association of African Historians to be held in Ouagadougou in
November 2011 initially, and postponed sine die finally. The second was presented
at the 13th Conference of the West African Archaeological Association held in
Abidjan in February 2013. However the three texts refer to the same cartographic
problems in both the UNESCO’s and Cambridge’s series.
General History of Africa is the UNESCO’s series. The first eight volumes
are published between 1980 and 1999. The publication of a ninth volume into three
tomes from 2015 onwards is not concerned with the present study. The contents of
the precedent eight volumes are allocated among twenty-eight and thirty chapters,
with editors submitted to the intellectual authority of thirty nine members of an
International Scientific Committee.
The Cambridge History of Africa is the second series, with also eight
volumes. The contents are allocated among nine and thirteen expanded chapters
(e.g. volumes I, II, III, IV and V referred to in the review). The series publication
started earlier in 1975 with volume IV, followed by volumes V (1976), III (1977), II
(1978), and I (1982), under the intellectual authority of volumes’ editors in close
collaboration with two general editors only.
Both in history and archaeology, as well as in geography and geology, the
map consists of not a simple illustrative decoration, but first and foremost of a
visual, active, and powerful enlightenment (Wood and Fels 1992; George et al.
1974). In this regard, the cartographic illustrating of the two series referred to above
shows lax and faulty technical, locational and graphic lacunas. Such problems
persisted up to nowadays because of an accommodating and conniving silence
Abstract
observed by scholars and advertised users. A critical review is then required as a
matter of scientific commitment and professional awareness, for due statement and
expectation of corrections.
For such a review, the methodological approach has selected the Gulf of
Guinea region, in focusing the illustrative review on volumes III, IV, V and VI of
UNESCO’s series, and comparatively on volumes I, II, III, IV and V of Cambridge
University’s series. Critically comparative and mainly centered regionally, the
review reveals more lacunas in the UNESCO’s series. Amongst others, publications
such as Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa (Vogel et al. 1997), with thirty one
maps, and History of West Africa Vol. I. (Ajayi, Crowder et al. 1976), with twentynine
maps, are put aside for a future complementary review.
Taking into consideration the consistence of the problems in the UNESCO’s
series and the mandate of this UN organization to ensure qualified research and
education, the emphasis concludes, accordingly with a precedent call for required
corrections and subsequent revised editions of the height precedent volumes
(Bagodo, 2009a: 10-13), as well as on the benefit for the drafting/editing illustration
of the three tomes of volume IX started since 2015 onwards. -
Developing a Lake Region in Anambra State for Tourism Promotion: Potentials and Challenges
$10.00Rev. Fr. F. O. R. Onwudufor, Ph.D
Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra StateAbstract
Tourism connotes a mobilization of people’s cultural and natural resources,
especially those aspects which make a people unique from other people, viz: what
distinguishes Africa and other Africans from other non Africa “or what
distinguishes a group of people (for example, ethnic group) from other groups. “To
mobilize such resources effectively, one must know what the resources are, where
they are located, what the objectives of mobilization are (or should be) and how best
to mobilize the resources in order to achieve these objectives” (Andah 1990: 116 –
119). In line with the above the present writer is proposing the development of a
Lake Region in Anambra State for tourism promotion. Tourism a major sector of
national and local economics in a fast growing and diversifying world economy
forms a veritable source of foreign exchange and facilitates international
cooperation as the world continues to shrink into a small global economy. There is
now a robust advancement in regional lake tourism market as part of coastal
destination aimed at economic growth and poverty reduction. There is today an
increase in global demand for African tourism products. It is time for Anambra state
of Nigeria to project its own tourism potential. -
Ethnography of the Politics and Religion Dynamics in Traditional African Society: A Case Study of the Okun-Yoruba
$10.00Revd Fr. Paul-Kolade Tubi, Ph.D*
E-mail: [email protected]Abstract
Political power and religion bear directly on the lives of people of all communities.
This is particularly so of traditional societies. As globalization and westernization
rapidly set in upon the cultures of the world, it is imperative that ethnographers do
rigorous study before those cultures are completely altered. Globalization amends,
suppresses or erodes traditional practices, lores and mores. As a result of the
onslaught of westernization and globalization on traditional societies, it is
imperative that ethnographic methodologies are employed to study and document
aspects of traditional societies like the Okun-Yoruba that have come under the
influence of globalization.
This ethnographic study highlights the strong nexus between religion and
political power in indigenous societies like the Okun people who are confronted
with westernizing influence in their attempt to weld a coherent and functional
society within an authentic African culture. -
Historicism, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism: The Contribution of Bassey W. Andah to Deconstructing African Anthropology
$10.00Paul-Kolade Tubi, Ph.D*
Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State,Abstract
“Colonial and indeed all European anthropologists working in Africa and Asia
interpreted and still interpret behaviour in relation to their own interests and
experiences; their ideas are not truths self-evident in the cultures they studied”
(Bassey W. Andah, 1988:10). It is incumbent on African anthropologists,
archaeologists, historians and social scientists to become seriously preoccupied
with deconstructing African cultural studies. This task was eminently championed
by scholars like Cheik Anta Diop, Walter Rodney, Bassey W. Andah and Chinweizu
amongst others. Professor Andah is said to be the first African doctoral
anthropologist with specialization in Archaeology. He taught at universities in
Ghana and Nigeria. He became a professor in 1978. He was the founding president
of the Archaeological Association of Nigeria and secretary of the Pan-African
Association of Pre-History and Related studies. He was the first African editor of
the West African Journal of Archaeology (WAJA).The writer assesses what he
considers the major contributions of Andah to African Anthropology. -
Indigenous Technology: Some Medical Examples of the Orring and the Igbo
$10.00P. J Ezeh
Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.Introduction
Professor Bassey Andah’s innovative approach to African archaeology brought
fresh thoughts to the subject of technology in days before the prevailing views on
the subject. Scholars did not use to go beyond the everyday meaning of the term,
technology, which limited it to the application of tools and machinery to
manufacture and workaday needs of the service sector, home and other domains of
social life. Such basic view of technology sees it as only tool making and tool using
as a distinctive phenomenon of humans and some related species. Critical views of
technology predate Andah’s archaeology and Afrocentric scholarship, although it
must be conceded that such have not always been well known.
Chandler and Munday (2011) note that Plato included writing as a form
technology because he considered that to be serving certain communication needs
of humans in an extra-natural form that was different from speech. The implication
of this is that once the device or strategy is of human design to help a group or
humanity to act on their environment or serve social needs, it is technology. For the
sociologist, Jacques Ellut, technology is “all rational methods of doing things
(skills, methods, procedures, routines)” (parentheses in the original) (Chandler &
Munday, 2011: 423). Cresswell (2004: 698) writing from anthropological
perspectives acknowledges the material dimension of the term, but also recognises
that it is wide semantic field. Other aspects he adds are “knowledge, know-how,
[and] acts”, as long as these contain technical and social values.
The Greek etymology of the term seems also to justify such a broad view. It
comes from the root, ôÝ÷íç (techne), which Saunier (1977: 140) has glossed as
“handwork, art, vocation, profession”. The suffix, ëüãïò (logos), carries its usual
meaning in such terms as sociology, ethnology, psephology and so on where it
indicates a field of intellectual interest, without bothering about its many other
denotations in the source language.
This way of looking at technology will therefore accommodate the
repertoire of knowledge and know-how which a human group employs in dealing
with health and illness. It will be seen in the cases of the Orring and the Igbo that in
the absence of such autochthonous strategy it would have been impossible to handle
the challenges that they addressed at a time when other medical options were non-
existent. To put those strategies in high relief, I have focussed on how the ethnomedicines
of these groups deal with the problems of life-threatening conditions.
It may be advisable to give a small ethnographic sketch of each of the two
groups that are being reported: Igbo and the Orring. -
Interrogating Anthropomorphism in Benin and Northern Edo Art: Some Tentative Notes for Historical Clarifications
$10.00Ohioma Ifounu Pogoson
Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, NigeriaAbstract
This paper interrogates a rare anthropological collection from Edo North gathered
together between 1908 and 1910 by Northcote W. Thomas, first colonial
government anthropologist in Nigeria. After collection, the objects have been
stored up, largely ignored, at the University of Cambridge, Museum for
Archaeology and Anthropology. The paper questions the resultant long time decontextualisation
and isolation of these objects that have, over the time, made it
remote to link these evidential materials and their producer culture and neighboring
cultures. In an attempt to re-contextualize the objects, a comparison is made, of
highly anthropomorphic Benin court art, which has for a long time, politically,
dominated Northern Edo land but its character is not represented in Northern Edo
art and selected anthropomorphic objects from the Thomas collection. The idea
underlying Benin artistic production is basically anthropomorphic, revolving
around the Benin king and hierarchy and hence a court art, whereas there is paucity
of human representations in Northern Edo land which intriguingly also doesn’t have
the political structure to support it. Using the older language age evidence of forms
of Edo language spoken in Northern Edo land, the paper queries the possibility of a
south-north movement to create the works under reference. Perhaps there had been
an earlier north-south movement and then a later south-north returnee movement
whereby the works in the Thomas collection would represent those of the earlier
northern Edo autochthons and ancestors of present day occupants. The Thomas
collection may be remnants of an earlier tradition before Benin suzerainty gained
full grounds in the 19th Century. -
Methods of Conserving Wooden objects in the National Museums in and Oron, Nigeria
$10.00Michael A. Oyinloye
Department of Design and Architecture
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeri
and
David A. Aremu
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology,
University of Ibadan, NigeriaAbstract
Conservation in the national museums arises as a need to protect cultural heritage
from destruction by man and environmental factors. Collecting and storing cultural
objects without care characterised the old methods of conservation in Nigeria’s
national museums. Existing studies have addressed the need for conservation of
wooden objects but with inadequate attention to new methods of caring coming up
on a daily basis in museums around the world. This study, therefore, examined the
types and backgrounds of cultural objects as well as methods of conservation, with
a view to determining their effects at Lagos and Oron museums, Nigeria. The study
combined William Morris’ Conservation and Malinowski’s functionalism theories.
Data were collected from documentation units of the museums as well as
purposively selected key informants. Data were analysed based on qualitative
archaeology to gain in-depth understanding of the study. Findings show that
conservation of cultural objects in Lagos and Oron national museums was
inadequate because of the use of conventional way of collecting and storing
cultural objects as well as the use of obsolete facilities. The managements of the two
museums need to adopt the new methods and facilities to improve the level of
conservation of objects.
Keywords: Methods of Conservation, Lagos and Oron National Museums and,
wooden objects. -
Origin, Migrations and Problems of Urbanisation on The Jos Plateau of Nigeria: The Historical Archaeology Perspective
$10.00Joseph Mangut PhD,
Department of Archaeology
and Heritage Studies,
University of Jos,
Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]Abstract
The peopling of the Jos Plateau has generated a lot of controversy. Historical
studies of the area have tended to emphasise recent origins and migrations of the
various groups to the plateau which over time led to mutual suspicion and
hostilities among them as a result of scarce resources. This paper reviews some of
these claims and investigates some of the early populations and occupation sites
with a view to shedding light on the nature of origins, migrations and urbanisation
problems in the area. It suggests that the Jos Plateau has a long settlement antiquity
and that migrations to the area have been in several waves right into the colonial
era resulting into the fusion of a number of ethnic groups belonging to both the
Chadic and the Benue-Congo speakers in an attempt to bring about urbanisation. It
therefore concludes that the integration of the various groups in the area is the best
option for a lasting peace and development which are very critical in urbanisation.
Key Words: Migrations, Urbanisation, Jos Plateau, Ronkulere, Chadic, Benue-
Congo. -
Recent Excavations at Ojuwo Atogwu Tumulus, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria
$10.00Usman. A. Aribidesi
Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
Jonathan O. Aleru
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
James U. Ameje
National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, NigeriaAbsract
The practice of creating and using tumuli as burial markers is very old in human
history. While this was a universal practice, there are variations in size,
composition and usage of tumuli from culture to culture. Despite tumuli’s
conspicuous and massive appearance, they still remain a mystery among many
societies of the world. Ojuwo Atogwu is a tumulus earthen mound associated with
the Igala royal family at Idah in Kogi State of Nigeria. Oral traditions have
suggested multiple function of the earthen mound, including but not limited to,
burial of the dead, defensive feature, and religious-ritual use. Archaeological
excavations at the site have provided some insights on the antiquity and physical
attributes of the earthen mound, although much is still expected in the material
cultural attributes of the mound. We present here the results of recent excavations
and the preliminary data relevant to the understanding of Ojuwo Atogwu
tumulus/mound and socio-historical and cultural relationship with the Igala. -
The Historical Archaeology of The Origin and Migrations of The Borgu in Niger State of Nigeria
$10.00Benedicta N. Mangut
Department of Archaeology,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]Abstract
Oral traditions of the Borgu claim that they originated from the Middle East under
the leadership of Kisra, passing through several places before finally settling in
their present-day place. Using the historical archaeology approach this study
investigates the history of origin and migrations as well as language relationships
of the Borgu of Niger State. Preliminary findings however suggest that the eastern
origin claims could have been later creations as most of their historical traditions
seem to indicate a relationship with the other Mande language speakers around
them. This work therefore attempts to highlight the early history and traditions of
the people and suggests that a multidisciplinary approach involving linguistics,
geology and related disciplines is required if we are to understand the history of
origin, historical traditions and the nature of the peopling of the Borgu area as a
whole.
Key words: Borgu, Bussa, Historical archaeology, Kisra and Mande. -
Towards Poverty Alleviation: Public Archaeology, Heritage Management and Museum in Nigeria
$10.00Samuel Oluwole Ogundele (Ph.D.),
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, NIGERIA.
E-mail: [email protected]Abstract
This paper is an attempt to develop an understanding and knowledge of
archaeology within the broader context of cultural heritage
management/conservation in Nigeria. Nigerian archaeology is yet to witness some
exponential growth in several senses as a result of unbridled rigidity about the
conceptualisation and practice of the profession. Most Nigerian archaeologists are
still painfully unable to craft a spirit of openness and teamwork as they continually
allow competing legitimacies and sometimes, primordial hegemonies to occupy a
conspicuous space in their vocabularies of popular and professional discourses.
Consequently, the caricatures of archaeology and museum studies cannot be
shattered.
For archaeology to become a very socially engaging area of human
endeavour, it has to begin to dance creatively with such fields as museology, fine art,
robotics and cinematography. While it is a truism, that core archaeological
concepts and methods must not be jettisoned, the realities of today demand a much
bigger space for knowledge applications in order to capture contemporary
sensitivities and aspirations. This latter part of modern archaeological heritage
management straddles the sphere of museum operations. It entails site replication
using a myriad of cutting-edge digital technologies to make a given locale come
alive for educational/historical purposes and tourism.
Today’s Nigeria cannot afford to be doing archaeology as if it is a mere
academic pastime or esoteric enterprise, in the face of numerous challenges and
problems bordering on youth unemployment, underemployment, political
instability and shrinking economic space arising mainly from monumental
corruption, that has become a tradition of the political class including its business
associates.
There are several world-class archaeological site complexes in Nigeria that
are long overdue for a replication exercise. These include the Taruga iron-working
site in central Nigeria; Igbo-Ukwu burial chamber in the east and Old Oyo in the
west. A replication operation is not tantamount to a total transformation of a site
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W. Afr. J. Archaeol. Vol. 45 (1) 2015
into a tourist destination. Only a section or sections is/are needed. The remaining
part of the site is left for future archaeological research. This is sustainable
archaeological heritage management in action! This re-construction work derives
from thoroughgoing field and laboratory research and not speculation. Therefore,
profound heritage scholarship cannot be crippled or cannibalised when
archaeological sites are conceptualised of, as a special industry anchored on
history, economy, spirituality and social liberation. However, for optimum
efficiency in all its ramifications, a heritage management activity of this magnitude
has to give enough space to the philosophy of private-public entrepreneurism so
that it (heritage management) can remain afloat the stream of sustainable
development. Andah (1990) has also made some inroads into aspects of this subject
– Cultural Resource Management with a special emphasis on the African
experience. -
Traditional Foundation for Christian Virtues in Igboland: A Link from Bassey Andah’s Viewpoint on Religion and Religious Life in Africa
$10.00Alex Ikechukwu Okpoko
Department of Archaeology and Tourism,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
and
Augustine Onyekwelu Onu
Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
University of Nigeria, NsukkaIntroduction
As noted by Okwueze (2003), religion can be understood as a regulated pattern of
life of a people in which experiences, beliefs and knowledge are reflected in man’s
conception of himself in relation to others, his social world, the physical as well as
the metaphysical world. In sociology, there are broadly two approaches to the
definition of religion. The first, following Durkheim (1912) defines religion in
terms of its social function. According to Durkheim, religion is a system of beliefs
and rituals with reference to the sacred which binds people together into social
groups. In this sense, some sociologists have extended the notion of religion to
include nationalism. The second approach in line with Weber’s view, religion is
defined as any set of coherent answers to human existential dilemmas: birth,
sileness or death-which make the words meaningful. In this sense religion is the
human response to those things which concern us ultimately.
The implication of this definition is that all human beings are religious,
since we are all faced by the existential problems of disease, aging and death.
Drawing from Okwuese (2003), a major concern which has emerged in the study of
religion is the examination of its relationships with economic, political, cultural and
social institutions as well as its diverse functions and dysfunctions in the life of
society. The universality of religion manifest itself in the ease with which we see in
virtually all societies, certain sacred ritual and belief which obtain in circumstances
with unpredictable outcome and in which people more often than not appear
subjected to forces beyond their own control (Okuweze, (2003). These events bring
with them uncertainties and anxieties concerning so many questions about life,
death, success or failure in human endeavour. The answers, which come to allay
these anxieties, are often couched in supernatural and transcended values that make
religion the only source, which can provide the succor that can help man cope with
the frustrations, anxieties and vicissitudes that characterize human life (Oyo,
1988:127, cited from Okwueze, 2003:5).
From the above it becomes apparent that Africans are intensely religious. The basic
tenets of their indigenous religions hold a belief in a supreme deity. The supreme
being is a divine creator, a being who is the essence and the total of goodness and
benevolence. He is the light and life, the creator of law, order and all that is good in
the world. He is the universal cosmic energy, the unity behind all things.
Below the Ultimate Reality are the minor gods. These are personifications
of natural phenomena. They constitute a power external to man and society and
beyond man’s understanding or control. The family consists not only of living
individuals but also of the ancestors and those who are not yet born. The forbears are
thought to have great power over the conduct of the living. This they exercise from
the sacred realm, the other world which seems to mirror the organization of the
material world very closely. These unseen personalities (God, gods and ancestors)
receive attention from man in terms of sacrifice and offering.
Today, as a result of Christian missionary enterprise in western education
and modern medicine, many Africans are Christians. Many have become Moslems
or adherents to some other historical religions. Besides, the pressure of overpopulation
and the growth of urban centres are forcing many Africans to migrate
seasonally in search of new ways of making a living, and those who do not settle,
return with alien beliefs and customs. All this notwithstanding, the traditional
religious beliefs and practices still play an important part in their lives and are
powerful unifying force as was the case in the days of those. And the future appears
bright for the indigenous religious beliefs and practices for it will be some time
before the effects of the absorption of alien customs in many African societies can
be fully appreciated.