Ugo,
basic, a. (and n.1)
(ˈbeɪsɪk)
[f. base n.1 + -ic.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of, pertaining to, or forming a base; fundamental, essential: spec. in Arch., and in Chem. Also applied spec. to an industry which plays a major role in the national economy.
1842 W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 146 The amount of heat produced is determined by the basic ingredient. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps v. 141 Its capital resting‥on its basic plinth. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 67 Basic oxides or bases act upon acids to form salts. 1884 Harper's Mag. Apr. 770/2 This is Miss Hill's basic principle. 1928 Rep. Liberal Industr. Inquiry i. 12 The great basic exporting industries of Great Britain—coal, metallurgy and textiles—have been in a bad way. 1929 Times 25 May 9/4 The industry [sc. shipbuilding]‥still had the highest percentage of unemployment of any of the basic industries in the country. 1940 R. Comm. on Distrib. Industr. Pop. (Cmd. 6153) iii. 28 The industries which, for the purposes of exchange, send their products to places outside the area in which they are situated, may be termed 'basic' industries.
b. That is or constitutes a standard minimum amount in a scale of remuneration or the like. Also ellipt. as n.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 392/1 When trade unions fix the length of the working day, they mean the basic work⁓day, with a higher rate of pay for overtime. 1923 J. D. Hackett in Management Engineering May, Basic Eight-Hour Day, that period of time for which a specific wage rate is paid, beyond which a higher rate, generally 'time and a half', is paid. 1939 Times 25 Oct. 5/2 The next issue of basic petrol ration books will be made for a period beginning November 23. 1940 Ibid. 27 Feb. 5/6 At any time the unit of the basic petrol ration may be made smaller. 1948 Observer 11 Apr., The right way to check abuses of E and S petrol would be to confine it strictly to essential needs, leaving basic to fulfil its supposed purpose of allowing all motorists some pleasure trips. 1949 Ann. Reg. 1948 447 The 'basic allowance' of foreign currency for tourists outside the sterling area was restored. 1958 A. Hackney Private Life viii. 78 There's a job in Stores and Packing. Hundred and eighty-nine shillings basic.
c. Gram. Of or belonging to the base or theme of a word. See base n.1 14.
1885 A. S. Cook tr. Sievers' O.E. Gram. §86. 38 The development of the basic vowel into a diphthong.
d. Applied to a limited, 'essential' vocabulary in any language; spec. Basic English, a variety of the English language, comprising a select vocabulary of 850 words, invented by C. K. Ogden, of Cambridge, and intended for use as a medium of international communication; also ellipt. {Basic}.
1929 C. K. Ogden in Psyche IX. iii. 4 It is the continuous approximation of East and West, as a result of the analytic character of Chinese and English‥which makes this particular [Panoptic] form of English basic for the whole world. Many special captions or trade-marks for the system have been suggested, but Basic = British American Scientific International Commercial (English)—is for the time being as good as any. Ibid. 97 (title) Translation into Basic English. 1930 C. K. Ogden (title) Basic English. 1931 Routledge Autumn Books, Basic English is a system in which 850 English words do all the work of over 20,000, and so give to everyone a second or international language which will take as little of the learner's time as possible. 1933 Discovery Sept. 280/1 Science itself‥might go forward with greatly increased efficiency if the language barrier were removed by the adoption of Basic for Abstracts and Congresses. 1933 H. G. Wells Shape of Things to Come v. §7. 419 It was more difficult to train English speakers to restrict themselves to the forms and words selected than to teach outsiders the whole of Basic. 1935 N. & Q. CLXIX. 145/2 The Swedish Anglic and our own Basic English. 1944 H. G. Wells '42 to '44 141 'Basic' English, Russian or Italian is the minimum vocabulary necessary to talk understandably in any of these tongues. 1965 New Statesman 2 July 20/2 The tale is told in a Basic American style to represent the rudimentary nature of his mind.
e. spec. in Philos. Applied to a statement, proposition, etc. (see quots.).
1933 Proc. Arist. Soc. XXXIII. 80 The facts upon which all facts which are the immediate reference of a true proposition are based‥may‥be called basic facts. 1936 Mind XLV. 273 A basic proposition is one which asserts that an object has a particular property or that a particular relation holds between two objects, e.g. 'this is red', 'this is earlier than that'. 1937 A. J. Ayer in Proc. Arist. Soc. XXXVII. 138 Propositions which need not wait upon other propositions for the determination of their truth or falsehood, but are such that they can be directly confronted with the given facts‥I propose to call basic propositions. 1939 Mind XLVIII. 485 (title) On the class of 'basic' sentences. 1959 K. R. Popper Logic Sci. Discovery §7 p. 43 What I call a 'basic statement' or a 'basic proposition' is a statement which can serve as a premise in an empirical falsification; in brief, a statement of a singular fact. 1961 Proc. Arist. Soc. LXI. 180 We must‥treat some concepts as not requiring reduction to others; these I shall call basic concepts.
f. basic box, see basis box (basis III).
1914 J. H. Jones Tinplate Industry 141 Orders are often given for the equivalent of a specific number of basic boxes, for example, 10,000 boxes of 20/14.
2. Having the base in excess. a. Chem. (A salt) Having the amount of the base atomically greater than that of the acid, or exceeding in proportion that of the related neutral salt. b. Min. (An igneous rock) Having little silica in proportion to the amount of lime, potash, magnesia, etc. present.
1854 Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 400 The class of subsalts is now generally termed basic salts, because the base predominates. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 319 Neutral or basic phosphates of the alkalies. 1877 Green Phys. Geol. ii. §5. 47 The Poorly Silicated or Basic rocks.
c. Applied to an improved 'Bessemer' process of steel-manufacture, in which phosphorus is eliminated from the pig-iron by the use of non-silicious materials (e.g. limestone, dolomite, magnesia) for the lining of the converters, and for introduction in the course of the 'blow'; hence also applied to the steel thus produced, etc. basic refractory, a refractory material with a high content of basic oxides.
1880 Roberts Introd. Lect. Metallurgy 20 The practical application of basic linings in the Bessemer converter. 1883 Birmghm. Weekly Post 18 Aug. 8/2 Basic steel and ingot iron, made from phosphoric pig. 1917 R. Moldenke Princ. Iron Founding viii. 277 The iron foundry has so far had but little to do with basic refractories. 1944 Gregory & Simons Steel Manuf. (ed. 3) xxi. 164 For this reason silica bricks cannot be used, and therefore magnesite, dolomite or other basic refractories have to be employed.
d. basic slag, slag from the basic or Bessemer process of steel manufacture, used as a fertilizer when finely ground.
1888 Chambers's Jrnl. 28 July 478/2 The value of basic slag as a manure. 1920 Conquest Aug. 487/2 Owing to the cattle grazing‥phosphates and lime are withdrawn from the soil, but a dressing of basic slag‥replaces this loss.
e. basic dye, a dye consisting of salts of bases containing aromatic amino- and substituted amino-groups.
1891 [see mordant n. 3 c]. 1905 Cain & Thorpe Synth. Dyestuffs & Intermed. Prod. vii. 35 Wool takes up the basic dyes in a very uniform manner without the aid of any addition to the dye bath. 1952 J. R. Baker in G. H. Bourne Cytol. & Cell Physiol. (ed. 2) i. 2 When no further structure can be discovered in unstained cells, the effect of dyes of small toxicity should be tried. Many basic dyes are suitable.
See also monobasic, bibasic, tribasic.
B. n. Usu. pl. a. The essential or elementary aspects of a situation, subject, etc.; fundamentals; primary requirements.
1934 E. McD. Gale (title) Basics of the Chinese Civilization; a Topical Survey in Outline. 1961 Newsweek 14 Aug. 45/2 The appeal of Mantle and Maris in 1961 comes down to one basic: the home run. 1965 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1062/3 Let us refer to basics again—to dialogue. 1969 Engineer 19 June 32 The computer is not a monster but a powerful ally. B. K. Cooper reviews the basics and explains the principal uses of this misunderstood machine. 1971 Hi-Fi Sound Feb. 25 A transcription unit with much more than 'the basics' for enthusiasts who don't require extreme sophistication of design. 1984 Times 25 July 5/2 People in northern Niger are going short of food and other basics. 1985 M. Gee Light Years lii. 340 Basics for Christmas, dammit. Turkey? Chickens?
b. back to (the) basics: a catch-phrase applied (freq. attrib.) to a movement or enthusiasm for a return to the fundamental principles in education, etc., or to policies reflecting this. orig. U.S.
1975 N.Y. Times 9 Mar. 1 The style and tone of the churches have undergone a major adustment‥, gradually turning toward a 'back-to-basics' approach. 1977 National Observer (U.S.) 8 Jan. 3/1 The current 'back to basics' movement, the campaign to give the highest priority to the teaching of the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. 1978 Today's Educ. Feb.–Mar. 34/1 No matter how it is described, this back-to-the-basics issue is attracting more and more legislative and public interest. 1983 Times 23 July 13/1 Brown Shipley is launching a back-to-basics savings plan linked to term life assurance. 1985 Toronto Life Sept. 15/1 The public areas show a back-to-basics thinking.
______________________________
Draft partial entry December 2004
▸ Providing or having few or no amenities, accessories, functions, etc., beyond the ordinary or essential; of or designating the lowest standard acceptable or available; rudimentary.
1932 M. R. Davie Probl. of City Life vii. 135 Each guest's sleeping room is equipped with a rug, chair, and locker, besides the bed. In addition to this basic accommodation, the guest has the use of large reading and writing rooms. 1953 Life 10 Aug. 74/3 It is important to buy panels that meet basic standards of quality. 1970 J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers 7 Such equipment is already rising above the basic 'domestic quality' and entering into the hi-fi fringes. 1978 Dumfries Courier 20 Oct. 11/1 The newcomers range from fairly basic family saloons to the exotic Mazda RX7 and BMW's M1 sports racer. 2000 S. Fallon & M. Rothschild World Food: France 135 Pastries and other sweets in the north can be pretty basic.
______________________________
Draft partial entry June 2005
▸ basic pay n. orig. U.S. the standard rate of pay received by an employee before any additional payments such as overtime or bonuses have been included; cf. base pay n. at base n.2 Additions, A. 1b.
1916 Washington Post 24 Jan. 2/5 The higher wage demands to be made by the leaders of the brotherhoods provide that the *basic pay [per] day‥shall be changed to 100 miles or eight hours, with pay for overtime at one and a half times the new higher rate. 1969 National Herald (New Delhi) 29 July 8/6 All employees whose basic pay and dearness pay do not total more than Rs. 620 will become eligible for overtime allowance. 1999 Independent 18 Aug. i. 10/7 Working these sort of hours, for a basic pay of £16,710, would be enough of an irritation for junior hospital doctors.
On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 11:24 AM, Ugo Nwokeji <ugo@berkeley.edu> wrote:
Obi,
I explained federalism to Bode back in April, using other examples of federal systems, including Canada and the USA where many of us live and enjoy the benefits citizenship, but he insisted in calling it a "unitary' system and that federalism means that citizens who choose or find themselves in states other than the ones their ancestors were born are entitled NO MORE than 'basic rights"! The quoted words are his. I don't know that makes kind of mindset makes him arrive at such conclusions.
Bode has a problem.
Ugo
From my mobile phone
On Oct 26, 2015 5:36 AM, "Bode" <ominira@gmail.com> wrote:--the particularism is yours, in your mind. when I say the Ondo have a say, I am saying the people living in Ondo, whoever they may be. I living in Lagos cannot impose on them and it requires a majority of them to have that say, so you have not said anything new that having a say by the people does not already capture. That say across the country is constitutionally protected in the federal republic--On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 5:53 AM, Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com> wrote:Bode, federalism does not mean particularism, it just means devolution of power between federating states. The thing with nation is that it permits the internal mobility of citizens. So that, you may be born in Akure, and you may decide to reside and purse your life in Minna, with no limits to your citizenship rights. If you were born in Ibadan for instance, and you choose to live in Enugu, you're obligated to change your residency status within a specific time, and all rights and privileges of living in Enugu will be permitted to you, as well as all civic obligation - which means that you'd be expected to pay your tax, and perform all other civic roles. But you'd still be entitled to your conscience, and your right to associate, and express yourself in whatever way you choose. In other words, you have become an Enugu state person or resident, even with your Yoruba identity intact. If the likes of you get to a good number or a density where you have enough votes, you may even say, we like to propose, and put to vote that the Yoruba language be included in the language taught in Enugu schools, and used for deliberation in the Enugu HoA, and you raise the petition, and campaign for it. If it passes, Yoruba becomes a language of use in Enugu state. And so on and so forth. My point is populations shift, settled cultures change, and even at that, all citizens are protected under federal laws, whether they live in Ekiti or Mushin. Federalism is a union of constitutions, and nothing more.Obi Nwakanma
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 03:16:57 -0400
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Intervention
From: ominira@gmail.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comAnd if we reinsert the term "federal" into the republic, we arrive at a much different understanding of the resolution to the dispute than if we were to simply emphasize "the republic". For the word "federal" is not ornamental, it is there to deliberately give the Ondo people some say in the matter, much as "the republic" is there to protect all individuals. That equilibrium between the right of the individual Nigerian and the Ondo in this instance is necessary to the maintenance of justice and fairness in the federal republic.BodeOn Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 7:30 PM, Bode <ominira@gmail.com> wrote:Much as I like Okey's piece, he argues two contradictory points:1, Any wonder why those of us who are otherwise well-schooled in the liberal arts and sciences and who boast impeccable credentials as "democracy and human rights activists" would break your skull if you question why you should be somebody else's "subject" in a Republic?This question presumes that a Nigerian should not, if he choses not to, be subject to a Monarch in Ondo by virtue of his right to live in a republic of modern Nigeria, not under a medieval-style monarchy. This is an important objection only if this were the case at hand. But it is precisely what professor Falola suggested when he said in italics "I am a Nigerian in Ondo, not an Ondo man, and this difference has to be respected." This I read both ways, but Okey seems to have read it only one way. Professor Falola spoke to the dynamics of national and local differences. The Nigerian in Ondo may choose not to be Ondo, that is, be subject to the Ondo monarch, and his choice should be respected. By the same token, it also means that the Nigerian must respect the difference that Ondo represents to him if he has chosen in Okey's words not to be subject to its dark ages milieu. The question to Okey would be, short of a violent outcome, what should the Nigerian do if the dark ages milieu in Ondo contradicts his personal beliefs and political stance? Professor Falola has it exactly right: mutual respect! Also, the problem with Okey's characterization is that the Nigerian in this instance is not asking the same question of the republic as Okey presumes. The Nigerian is asking to be subject to another medieval-style monarchy inside Ondo that is neither national nor Ondo. It is not a desire for republicanism but an exchange of monarchical subjectivity. I can wager that the Ondo may respect his right not to be subject to the Ondo monarchy if he invokes his right within the republic. They would rightly be perplexed though if he is instead setting up a parallel monarchy to rival their own Ondo monarch. It is in this sense that the Ondo people's right to one monarch should equally be respected.2, Rotobi Street--named after the richest Yoruba family that have lived in Owerri longer than over 95 percent current of all residents of the city. Can we not see anything wrong with perpetually excluding these citizens from the life of the city? Is it justified to claim that a "Sokoto man" who has been in Owerri longer than Eze Njemanze III (the current "traditional" ruler of Owerri) can never be an "Owerri man," whatever that means?This second point is the better of the two but contradicts the first in the sense that hybridity already presupposes that the Nigerian no longer sees the milieu in Ondo as those of dark ages and is no longer as aversed to his subjectivity within it much as he is reciprocally accepted in the cosmopolitan spirit both as a Nigerian and as a member of the Ondo community. This point would suggest a rapprochement that would have eliminated the anxiety that produces the need for a parallel monarchical authority. If he left it here, I would have been glad and celebrated his piece. But he then goes on to suggest that there are two presidents in DC: the President of the United States and the President of the Association of Egbe Omo Oduduwa. By this gesture, he vitiates the republican objection, which is the stronger argument, and admits rightly, though inadvertently, that the problem here is not monarchy versus the republic. The problem is new monarchy versus old monarchy.Bode IbironkeOn Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 5:52 PM, Okey Iheduru <okeyiheduru@gmail.com> wrote:"If the Ondo people say they must have only one King, let it be, if only to protect the poor and the powerless, and call the leaders of groups and associations by other names, Chairman, President, etc. I am a Nigerian in Ondo, not an Ondo man, and this difference has to be respected. If they celebrate their Ogun festival, if I cannot join them, that should not be time when I will bring my Ibadan festival to their doors. They have the right to be angry" --- Prof. Toyin Falola.1) As someone who has been called names or had innuendos unjustly hauled at me before on this forum, I couldn't agree more with Oga Falola's intervention about the need for civil discourse.2) I do, however, wish to take issues with portions of Prof. Falola's take on the "Republic of two thousand kings," especially the ones I've excerpted above.As the Eze Ndi Igbo controversy raged, what continued to exercise my mind was this question: Why would or do Igbos in Akure need to have an Eze ("monarch, leader, spokes persons--take your pick) of their own in that city or territory? Is the Eze Ndi Igbo different from the Sarkin Hausa in Owerri or the Sarkin Garki, Okigwe? Is the title or purpose different from the Yoruba Oba in Owerri which position has been in existence since the 1920s when Shell Petroleum Corp established its first-ever headquarters in Nigeria right there in Owerri (ever heard of "Shell Camp", Owerri?)? In short, why would a group of Nigerian citizens of one ethnicity in another part of Nigeria dominated or "owned" by another ethnic group feel the need to have a "monarch" of their own?Two answers immediately come to my mind. One is the incomplete or unequal citizenship that has been the bane of all efforts supposedly geared towards creating social cohesion in Nigeria (and, indeed, much of post-colonial Africa). Our "one Nigerianess" is always defined by our ethnic identities that have been officially rendered irrevocable. The other answer is the frightening speed at which neo-medieval impositions and/or assimilation is ravaging the country while we pretend to pursue "secularist" and "modern" aspirations, even as we fail to grasp the contradictions. I'm referring to the apparent perfunctory assimilation of socio-economic and power structures similar to what obtained in the European "Dark Ages" of pervasive insecurity and which made recourse to self-help or the protection of rapidly multiplying "war lords" imperative as a matter of survival. Any wonder why those of us who are otherwise well-schooled in the liberal arts and sciences and who boast impeccable credentials as "democracy and human rights activists" would break your skull if you question why you should be somebody else's "subject" in a Republic? Not only that, being a "chief" seems to have become the crowning moment in the careers of many an academic in our neck of the woods. Why should the auto parts trader in Akure or Oturkpo be different, if in the Antonio Gramscian perspective, the intelligentsia are championing or legitimizing this pernicious brand of cultural hegemony that advances the interests of ruling elite?Part of the reasons for our incomplete and/or unequal citizenship (hence, or social cohesion conundrum) is the colonial policy of defining and drawing ethnic identities in stone whereas these same identities have always been fluid in the same "Africa" we so fiercely claim to defend and celebrate in the Diaspora. This is why I am puzzled that Prof. Falola, our own Giant of African history, would make the following statement: "I am a Nigerian in Ondo, not an Ondo man, and this difference has to be respected." I'm not sure why, like the Flanders ultra-nationalist who do not foresee ever sharing their ethnicity with a French Belgian, Prof. Falola does not realize that he seems to have foreclosed the possibility--and the reality in many cases on the ground, even though some of us privileged intellectuals refuse to accept it--of cultural hybridization, assimilation, or even "exit, loyalty and voice" in the Albert O. Hirschman sense from identity groups as we know them today in Nigeria. Should academics lend legitimacy to rigidly exclusionary concepts of citizenship and at the same time wonder why the Hausa or Yoruba in Owerri--or any other similarly excluded group that have probably contributed more to the development of the host-community that continues to define them as the Other--would seek to create a "king" of their own? If we go beyond the seemingly irresistible excitement about "the Igbo problem," we are likely to discover that most major urban centers in Nigeria (and I dare say, in Africa) are grappling with this problem which African academics may be inadvertently exacerbating.A little factoid can help contextualize my stance on this matter. This Christmas, over 2,000 cows will be slaughtered in Owerri--as has been done since the last 100+ years, but there are no "indigenous" cattle breeders in that city. Millions of dollars, Euros, CFAs, yuan, etc. (perhaps greater than the entire money in the vault of the local Central Bank of Nigeria branch in the state) will be exchanged in the parallel forex market at Ama Awusa, Owerri. This "industry" is controlled over 90 percent by "Hausa" operators, with Igbos sometimes being contended as middlemen. All the stew pots cooked for all manner of ceremonies in the city will depend on onions that few Owerri residents care to know how they're produced. No celebration for chieftaincy, anniversaries, weddings, diaspora thanksgiving, etc. in the city will be worth it without a trip to Rotobi Street--named after the richest Yoruba family that have lived in Owerri longer than over 95 percent current of all residents of the city. Can we not see anything wrong with perpetually excluding these citizens from the life of the city? Is it justified to claim that a "Sokoto man" who has been in Owerri longer than Eze Njemanze III (the current "traditional" ruler of Owerri) can never be an "Owerri man," whatever that means?Neither "Ondo people" nor "Owerri people" have historically or always had one king or festival. It would be patronizing, or even downright insulting for a non-initiated like me, to remind historians about the relationship between migrations and cultural osmosis and the making of the both ancient and modern Africa, nay our world as we know it today. Must we always see the performance of Birnin Kebbi festival in Owerri as a threat and "reason to be angry," rather than an opportunity to enrich the cultural heritage of all that live in Owerri? The latter perspective seems to be more in line with what modernity, let alone cosmopolitanism (really, why we're all academics/intellectuals) is all about. It calls for neither assimilation nor rejection of the Other, even from a minority, less powerful position. As Zvetan Thodorov (the French historian) reminds us, we're all cultural hybrids; and the 21st century belongs to those who, while not giving up who they are, are willing to borrow from the Other and create something new in a truly "transdisciplinary" sense. Perhaps, that explains why the Igbo are always "causing problem" wherever they call home. But they also cherish the fact that no one is calling for the arrest of the "President" of Egbe Omo Oduduwa in Washington, DC. because the First Citizen of the city--and the most powerful ruler in the world--who lives in the White House goes by the title "President."Peace as always!OkeyOn Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 9:22 AM, 'M Buba' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:Very timely intervention, indeed. But before this name-calling door is shut, and now that you've mentioned Sokoto (someone has to!), I'd like to point to the completely unprovoked attack on Sokoto, the Sultan and the Baobab tree on a piece about (1915) railway in a 10-point agenda for Buhari by Dele (Pulitzer) Olojede:"Today Sokoto has a few baobabs and a Sultan. Who cares about baobabs and Sultans?"I thought great traditions and diversity are at the heart of the narrative of Sokoto and its Sultan and its baobabs. So, we must all care about their symbolic significance in the light of UN's Sustenable Development agenda. Mr Olojede has caused unnecessary hurt to a whole value system, possibly because he's aware that no one cared enough to discuss his piece, let alone flag this unhelpful assessement of a 1915 puported dialogue between Lugard and the newly turbanned Sultan Muhammadu Maiturare!In this and similar unhelpful comments, the question to address is, as the Kenyan anti-corruption czar noted in his Uganda address:"what must Africa do going forward?"Well, one thing that Africa(n scholars) can do is to go beyond the borders and begin to spend some extended period of time in their 'home' universities, in order fully to understand, document and analyse the multi-layered discourse of ethnicity, citizenship, indigeneship and related identity-affirming nomenclatures. At the local level, these concepts become labels whether or not they are properly understood as such. As scholars, the need for you to come home and face these public policy fiascos has never been greater.If there's anyone out there who cares about Africa going forward, and is able to overlook the shortcomings of the Sultan and our baobabs, we'd like to give them a place in the sun.Wassalam,Malami
Prof Malami BubaDepartment of English Language & LinguisticsSokoto State UniversityPMB 2134, Birnin-Kebbi Rd,Sokoto, NIGERIAOn a "Republic of two thousand kings" by Professor Osuntokun which I posted to generate a vibrant debate, it is time to make my intervention before I begin to reject future postings on the subject:
1. Scholars are expected to define and work for the ideals, as in our struggles to eliminate racism in the US, and dangerous group politics in Africa that have produced genocide in Rwanda, and civil wars everywhere.
2. In defining those ideals, we are privileging civic/secular institutions over the primordial. The primordial has its values, and they structure our identities, but it has its limitations in terms of citizenship in modern states. Scholars have to look for the best in those primordial and look for the best in the evolution of our modernity. No one can ask me not to eat my favorite food, amala and abula, as I cannot stop anyone from eating their dishes. But my food preference should not be the total determinant of my being and politics.
3. We have to be sensitive to people's lives. Irrespective of practices, anything that can lead to violence, killing the innocent, exodus of people, etc. must not be encouraged. Any statement or measure that lead to the death of one person is irresponsible anywhere in the world.
4. Local cultures must be respected. I have had alcohol in Sokoto, but I went to the spaces they created for it. I even had cold beer in Maiduguri but in spaces they allowed me to. The hotel in Sokoto said I should not bring alcohol into the room. I think it is disrespectful for me to smuggle alcohol into the room. If Muslims want no pork, why make institutional arguments over the selling of pork. If the Ondo people say they must have only one King, let it be, if only to protect the poor and the powerless, and call the leaders of groups and associations by other names, Chairman, President, etc. I am a Nigerian in Ondo, not an Ondo man, and this difference has to be respected. If they celebrate their Ogun festival, if I cannot join them, that should not be time when I will bring my Ibadan festival to their doors. They have the right to be angry.
5. Our cultures are in transition, and there are those who profit from the maintenance of the old. That profit may generate their conclicts.
6. Without a diversified economy, xenophobic arguments will be made. We have not created enough opportunities for our people. We accumulate resources that are not distributed very well. Every human being deserves the right to good food, good health, access to water, and a good bed to sleep at night. We should work for this common good, see them as fundamental rights of citizens. The empty stomach of a Kanuri is not different from the empty stomach of an Ijo man.
7. The poor are short-changed. New warlords have emerged all over the country collecting money from poor traders, transporters, market women, etc. The contemporary Eze, Sarkin, kabiyesi etc. are not "traditional" but new devices in the political economy of resource extractions and expression of bigmanism. The politics of the "big man" is a dangerous one which scholars should be careful to support.
8. All scholars must support and promote the efficiency of the informal sector, as this is the key to the survival of the majority of our people.
Dear scholars, stop calling yourself names that undermine our collective integrity as migrant scholars: silly names as eccentric, Old Lady, xenophobia, eccentric, separatist, tribalist, etc. Make your arguments, as Mbaku, always the hero in all these arguments, do.
Toyin FalolaDepartment of HistoryThe University of Texas at Austin104 Inner Campus DriveAustin, TX 78712-0220USA512 475 7222 (fax)
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
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Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
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For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
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For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
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For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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