Friday, April 14, 2017

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

E se poh!

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Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 15, 2017, at 2:05 AM, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:


Thank you Abdul, Moses, the moderator and Ibrahim for your responses:

When I decided to time out for my dinner after Abdul's response to my question  before engaging these problematics it was because I knew a guerrila response would not suffice in these intellectual problematics.

Disclaimer:

Moses is my friend and I do not disown my friends just because they are pilloried but would rather follow them to the gallows just as Adekunle Fajuyi did to his friend and C in C Ironsi. ( He -Moses-still owes me that pounded yam remember, Ill sneak in the dead of night to claim my pound of flesh ( sorry pound of pounded yam.)

Having said that when it comes to matters of public discourse sometimes we just have to give it straight to bosom buddies.  And that sums up my bias in the following.

First let me thank Abdul for the robust response to my query.  I can now appreciate why he gave his cryptic response since I dont belong to facebook.

Moses needs no apologias for his minority ideological position since this has been the backdrop to his scholarship about Nigeria to date for which he has received plaudits.  As such he need not be defensive about this position since the excerpts reveal evidence of this.  Intellectuals have the freedom to take whatever intellectual position that suits them without being subject to attacks.  

Abdul cannot maintain in one breath that majority/minority discourse is not extant in Northern Nigeria politics (we know it is) and at the same time accuse Moses of pandering to this discourse.

One just has to show by superior arguments why a position is indefensible as Abdul has tried to show.  Two ideologies are subsumed in Moses argument: religious and psychoanalytic.  The religious is the predictable war between the two dominant monotheisms: Islam and Christianity.

In view of the fact that my first graduate scholarship is in the history of sexuality and psychoanalysis I can understand Moses' engagement and application of the theory of sexuality to northern Nigeria.  There is nothing wrong with this engagement per se.  At the same time I can understand Abduls objection to wholesale application of this theory to the African environment.

The cogent questions for me are:  Biologically and psychosomatically do northern Nigerians function differently from the rest of humankind? Do northern Nigerians youths not suffer from repression of libidinal impulses just like the rest of human kind that could be exploited by others for whatever purpose?

A more cogent question directed to Moses by Abdul should have been that do northern religious and ethnic minorities not suffet the same fate?

I certainly know from the experience of growing up in the south west.that south westerners experience the same impulses which are  promptly exploited by the pentecostals who channel such energies into repressed and sublimated energies for worship.  We have found examples of youths in which sublimation was not successful having carnal knowledge at the back pews of the chapel!

I must confess that I faced some of the cynicisms exhibited by Abdul here from my supervisor when trying to turn my thesis in so its normal to face queries of how you are so sure of making the links between psychosomatic experience and outward acts.  But that doesnt mean such attempts are forbidden and must be ridiculed.

Yes Abdul is right that such cynicism forms the site of the contestation of the production of knowledge.

However repressed libinal impulses universally incontrovertibly affect youthful behaviour and is tapped into universally in recruiting adolescents into cannon fodders from the time of Alexander the Great to the first and second world wars, the Nigerian Civil War and now the Boko Haram insurgency.

There may be inaccuracies in Moses" thesis regarding family life revolving around sex and deprivation except for the older Western educated elite but I lived in the North and I know they dont live puritannical existence there


Having lived precisely in the Boko Haram region myself (Bauchi/Maiduguri axis) I can confirm that the religious uprisimgs dating back to the Maitatsine uprisings when I was there may not be representative of all of the North in every material particulars.






Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Abdul Salau <salauabdul@gmail.com>
Date: 14/04/2017 21:43 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

SEXUAL REPRESSION AND EXTREMISM IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A PROVOCATION

I have to confess that I did not read this subtitle: a provocation I will not have commented on this write up if I had seen this.   These are the specific remarks requested Olayinka Agbetuyi below.

Assertion # 1

"Muslim-majority Northern Nigeria houses a sexual economy in which access to sex and the female body, whether mediated by marriage or concubinage, is almost exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men."   

The reason I found this assertion troubling is because of the focus on sex and the female body.  If find this to be debasement of the complementary relationships that exists between male and female within African culture.  The notion of sexual economy undermines our culture and makes marriage and relationships to be transactional between men and women. These are concepts that are borrowed from Euro-American scholarship which is undermining our contemporary scholarship.  Marriage or relationship with women is not exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men.  What is marriage in African culture must be understood; marriage is a cultural obligation for all African people regardless of their religion and location on the African continent.  

Marriage in African culture is a cultural obligation as a result of this it is an activity which involves two families.  Because families have interests in their own immortality they assist young men and women financially and morally so that families can have future; children born into these marriages become future members of the family.  Schooling from primary to the university level involves many years of preparation males and females who not involved in formal schooling marry earlier and have children.

Marriage is between families even young, uneducated, and unemployed Muslim youths are married even sometimes to more than one woman. That is the reason why recently the emir of Kano advised; poor men should not marry more than one wife because they end up having more children that they cannot take care of.  In most African cultures men and women are supported to be married because it is considered a foundation for building a better life.  

I am offended by the notions of making women to be sexual objects for men by preoccupation with the notions of female bodies. One desires a woman for marriage to create a family which is a cultural obligation for African people men or women regardless of their religion.  A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man who will not marry her because she is regarded as a slave; it is a Euro- American concept which you used uncritically.

Assertion # 2

"The region, moreover, is home to a culture of sexual repression in which the expression and pursuit of desire is constrained by status and financial resources. The result is that sexual frustration coexists with and is exacerbated by the inability of young, uneducated and thus unemployable Muslim youth to access sexual resources and other benefits of heterosexual relationships. Even Western educated youths lacking viable footholds in Nigeria's secular economy have found themselves unable to fulfill this cardinal Northern Nigerian ritual of masculine accomplishment."

Northern Nigeria is the home of African people including different religious groups; with healthy and unhealthy culture of sexual expressions this acknowledgement humanizes the people of Northern Nigeria.  Everywhere in the world expression and pursuit of desire of marriages and relationships are constrained by status and access to financial resources.  It is nothing peculiar to the youth of Northern Nigeria regardless of their professed religious affiliation.  The poor may not marry daughters or sons of the rich but they marry each other.  Culture of sexual repression is a feature of religious communities; this should be something which humanizes Muslims youth in Northern Nigeria with religious groups worldwide.  The writer needs to interrogate notions of culture of sexual repression, uneducated, western educated and masculine accomplishment; these concepts are subjective concepts and means different things to different people.  "Western education" in the enlightened African literature is considered brainwashing. The writer confuses the notion of schooling with education.  Concepts need clarifications to make the readers.  May be your target audience may be different Africa USA DIALAGUE.

Assertion # 3

"This rejection of Nigerian secular society and the concomitant allure of a terrestrial caliphate or an extraterrestrial paradise intensified when the indoctrinated Muslim youth sees Western educated coreligionists and Christians engage in both licit and illicit sexual relationships with women. This is one of the silent but rarely acknowledged drivers of youth vulnerability to extremist indoctrination in Northern Nigeria. This frustration catalyzes a jealous rage directed at those who are perceived to have monopolized the sexual and marital resources that are the markers of healthy Muslim masculinity in this society."

The rationalizations and ideological posturing is most obvious in the paragraph cited above.  'The indoctrinated Muslim youth rejection of Nigerian secular society and the concomitant allure of a terrestrial caliphate or an extraterrestrial paradise is intensified when they see other Muslims and Christians express themselves within licit and illicit sexual relations'.   This essentialization of Muslim youth by describing them by their so called 'essential features' culture of sexual repression, uneducated, western educated, masculine accomplishment, allure of  terrestrial caliphate, and extraterrestrial paradise based on the writer's  ideological partisanship  is what obscures reality and frames the truth from the writer's ideological framework.  The real drivers of youth vulnerability to extremist indoctrination in Northern Nigeria may not be known, because you did not satisfactorily argue your point of view.

 The term Muslim- majority of the Northern Nigeria used by the writer; is a concept to delineate majority-minority; and may be it makes sense in the context of United States; however, it is problematic in Nigeria because people don't see themselves in these terms.   In the American context this concept is used to rationalize means people defined as "majority" can monopolize power against minorities. The concept is used to justify majority oppression and abuse of politically dominated minorities.  Northern Nigeria was a concept developed during colonial era.

However, in the contexts of our time there are dynamic events, like migration, diversity of people, and complexity which makes the concept is obsolete. Today Northern Nigeria it is area that contains more diverse people, and nineteen states of Nigeria, people from Africa, and different parts of the world.    Northern Nigeria is a geographic area where many experts make assertions and declarations which should be challenged.  

Knowledge is the domain of everybody who chooses to exercise their minds, not only self-appointed knowledge producer.  Together each one contributing to knowledge production we can understand reality better.  The truth is that we cannot allow self-appointed knowledge producers and experts to monopolize knowledge production.  We make these critical inputs to strengthen debate and critical analyses for intellectual ameliorations; and to take responsibilities for active knowledge production rather than being passive consumers of knowledge production.      The reactions of Ibrahim Abdullahi to your claim that he called 'himself is a "minority" he denies this view violently, this  supports my point of view; these concepts are not useful for discussing political issues in Nigeria,  it is used exclusively for neo-colonial project of dividing our culturally united people.  

I don't know whether my 'younger brother is a good friend of yours or not, and   I was not aware he once inexplicably advised you to stop writing on political and cultural issues in Nigeria'.   I don't understand your reason for bringing this up.  I have my own views and my brother has his own views, I am responsible for my own views.

 On my part I sent you private comments when I agreed with your point of view and kept quiet when I disagreed with your point of view.   Yes your views do not align with mine this time; I hope these honest comments have made my position clear to you.  My current responses have been made to deal with these on a rational and not on emotional basis; all my efforts have been refocused to dealing with substantive issues which you raised in your writing.  An atavistic African sense of morality charges us to defend against African people any alienating influences.


On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 4:26 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:
Professor Falola, where is the contribution to this discussion by Jibrin that I missed? Am I missing something. I was responding to Abdul and Ibrahim, the two artful dodgers and anti-intellectual debate killers, not to Jibrin, who has not joined this discussion.

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
I said Jibrin and Ibrahim 
Not Abdul 
Jibrin is one of the continent's most formidable scholars and he deserves our respect. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 14, 2017, at 3:12 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

With all due respect, Professor Falola, your moderator note fails the basic test of fairness and balance. First of all you should not be basing your moderation on who is formidable and who is not. Everyone should be treated the same. Leave members to decide who is formidable and who is not. It is all in the reader's eye. Secondly, Ibrahim and Abdul attacked me, saying that I have a minority agenda, that I am masking the truth, that I am driven by ethnicity, etc. Did you read my post? Did you see anything that remotely resembles a mention of ethnicity or the promotion of an ethnic agenda or a minority agenda in it? I responded to the suggestion that war and sex have always been interlinked--an obvious point--and pointed out Boko Haram and other Salafi-Jihadi groups are peculiar precisely because they have developed an elaborate theological rationale for justifying and promoting the sexual enslavement of the female members of their enemy societies (infidels), an ideological infrastructure of sexual entitlement that you don't find in secular warfare, a theological justification of sexual enslavement in jihad that the "weaponization of sex" argument does not explain or capture. They left that point alone and continued to call me names and make silly ad hominem insinuations about my motive and "where you're coming from."  Even Bolaji had to intervene to redirect the conversation back to the issues I raised by restating the main questions. They continued to make all insinuations and to impute imaginary motives to me. You stood aside watching this anti-intellectual attitude of their unfold only to now weigh in to exonerate them of anti-intellectualism and to pretend as though I had not responded to the reductive, pedestrian, and commonsensical point about the weaponization of sex. This is not moderation. 

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 2:24 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
Moderator's note: 
Only that both Jibrin and Ibrahim are too formidable to dismiss and they don't make anti intellectual arguments.
War and sex have been interlocked for centuries; so the point for you is to insist on what is peculiar about Boko Haram and you leave out their asides.
TF

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 14, 2017, at 2:04 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

Chidi,

I'm not bordered by critique; I savor it. That is how I refine my thinking. In fact, I posted this provocation here in the hope of getting critique and of sparking a rich conversation around the issues raised. There is critique that is grounded in substance and faithful to the issues at stake and one that is grounded in emotive bluster and in unfounded preconceptions and assumptions. I welcome, appreciate, and engage critique. You've known me for a long time, so you should know that I am game for debate and that in fact I enjoy it. But the debate and critique have to be substantive. Nowadays, I have no time for conversations that will not challenge me to think or add intellectual value to me; I'm too busy. What you have here is an anti-intellectual hostility to debate and discussion on controversial and sensitive topics, as well as a tendency to instinctively lash out at people who broach such subjects in the hope of silencing them. That is the problem I have with some of the responses and attitudes here. Of course such juvenile antics will not work with me.

You're my friend on Facebook and you may have seen the conversation on the same post over there. The reception of my provocative hypothesis there is not unanimously positive. Some agree with me, others disagree. Some agree partially and others disagree partially. But everyone is focusing on the issue I raised and making their points as passionately as they want to without the personal obsessions, insinuations, and escapist tactics you see on display here. No one there is questioning my motive or insinuating a phantom ethnic agenda. Folks there are discussing the post in the spirit of intellectual debate and inquiry that I offered it. I have learned a lot from the exchanges there.

Which is why it is disappointing to see those who call themselves intellectuals and academics display such unscholarly revulsion to controversial, unfamiliar, and disagreeable opinions.

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 9:05 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
Toyin, Moses,
The facebook crowd are not as critical as the persons you would find here.

CAO.

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