You also fail to mention in your picture of this group that from their 2011 escalation their primary targets were also Christians, whose churches they bombed and whose worshippers they machine gunned, even in the packed premises of the Madalla church on Christmas day, as well as demanding all Christians leave the North or face the consequences.
This has emerged with Boko Haram's attack on educational systems in the Northeast as well as in the efforts of the Taliban in Afghanistan, among others.
On Whitewashing Boko HaramSalimonu, you like to present what I call Revised History of Boko Haram According to Salimonu.Your revised history makes me see your tirade agst Western education as a Boko Haram style narrative.The Western inspired social order represented by the globally dominant education system and by Christianity are primary targets of attack by Boko Haram.Having described what you see as the beauties of Boko Haram to us, and presenting them as victims of a hypocritical govt, a group who is fighting only the Nigerian govt, you failed to include the fact that the group from the onset was a murderous group, killing rival Islamic clerics.
You also fail to mention in your picture of this group that from their 2011 escalation their primary targets were also Christians, whose churches they bombed and whose worshippers they machine gunned, even in the packed premises of the Madalla church on Christmas day, as well as demanding all Christians leave the North or face the consequences.They also declared they would not stop their terorism until the President becomes a Muslim.They embarked on bombing and murdering all demographics of Northern society after the faliure of their presentation of themselves as Muslim warriors defending Muslim interests.They slit throats of children sleeping in ther hostals, machine gunned school children taking exams, they abduct baducting school girls and women as sex slave, along with their attacks on military and govt establishments, the only aaspect you wish to reference in order to present them as motivated purely by revenge agst the Nigerian govt.This was a group that tried to create a govt within a govt in Borno state, creating a communal system as well as killing Islamic clerics who disagreed with their views, and attacking govt establishments possibly before their better known clashes with the police.You once demanded evidence that Boko Haram killed Islamic clerics and I provided the evidence.Its you now who needs to prove they did no such thing in order to justify your claim that their murders are due to being provoked by the govt.The name Boko Haram is the name given to the terrorist Islamic group once led by Muhammad Yusuf by natives of the regions they have afflicted, in recognition of a primary tenet of the group being their repudiation of Western education.They have never rejected that name in their recurrent efforts at mass media propaganda, so much so that their original name is now unknown to most.The attack on Western education is central to such facist and violent Islamic groups, Western education being representative of an anti-Islamic order they want to eradicate.
This has emerged with Boko Haram's attack on educational systems in the Northeast as well as in the efforts of the Taliban in Afghanistan, among others.Boko Haram, in their original emergence and later 2011 escalation, used a two tier strategy.Terror and killing agst rivals, either other Islamic clerics and representatives of the fed govt and claims of being defenders of the Islamic faith and of Muslims.This strategy broke down when Northern Muslims became fed up with their destruction of Northern society and turned against them.Since then, they have engaged in killing of a broad swathe of citizenry, including slitting throats of schoolchildren in their sleep, machine gunning school children as they sat for an exam, bombing markets and other busy locations, even as they have not been able to continue their earlier practice of bombing churches and machine gunning the worshippers because the GEJ govt's state of emergency drove them from population centres, but from time to time they are able to strike at Maiduguri, trying to take control of the garrison there and establish a command centre there, even though their ability to bomb military barracks and machine gun those there as well as bomb govt and international establishments has been severely reduced.thankstoyinOn Tue, 11 Aug 2020 at 07:23, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:On Western Education in NigeriaI want to highlight the major qs, so that the political dust does not obscure them.
For that reason, I will respond to the question of the history and goals of Boko Haram in another comment.These qs are-1. Why do you think the Western education of Nigerians is the cause of Nigeria's underdevelopment?
In what specific ways is such causation possible and how is it demonstrated?In other words, what is the precise relationship between cause and effect?
Is it through inadequacy of technical skills through their being trained in different ways different from their Western counterparts?
Are the technological and scientific systems Nigeria needs different from those in the West and operational globally?
Does the Western education of Nigerians inhibit appreciation of the need for alternative social structures?
2. You claimed that Nigerians should return to a pre-Western colonisation system of existence in general and of education in particular. I quote you, highlighting what I understand as the operational core of your perspective-''If Western education works well in Nigeria as it does in the Western World, you and the rest of Nigerians will not be complaining about the retrogressive industrial and economic development in Nigeria. Educationally, there is no academic qualification in this world, real or honorary, that one would not find some Nigerians possessing it. Thus, Nigeria has one of the highest manpower indexes in the world which explains why there are more PhDs and Professors in Nigeria's MDAs than anywhere else on this globe. Oluwatoyin, you have given your white clothes to an expert washerman purportedly trained in the Western World, and he returned them to you visibly drenched into red palm oil, what would be your conclusion?
There is no short cut to the top of the palm tree, one must start to climb from the bottom. We must go back and start from where we fell to the colonialists before we can rise up.
Before then every Nigerian should ask him/herself : in what way is my education applicable to the industrial and economic development of Nigeria?Honest answer to that question will determine alternatives to the present situation we all are ignorantly blaming Buhari for.''Could you please specify how this goal could be achieved?You are suggesting returning to African knowledge systems as they existed before the colonial experience.
Can you clarify, perhaps with reference to general world views and epistemologies-ways of looking at the world and how knowledge is developed, assessed and applied?Does this other fine method quoted below you suggest have anything to do with Westernization?Is it not actually best exemplified by Western approaches to development and might not be a good example of how to de-Westernize African education, the goal that your views suggest-- ''Before then every Nigerian should ask him/herself : in what way is my education applicable to the industrial and economic development of Nigeria?'' is actually best exemplified by response to Western approaches to development and might not be a good example of how to de-Westernize African education, the goal that your views suggest.I look forward to Gloria Emeagwali's presentation of her own views on Western education in Nigeria/Africa instead of making a blanket claim of agreement with Salimonu's views which might not be essentially the same as hers.She can give a summary of her views. Such a fast approach could motivate people to buy the book she is recommending and read the elaboration of her ideas in her chapter in that book or buy the book chapter alone, if that option exists .thankstoyinOn Tue, 11 Aug 2020 at 00:03, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:--Oluwatoyin,
As Yoruba aphorism goes, E ni mã rire gbà èto ni kó sé rere, roughly translated to he who wants to receive justice must practise justice. For me, I don't know Boko Haram you are talking about. I have on several occasions asked you, including some of our Hausa speaking folks on this forum, the meaning of Boko Haram when it is translated into English language with no response. You continue to insist, out of prejudice that Boko Haram means Western Education is Forbidden. I don't know Boko Haram and how the name originated. The ball is now in your court to tell me. However, I am aware of JAMA'ATU AHLIS SUNNA LIDDA'AWATI WAL-JIHAD which was translated to : People committed to the propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad (please observe that I am not the translator). The organisation began as a socio-religious group in Borno, 2002, when Ali Modu Sheriff was the ANPP Governor of the State. They started farming projects, provided employment for their members, provided welfare for disabled members, trained people to work for their living and, in short, they provided alternative to the government of the state which made them to attract more members. When their popularity was outshining the government of the State, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff tried to corrupt the organisation by appointing one of the front members, Alhaji Buji Foi as Borno State Commissioner for Religious Affairs in 2007. Relation between the Sect and Borno State government was cordial until February 2009, when the government of Ali Modu Sheriff banned riding bikes without wearing helmet in the State. As usual, Governor Sheriff and his cronies' private companies were suspected of having stockpiled helmets for sales to make money besides the fact that such law has always provided new avenue for the police to extort money from the public. Five months after the ban, July 2009, a prominent member of the Sect led by Mohammed Yusuf died and a large number of them rode in convoys to bury him. They were not only stopped by the police for lack of helmets but many of them were shot and wounded.
The despatched Sect members went home to lick dear wounds and returned with full force to attack and kill police in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe States. They took control of Maiduguri which they controlled for three days until the Army was ordered by President Yar'Adua to intervene and crush the uprising. The Army regained control and arrested the Sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf and a lot of his members, who were handed over to the Police. Yusuf was extra-judicially murdered in police custody while Borno State Commissioner of Religious Affairs, Buji Foi, who was a member of the Sect was shot on his back. That was how the conflict between the Sect and the State government in Borno started in 2009 during Yar'Adua regime and escalated during the reign of President Jonathan. The origin and the cause of conflict in the Northeast had nothing to do with Western Education and in fact, not even with religion. My questions to you therefore are : Who gave the Sect the name Boko Haram?; Is the name translatable to English as Western Education is forbidden or is an abomination?
If Western education works well in Nigeria as it does in the Western World, you and the rest of Nigerians will not be complaining about the retrogressive industrial and economic development in Nigeria. Educationally, there is no academic qualification in this world, real or honorary, that one would not find some Nigerians possessing it. Thus, Nigeria has one of the highest manpower indexes in the world which explains why there are more PhDs and Professors in Nigeria's MDAs than anywhere else on this globe. Oluwatoyin, you have given your white clothes to an expert washerman purportedly trained in the Western World, and he returned them to you visibly drenched into red palm oil, what would be your conclusion? There is no short cut to the top of the palm tree, one must start to climb from the bottom. We must go back and start from where we fell to the colonialists before we can rise up. Before then every Nigerian should ask him/herself : in what way is my education applicable to the industrial and economic development of Nigeria? Honest answer to that question will determine alternatives to the present situation we all are ignorantly blaming Buhari for.S. Kadiri
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: 10 August 2020 18:14
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of GhanaSalimonu,
I seem to have read you stating that Nigerian underdevelopment is due to colonialist forms of Western education.
But I am yet to read you suggest any alternative to the educational system.
Forgive me, but your stance reminds me of that of Boko Haram, taking advantage of the technological products of Western education while condemning it.
You should be able at this time to be able to outline what you think is the right education for Nigeria.
I hope you will not remain at the level of dismissal of Western education in Nigeria but present an analysis specifying why you think Western education or it's peculiar mode of expression in Nigeria is largely or wholly responsible for Nigeria's underdevelopment and what to do about this problem you describe yourself as uncovering.
Thanks
Toyin
--On Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 14:31 Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Sorry for the delay in responding to your comments on this topic. As the late Professor Babs Fafunwa pointed out, the colonial education, which is still sustained, robs Nigerians of their inventiveness, creativity and originality. The colonialists rewired and retooled Nigerians into abandoning our needs and aspirations to devote our lives and entire existence into serving the needs of our conqueror, through an indigenous surrogate regime approved by the colonialists.
Just think about a lesson in physics in Nigeria where we were taught about a body on a frictionless surface and the example given was frozen melt snow on the road!! Since there was no snow in Nigeria matched okra or peels of banana on the road would have pedagogically been appropriate to teach Nigerian school children about how slippery it would be for a body to stand on a frictionless surface. All our ministries, departments and parastatals are manned by academically qualified Nigerians. Despite the abundant material and financial resources at the disposal of the officials in our MDAs, Nigeria is not even static but receding economically and industrially because educated Nigerians have failed to contribute to the growth of economy and industry through application of knowledge in medicine, science and technology. We have crude oil and oil refineries but our education cannot refine oil; we have iron ore but our education cannot produce steel; and our education is incapable of generating and distributing electricity. Can you imagine that Nigeria has no nuclear reactor, but it has an Atomic Energy Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Authority consuming millions of dollars annually for salaries and allowances. Instead of blaming Buhari, the earlier Nigerians direct their attentions and angers at intellectual mystics and sorcerers whose expertise (geniuses) is fertilization of misery and poverty in Nigeria, through which they regularly appropriate to themselves funds for the development of our country, the better it will be for Nigeria.S. Kadiri
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Femi Segun <soloruntoba@gmail.com>
Sent: 08 August 2020 16:46
To: 'Chika Onyeani' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of GhanaAlagba Salimonu Kadiri,I will appreciate your response to my comments on this thread. You have consistently argued that all our degrees acquired in western institutions have not translated to concrete developmental outcomes. Thus, I want to know how we can use our indigenous knowledge system to change the trajectory.Femi
--On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 9:51 AM Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--My dear professor, not all anecdotal knowledge are real as some remain fables. Some anecdotal knowledge from our Yoruba ancestors assert that tortoise never suffers head ache, the snail never suffers liver pain and fish never suffers fever inside the river. On what experimental facts were these postulations (anecdotal knowledge) based?
Can dreams be real without working to accomplish the dream? Take for instance a person who is worried about how to get a meal the following day while going to bed. In the night he dreamt of eating fried plantains and eggs only to wake up that he has no access neither to plantain nor eggs. How real was his/her dream?
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
Skickat: den 6 augusti 2020 19:25
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of GhanaSam:
In general, we have not paid attention to Anecdotal Knowledge. We are dismissive of it, but they are real. And whenever I say that something is real, I use it to mean a "belief", a testimony, an experience limited to an individual or a group. Science teaches us that a woman without a womb cannot be pregnant. Pentecostalism teaches us that God can insert a replacement womb. Anecdotal knowledge, which can be corroborated by testimonies, teaches us that the belief is real—they know the woman and saw the child. Anecdotal is in the realm of personal experience, a non-rational interpretation of a phenomenon. It cannot be evaluated along the paradigm of the rational-scientific. Dreams are real! The interpretations are something else.
I have a headache. You don't know, as it is my head, not yours!
My headache is caused by you. Why not?
Take "Panado,l" you said.
No, I need to see Baba Falola to make sacrifices!
You provided palm oil and chicken
The headache is gone!
From: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Femi Segun <soloruntoba@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 11:58 AM
To: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of Ghana
'The Euro-American equivalent fantasy of KÁNÒKÒ has transformed into real vehichles for fast transportation of goods and humans while their mythical ÀPÈTÁ has transformed into drones and inter-continental ballistic missiles'. Ogbeni Salimonu Kadiri. Thank you for bringing up this matter. Something around this came up during a recent conversation that I had with the Moderator. The lockdown has kept me away from my family for months. I told the Moderator that I needed to travel compulsorily but there is no flight. He asked why did I not use the 'EGBE (remi) that my father gave me in 1939. I reminiscenced on this and I remember hearing stories of people using EGBE to disappear when dangers such as accidents are lurking. My father also told me of Aroko, which was a means of instant communication like the Internet or email through which urgent messages can be sent. He told me of the story of an individual who was kidnapped many years ago. It turned out that this person belonged to a royal family or the Ogboni cult. Immediately this was made known to the powers that be, an aroko was sent to different places and once the message got round that the kidnapped person was an omo abore that cannot be used for ritual, he or she was promptly released. The Moderator explained as you have just done that our indigenous knowledge system was not developed and that it was something along the form of knowledge that we rejected that the Europeans or the Caucasians used to develop what we are using as modern tools of communication and transportation today. Dr Abimbola Adelakun, the Punch Columnist once challenged us that rather than dismissing some indigenous things that still happen in Africa, such as Magun (Don;t climb) in Nigeria, why can't we try and understand the science of it. In 1974, I witnessed where Sango struck someone dead instantly. The next day, they invited Sango worshippers from Oke-Agbe who came to perform some rituals before the woman was buried outside the town. They said the cause of the death was because the woman gba ibode. What is the science of this? I guess if it was coincidental, all of us in the room would have been struck. During a breakfast meeting with Professor Wole Soyinka in Dakar two years ago, I raised this issue in relations to African spirituality. He narrated his own experience of how the current Alaafin of Oyo once invited one of his wives to invoke the spirit of the gods, I think Obatala who ensured that after making some incantations, the clouds gathered, wind blew and rain started to the extent that all of them had to run for cover. How can we study these occurrences and translate them to productive use for the advancement of our societies in Africa? How can we rebuild Carthage?
Inquiring mind wants to know
Ire o
Femi
On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 10:59 AM Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
At first contact, Africa and Europe were at the same level of development. Africans were mastering and controlling their environments. Naming of, insects, herbs, trees, and animals (with some being domesticated) began in Africa long before the arrival of Europeans who saw such creatures for the first time. The words, WITCH and WIZARD existed (originated) in Africa and Europe independent of contacts between the people of the two continents.
In Yoruba part of Nigeria, a female that exhibited an extra-ordinary knowledge resulting in useful invention in the past was referred to as an ÀJE, while the corresponding name for a male with an unusual capacity to invent was called OSÓ (pronounced OSHÓ). In the Yoruba traditional belief, a male, like TF, can never be a WITCH but a WIZARD. Long before the grand parents of Isaac Newton were born, a Nigerian climbed the palmtree not only to harvest the palmfroots but to extract palm wine. He calculated the strength of the twined rafia with which he climbed the palmtree armed with an axe to cut down the palm froots, and a gourd into which he collected palmwine. The first person who climbed the palmtree in Nigeria many centuries before Isaac Newton propounded the law of gravity was regarded by the people of that time as a WIZARD. Similarly, the first woman who extracted palmoil from palmfroots, derived grease (called ÒRI in Yoruba), and black candle (named ÒGÙSÒ, pronounced ÒGÙSHÒ) was called a WITCH. Every science is preceded by myth or fantasy and Yoruba people of the old had a lot of myths and fantasies. For instances, the Yoruba of the old believed in what they called KÁNÒKÒ, a stripe by which one strikes the ground and find self at a predetermined long distance location; equally the Yoruba people of the old believed in what they called ÀPÈTÁ which is a means by which a person's name anywhere in the world is called and made to appear personally in a mirror and once the mirror is stricken into pieces, the person will die. With the arrival of direct and indirect slavery, the development of Yoruba people was arrested and the transformation of our rich fantasies into realities were stopped. The Euro-American equivalent fantasy of KÁNÒKÒ has transformed into real vehichles for fast transportation of goods and humans while their mythical ÀPÈTÁ has transformed into drones and inter-continental ballistic missiles.
While Africans, particularly Nigerians, of today are engaged in money rituals, Witch/Wizard's practices, Islamic/Christian miracles and destiny help, ethnic stealing and conversion of National Economic projects into private wealth, and trafficking in women with the aid of voodoo to foreign countries, the Euro_American world are engaged in, stockpiling Nuclear weapons, space science, artificial intelligence, 5G technology, bio-chemical weapons, advanced medicine, solar energy, global warming, planning space tourism, moon bases and malls. It is barbaric in the 21st century to murder any person suspected of being a WITCH/WIZARD, a none crime in any criminal code in Africa. The murderers of Akua Denteh should be arrested and tried according to the laws in operation in Ghana.
S. Kadiri
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Skickat: den 5 augusti 2020 19:29
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Kopia: Yoruba Affairs <yorubaaffairs@googlegroups.com>
Ämne: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of Ghana
MOA:
Ifá is only being faithful to reality.
The most potent force in the universe belongs to women. This power can be used for good or for evil. This is why the Yoruba say:
Òrìşà bí ìyá òsì, ìya làbà sìn, iya l ba bo. ( No deity compares to a mother; we should worship and propitiate mothers.)
The positive force of mothers is represented in Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists as Ìyá Mátę (Gracious Mother) whose counsel was sought in the resolution of the tragedy of the war.
It is not for nothing that the first deities in most human civilizations are fertility goddesses; Èşu the Ifá deity is one of them.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: 04/08/2020 18:24 (GMT+00:00)
Cc: Yoruba Affairs <yorubaaffairs@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Murder: Akua Denteh of Ghana
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Murder is murder. All perpetrators must pay for it. It is even worse in the case of a ninety-something year old woman who, instead of being held in dignity and celebrated, which her life deserved, was desecrated with such heinous crime and countercultural impunity!
Having said that, I am really not sure if the translation "Witchcraft" as understood in the West is the same as we conceptualize it in Africa. The Yoruba, for example, have two categories of Àję, both of whom are culturally presumed to be women - the good ones and the evil ones. Not much is said about the good ones except that all women are supposed to be good àję if their children are doing quite well, their husbands are making progress exceptionally, and everything is going well for the family. An exceptionally brilliant fellow has what they call "àję ìwé," which would classify them also as àję. I've heard folks tell me that TF must be an àję; but being a man, he would not qualify to be stoned to death, even if the àję is a bad one; instead, they would say it must be the mother who rubbed on him the potion of her good àję spirit.
The Ifa literary corpus does not help in the epistemology of the subject. It dedicates a whole Odu to the cult of Àję, and that Odù is called "Òsá Eleye." In it, àję, called "Eleye" (fellows with the bird spirit) are bad and so are categorized among the malevolent spirits when the gods were descending into Ayé (the human abode). It even provides a myth of mortal confrontation between Ikú (Death) and a convoy of Àję. They are called "Ìyà Mi" (noticed the tone on the word "Ìyà" (oppression) which separates it from the word Ìyá (mother). Being malevolent spirits, they are hailed in negative tones of cannibals who feast on human flesh, a fact that must have in a way contributed to their castigation in various Yoruba societies:
Ìyà Mi, Osoronga
Ojiji fùú
Arogba aso má balę;
Awon ajapa-jori
Ajora-joronro
Ajefun eeyan ma bi
(Ìyà Mi, Osoronga
The unseen shadow
One who wears 200 clothes and they remain skimpy on her;
Those who feed on arms and heads
Those who feed on fat and gull
Those who eat human entrails without throwing up)
I agree, even our belief system has to be evaluated and reconstructed. When all is said and done, it would always amount to killing an elderly woman who is experiencing a gerontological process of life! And by the way, From what I heard from mommy Dad, the worst of this crime among the Yoruba was perpetrated in the early 1950s during the Ghanaian Atinga (Nana Tinga) Drive, the wave of which traveled across the Coast of West Africa and hundreds of women were accused of being Àję and murdered. Historians may shed somme light on this episode.
Michael O. Afoláyan
===
On Tuesday, August 4, 2020, 10:36:58 AM EDT, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:
This is a horrendous act generated by ageism, ignorance of the biology of ageing, misogyny, fear of the known and the unknown, and an overall lack of respect for senior citizens at this juncture. I am not sure that the state can be sued except symbolically, but the symbolism may have an impact.
Weeding out the negative aspects of
African traditions and belief systems, and preserving the many positive aspects, is the challenge for researchers, individuals, the community and the state.
GE
On Aug 4, 2020, at 06:46, 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Schools and palaces are among the agencies perpetrating this horrendous crime against humanity. It's the foundation on which our warped understanding of aging is. The woman simply suffered dementia (I am 95% sure). My Nigerian friend in America takes care of folks like that for a living. He and I often talk about the fact that if those folks were to be in Africa, especially the women, they would be accused of witchcraft and stoned to death; the men in thee group would most likely go scot-free!
Edward Kissi: I think a more feasible and immediate action could be proposed here. Why not find some human rights group in Canada, United States, England or anywhere in Europe that would drag the Ghanaian government to court for human rights abuses based purely on this case, doing so through the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights? The first step may be getting in touch with the members of the family of this woman (and who knows, they too may even be accessories to the crime and among those stoning her). It might even lead to joint actions of other Ghanaian families whose grandmas and great-grandmas have been subjected to similar humiliations and extra-judicial executions! And, you never could tell, it might be the beginning of a cultural revolution across Africa.
What a glowing tribute that would be to the unfair treatment and blood-sacrifice of an innocent nonagenarian!
Michael O. Afoláyan
(In sackcloth and ashes)
On Monday, August 3, 2020, 10:00:22 AM EDT, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
Roots of Witchcraft Belief in Africa
As is obvious from the news report, the key matrix of witchcraft belief in the context in question is traditional African spirituality, not Pentecostalism.
Pentecostalism, however, adapts some of the crudest aspects of traditional African beliefs and has little or no roots for refinement of those beliefs, as far as I know but the native spiritualities have.
The Yoruba Example and its Complexity
In Yoruba culture, for example, as in the Ghanaian context in the essay, the roots of witchcraft belief are in the native culture itself.
This belief, in the Yoruba context, combines the celebratory and the demonising in relation to women.
It is a very rich complex of ideas in need of refinement, mobilisation and direction and I pray I am able to play a role in this task.
Questions of Terminology and its Metaphysical Implications
Some argue that the translation of the Yoruba terms ''iyami'', ''our mothers'' and ''aje'' into the Western term ''witch'' is non-factual bcs the Yoruba terms are not necessarily negative.
This is not completely correct bcs correlates between the female demonising aspect of pre-modern Western witchcraft beliefs and the female celebrating character of modern Western witchcraft beliefs are both found in Yoruba thought.
Thus the term ''witch'' is a fit translation of the feminine/maternal/nurturing and creative/destructive complex of ideas represented by this spirituality from Yorubaland.
Why the focus on women in pre-modern Western witchcraft and its ideational correlates in Africa?
Metaphysical Interpretations of Feminine Biology in the Yoruba Context
In the classical Yoruba context, it is related to ideas about female biology and its psychological and spiritual correlates, ideas of genital concealment in relation to capacity for secrecy, of unique embodiment of the power to gestate and deliver new life and thus the ability to negatively reshape and destroy life.
Hence the feminine principle, represented by women visible and invisible, ''iyami'' ''our mothers,'' motherhood perceived in a sense both conventionally maternal and arcane, biological and occult, is understood as central to the polity in general and even to the male dominated monarchy, yet this complex also enables the demonisation of women as embodiments of the irrational expression of this principle in terms of the bloodthirsty side of the iyami and aje.
Between Refinement and Elimination of Problematic or Dangerous Beliefs
Clearly, there is a rich body of ideas here that can be refined of misogyny, of superstition, of self contradiction, developed in terms of precise but imaginatively evocative metaphysics, epistemology and ethics.
What are the conceptual contexts shaping the Ghanaian understanding of what is being translated as witchcraft? I dont know.
Should these ideas, wherever they are from, as long as they lead to death and abuse of the vulnerable, specifically women and children-yes-children are left to die bcs of witchcraft accusations-be eliminated or refined?
Is There Any Truth in Witchcraft Beliefs?
I am very interested in knowing more about the conference described by Obododimma in which self professed witches showed up with brooms. I am particularly curious about it bcs its described as a pan-African conference, my curiosity further fueled by the fact that the image of the witch on a broom is an image from Western folklore which even modern Western witches do not identify with except as imagative depictions from a pre-modern era.
It is possible, as I have experienced, and as many have described in carefully documented accounts of first hand experiences in various contexts, for the human mind/spirit to travel outside the body as is alleged for witches but of course, its not done with brooms bcs its not a physical motion.
There is also a basis in reality for the belief that witches can congregate in trees, bcs some trees emit an energy that facilitates entry into another dimension, as I have experienced. Another idea that needs refinement and adequate interpretation.
Between Objective and Subjective Knowledge in Witchcraft Beliefs as a Subset in Belief in the Supernatural
Should the focus also be on convincing people that only knowledge backed by evidence is adequate, as the writer of of the article argues, describing that as vital for demonstrating the non-factuality of claims of misfortune caused by witches and thus disabusing people's minds of the erroneous belief in the existence of witches in the first place?
I expect beliefs in spiritual powers will always be with us bcs these powers exist as fundamental to human nature, experienced in different ways by various people and understood and responded to variously by different people.
The human being also needs sensitivity to the idea that the universe transcends mechanical laws of cause and effect and is not locked within the quotidian limitations of the everyday universe of space, time, the office, the school etc, the social frameworks that enable civilization remain stable and progress.
The Western Example in Eliminating Anti-Witchcraft Ideas and the Development of Modern Western Witchcraft
England dealt with the problem of witchcraft accusations as a means of persecution by banning any expression of belief in witchcraft. That stopped the witch murders, some of them being massacres of groups of women, of various ages, young, middle aged and old.
It was also terrible in the US, as in the infamous judicial massacre directed at women known as the Salem Witch Trials.
The anti-witch culture in Europe was so deeply institutionalized in its virulence, it bred its own unique literature, exemplified by the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches, a book which described how to identify a witch.
On the lifting of the Witchcraft Act in England, Gerald Gardner initiated what is now known as modern Western witcraft, one of the fastest growing of the world's new religions.
He claimed descent from a traditional witcraft coven, existing underground before the repeal of the Act, but his claim is disputed, the verdict being divided on whether witchcraft actually existed before the modern open development.
What Are the Realities of Pentecostalism?
Pentecostalism, a spirituality that deeply influenced me, as others also have, is essentially beyond the economic and superstitious crudities into which it too often degenerates.
As its name implies, it is centred in the descent of divine power at Pentecost, enabling a distinctive relationship between the individual, any group so energised and the creator of the universe.
The economizing of this relationship-except in the sharing of goods in a communal spirit as was done by the early apostles- and its use as a tool of superstition, dehumanisation and cultural destruction, is ideally not part of its mandate.
On Mon, 3 Aug 2020 at 11:54, segun ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
Murdered a 90 years women because she was alleged to be a 'witch'? What did government do to those who killed her?There should be a thorough investigation and severe punishment for the dastardly act.
Segun.
On Mon, Aug 3, 2020, 12:08 AM segun ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
Murder a 90 years women because she was alleged to be a 'witch'? What did government do to those who killed her?
There should be a thorough investigation and severe punishment for the dastardly act.
Segun.
On Sun, Aug 2, 2020, 8:55 AM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
Akua Denteh: Last 'witch' to be murdered in Ghana?
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Akua-Denteh-Last-witch-to-be-murdered-in-Ghana-1023577
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